Thanks for sharing. I totally agree that everyone will have their own way of doing things, and their own preferences, but hearing about someone else's preferences and experiences is a great way to learn about available options.
When I was just starting to quilt a couple years ago, I thought I needed one of everything on the quilting notions aisle (though the $$$ prevented that!). It's nice to have a place to learn, for instance, that the frosted rulers would be better and that I didn't need to spend the money on binding clips (I also think that pinning is easier).
I'm going to try the sticky sandpaper dots. I've been using the film-ish stuff (I think it's called Omni-grip) but I get a lot of sliding still. I must use too much muscle too.
I had to laugh about June Taylor. I bought one of the cutting mats with the slits in it to make one-inch, two-inch, etc., strips. Seemed like a good idea - BUT, it's not stiff enough, and I ended up with a bunch of wobbly strips. Seemed like a bad design and I was muttering "stick to dancing!"
And if ANYBODY knows of a good marking pen/tool/method/etc, please share. I too have been disappointed with everything. I bought the "Pounce" at a quilt show, since the demo looked so slick, but all I got was a chalky mess when I tried it at home. Other pens and pencils have been no better. Anybody got a method they love?