Oh my gosh. there was a whole page of posts which I didn't see. duh :oops:
I've heard about using a soap sliver, but never tried it. I'm going to give it a go. Does it brush off, or do you need to wash the quilt after?
I was just thinking about getting a rotary blade sharpener. Not now.
The bamboo stilletos work great. I got mine from a placemat my SIL was throwing away. It was made of strips of bamboo laced together, and I just cut the bamboo off, and cut them in half. If I happen to break one, no sweat.
zyx - sure glad I wasn't your secret pal that year!! hehehe But, yep, it's probably the June Taylor.
As for seam rippers, the scalpel one is awesome. And, when the blade dulls, you just buy the set of replacement blades (not that any of YOU would wear out a seam ripper, but I have).
I have one of those little metal hemming rulers, never even thought of using it to double check widths. I'm going to dig it out.