More about the porcupine quill stilettos

Several people wanted to learn more about the porcupine quills that I use for a stiletto while sewing. They come in various sizes. The small ones below are about 4-5 inches long. The end on the right is harder, and comes to a more blunt tip. If I want to put pressure on what I'm doing, I might use this end. The end on the left is flexible, and sharp. It is the "business end of the quill" for the porcupine. The little barbs are so small, I can't see them, but if you run your fingers from the left end toward the center, you can feel the roughness of the quill. I use this end most often. When I sew on fabric where the top fabric is trying to stretch, I hold the quill down flat on the fabric, just in front of my sewing machine needle. It keeps the two layers together, and keeps them from shifting. I've done this so much, I've made a flat side on the quill!! These do wear out after a while, but I get a lot of use from each quill. You can see in the picture below that they are not all straight, and the shapes vary from quill to quill.


I also want to share this picture of our snow. A big storm came through northern Arizona. We had winds gusting to 30 mph so most of our snow blew away. But here is a picture of the hill behind our house from our back patio (taken over the tops of the houses behind us!) I just liked the snow on the far trees, with the green trees in front, and then the one tree with no leaves at the bottom of the picture. There is just little bits of snow in the closer pine trees because of all the wind!


Hugs!