That’s a funny phrase to use when talking about fabric but it perfectly expresses how I feel after finding a quarter of a yard of fabric online that was a total long shot.

In my last post I showed photos of a kaleidoscope quilt I had just gotten back from the longarm quilter. (The quilt, based on the pattern “Grandma’s Surprise,” was made in a class with Joyce Gieszler six years ago.) In the comment section of the blog post, my friend Vickie asked what I was thinking about for the binding. I replied, “I’m going to bind it in the same black leaf print (shown above) that I used for the border because I want the focus to be on the kaleidoscope in the center of the quilt.” My thought was that binding the quilt in solid black or the red paisley tone-on-tone blender used in the quilt (also shown above) would create a frame around the quilt that might distract from the kaleidscope in the center.

But as I pondered Vickie’s question, the thought of a narrow flange of that red fabric sandwiched between the border and the binding popped into my head. Last night I added this sentence to my reply: “If I had more of the red fabric, though, I would be very tempted to add a narrow flange between the border and the binding.” Only two small rectangles of that fabric remained in my stash and neither scrap had selvage information on it. I had bought it years ago and had no idea if it was even still available.

Sometime between last night and this morning, that idea of a flange took hold. I woke up and thought, “Why not see if I can find that red fabric online?” I tried entering several search phrases with no luck. Then I struck paydirt with “dark red on red paisley blender.” Up popped this image. . .

. . . with a link to an online quilt shop in Waukee, Iowa called Twiddletails. The fabric turned out to be a blender by Moda that was part of a line of blenders called Puzzle Pieces. All that was available was a quarter of a yard — a mere nine inches! Reader, I ordered it on the spot. Between this piece and my two scraps, I think I can eke out enough strips for a flange, provided the dye lots are similar enough. There’s a surprising amount of variation among dye lots. This bit of yardage from Twiddletails is the only one I’ve found so my fingers are firmly crossed.