On my last trip to USA a very kind lady gave me a porcupine quill, it is great I would hate to be with out it now.

EIGHT INCH!!!! OMG! That was a first-class weapon. Gale force winds would keep that in place! Awesome!

I didn't, but with a quilting table I have to. I purchased a new machine which has a small extended table. On my other machine I could get my hands in there with clearance, but that's not the case with the new machine. (I'm right handed so why does a left side table limit, I do not know.)
I saw a link on how to make them. I made a few using beads and turkey lacers. I actual glued 2 lacers together, stuck some beads on so I could grip the lacers better and it works like a charm. I don't feel like I'm crawling into machine anymore.

I love my stiletto - once you get used to using one it is like an extension of your hand and you don't know what you did without one. Very useful when doing curved piecing - you can coax those edges together as you sew and you don't have to use many pins.

I use a stilleto, or the seam ripper, or a cuticle stick, or.... I find I prefer a really pointy thing rather than something with a rounded point since if I need the stilleto I need something that really holds. I like something narrow that can get almost all the way to the needle -- and I sew the last stitches really slow. I also find that using a scrap of farbric at the end of the point and sewing onto the fabric scrap keeps me from having wobbly points (and I can angle the scrap to fit snugly against the triangle).

I use my stilleto a lot, but other things have come in handy for me such as the purple thang, bamboo stick, etc. It is far better than having a needle go through my finger, nail and all. That happened when I was a teenager...one of the best learned lessons, smile.

That goes for me too. I have "that purple thang" + one from Eleanor Burns. I have more than 1 machine so I keep
one at each machine. Comes in handy for so many things.

I use my seam ripper most of the time. I also have a pair of tweezers that I keep handy and they work, too.

I use a small flathead screw driver, it does a great job of holding the seam flat as it goes under the foot. It is easy to access in front tool chest on my machine.

I have several wooden "sticks" that have been sharpened in a pencil sharpener. An ordinary wooden dowel works also. I have them in different lengths and different thicknesses. Also, if you use the pencil sharpener, you can sharpen BOTH ENDS. That is very helpful.