I Love Making Pot Holders

I had an overwhelming urge to make a couple of pot holders to add to my stash, so that's what I did .

Sorting through my fabric, I was thinking of making something with a spring theme but when I ended up with this selection, I decided they were more representative of full-blow summer time.

The blocks I used this time were "Right Hand of Friendship" on the right and "Gentleman's Fancy" on the left. Both were easy and fun to do. I can definitely see using "Right Hand of Friendship" in 30s prints for a baby quilt.

I liked these two fabrics so much I used them as solid backs for the pot holders.

I'm gonna get back to my daughter's spring wall hanging one of these days very soon. She and I picked out the border fabrics this weekend so I'm ready to go on that next part.

Ahead . . . For A Change

Spring up here in the north woods is more than a month (maybe two!) away but I'm happy to report I've gotten a head start on the spring time wall/door hanging for my daughter's office.

Once again she picked out the pattern from one of my quilting books.

This is a picture of the wall hanging she chose. It's in Mary Hickey's book, "Sweet and Simple Baby Quilts." So to be more accurate, I suppose we have to say it's not a wall hanging but rather was meant as a baby quilt.

It's comprised mainly of eleven squares of appliqued flowers. Here all the squares are laid out. All but the one in the top center row still need to have the stems embroidered on and I haven't stitched the appliqued flower petals or leaves on yet. I'm thinking I'll probably do that by machine. So far they're just bonded on.

The only problem is that by the time I put the "Welcome" rectangle on the piece, it's going to be too long to look good on the door. So . . .

I'm going to have to cut the length by taking out three of the squares. In comparison to the full sized pattern, it doesn't look so pretty good right now. But I think when I get the "Welcome" part added and the outer border on it will look a lot better. I sure hope so anyway. Time will tell. For now I'll just call it definitely a work in progress!

Pot Holders Ready to be Mailed

I made two pot holders as a small thank you and they are ready to be tucked into an envelope and wing their way southward.


Front and back of the first one.


Front and back of the second one.

If you're anything like me, you can always use a couple of new pot holders. Seems like they're kind of pricey at the store if you can find ones you like, so I get a kick out of making them for myself and others.

It's a quick project and lets me try out different patterns of the old-fashioned blocks on the front of them. Doing seasonal ones are also fun.

I Wanna Do It Again!

My three-day quilting retreat at home has been a smashing success. And, boy-howdy, did I accomplish a lot. My main aim was to finish the winter wall hanging for my daughter's office and I did that early this afternoon.

As I mentioned, it took me all day yesterday to do the machine quilting on it (which I am very happy with) so all I had to do today was the binding and hanging sleeve.

This is a close-up of the left border and part of the center of the piece.

Above is the top portion. Sure wish the machine quilting would show up better in the pictures.

The appliqued "Welcome" lettering across the bottom.

And the whole wall hanging completely finished and ready to be delivered.

I used the remainder of the day today to work on a couple of quilted pot holders that I wanted to make as a thank you for someone who did something very nice for me. I have to hand stitch the binding on them tomorrow and they will be all set to go. I'll post a picture or two of them before sending them off.

The one single problem with my three-day quilting marathon at home was that now I want to do it again . . . soon!

Home Quilt Retreat - Day One

The weather today couldn't have been better for hunkering down in my quilt studio

A bad picture taken through window and screen, but this was the scene this morning out my quilt studio window.

I had a couple of things to do in there before I got down to any actual quilting.

I did a mending job on a duffel bag of hubby's.

Then I cleaned off my cutting table so I would have a place to . . . well, do some cutting.

Next I cleaned both my machines. A little task long overdue.

I was close to plumb out of wound and ready bobbins so I sat and replenished my supply of ecru, gray and white ones.

Finally got on to the quilting. Worked on my daughter's winter wall hanging which had better get done quickly or it won't be winter anymore.

Previously I'd spent a lot of time trying to choose fabrics for the borders. Then I did what I probably should have done in the first place. A couple of days ago I asked her what she preferred . . . and that's what I did.

Tomorrow I'll get it sandwiched with batting and backing and start the quilting on it.

'Twas a good day!

Yippee-Skippy, I'm Doin' It!

I did a post on my personal blog yesterday putting forth my intentions to spend three whole days (THREE WHOLE DAYS!) in my quilt studio starting today.

I'm on a quick lunch break right now but if you wish to hear more about my very exciting adventure, you can go to A Home Grown Journal and read all about it.

Back to my quilting . . .