Hands and Pot Holders

Hello, friends!

How's your summer?

Mine has been rather too eventful for my taste.

We've had some scary health issues in my family,

and yesterday I joined in the drama by breaking my left hand.

{Sad face}

Still, I'm counting my blessings:

1. There was no blood involved.

2. It isn't my dominant hand.

3. We had just returned from a fun vacation...

which is how I tripped over the suitcase and broke my hand,

while carrying a large basket of...

4. CLEAN laundry.

{Happy face}

l 

Now let's get back to some sewing news...

prior to the Laundry Accident I'd been busy making pot holders!

I really love the Pretty Little Potholder tutorial,

expertly written by Amy at nana Company blog.

I pulled some lime green and cheery red prints from my stash
and whipped up this set in no time.

Cherries make such a sweet kitchen theme, don't they?
I had a piece of fabric called Oh-Cherry-Oh from 
Me and My Sister for Moda.
Delicious!!!

The red and white binding fabric was from the same line.
I used it for the adorable ruffle, too.

The green plaid is from Sugar Hill by Tanya Whelan.
I often use a Frixion pen to mark my quilting lines,
but this diagonal plaid made it really easy to create a grid design.

Tags are fun to create,
especially if you have some fun Japanese ribbon for detail.

Here's the other tag.

The finished pot holders make a great gift
that is functional and fresh.

I love the way every set made from this tutorial looks so different.

Here's another pair I made for a new bride

with a country kitchen.

The fabrics are from Dandelion Girl, by Fig Tree Quilts.
I'm still enjoying the fat quarter bundle I bought to make this quilt.

I made the pair of pot holders similar, but different.
One features gingham, and the other has a pretty tonal leaf print.

The colors are soft and understated,
so I left out the tag detail.

The squishy quilting will make baking even more fun.

That ruffle detail adds romance and style.

Soon I'll be sharing more pot holders and other projects...
I can blog with one hand tied behind my back!

Be careful out there, everyone!

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Zakka Meets Martha's Vineyard

If you've visited my blog before at all,

you'll know how much fun I've been having

with the Zakka Style Sew Along.

{There is still plenty of time to join the sew along!}

I've been conspicuously absent for

more weeks than I care to count, but

I'm back in the Zakka again, having more fun than ever!

{Here's a peek at what I just made!}

Last week's project was

Patchwork Pot Holders,

contributed by the skillful and creative

Kim of retromama.

{This project was the tipping-point for me...when I saw it on the book cover,

I KNEW I had to get a copy of Zakka Style!}

As Kim noted in her blog post about the pot holders,
there were problems with the instructions in the book for 
binding the pot holders.

It's so much easier to do the bindings as seen in

Kim's update.  

I even made a couple of changes,

and it was actually a very pleasant experience,

even though I've never made circular binding before.

{My bindings are entirely machine-sewn.}

While making the two pot holders,

I learned quite a bit.

I prefer the double-fold binding for the pockets, 

as shown here.

{The 2 1/2" double-fold bound pockets on the top pot holder look better to me.}

I stitched on the outer binding, using a 3" double-fold bias.

I had perfect results when I first sewed 3/8" from the edge on the back side,

then turned it to the front for the final stitching.

{My binding pressed into place like magic!}

For all you fabriholics, I'll describe the fabrics I chose, and why...

for me, this was kind of time-consuming,

but so much FUN!!!

I had just ordered some fabrics from The Stitching Post

to complete my Winter Dresden Quilt.

{They offer flat-rate $5 shipping, so of course, I shopped for some fun fabrics to ride along in the package!}

I just about squealed when my package was delivered...

very quickly, I might add... 

and I saw "in person" the fantastic

Susan Branch prints I'd chosen, from the Tea Party line.

{Look at how adorable even the selvages are!}

I just know there will be lots of

Zakka involved in using these charming motifs

and text prints, as well as the tiny coordinates.

{Who would have thought that zakka style would look so great on Martha's Vineyard?}

I stitched together a few little happy motifs I'd fussy cut,

making strips of the right size, so they would not be cut off

in the final 8 1/2" round pot holder.

{Amanda the Patchsmith was disappointed when some of her 

favorite strips didn't make the cut.  :( }

For the other fabrics, I used some cheery cherries

from Oh Cherry Oh by Moda...

{I think this line was from about 2009.}

and little bits of lime and red, keeping a picnic feel going.

I love Darla by Tanya Whelan...

{as I might have mentioned once before.}

These pinnies inspired my color scheme for the pot holders.

The lime gingham was so absolutely perfect

for the bias binding!

Love the backs, too, with the little pockets for gripping.

My sister, Susie,

thinks these are too pretty to use.

{Uh-oh...I've listed them in my shop on Etsy, eamylove.

I hope someone doesn't feel the same way!}

Like this motif says,
"When you come right down to it, the secret
to having it all
is believing that you do."

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