Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Friday, December 2, 2016

December is Here!

If you asked me what I did all week, I would have to think really hard to come up with something (anything!) worth telling you about!  Ummm.... I got a mammogram?  (Well, I guess that was important!)

But in my sewing room, another "Ummm..." I guess the Christmas season is upon us, and that means sewing gifts and seasonal projects end up taking over, and I have had to put my ScrapJar Stars RSC2016 quilt on the backburner for awhile.  And, this time of year, you can't always blog about what you were really working on until later in the month, if you know what I mean!


I did want to do some scrappy sewing this week, so I decided to try my hand at making some potholders for my mom to take to her when we go visit next week.  I followed a tutorial by Jayne of Twiggy and Opal for the basic construction, but used my own idea for the blocks I made.

It's always so easy to pull string scraps out and sew them onto a foundation, so that's how I started.  I cut a scrap piece of Warm and White batting 8" x 8", and used scraps that are kind of Southwestern in color scheme, because my mom lives in Arizona, and that's how her house is decorated.  Almost all of these fabrics were used somewhere in one of my RSC blocks this year!


Next I added a layer of Insulbright batting, and a piece of backing fabric, and did some straight line quilting to hold everything together.  


I used the same fabric scraps for both potholders, but gave them the opposite for backing and binding.  I finished the binding by machine stitching to make sure it would be strong, but I'm not particularly pleased with how the stitching looks on the back of the potholders.  That may still need to be ripped out and redone. No decision made on that yet!


The two layers of batting, with one being Insulbright, give these potholders a pretty hefty thickness, and I think they'll work for holding onto hot things!

Since it IS December, and I really like to sew with Christmas fabric in December, I decided to pull out some strings of Christmas fabric and make a couple of Christmas-y coasters to take to Mom also.  To start with, I made a big rectangle of these fabrics (about 7 x 16) and then cut into it with my 60 degree triangle ruler to make this fun shape.  I used some more Insulbright for these, added a piece of backing fabric with right sides together, and stitched around the edge, leaving a small opening on one side for turning.





These are cute!  I might want to keep them!  (Although, there are definitely more scraps to be used up, so I could just make more...)


I hope you are having fun playing in your scraps right now, or working on Christmas gift projects, or wherever your crafting takes you!

Sharing at ScrapHappy Saturday tomorrow!













13 comments:

Linda said...

Everything is sooooo cute! I love the diagonal strings on the potholders - always makes such a pretty look. And the coasters - what a neat idea (I would totally keep them for myself.) What size did they end up? I just added Insul Bright to my list for Hobby Lobby!

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Love that teal and orange together. What a nice gift for your mom! I hope to get some pot holders for gifts too but we will see if I actually get them done.

Libby in TN said...

Great gift ideas! I want to make something for GS-3's girlfriend who is coming for Christmas. Can't be too personal since they're not engaged yet, so I thought mug rugs or coasters might be appropriate.

margaret said...

what good ideas you came up with for your scraps though I would not be using them as pot hiolders far too nice!

scraphappy said...

What a fun way to use up scraps! Always nice to have some extra hand made gifts around for possible last minute gifts.

The Joyful Quilter said...

LOVE those Christmas (tree-shaped) coasters!!!

Kate said...

Very scrappy and fun Christmas gifts! I think the quilting looks fine on the hot pads, those turned out so cute.

Cathy said...

You are so clever to use up your scraps for little gifts. I really love those Christmas coasters!! The pot holders are great, too, and I should follow your lead and use up my Insulbrite to make myself some. Now if we only had 36 hour days!!

gayle said...

You've got wonderful things going on at your house! I'm looking forward to seeing your 'secret' projects, too, when the time comes. (I know what you mean about how hard it is when most of your projects can't be talked about yet!)

PaulaB quilts said...

The potholder colors are so Southwest. Your mom will love them. I recognized some of your napkin fabric in the coaster, so pretty. I should get some InsulBright also. But I can't go to HL now, I've spent all my fabric cash.

Sandra Walker said...

Those tree triangle coasters are too sweet! Yay for quick (and scrappy) gifts for your mama.

Pamela Arbour said...

I love all of your potholders. Great idea for those Christmas scraps!

Sheila said...

Everything looks great. I make lots of very scrappy, colorful pot holders every year as my family goes through them! Scorched. Holes burned in them, etc. I spread them out on the table at Christmas and tell them to take what they want.