Work has been crazy busy, but I'm carving out time to get on with making gifts for Christmas. I'm determined to make this a handmade holiday. It's so easy to buy something, usually made in China, and while that's fine and goodness knows, I've done that a lot in the past... This year I want to walk my talk of buying local or handmade, and better still - make it myself.
I can't describe how rewarding it is to have an idea then bring it to life. If you're a fellow quilter, crafter, baker, or anyone creative, then you know what I mean! And I'm not going to lie, I DO love the wonderful exclamation "You made that?!! WOW!!"
So... onwards. Here are some photos from my latest adventure in sewing. Jacquie from
Tall Grass Prairie Studio has some wonderful tutorials, and I loved her kitchen set tutorial. I thought this would make a great gift set for a few of my friends. Since not all of my friends go made with decorating for the holidays, I thought I'd make the set in fabrics that can be in the kitchen year 'round. I made a trip to The Workroom to pick up "just one fat quarter" to round out my stash.
Ahem.
I walked out of the shop with these:
There's something about the mix of brown, aqua, grey and linen that just calls to me right now. But then I realized I didn't really have a focal fabric. Not like the adorable Michael Miller "Holiday Hostess" print Jacquie used in her tutorial.
I decided to improvise and broke out my embroidery floss, grabbed some white Kona cotton scraps, Jenny Hart embroidery iron-on designs and
le voila...
I made a couple of wonky log cabin blocks using the embroidered squares as my focal point, and cut a 10x10" square of the Robert Kaufman beater print for the back...
Then I sandwiched using warm and natural cotton batting and insulate -- a special batting for oven mitts and that type of thing.
My quilting... it needs work! I don't know how the fabric went wonky in that one place, but I am getting better with practice.
Here is the complete set -- two potholders and a coordinating tea towel.
I just need to put a grommet in each pot holder and this set is done.
-k
