Listless

I had planned to do a lot of sewing this weekend but it didn't quite work out that way. We spent a lot of time buying plants and pots and soil and then potting everything and then carrying everything upstairs to our balcony. Soon (well, soon-ish) we will have fresh basil and tiny tomatoes and everything wonderful, right outside our door. And a friend offered us free tickets to see The Crucible at the Guthrie on Sunday...so we gladly added that to our schedule!

And the rest of the time I felt listless. And headachy and sort of blah and not that creative. I sewed a few blocks for my Parisville quilt but it didn't hold my attention for long. So, I ended up digging through some bins for inspiration.

I found a few orphan blocks...some traditional, some scrappy. There was a block of pink strips that felt like it should be a bag, somehow. I've been wanting to try Jeni Baker's tutorial for her lined drawstring bag so I got to work. The tutorial (and the bag) did not disappoint! I really love how it turned out.

I've decided that whenever possible, I would like to "wrap" gifts in reusable handmade bags. I have so much fabric and the bag is an extra gift...win/win! This little bag went straight to the gift box before Extra-cat could fall asleep on it.

And then I decided to use the rest of the orphan blocks to make potholders. I got out my Insul-Bright and immediately remembered why I hate making potholders. The Insul-Bright is crinkly...as in, it makes a crinkly noise. For some reason I just can't stand that noise, even though it is very slight and I know tons of people like it just fine and use it all the time for potholders.

Do you like Insul-Bright? If so, I'm clearing out my stash and I'd love to give you some! Leave a comment and we'll chat.

So, anyway, rather than give up, I decided to make a test potholder with just regular cotton batting. I cut an orphaned block and backing to 9", quilted it with four layers of cotton batting and then trimmed everything to 8.5". I really love curved corners on potholders but I've never tried it before...so I tried it! And I made bias binding for the first time. The stitching on the front is fine but everything went a little crazy on the back. Not too bad for my first try but there is definitely room for improvement.

I tested the potholder with our heavy pizza stone in a 550 degree oven. I felt no noticeable difference between my new potholder and an Insul-Bright potholder I made a while back. I now feel comfortable making plain-old cotton batting potholders and giving them away as gifts. I'm excited that my orphan blocks will finally have a home!

And that's about all I did this weekend.