Housewarming Pot Holders

I have to admit that it hasn't been good these last couple of weeks. I've been feeling very down. Way down. Even during the three day weekend, I found myself unable to do anything, let alone any of the sewing tasks I had planned. Then by the end of it I felt so guilty. A weekend wasted.

Everyone keeps telling me it's the winter depression come early, but I don't remember it being this bad. Do I block it out? Why am I surprised every year when it happens?

One theory I had was that every year I blame it on a failed new years resolution to get fit. This year, though, I am actually doing really well - exercising four times a week. It's a miracle! I certainly can't place the blame there this year.

Thankfully, the feelings have slowly started to lift. I don't know why it started or why it's stopping, but perhaps forcing myself to do things have helped. I baked twice this week for our Charity bake sale at work to benefit Haiti. AND I sewed something. 

I made two matching pot holders as a Housewarming present for my friend, who just bought her first home. I don't know how she decorated her kitchen yet, but hopefully it matches. 

The red striped fabric is the back of each pot holder. I had exactly enough fabric left of this cute kitchen print, which I found by going through my scrap pile. Very lucky. Why did I ever put such a large scrap in there anyway? 

UPDATE: Umm.... Am I psychic now? The pot holders she already had were blue, green, and then a red and white striped one. How lucky is that?

Pot holders & Place mats

I was very productive this weekend! I think the tote bag really gave me a boost of confidence.

I finished two items (or six, really) that have been needed for quite some time: pot holders and place mats. Many months ago I suggested that maybe we just buy them, but Etienne would not let me. He told me I had to make them myself.

After quite some time, deliberating about which style of placemats to make, I settled on a classic three panel tryptich. Haha. No. Kidding. I made that up, of course. I just  thought it might be nice to pretend that the side panels were meaningful. A place where the silverware could lay. Designated.

The place mats are double sided. The black for when you have some Indian food and the cream for when you are eating cereal. Very important. Actually I just wanted some variety and wanted so badly to use both colors of the Lecien My Folklore fabric. It's soooo cute. I mean mushrooms, electric blue squirrels, and fruit bearing trees with roosters! I had to use it for something that I could look at often.

It was pretty much the same thought for the pot holders. I almost made robot pot holders, but Etienne suggested using one of the really cute fabrics instead. I bought this polar bear and bunny summer fabric a long time ago. Just look at the polar bears cycling and smiling. And the bunny in his old fashioned swimsuit is great.

I used Denyse Schmidt's "Too Hot To Handle" pot holder pattern from her quilting book. I decided to make it thicker, though, by adding a layer of insulating material for safety. No burns, thank you very much.

And the craftiest, most amazing part of all... the binding. When I made Joan's tote bag out of sheets I cut off the edge of the sheets where the fabric was folded up. I thought, "Kim. You should save that. In the most perfect crafty world we can use EVERY bit of leftover fabric. No wasting, please." So, I opened it up and used it for binding. Not very complicated, but I felt good that I wasn't wasting and that I didn't have to make any binding myself. Bleh. I think the white binding looks really nice against the rest, too.