Out with the old ....

and in with the new .... potholders, that is! i threw away my ratty old falling apart set and whipped up a new batch with some quilt scraps. I was very proud of myself. The oven mitt pattern is here, but i didn't love the template, so i traced my old mitt instead (plus 1/2 inch seam allowance). I backed the pot holders with a recycled, felted sweater and fused them with Heat n Bond Ultra. I had to hand sew the binding on the pot holders, since you are not supposed to sew thru the Heat n Bond Ultra, and i probably wouldn't go that way next time. For the oven mitts, I did my first "professional" binding based on Heather Bailey's binding tutorial.

These are my new fat quarters from the Fat Quarter swap at Sew, Mama, Sew. Thanks to all my swap buddies - what to make, what to make .... ? i hadn't swapped in while so this was a good way to get back into it, since it all it required was cutting and putting in an envelope!

oh, one last thing ... i found these super cute softie patterns by Melly & Me. They seem to Australia based, but you can get the patterns here in the US too.

Happy Monday!