Do you remember weaving pot holders?

 I remember when I was a young girl, probably about 10 or 11, I would make potholders in the car when our family took a vacation.  For each stop of our friends and relatives, I would make them a potholder, usually two! 

Now I am a Grandma. My three grandchildren call me Gigi.  They come to visit every summer and I plan several craft activities, mostly to create things outside, but there are always rainy days and we do travel in the car on and off. I selected weaving potholders for those times.  I found a wonderful company named Acorn and Twigs and I placed an order and I am super impressed.  I had the order in less than 4 days and I unpacked the loom and loops and started weaving...

 

I love the feel of the 100% cotton loops! They are 10 inch loops and are super soft.

 

 I finished in less than an hour and the loops were easy to hook off the loom with a crochet hook.  Because they have a curved edge they stay on the loom better.

 

I still use corning-ware from the seventies for my serving dishes.  My dish fit perfectly on the potholder or hot pad. Because it is cotton it will protect my counter or table.

 

 

It is soft and flexible and the pot holder could be used to protect my fingers from a hot glass lid also.

If you want to bring back some childhood memories or introduce your grandchildren to weaving, I suggest using this link to Acorn and Twigs ! 

I showed the new hot pad/pot holder to my husband and he said, "Cool, it's Brewer Baseball colors!"

Enjoy your day!

Marcia

How to Embroidery Stitch a Sunflower

 

This is a step by step "photo tutorial" on how I make (stitch) my sunflowers. I even flip over my flower and show you the backside of it.

I start with the pre cut raw edge applique pieces from my kits that are available in my ebay shop (CraftyQuilting). You can purchase my pre cut sunflower kits at very reasonable prices. 

At this time, I only ship in the United States on ebay.  If you contact me via email craftysewing@gmail.com I can mail the pre cut kits to you if you don't live in the United States. I can email you a PayPal invoice to pay and ship it out via PayPal. 

OR you can download my pattern template for free at www.craftysewing.com --- I ask that you please donate to UNICEF for helping Ukraine or a charity of your choice that will help the people of Ukraine. Thanks in advance from me for doing that.

View and read all the instructions before you start sewing.....

I center the bottom layer of the sunflower and stitch the petals with a straight stitch. I use the clips to hold it in place. You can use pins too. The batting piece is under the top fabric, but not the back piece of fabric --- keep viewing and reading.....

You can use pins or clips to hold the next layer in place as you stitch the center onto the flower. I stitched a couple French knots in the center with the violet thread.

 I stitched more French knots with the lavender thread and a variegated thread in the center of the flower.  

Time to carefully trim the batting on the backside a little bit. See photos.

At this time, add the backing fabric and stitch a border. See the photo below of the Blue Sunflower and I stitched a chain stitch for the border.

See border on the blue Sunflower.

Enjoy! Marcia

A Christmas Tree Quilt for My Sofa

I am in a Facebook Group, where we have a quilt block lottery once a month.  It's called "Swapping Sisters".  We are currently doing a "Sew Along". 

Here's how the Quilt Block Lottery works:  

At the beginning of the month, they post the quilt block we are making. You sign up to make one or two or up to four quilt blocks.  You make them and take a photo and post that you have completed your quilt block or blocks.  At the end of the month, they have a drawing. Your name is entered as many times as you make blocks (up to 4) . If you lose, you mail your quilt blocks to the winner (all in the US).  If you win, everyone mails you their quilt blocks. Over the past 3 years, I have won 4 times!!!

My original intent was to force myself to make the quilt block, as I do not normally make traditional quilts, so this way, I would learn a new quilt block every month.  I like learning new things.

In July, I won these Christmas tree Quilt Blocks.  Of course, the blue one is mine!

After I quilted it, I took a few photos on the bed.  It could be a bed quilt too.

But I like it best on my sofa!

I made a couple fun sequin fabric pillows for my grandchildren to throw on the sofa.

They LOVED it!

Me too!

Here's the link to my post about my Grandmother's buttons that I stitched onto Crazee Patch Velvet Pillows.

  

Christmas is over, so it's time to flip my Sofa Quilt over! It's reversible!

Enjoy your day!

Marcia