Pretty Potholders

Look at the gorgeous potholders that arrived in my mailbox yesterday :) My lovely swap partner ended up being from right here in Canada and I just LOVE what she created for me. The cute little quilted christmas tree is actually made with same fabrics that I used for my partners potholders! Great minds must think alike *grin*.

I adore the stitching on this potholder, the way it created hills and valleys around the little squares of fabric... so crazy creative!! It actually reminds me of a game of pac man *grin*. They are perfect for my kitchen as it is red and the polka dot binding is just fantastic :) I don't think that I can bear to use them though in fear of staining them so I think that I'm going to use them on my coffee table for resting a candle jar on. That way I can enjoy them all throughout the holiday season and they won't get any pot roast or pie stains on them *grin*.

Along with the potholders came this super cute little felt christmas tree decoration to. Again more stitching so lovingly placed all over it. It will be a perfect addition to the handmade ornaments that the children and I have made for the tree :)

Thank you so much Val!!!
Hugs,
Rsoina

Holiday Package Ready To Ship

Ta-Dah!

All finished :) My little holiday ornament turned out even better than I could have hoped and I'm seriously going to have to make one for myself now *grin*.

Here is everything that I'm sending to my secret swap partner for the holiday edition of the potholder pass. Both of the potholders have the appliqued bird design on the front and the candy cane striping for the backing. I wasn't sure how I was going to add the potholder hooks but I decided on using red rik rak and embellished them with a tiny red heart and to accompany the potholders is my little stumpwork ornament.

I sure hope my partner will enjoy it as much as I did making it for her :) The whole package is all wrapped up and ready to be dropped off at the post office tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see what I get *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Nature's Larder

I've been putting the finishing touches on my special stumpwork ornament that I'm giving to my Potholder Pass partner :) I had mentioned in my last update that it was out of one of my older inspiration magazines and here is a photo of what the original projects look like. Aren't they amazing?! Mine is considerably larger since it is an ornament for a Christmas tree but these ones are not even 2 inches in diameter.

Everything has to be in the mail by Sunday and I'm right on track to get it all shipped by the last day LOL. So much for this being the fastest swap I've ever completed! Somewhere along the way I got sidetracked... thus is my life *grin*.

The above photo shows a side view of the raspberry that is covered completely in french knots and the accented with little beads :)

For the leaves I used a special satin floss that sort of shimmers depending on how the light hits it. It's a DMC floss number S700 and I think that it gave the whole project the little extra glitz that I was looking for :)

So tonight I'm going to finish attaching my little red berries that are awaiting me all pinned in place and figure out exactly how to anchor my acorn without shifting the satin threads surrounding it. I find that the instructions in the magazine are a little vague which makes finishing the project a little tougher but it's coming together nicely and tomorrow I should have a completed photo to show you along with the potholders that are finished to :) Yay!! Then I can move on to new projects *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Binding

I've been making bias tape for the binding around my potholders but I think it would have been quicker to have just bought a pre made package! I really wanted that perfect match to my fabric though *grin*

I've never made bias tape before so I just sort of estimated the width and went with 1 1/2 inch strips of fabric and after all of the folding and ironing I ended up with 3/4 inches of fabric to wrap around the edges of my potholders. I've got the first one pinned and I'm hoping that when I go to sew it on tomorrow it all goes smoothly!

I was going to do it tonight but I just got a phone call from my boss and it's time to go back to work. I work seasonally for fisheries offloading sea cucumbers and red & green sea urchins and there are a few boats hailing into the area for the end of the week so I've been sorting through paperwork and charts to see what I need for this winter. It's a great way to pick up a little extra cash around the holidays but man I am seriously not looking forward to standing out in the pouring rain anytime soon! LOL. It never fails, as soon as I start it rains sideways and soaks me. I'll just have to focus on the nice little cash infusion that will be heading to my bank account very soon *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Stitching Away

The potholders are coming along nicely :)
I decided to leave the more christmasy fabrics on the bottom and mounted them all onto the white linen background adding a red border with little linen squares in the four corners. I think it compliments the little birdies perfectly!

This may be the fastest that I have ever completed a swap. No I'm not done yet... darn close though *grin*. Both of the potholder tops are stitched and quilted to the heat resistant batting and all that needs to be finished tomorrow is to add the binding and whip up my ornament :)

I can't wait to see what my partner makes for me!
My mom was teasing me about putting so much work into a gift for a complete stranger but you know I have received some of the nicest things from ladies all across the globe that I have only met through emails :) It's like Christmas all year round to have little surprise packages of homemade goodness arrive!

Hugs,
Rosina

Potholder Progress

I am seriously falling in love with this potholder!

The little birdies turned out even cuter than I thought and I can't wait to get stitching tomorrow :) I think that I'm going to replace the one tear dropped shape on the bottom left that has the multi colored stripes as it sort of looks out of place with the rest but hindsight is always 20/2o right?

I was thinking that when I'm finished this I'm going to turn the pattern into a lino block print and use it for my Christmas cards this year to *grin*. I haven't made a new print in quite some time and I'm just itching to put all of the great info I learned from Richard to more use!!

How about you, have you started any of your Christmas projects or cards yet? Yes I said cards to! I'm already starting to write my holiday letter because I know that if I don't finish it by the end of this month it will never reach everyone before Christmas LOL.

Hugs,
Rosina

Potholder Planning

I've been digging through my fabric piles looking for Christmasy prints so I can get right down to business working on my holiday potholder for the PP5 swap :) I happened to just purchase a charm pack of Moda's 12 Days of Christmas so that is going to come in mighty handy and I have the name of my secret partner and what she likes so I'm ready to roll *grin*.

Originally I planned to do something with cathedral window blocks for the top of the potholder but being my usual indecisive self I thought that maybe that just wasn't going to be creative enough for my partner so I got to sketching :) So far I've come up with these chubby birdies and some random shapes surrounding them with the heart on top which I thought was cute.

What do you think? If it's done in the Christmas fabrics and maybe some freehand embroidery to embellish the bird backs....

I haven't worked out all the kinks yet but I've got it started so that's one step closer to the mailing date at the end of the month *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina