A Little Different Something

Early in the week I was all caught up on Grand Illusion, and thinking about finding something else to work on.  Digging out a major project wasn't appealing so I tidied up my sewing spaces a little and came across the perfect little project.

In summer 2013 I'd gone to the Sisters Quilt Show in Sisters, OR for the very first time.  While there, at one of the vendor locations I found some hot pad projects.  I bought three. One was of a cute kitty in green on muslin.

The kit came with the fabric, a square of Insulbright, the pre-embroidered center and the instructions.  I found the instructions to be a bit confusing, but in the end figured out how to do it.  There were two options and the option I used didn't use the 'solid' red fabric.  Neither portion of the directions gave clear info as to how to make the triangle corners (see the itsy bitsy photo that came with the pattern - the one at the upper right in the above photo).  I could have figured that out I suppose but didn't want to make the effort.  I also had to remove the paper-like foundation that was used on the backside and even with a pair of pointy tweezers and a pin it was not easy - too many little spots and I was afraid I'd break the stitching, so on this one, there might still be some teensy pieces of foundation left behind.  Overall, I'd say I spent about two hours from start to finish which included trying to understand the directions and pulling the backing paper off.

Above is the finished product.  It is 10" square, a really nice size to use as a hot pad or even a large pot-holder.  I think it's really cute, and I have to apologize for your having to bend your head to your shoulder but that's Blogger's problem - I did not take the photo sideways but that's how it uploads, and I haven't reached the point of really editing my photos for the blog yet...all in due time.

About now you're wondering what this photo of a clear bag inside a Popcornopolis tin is all about.  I'd mentioned a little about it in a post back in January. This tin, and its original, oh-so-incredibly-yummy contents, was gifted to us last year for Christmas by my brother-in-law.  [And I found a smaller tin of it at Costco a couple weeks ago for $20! Yeah, it jumped into my cart!] Never one to throw out a good, usable, empty container (that IS a problem you know), I designated it to my sewing room & inserting a bag, am using it to capture all my thread and piecing trimmings, and any snippets of fabric or selvedges that aren't big enough to use for anything. 

It is a very full bag as you can see it sitting next to my laptop.  It's a good 11" tall squished closed as you see it.  I seem to remember that someone in the local guild uses these for dog / cat pads, so that is the destiny of these trimmings.

The other two hot pad kits are of the same aproned hen with eggs but the fabrics are different patterns but both red.  When I do them, I'll post pictures at that time.  For now, I've only removed the stabilizer backings from them - one was very easy as it was softer and less papery and came apart like a super thick tissue might; the papery one, eh, it still needs some work.