Scrappy Hot Potholder Tutorial

I finally got around to making more hot potholders this weekend. I finished piecing the top for weeks now, but ran out of the insul-Bright batting to finish them off. These hot potholders were made with scraps from the kitchen floor mat project.

I made a total of three different hot potholders!

Although I have made these before, I could not remember how to do the loop for the life of me! I decided to put together a tutorial for when I forget again next time. I thought I would share this tutorial in case you are interested in making pretty hot potholders with scraps.

:: Scrappy Hot Potholder Tutorial ::

MATERIALS: 

- Tons of scraps assembled into one 8.5" x 8.5" piece
- One 10" x 10" piece of insul-Bright batting
- One 10" x 10" piece of Warm and Natural batting
- One 12" x 12" piece of fabric as the backing
- One 2" wide strip (about 40" long) as binding. Feel free to piece this long piece using scraps as well.
- One 1.75" wide scrap fabric (about 3" long) to make the loop on the potholder so you can hang this up!

INSTRUCTIONS: 
1. Take your quilted piece, backing, batting, and layer them in this order: quilt top (right-side up), insul-bright batting, Warm and Natural batting, and the backing (right-side down).

A note about batting. I highly recommend using Warm and Natural for this project. It's slightly more expensive and is perfect for hand quilting, but this particular batting is thin (yet effective). We will be quilting four layers in total, you want to use batting that will not be super bulky for you to quilt through.

2. Baste through all four layers starting from the center of the quilt. I only did four (as show below).

3. Now you are ready to quilt through this sandwiched piece in whatever way you like. Please make sure you change your footer to the one shown here. Sometimes I forget to switch out my 1/4" quilting foot!

4. This is what it looks like when you finish quilting. See how all edges are uneven? Don't panic. We will trim everything! I usually bast around all four edges about 1/2" away from the edge by hand before I trim and square this off.

 5. After all four edges are basted, I just take it to the cutting mat and trim it! See, it looks all better now, right!?

6. Now this is when you add your label and the loop. Take the 1.75" x 3" fabric, fold the two 3" sides into the middle, and iron. Repeat and stitch along the opening. Attach it to the back of the hot potholder. This is how I usually do the loop. I really like how it looks after the binding is attached.

7. Bind your sandwiched quilt. I use this video tutorial to do my binding every time.

8. Remove basting from step four, iron it a bit, and you are all done!

After you make the first one, additional ones will go by so much faster. These hot potholders are addicting, easy, and perfect for those scraps you have been saving. Please be sure to share photos if you do make one using this tutorial. I would love to see them!

Happiness All Around

Have you seen these adorable bird pot holders made by Lisa at Make it Up as I go Along? Lisa and I decided to do a private swap, and I got an adorable red bird and elegant fabrics in return! This hot potholder looks even better in person; these squares are less than one inch on each side! I have no idea how she pieced all these together so patiently. I love this bird shape hot potholder. Thank you, Lisa! It matches my kitchen and adds a splash of red that goes well with everything.

As you can see, it's already keeping me company in my kitchen. 

Not sure if I will have the heart to use this, but here it is pretending to be in action!

In addition to receiving this in the mail, I also received Seaside Home in the mail from Craft:nosis. Have you heard of Seaside Home? It's a wonderful quilting book that features 25 stitched projects from sea creatures to sailboats. Although I don't live by the sea, I look forward to making many great projects from this book to remind me of the water. Whether you are a beginner or advanced quilter, you will find something in this book for you. Heidi: Thank you for a copy of this book!

 A collection of top designers. 

 Here are pictures of some of my favorite projects from this book.

On an entirely different note, do you remember my orchid that came back to life and started budding around the end of 2011? Well, I am excited to share with you that it flowered once again! It has taken almost three months to re-bloom, but the wait has been worth it! See for yourself.

My beautiful orchid. 

I usually have this orchid by the window during the day, and at night, I move it onto my kitchen counter. I think that really makes a difference. I don't think my orchid likes to be cold at night, but it enjoys the sun during the day. I water it thoroughly every ten days. That's it! So if your orchid is not blooming, make sure it's not near the windows at night.

That's it for now! 

Scrappy Potholder

Thank you so much for your nice comments on my Kitchen Floor Mat! I am so excited that Quilt Story featured me on Fabric Tuesday. I must say, I was all giddy seeing my photo on someone else's blog! I am delighted that you like the quilted floor mat. I hope you make one, and if you do, please let me know. I am here to help!

I am doing a private swap with a friend I met through this space. She liked the colors I used for the Kitchen Floor Mat, so I thought I would make her a pot holder with my scrap fabrics from that project. I think it came out quite cute, but I will let her be the judge!

The front.

As with all of the pot holders I make, I always use Insul-Bright batting to provide insulation. I am pretty sure most local fabric stores are now carrying this; they sell this by the yard. I layered my hot potholder in the follow order: quilt top, insul-bright, regular batting, and the backing. I think two layers of batting are appropriate for hot potholders. I wouldn't want my friend or myself to get burned!

The back.

Ha! It matches the mat so well. Time to make myself one!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is less than two days away! Can you believe it?! It crept up on my so fast this year. I had no time to bake or send out greeting cards. Shame on me :(

We lit the fourth candle for Hanukkah tonight. I also haven't made Latkas, which is fried potato pancake; you eat it with apple sauce or sour cream. I love it!  Not sure what happened this year, but I just barely had enough time to keep up with everything.

I finished sewing up this little hot potholder tonight. I started back in September and have no clue why it took me three months to finally finish it. I used one layer of Insul~Bright insulated batting and one layer of regular cotton batting to prevent myself from burning. This insulated batting works really well. Give it a try if you are interested.

I forgot to take a photo of the backing. I used one of my favorite cupcake prints. 

This finished potholder did inspire me to bake tonight. I cheated and used Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Kit. This is the best and easiest sugar cookie kit out there. I always have a box of this in my pantry. The frosting that came with the kit did not cooperate with me this time; half of the cookies ended up with no frosting. But the cookies were still delicious!

They are disappearing as I type. 

Thank you for being such a supportive group of friends. I am so happy that I got to meet all of you through blogging. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to you. I look forward to continue sharing my projects with you in 2012!