Yet One More Pot Holder

Tomorrow is Departure Day for a couple we've become friends with here at our marina. They decided a year or so ago to sell everything and move onto a boat and the fact that they had no sailing experience didn't stop them.  They now live on a 43' monohull with their calico cat and with a lot of sailing lessons behind them they are heading for the Bahamas and then who knows where.

And imagine how fun it was for me to discover that Sally also sews. Actually she sews a lot and her work is really very nice. She's made Sunbrella covers for nearly everything on the boat including their anchor! Her husband is always coming up with something he thinks she should sew and I warned him if he doesn't stop she'll probably be glad to make a body bag for him  She also made all their cockpit cushions (something I would never attempt) and they are very professional looking.  They lucked into a couple of old sails and Sally's made some really great bags out of them like the ones you see for more than a hundred dollars in catalogs.

But anyway they are leaving (insert very sad face here) and Hans told me I should make something for them. I told him no because Sally can already make anything they need and since her work is so neat and precise I'd be embarrassed to have her see my stuff up close. I decided on a bottle of champagne until last week when we were enjoying cocktail hour(s) in their cockpit they mentioned they've been given at least 3 bottles of the stuff along with the bottle their son gave them back for their 25th wedding anniversary (they just celebrated their 32nd and I'm impressed with how much fun they still have together as a couple).
With that idea out the window I threw caution to the wind and went ahead and made a couple of pot holders  with a nautical theme (from this tutorial).

pockets 

No this is not a pot holder

The weather here seemed to go from hellishly hot to wonderful just like that! We now have very cool evenings and mornings and poor Wilbur is puzzled. After I dropped Hans off at work today and came home, I was met by a trembling pit bull. Honestly, he trembles when he gets cold and apparently 60 degrees doesn't feel good on his tender pitty flesh. I had to cover him with a blanket.

There will be no sled dog races in this pooch's future!

Some Thanksgiving sewing

Now that Hans and I have been displaced we were very thankful (no pun necessarily intended) to be invited for Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a former college friend of Hans' from some 30 years back and whom he hasn't seen in, well, nearly 30 years! Thirty years!!! It would appear we're getting to be pretty darned old wouldn't it?


We were informed that we didn't need to bring anything so I decided to make a couple of holiday pot holders and take along a bottle of wine and a pumpkin pie.




I have a pot holder tutorial but I decided that it might be a bit too big so I just decreased my pattern by an inch over all. Not such a big deal but I like it a little bit better. For added protection I also added Insul-brite to the pocket side.
I chose a snowman theme as it can be used all winter long unlike Santa and Christmas trees etc..





Hmm, Wilbur knows something's up and it's most likely not good.

And he was right. He stayed home Thanksgiving Day while we were out having a high old time.

But don't worry about the little man, he had many cushions to lie his tender pitty body on while we were gone.








I also made a couple of fabric covered buttons for decoration.












At the last minute I thought maybe I should make a wine bag and dug up this wine themed fabric and ripped that zipper out of a previously made garment and reused it for this project.

Here it is all zipped up.
















And now with the top turned down. I also used a slice of wine cork threaded through a key chain jump ring for a zipper pull.

Actually, it was a bit amateurish and if I sew one again it will look a lot better, but it was kind of fun to make.


I'm now trying to come up with some fun (and cheap) Christmas decorating ideas for our slip here in the marina. And I need cheap since most anything I do will probably be vandalized and tossed into the water anyway.

Some more boat sewing and Wilbur jumps ship!

I made some pot holders a while back and decided I may as well use them on the boat. You can see that I have them stacked upright in my pantry area, and in my spice bin.

I put them beside a can of Pringles (the super stack sized) and you can see how big they are. Actually, they make great trivets.

I pleated and re-sewed another part of what was originally a purse storage bag and hung it in the guest head.

Yesterday we ended up staying an extra day at our marina because Hans had to replace some plumbing. When our boat was winterized someone at the boat yard didn't drain all the water out properly and a brass pipe burst. This extra time allowed me to mount my new storage bins.

They're in our guest berth but I stuck our bottles of sunscreen in one, clothes pins in another, and some clothing in the last one. I have enough of this stuff remaining to make another set.

It's all about storage on a boat!

Last but not least, Wilbur snuck off the boat this morning as we were getting ready to cast off. Hans and I were both in the cockpit trying to remove our grill and I was positive I'd heard Wilbur's tags jingle. We had the engines running and and Hans was going to get our dock lines ready to release. That's when I wondered why Wilbur wasn't in the cockpit with us as he's always getting in the way. After checking the salon area and then our berth and not finding a dog, I started becoming alarmed. Hans insisted he'd just seen him in our berth so I went below again and pounded the covers in order to make sure he wasn't hiding.

He wasn't.

That's when I lost it. Hans turned off the engines and I jumped onto the dock and started screaming Wilbur's name. I was trying to peer under the boat when someone way up the dock yelled out to me. "Up here" he shouted, and I saw about three people looking out into the parking lot. I started running as fast as I could and as I approached the end of the dock, I saw Wilbur coming back toward the men who'd been calling for him. I was shaking so bad and breathing so hard I'm surprised I was able to remain standing.

I have no idea what possessed him to jump over (it was a big drop too!) and it must have been a pretty fast maneuver on his part since Hans and I were right there! Yesterday when I took him for a walk he was fascinated with an area right behind a white car. He pulled me over to it several times and nearly inhaled the pavement he sniffed so hard. That's pretty much where he was when we found him and it must have been preying on his mind all night long to get back to that spot.

This is what a baaaaad pitty looks like after getting caught. Once we hauled him back on the boat he hightailed it to our bunk.

He's always on a tether when he's in the cockpit but from now on when we're ready to cast off I'm going to close him in our berth.

The Perfect Pot Holder Tutorial

What does one do when she's supposed to be preparing her house for sale?
What does one do when she's supposed to be cleaning, and painting, and fixing?
She spends an entire weekend making ugly potholders, that's what!
It all started when I decided to make (oh, this will be so easy) matching pot holders to go with the aprons that, time permitting, I've been sewing.
Luckily I made a sample (or two or three) before cutting into the fabric that was purchased on line and I didn't feel like paying shipping fees yet once again, thank you very much!
After a sweaty 3 hours I finished my first one!
Oh my God people! This is a pot holder! This is not couture sewing! How hard can it be?
First of all, bias tape is not my friend.


Sample # 1.
Way too much time and fabric went into the bias strips. And since the tape was to go around curves, the strips had to be cut on the bias.











Trying to sandwich the 2 layers of fabric + 2 layers of Isul-Brite, between the bias tape, ended up looking awful.












Pot Holder # 2.
Not too bad from a distance and/or with a beverage or two.
I thought I was very clever when I decided to serge the sandwiched layers together before attempting to apply the bias tape.










But hideous up close.
Even with pricey, purchased bias tape this took way too long to make.
What embarrassing curves! And I even used my walking foot.








Giving up on the bias tape, I decided to sew right sides together leaving one side open for turning.
Not a bad idea (even though the stripes on the pocket don't line up with the pot holder) but...








...the other side of my poor striped Pot Holder is even uglier!

Something you wouldn't pay a dollar for at a discount store!











A close up of the hideous 'turn the raw turning side in and top stitch'!
I didn't top stitch the whole way around because I knew that the thick outer edges would make for wobbly stitching!






I was getting very frustrated and combined with PMS that can be a very dangerous thing.
But after a lot of thinking I came up with this:

This is the main body of the Pot holder. A 13 1/2 inch square.
A 9 1/2 square of insul-brite (shiny side down on the wrong side of the fabric)

Free style quilting, but it doesn't show on my finished holder because of the busy print.

A 9 1/2 inch square of contrasting fabric (that you can't see here but it's striped) and insul-brite (shiny side of insul-brite to wrong side of fabric), quilted together.

Jump ahead to the pocket.

No, that's not binding at the top (remember: binding + Laura = tantrum).

It's 2 pieces of fabric: 1 of the pot holder fabric (7 1/2 X 9 1/2) and 1 of the contrast fabric (6 1/2 X 9 1/2) Sew right sides together at the top only, turn right sides out, line up the raw edges and the shorter side will pull down and create a band of fabric across the top.

Place the pressed pocket (right side up) on top of the smaller quilted square (also right side up).

Now place the smaller quilted square on top of the bigger quilted square, wrong sides together. Insul-brite will be on insul-brite.

Fold the bigger square in toward the smaller square. Here's the top and bottom edges folded and pressed.

Now the sides have been folded in. Fold just enough so that the raw edges of the outer square touch the smaller square.

For your mitered corners: fold a corner in and pin.

Now bring the folded sides in and pin. This should create the squared and mitered corner.

Here's a hint: The insul-brite is thick and this can make it difficult to miter the corners so I trim ONE piece of insul-brite at each corner before all the folding and sewing of the edges.

Note: trim the insul-brite on the POCKET side of the pot holder leaving the pot holder side of insul-brite alone! The pocket side is not the side you'll be using for hot dishes so it can be trimmed.

All the edges have been turned in and pinned in place.

I used my walking foot and zig-zagged around the edges of the folded down band.

Here's my finished pot holder with my hand in the pocket.

Here it is!!! Very pretty, nicely squared corners, and NO BIAS TAPE!!!!

You can attach a loop for hanging if you'd like (just stitch it on a corner with a decorative button).
And I just realized that I didn't include a photo of the front! Well it's just a big square of the flowered fabric and since it will be the 'working' side of the pot holder and it will get dirty anyway, who cares!

This is the pretty side!


So, what does one do when she's supposed to be preparing her house for sale?

What does one do when she's supposed to be cleaning, and painting, and sewing?

She spends her entire morning blogging about pot holders!!!!!
I really need to get my priorites straight!

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Update:

I've made several of these over the past few years and I now add a layer of Insul-brite to the pocket piece also (6 1/2" X 9 1/2"). It does make for a thick pot holder but by doing so you can protect your knuckles (just in case!).  Actually you don't even have to add a pocket and since these are so big you can use them as trivets (and save some fabric).

Or you can cut your 9 1/2" square from a pair of blue jeans and reuse a back pocket like I did here.

http://sewatsea.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-more-boat-sewing-and-wilbur-jumps.html