Pincushions and Potholders

     I finished quilting and binding my pineapple class sample. I am generally not wild about my own machine quilting, but I am trying to challenge myself to do it more so I get better at it. I needed to get this to A Scarlet Thread so they could hang it up as an upcoming class. I will be teaching this on October 26th.

      
      The T-shirt quilt went to the quilters, so I am done with that for awhile. I did make a binding for it though. So, that will be ready to go when it comes back.

     My gardenias are very confused, They have been blooming! I have never seen this happen before. They usually bloom in early summer, and then are done for the year. I wonder, is this caused by our unusually wet summer? The last month has really been quite dry. It's kind of bad since I had gotten so used to not having to water anything.
 

     I having finally begun making small items for the art show that I will be in November 9th and 10th. I already have plenty of large quilts to make a nice showing, but I wanted to make some smaller "gifty" items to show also. The Southern Heartland Gallery near me has told me they have already gotten a request for my potholders.

      I started a bunch of chicken pincushions. I have made them in 2 sizes, but there is only 1 size in this photo.

 

     I made them out of scrap pieces of scarves and blankets leftover from the days when I was weaving those things. So, they are made from hand dyed, and hand woven fabric. I used jumbo red rickrack to make their combs. So far they are all blind. I plan to take them with me today when I sew with some friends, add their eyes. Then they will be ready to stuff. I bought some black beads to use for their eyes.

     I have also been working on some pot holders. I have tried to make them a different way this year. Last year, I used the flip and sew method to sew through the batting and backing at the same time as I was piecing them. Then I had to bind them.

     This year I am piecing the top layer separate, then sewing it to the back with right sides together, then inserting the batting, and quilting the resulting sandwich. This saves me the step of making a binding, put I have to hand stitch the hole closed, and then quilt it. I am not sure which I like better, or even which is faster, but this method is forcing me to machine quilt more. I think these large ones are better for hot pads, or decoration.

    
      The top set are the blocks I made in Victoria Findley's class at The Georgia Quilt show.

     Smaller ones are more practical for actual pot holding use.

          And, I just finished roasting another set of sunflower seeds that is almost as big as the first set!

     That is what I have been up to this week. Thanks for stopping by!