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Potholder Project

I made this set of potholders by sandwiching one layer of cotton duck/canvas between two layers of organic cotton batting, then sandwiching those between two layers of cotton terrycloth (I used cotton washcloths), all roughly 9.5 inches square. I used my walking foot to quilt the layers together. Then I trimmed them down to 8.5 inches square with my rotary cutter and ruler.

Since I didn’t have enough of my polka dotted cotton to make a true bias, I cut 2.5 inch strips and sewed them on the edges of the potholders without turning the corners. I put the strips right sides against the terrycloth, on one edge at a time, sewed a 0.5 inch seam, turned each strip over to the back, turned under the raw edge to match the front, slipped stitched it down, and then top-stitched it down from the front side. I did all four edges this way, turning under the corners where necessary so no raw edge was left out, but leaving about 5 inches of the strip loose at the final corner.

At the final corner, I took the 5 inches of the strip I left loose, turned under the raw edge, then flipped it over on itself to make a loop for hanging, which I then sewed down by hand on the back of the potholder.

We then tested them out on some homemade cheesecake, and they worked great 🙂

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Order out of chaos

Finally! I’ve sewn and stuffed and attached all my previously adrift doll parts. They look like little fencing champions, all lined up in white. Are there only ten? Oh, but it feels like there must be more! Perhaps I just had two more in mind.

To celebrate, I made Swedish Lucia buns which, according to our old Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook, are traditionally served in Sweden to celebrate their Queen of Light Festival, also known as Saint Lucia Day, which comes at the beginning of the Christmas season. Once again, I am a bit off with my holiday traditions.

They are wonderful, however, and similar recipes can be found online, like this one.

Copies of the old Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook can still be found on EBay, which reminds me…I’d like to get an extra copy for myself. Ours is getting tattered.