Kitchen Supplies

Another Christmas gift...this time for the other uncle.

I loved this embroidery design. I do feel bad, because I can't remember which website it's from or I'd credit.

Uncle often cooks and hosts big family dinners for us, so I decided to make him a kitchen set this year.  He's an Army Vet...hence the Camo theme. I used a McCalls pattern for the mitt template.  It's a really great shape and size for oven mitts.  They are armed with Insul-Brite and 2 layers of flannel on each side...all of which is hidden by the lovely Camo outer and Kona Black liner. They end up working well.  No burns. 

The towel topper is my own design.  I even found a Camo button in my Stash!  Score!!




I used my handy-dandy Simplicity Bias Tape Maker for the first time for the mitts. My jaw hit the floor when I turned the thing on and saw how fast it works. I'm hooked. I used to think it was a huge waste because of the expensive price tag, but I stumbled across one on Clearance for $30 one day so I snagged it.  It's been sitting on my shelf for a couple months...I just hadn't needed any bias tape yet. But I'm sure glad I bought it after seeing it operate today.  It's quite an efficient little machine.  If you use a lot of bias tape, then I definitely think it's even worth the normal price.  If you only need bias tape once in a while...I would still grab it if you see a great deal on it.  It's pretty awesome.  Saves A TON of time. I despise making my own bias tape.  On the other hand, I refuse to pay for pre-made.  So this is perfect.  All of my problems are solved. :) 

Sampler Quilt

This was actually the BOM from Craftsy with Amy Gibson.  I joined the class late (in September), so I had a lot of catching up to do.  I wanted to complete the quilt for my Uncle for Christmas.  Well needless to say...I never did quite catch up all the way.  So instead of making a 20-block-quilt like they did in the class...I stopped after 12.  However, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  This is only my 3rd quilt.  I chose to do the BOM with Craftsy because of the awesome tutorials.  They really hit every different learning style with their classes. They're great.  I learned a bunch of new techniques during the process that I'll surely be using for years.

I ended up doing some stitch-in-the-ditch for most of the blocks.  Then to fill up the 
sashing I just did some free-motion with a couple templates and drew in some of my own stuff.  It was really fun, and I'm definitely becoming addicted to free-motion.  I did it for the first time on my last quilt - just stippling.  I've got a long way to go to be proficient, but I'm enjoying the learning process.

My Grandmother told me to sign and date my quilts, so I made this little embroidery design to use.  It's relatively small.  You can see it on the full picture stuck in there towards the bottom right.  It's kind of neat to think that someday someone in my family might still have this quilt and always know I made it.  I know we've got some old ones kicking around in our family, and I don't know who made them.