Preparations for a Wedding

Erin and Andrew's wedding is just around the corner now, and it's keeping the crafting hands busy. First thing when I got back to Waterloo was the wedding shower! There was a food and drinks table with jumbo straws that I wish I had stolen every time I have an avocado smoothie (a new favourite).

And a Bronwyn Snyder cake which, despite worries, was delicious. But the sudden realization dawns that I never got a strawberry... 

Some BORING punch. Actually it was delicious AND there were mimosas outside.

But all I really did was provide transport and show up, basically. Oh, and tack up some flowers in doorways.

Hannah, on the other hand, cross-stitched badges for everyone.

AND made adorable cupcakes! So it's almost like you were there now, isn't it? Hm?

In other news, I've been helping out some since then. I got my sewing machine all oiled up! I am way more excited about this than most things. That sewing machine is a good reference point for me in life.

In any case, I brought it over to Erin's for some quilting madness!!!!!!!!

We got all of the rows done so it shouldn't take too much more time to finish, because of Erin's sensible choice of quilting method: knots!

And, during downtimes, putting together giant paper flowers has taken over all other duties. These are amazing. Instructions available here and I highly recommend making a bunch of these without having any purpose in mind. They're fun.

Quilting Detail

 I figured maybe instead of just throwing pictures up of all my projects (because doing that every week would be really boring), maybe I'll show you HOW I make each one of them. Starting with the quilt, since a couple of people have been curious about that. Usually I sit on my bed, throw on some Netflix, and hoop up the next square I'm going to quilt. In this case, it'll be that boring grey square in the middle. These squares are very simple to do, just straight lines to make a smaller square inside.

 Next step is to measure half an inch inside whichever line you want to start with. Of course, you always want to start your quilting in the middle, so it's always better to start with whatever part of the square is closest to the middle. in this case it's the top left corner, so I'll be going from left to right.

 Mark the line with a piece of masking tape so you know you'll be making a straight line.

 Mark your start and end points.

 Clearly I've used the same piece of tape several times, so I have to start getting creative to keep track of what I'm doing. It gets messy quickly.

 Then take your needle and make even running stitches along the line. This is my favourite needle because it's bent in the most convenient way. I don't what I'll do if I ever lose it. Before you begin you want to make a small knot in the in the thread, which you'll pull through the top layer of the quilt only, so it sits nicely inside and keeps everything in place.

And that's finished!

Hot Beartatos!

I'm bad at telling people how to do stuff. However, the pattern I used for the potholders was found here so in case you get confused, which you inevitably will, go there.

First you need brown cotton fabric, light brown cotton fabric, black embroidery floss, some cotton batting, and some thermal lining stuff. At the store they kept calling it Thermalin, but on the receipt it says thermoplus? I dunno. The employees looked at me, got confused, tried to sell me fabric to cover an ironing board, then suggested I go to the dollar store, buy oven mitts, and cut them up... I just couldn't do that because a) cheating and b) most oven mitts aren't circular. Plus most potholders are quilted, so what was I supposed to do? They asked the big boss of oven mitts, who said "just use this" which turned out to be a thermal fabric that was right under the cutting table we happened to be at. Funny.


Oh, you'll also need a plate or bowl (something circular) and maybe something ovally. I sort of free-handed that bit.


I am bad at counting. You will need more than this. Something like 8 brown circles, 4 light brown ovals, four thermal lining circles, and two cotton batting circles. You could use four cotton batting circles if you want, but meh.

For the actual part that's holding the pot, sandwich a thermal circle and a batting circle between two brown circles. Make sure you remember which side the thermal lining is on: you want the order to be hot thing: thermal lining: cotton batting: hand.


Quilt somehow! The blog I was going off of quilted in pie pieces. This was certainly quick, but I didn't like the fact that quilting from the centre outwards left all kinds of strings in the middle of the potholder, or the fact that going from one edge to the other caused some unsightly puckering. It was too late at night for me to think up my own way though. Plus cutting circles with a rotary cutter is HARD.


For hand bits, cut your thermal linings in half!


Then, learn hand applique! I'm sure the internet will tell you how to do this. I learned from a book. Sorry.


applique four light brown ovals to four brown circles.



Then, learn how to hand embroider. I learned from here. In case you're wondering, I used a satin stitch.

Then, the hangy bits! Also ears! I just cut some 2 x 4 inch rectangles, folded them, sewed them, turned hem inside out, pressed them, and sewed over the seam. What's the big deal?

To piece together the final product, simply remember that everything you want on the outside should be on the inside. SO you what the thermal lining side of your potholding bit to be UP. Place the hangy bits with the loop (or fold) toward the CENTRE. place the appliqued and embroidered sides of your half circles FACE DOWN.


PIN IT. Then sew around the edges. You'll end up with two weird things that look like this.


Trim the seams as close as possible, and turn the potholders inside out. They'll still look a little weird.
But, once you press them again, they'll make a little more sense.
Sew around the circle one more time, and:You're done!

Personally, I'm really impressed. Especially because of all the emotional meltdowns and rummy hot chocolates I had while making these.

And yes, that IS a Jonas Brothers mug. But it's got a beer bottle stuck in it and I have no idea what to do about the situation but look at it all day every day.