Pot Holder Season

I can't tell you how many of "those Tula Pink blocks" I've made. I can't count that high. But over the years, they've been the basis for many quilts. And they are so much fun to make! I knew from the get-go that I was going to abso-bloomin-lutely love making them, so as soon as I got my copy of the book, I took it up to Kinko's and got it spiral-bound.

Late this past spring, the urge struck once again and I made a bunch of Tula blocks, this time using just one color per block. I had a layout in mind. Then they got set aside for more pressing projects.

When I picked them up again, the lay-out was uninspiring and the monochromatic blocks were unexciting. So I set them back down.

I've been known -- in the early autumn of the year -- to get make pot holders. There's often a group of people who gather for a holiday brunch and it's nice to have a little something for them. And a pair of them makes a nice hostess gifty. 

The Tulas rose to the surface again. Six inch pot holders, IMNSHO, are next to useless. But a one-inch border all the way around brings 'em up to eight inches. 

I layered: one bordered block, one square of left-over batting, one square of Insul-Brite, all 8-1/2" with one roughly 12" square of backing and got a lot of practice in machine quilting, stitching in the ditch, then trimming the backing to one inch all the way around and double-folding it in for hand-stitching in front of the television at night.

Stitching in the ditch made some nifty patterns on the back side.