Other Sewing

I spent a few pre-Christmas days chained to the sewing machine, with the door locked and myriad threats against intruders. :)

Here are a couple gifts I made:

Quilted Potholders

I made the above potholders for my mother-in-law. They are quite large (9 1/2" square, I think) and have two quilted layers, one with a cutout, so to be used as a mitt. The outer layer is cotton, the linings are muslin, and in between there are a couple layers of ugly canvas (shhh.. don't tell Mom) and a piece of old, weird blanket (ditto on the shhh). The binding is terrible. Please don't look closely, but for the love of Pete, do tell me if there is a Binding Alternative out there somewhere.

Christmas Slippers

I made Baby a couple pairs (wish I knew where they were) of baby slippers, and went ahead and monkeyed with the pattern to make her sisters each a pair (yes, there is a match to each of those in the photo).  I traced each girl's foot for sizing, and went from there.  However, Big Sister has already worn entirely through her polyester sherpa sole, so the idea obviously works best for the "under 25-lb" crowd. Something non-slip might also be in order; thankfully everyone around here seems to have sturdy bones...  I considered brushing a little rubber cement on the undersides, but we don't have any.  Can you buy non-stick fabric like you find on pajama feet?  That would be handy.

The girls were thrilled with their slippers.  I'm so glad they still think Mama making everything homemade is cool.  :)