potholders

Ditto! I have cup hooks on the cabinets to each side of my stove and hang a pair of potholders (one per hook) for easy access. My kitchen is big in space (including the dining area) but small in storage, so I can't keep the potholders in drawers.

I have a lot of potholders that my husband's grandmother and aunt made; they are all round -- no corners to drag through anything or catch on a burner. They are about 8 inches in diameter, layered and stitched twice on the diameter (as if dividing it into quarters), and bound with purchased bias binding. Some have hanging loops, some don't . It doesn't matter - I have a small drawer next to the stove for them. Some of the older ones don't have a lot of "filler", but they are fine for using to take something out of the microwave.

Julia > Reading this, Val, it occurred to me that there's no real reason why a

I used to have a mess of hexagonal ones that my gramma crocheted from rug yarn. I've never fancied crocheted potholders because I will always manage to burn myself between the stitches. So these ones lived many years as hot pads.

NightMist

nayy just what i found googling.

how about these...

heart shaped ones at the bottom of the page.http://www.sewbaby.com/big/patterns15_/clc-1.htmlanother pix of the heart shape. for those who've not seen these.... fingers/thumb go into each side of the V section so it wont slide off your hand while using it. ya dont really need to buy a pattern for those. just decide the size that fits. still searching, will post if i find any other interesting ideas. jeanne

"Patti" wrote...

again, nayy.

full page of different ideas...chickens, chenille.chenille could be a good use of smaller pieces of flannel, tho unwashed works well for this too from what i understand.i've not done the chenille but i love the look of an apple or whatever in the middle of the block. a butterfly on this page. another one i've seen but cant find a pix of now is made like a tube, open only one end and it fits over the handle of the pot. not sure how stable that would be tho....might it slip and slide? anyone used one of those?

still searching for the wonderful and delightful designs. jeanne

Howdy!

The potholders here live in the drawer w/ the pots & pans. Duh! Just seems that if they're going to spend lots of time together they might as well start out right. The stovetop is right across the kitchen from the washing machine room; early on the boys taught me how to toss potholders like a Frisbee, spinning them into the washer while we stand at the stove doing clean-up. Amazing what kids will teach us.

R/Sandy-- potholder-making time is spent quilting, thankyouverymuch ;-P

I have a pattern for the heart-shaped ones on that page, but those chickens are *so* cute!

sorry but i found more and some other stuff.

shows the one that goes on the handle of the pot, tho it is knitted/felted? could just as easily be quilted.nice cookie recipe on here too and some amazingly bright naturally dyed easter eggs...check out the ones done in onion skins with leaves on them, clever folks who come up with that kind of thing. i guess i should stop now but i cant, i'm addicted to finding things. if only i could find my mind that went missing all those years ago. oh well. jeanne

Well Anita, what I usually do is just put a piece of warm & white on either side of the silvery stuff before adding the decorative outsides of the potholder - I haven't had a complaint yet from anyone being burned - so if there is a right and wrong side, it doesn't seem to matter when done this way. Oh yes, I always make mine square (about

10") with slightly rounded corner so you don't have to poke out the points so much. I did the ones for my sisters in the log cabin pattern on one side, plain on the other, colours to match their kitchens, and they loved them.

Sharon (N.B.)

I have some round potholders. Made them, along with some square ones, several years ago. They are almost to the point of needing replacement, even though I haven't burned them yet. (and one reason I prefer electric to gas stoves......... sigh)

My kitchen is short of space too..... all kinds of space.

Pati, in Phx

Patti wrote:

Great. I have about a yard of the Insul-Bright and have been afraid to use it because I didn't know if there was a specific side that had to face the pot.

-- Anita --

Oh yeah, I've also made these using stack and whack blocks. I leave them hexagonal. I keep the fabric and batting square until after sewing around the hexagon, then trim the extra so I don't have to match up anything. I've made a bunch for my mothers church. When people visit the ladies sunday school class, they get a little bag of goodies, including one of my lovely potholders.

I've also made them into heart shapes with the pockets to tuck your fingers into while holding them. A little harder to sew through all those layers of fabric/batting but not too hard.

And the size is negotiable. 9" just seemed to be the most popular size.

Might as well make some matching placemats. I cut those 15" x 18" and just use one layer of batting. The assembly method is the same.

Tamra

Rectangles (or ovals) are even better, more gripping surface. Roberta in D

"Patti" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@quik.clara.co.uk...

Ovals, now why didn't I think of that! I think I will go and cut some out today. My potholders need replacing.

But ? ... the size of your hand's gripping surface is the same?

I'm glad I don't use them >g< I would be too confused as to what was right! . In message , Roberta Zollner writes

In principle yes, but with square potholders, I find myself trying to use them with a diagonal fold. My hands are rather large, maybe I just need a bit of extra length. The ones I have now are square (gifts), but if I make myself some, they will be longer! Roberta in D

"Patti" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:8$ snipped-for-privacy@quik.clara.co.uk...

Aha! I'm on my first attempt at a Stack & Whack, and a misunderstanding of the instructions in Bethany Reynolds' book left me with several hexagons which are (a) interesting, (b) flat, (c) close to perfectly aligned, and (d) the Wrong Size! So now I can make them into potholders and give them away as presents! Thank you.

I really should have searched the newsgroup archives *before* I started cutting and sewing rather than afterwards. That thing about sewing tailor tacks instead of pinning - I'm definitely trying that next time. And sewing from the middle of the hexagon rather than the outside? That too.

I've also learned that the fabric I picked has too much background to make every random-cut hexagon automatically interesting. So now I'm trying to cheat a bit and choose where on the strip to cut the first triangle set. I'll see if that works any better. Fortunately I like blue (the background colour). And I'll make a bunch more hexagons before trying to figure out a background fabric - thanks for that tip too.

Louise, in Kingston Ontario

i've not done a stack and whack so this might sound dumb.... i've seen blocks where 6 triangles were used, not all the same, but 2 sets of 3. i wonder if you did that might the excess of background make the blocks more interesting to the eye? its still somewhat of a kaleidoscope as there are matching pieces. kinda hard to explain any better than than. instead of A A A A A A joined in the centre, it would be A B A B A B A joined in the centre. makes better sense that way i think. see if that works for ya. cheers, jeanne make every random-cut hexagon automatically interesting. So now I'm