Christmas Gifts

Here are some of the dishtowels and potholders I made for my SILs and MIL for Christmas. The gifts were a surprise and they loved them. I specifically told them to please use the gifts and just don't put them out to show. When they get stained I would just make them more!

The designs are from the Anita Goodesign collection "Baltimore Quilt" They stitched out really well as all Anita Goodesigns do. One day I would love to make a quilt using this collection. All had 5 to 6 colors and each design utilized the same colors which was great for me and my six needle embroidery machine. I did six separate designs and didn't need to change any of the thread colors which made for quick work. I used a water soluble stabilizer which made removal a snap.

Here are the towels opened out. 

 Potholders, which are actually mine due to the process mistakes I made. I love them all the same and no one else would know the mistakes I made, except for maybe another embroiderer. 

 The potholders not yet cut down to size. I used bar mop cloths to make them, one for the front and one for the back. $2 for a pack of four at Wal-Mart. I generally don't shop at Wal-Mart but glad that I checked them out for dishtowels.  For the gifts I binded each with traditional binding using a tan tone on tone fabric. 

The dishtowels are also a bar mop dishtowel.  $5 for a pack of 5 at Wal-Mart.  Each SIL and MIL received two dishtowels and a potholder.

 The embroidery collection came with several stipple designs to choose from. I first embroidered the center design with batting and stabilizer and only wanted the design to appear on the front of the potholder. I couldn't remove the embroidered cloth from the hoop because I couldn't get it centered again once I added the back cloth to finish off with the stipple stitch (the first of my own potholders).  So I ended up just pinning the back cloth onto the front cloth without removing it from the hoop.

It worked quite well after some adjustments and having to tape the ends of the cloth to the hoop (my own second and third potholders). It was fun and the finished mistake-free potholders were well received.

I always learn something new about my machine, a process and myself when I do an embroidery project. Continuing to learn is always a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by my Embroidery Page and please do leave me a comment. I love reading them. 

Happy Living! Happy Embroidering!

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