From Crummy to Playing with Crumbs - A Potholder Gift

First, the crummy part. We had a little bit of drama this week. While we were out running errands, our van decided that it liked going backwards but not going forwards. The kids didn't think it was a good idea to drive backwards all the way home, so we called a tow truck. We also called one of Erica's friends for a rescue ride home. Her friend, Alyson, was at work and couldn't help, but Alyson's mom was home and graciously saved the day. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I had not just purchased a full load of groceries. There are lots of positives to think about. We're fine; the van is fine; it's all good. The van has over 170,000 miles on it so a little trouble every now and then is to be expected. I'm hoping it will hold together for another 30,000 miles or so.

Now to the "crumby" part of the story. I wanted to make a little thank you something for Alyson's mom. I've been saving fabric scraps for a while now but haven't really done anything much with them so that is where I started.

I dumped out the jar with crumbs. Crumbs are those little pieces that many people would consider trash, but there is a segment of the quilting population (yep, that's me) that thinks that all fabric has a purpose, even tiny pieces that look like trash.

I raked through the pile for a bit to see what I had to work with, then started pulling out all the black, white, and red pieces.

 Next, I cut a 9.5" square from muslin to use as a foundation. Then I started sewing pieces on.

Once I had used most of the pieces that had been pulled out and pressed, I squared up the block to 7".

It looks like a wonky log cabin block. I had enough high heel fabric in my stash to use for the back. I added two layers of Therm-a-Flec for heat resistance and put a piece of batting between them.

I used these small binding clips to hold it all together for quilting. I've been wanting to try quilting a spiral so this was a great project to try that on.

Getting started in the center was tricky, but once a few rounds were done, it was easy quilting. The binding is machine sewn and is a solid black from my stash, probably a Kona.

It's even kinda cute from the back. I think this will be a perfect thank you for a sweet mom. The crumbs had intimidated me for a while, so I'm happy, too, that this was an opportunity to put them to good use. It might be time to make a few new potholders!