Mother's Day, Potholders, & Dishtowels, Oh My!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there :)  I had a relatively low key day myself which was perfect.  We spent the day gardening and Hubby made us a really lovely dinner.

For Mother's Day this year I was inspired by Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts to make my mom new potholders.  Knowing that my mom's potholders were in rough shape, they seemed like the perfect gift.  I used one of those mini charm packs which was enough for 2 potholders with a few squares left over. 

I layered the potholder top with a layer of Warm & Natural Batting and a layer of the Insul-Bright and did a little straight line quilting.  

Just finishing the binding.

 

 To add a little something to the potholders, I "made" mom a dishtowel.  I followed this wonderful tutorial by Kleio's Belly.  My pleat came out slightly off center {totally my fault} but, oh well, it's functional!  You can get two of these hanging dishtowels out of one full sized (15x24") kitchen towel.

Mom's second towel is still in progress but these literally take only a few minutes to make.  The most time consuming part for me was the button hole.  Well really procrastinating doing it.  I've done them in the past ----you know, on the old machine.  I was so intimidated by the new machine, with it's special button hole foot.  It was soooo darn easy.  You just pick the stitch number (#49 on my Babylock), attach the foot, line up the starting point, and press go.  Sew easy! (HA!)