One of the least respected tools in the kitchen: the potholder.  It shouldn’t be, they’ve kept my hands from getting burnt a time or two.  I was recently lucky enough to acquire this little lovely from Ayumills‘ etsy shop the other day.  I’ve given it a test drive a couple times now, it’s lovely!  Hopefully I can add to this potholder a collection of a few more, then those crazy potholders might not go so unnoticed.

I made these two potholders with the leftover scraps from the apron I made – to be included with the happy retirement gift. 

1. Thread Rack and Lace Rack – Northern Wall, 2. Fabric storage, 3. Craft Central, 4. New corner in the craft space, 5. Sewing Room, 6. sewing table – handmade accessories, 7. Where the crafting happens Trois, 8. Getting Organized: Yellow, 9. sewing table

I’m sure you’ve run across many blogs with new years resolutions and cleaning/organizing sprees.  I really admire a neat and organized house, and now a neat and clean sewing area (see above as my inspiration).  I’ve spent the past few days cleaning and doing a little organizing, but to no avail.  Nothing is really different and I’m still wondering how I can carve more time out of the day to sew. 

Then, this morning — it hit me.  I called up my husband “can we turn the guest bedroom/sewing room into a play room for the kids?” His reply “that’s a great idea and a great use of that space, go for it!”

So I moved out the bed that rarely sleeps any company (most of our relatives live somewhat close by).  Maybe this will be the answer, maybe I can find a few more minutes in the day to sit and sew with the girls with me, coloring, playing, painting right along with me. And now I have this wonderful blank canvas.

I’m so excited with all the possibilities is has.  I love our little old house and it’s big windows, I love this sunny happy room and can’t wait to make it shine.

Of course, I also have this little mess to contend with.  hehehe (insert nervous laugh here).

Here’s a cute apon my mom requested me to make for a co-worker of hers that is retiring.  The directions came out of the book The Impatient Patchworker.  Very cool book, if you haven’t checked it out, you should!  Anyway, the woman’s kitchen is red, so this should fit right in.  I’m going to be making a matching dish towel and potholder with the scraps.  Hopefully. 

It was kind of fun trying to model this apron.  I felt kind of dorky, but you can’t really appreciate an apron unless it’s being worn.  I kept finding weird things in the background of my kitchen, so I kept having to re-shoot the picture.  It was fun anyway!  Please disregard the immense amount of sharp knives on the back wall, my husband likes chef’s knives (they look kind of scary!).

Here’s a pic of my cutie showing off her Cutie.  Hope you’ve tried these mini oranges/tangerines, not sure what they really are, but cute and Yummy!