What I Did on My Summer Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we spent five days at my family's cabin in Northern Minnesota. It's a gorgeous place, but the weather was a bit on the cool, rainy, and windy side. It was lousy for swimming, we only got out in the kayaks once, but it was excellent for sewing. I brought along three projects and managed to tackle them all.

First, a sock monkey. My mom and I named her Jockoline, because I cut her legs incorrectly and she looks a bit like she has scoliosis, so I thought a skirt might be just the thing to hide her unnatural curvature (really, who's to say what's a natural curve on a sock monkey)? I still need to make a large buttonhole on the back of the skirt so that her tail won't be scrunched underneath.

Pearl goes bonkers whenever she sees her, jumping up and trying to grab her—she seems to think Jockoline would be the ultimate chew toy.

Second task was to make more yoyos. I've got a bunch of Christmas fabric, so I'm working away at those. Not yet sure what I'll do with them when I'm finished: perhaps a garland, perhaps top a table runner or holiday pillow.




Finally , my mom and I made pot holders. I bought some Insulbright awhile back and wanted to give it a try.

In a classic move, I neglected to read the part that said to enlarge the pattern for the oven mitt that was on the back of the package and ended up making a mitt so small that I was unable to turn it right side out. My mom wisely made square pot holders, using some of this great blue Robert Kaufman fish fabric I had in my stash: the green is a Benartex Winterscapes fat quarter (that's what I'm using for my yoyos).

My mom chose the pot holder fabrics and quilted them and I bound them. I haven't yet gotten a report on how well Insulbright works, but we did use two layers of it (along with a layer of batting to absorb condensation). Hope nobody gets burned! Anyone else ever made potholders, and if so, what did you use to keep the heat at bay?