snow on winter trees

A quick little weekend trip up to Lukas's uncle and aunt's house prompted a little holiday sewing. One week out I said, "I'd like to make them something." But inspiration, as it usually does, didn't hit till just a few days before we headed up there. My inspiration came directly from this free pattern offered by Pink Chalk Fabrics. Except, I didn't remember to print off the pattern.

So, looking at the pattern online as my guide I drew up a couple paper piecing patterns. A magazine from the recycling bin was quite helpful. That night I pulled fabric scraps from my stash. I had greens for the choosing, but completely lacked any red scraps. Or any red yardage too! Fortunately, just a couple weeks earlier I had won this give away. Sure that fabric was sitting in the "can't touch this till I complete all my other projects" pile, but I neeeeeeeeeeded some red to make these pot holders. And that fat quarter pack that I won just happened to have the perfect one.

This was one of those projects where at the beginning I was a bit uncertain of the fabric choices but as I sewed, that uncertainty went away. With each piece pieced, I was loving these more and more. I especially liked the way the white polka dots on the black background were reminiscent of snow.

I had fun with the quilting - stitch in the ditch around the tree and wavy lines across. I outlined the tree because I knew the quilting would show on the backside. Speaking of the backside, how adorably cute are these little winter penguins?