Handmade Home Sewing

I really hadn't planned on doing any more sewing before the baby came, but after not making anything for a couple of weeks, I was anxious to do something. So a few projects were in order.

All of these patterns came from, or were at least based on, projects in Handmade Home by Amanda Soule, which, after making these things, has officially become my most-used sewing book!

After making some of the hot pads at Christmas time, and keeping one for myself, it has become my all-time favorite pot holder to use. I really wanted to make some more, but since I really didn't need any more pot holders, I resisted...until I remembered that I had a couple that were quite worn out. I decided that by using these old pot holders to make the new ones, I would not only save these ones from the trash, but I'd be able to save the batting for other projects!

I am so excited to have more of these to use - and I love that I was able to use something old to do it!

These are my version of the rag bag - made a little differently from the ones in the book. Hanging from a hook in my linen closet, these look much better than the plastic grocery bags I was using to corral the holey socks and pieces of old t-shirts that I use for messy cleaning jobs.

The Broadturn Bag - I've been wanting to try this pattern for a while, and I like how it turned out. It was a fun change from the typical tote bags I usually make, and I'll be trying it out today when I go grocery shopping!

This project will probably be in the works for a while - the start of a rag rug. I had a couple of old sheets and an old tablecloth to use, and I was about to use scissors to cut them all into strips when I realized that I could tear them instead. That was a huge timesaver! I think these three things might be enough to make a whole rug. Right now I'm in the middle of the long and tedious job of ironing the raw edges in, which is the part that will probably hold me up!