Kitchen mitt set: mitt and heart hotpads or pot holders tutorial

Time for another tutorial!

With Holidays season approaching so fast, this kitchen set can make a great Holiday gift!
It don't requires a lot of fabric and time, so I hope that you will like it!

 *TIP:  use of scraps and remnants will make some nice patchwork design.

 This set consist of 1 mitt and 2 heart shaped pot holders.
There are 2 PDF printable templates linked and if you will have any problem with printing please check this useful info.
They both fit one US letter document (8.5x11). Note that you can easily add 1-2" to the mitt in case you want it to be a bit deeper (longer).


This kitchen mitt set features gorgeous Nordika collection by Jeni Baker's for Art Gallery fabrics.
Nordika is Jeni's latest collection inspired by the Scandinavian countryside and I wrote something about that here .

It was also shown in the Nordika video.

Needed supplies: 

- sewing machine
Please note that I used mostly serger to assemble these (as it is faster), but sewing machine is more than enough:)
- thread (100% cotton thread, like Aurifill Cotton Mako), needle, scissors and pins
- iron
- paper templates
download the: heart pot handlers HERE  and oven mitt HERE
- cotton fabrics: 2 fat quarter for the mitt (1 for the top and 1 for the lining)
1 fat quarter for 2 pot holders
- batting - (I suggest using something like Insul-Bright) 1/4 yard
- double fold bias cotton binding - 2 yds total  (OR you can make it yourself with the matching fabrics too, like I did and  1 fat quarter will be enough for the binding tape in that case)

To start, you need to download the templates:  
heart pot handlers: HERE  and  
oven mitt: HERE
print and cut them.



Lets start with the oven mitt first :



Usually the oven mitt patterns use 2 separate pieces for 2 sides of the mitt, but I thought to simplify that with having one unique piece. So, once you' ll have the template cut, you'll need to fold the fabric on one side (it's marked on the template) and cut it, in way to obtain one large piece, like on the picture above.
So we have: one piece for the top, one for the lining and one as the sandwich-batting(the black one).



Pin the batting to the top fabric and sew using any kind of the quilting designs. If you don't have the quilting foot, you can sew just straight or curved parallel lines.



 Now that you have batting attached-sewn to the top fabric piece, you can fold it right sides together and sew all over.



Do the same with the lining piece.



What is very important here is to snip the thumb curve to prevent scrunching.



Turn the top piece inside out and check the seams.



Insert lining piece inside, wrong sides together, with your hand.



Pin and sew the edges together.





Now we only need to finish the edge with the binding tape.
You can easily make one yourself with the fabric cut on bias and binding tool, here is how tutorial



Once you have the tape ready to go, make 3 loops.
Iron the bias tape in half lengthwise. Cut one 15" strip and sew close to the end to create a bind strip. Split it in 3 x 5" pieces and sew the ends together to create loops.



Pin one loop to the outer seam(opposite thumb side). Fold the beginning of the binding inside and pin all around carefully. Place the end of the binding tape over the beginning point (start of the binding).



 Sew all over.



Now just flip the tape over the edge, to the lining side and sew.



You can sew with the machine or by your hand, like I did.


You are done!
Now lets create the pot holders :



Cut the template and the fabrics with it. There are 2 pot holders in this set and to make each you'll need: one piece for the top, one for the lining and one as the sandwich-batting(the black one). So you will have in total for 2 pot holders: 2 top pieces, 2 batting pieces and 2 back pieces.



Make a sandwich with these 3 fabric layers, just like when making the quilt: top, binding and back of the pot holder. Pin them together and quilt over.



Trim the fabric excesses.



Start with attaching loops in the center of the hearts and pining the bias tape all over, just like we did with the mitt.










It's very important to fold the beginning of the binding inside when starting and pin all around carefully. Place the end of the binding tape inside that beginning point (start of the binding).



When you’re done with one side, flip the pot holder over and fold the bias tape over to that side.



Pin and sew all around close to the edge.



Again, you can do it with machine or by hand, depending how you prefer them to be;)



And you are done!





Hope that you will try making some and have fun!

Getting ready for FALL.....tomato sauce "fun"

I'm finally saying goodbye to summer, which is not so easy to do, knowing that fall is here and that soon will be winter and it is all bringing bad weather and small possibility to go outside to play and walk with kids or just even enjoy the weather/time....













But, each season is bringing it's good things, right??? Hmmmm, one of these is preparing the food for that season. That is sooooo fun and easy to do!!!!!Here in Serbia, people still use to do those kind of things, especially preparing tomatoes, peppers and some salad stuff, and fruits too!!!
Why? Well, to be sure that they-especially kids are eating something free of toxins, preservatives, colorants and all those non healthy things that can be usually found in the food offered from big manufactures etc.

So, a few weeks ago, my hubby and I decided to prepare some tomato sauce, known in our house like salsa di pomodoro. That's like a MUST in italian kitchen and almost each meal has a bit of it;)
Yummy!!!

So here is the procedure of how we did it:


washing the tomatoes


cutting the tomatoes and grinding them with the machine


preparing to cook it, adding salt, sugar, basil leaves and onion


after about 2 hours of stirring and mixing on the mild flame this is how it will look like, ready to be littered into the bottles


bottles are placed in the Owen(firstly washed) at 160 degrees for about 10, 15 minutes


lids are "cooked"-sterilized in the boiling water


after filling the bottles with the sauce, you need to securely close the bottles


place them in some warm place-I just cover them all over with some blanket and let them stay till the morning


before placing them to some storing place, control the lids-if they did the vacuum thing;)

Done!!!!!Now you can prepare all those yummy tasty meals!!!!





I will post next how to prepare home made pasta and simple and tasty pasta con salsa di pomodoro-like in that plate above, so stay tuned;)

xo, Katarina