What a Hoot!

I just heard from one of the members of the first Potholder Pass and she still hasn't received her potholders! It has been over a month since the deadline and her potholders were not travelling far. I am not sure what happened. I am trying to get in touch with her partner to see if she was unable to meet the deadline or perhaps they were lost in the mail. Either way, I decided that she had waited long enough.

These little owls are heading her way today and she should have them by the beginning of the week. Her colors were denim blue and yellow and among her inspirational images was this little hooty potholder. I never like copying something exactly, so this is my version. I have to add that she was very sweet and told me not to worry about it. She joins swaps to meet people and was happy to meet her partner and me. Everyone gets sad when they don't get the fun mail that they were expecting though. I wanted to do this for her.

On a side note, I thought of a new way to add a hanger to the potholders that is very simple but effective. I attached a piece of ribbon diagonally across the corner of the potholder as I stitched down the binding.
My sewing machine update: It quilts through two layers of batting and two layers of denim effortlessly! I haven't mastered free motion quilting yet. I gave it a try and the tension is a problem so I ended up using the walking foot to quilt these. I will try to practice that some more over the weekend. I am still in love with the thread cutter. I have found that the thread sometimes slips out of the tension and requires rethreading. That is a nuisance and I am hoping that it is due to my improper threading and as I get better at it, the problem will go away.
Edited to add: With my new sewing machine, there is an extra lift position for the presser foot that you use when attaching the dual feed foot. I found that it was helpful to put the presser foot in the extra lift position to slide the thick potholder underneath, and then put it into the normal position for quilting. It was much easier than trying to jam the material under the presser foot and upsetting the placement of the layers!