Free Motion Potholder & Storing Used Sewing Machine Needles

This week I am going to teach a class on making a potholder.

We are going to do a little free motion quilting.
Zentangle doodling and free motion quilting seems to go hand in hand!
What better way to experiment with doodling with my sewing machine needle than on a back of a potholder.
I used one layer Insul-Bright  for the front of my potholder and 2 layers of 100% cotton batting for the back.
They were quilted separately without a backing fabric like you would a quilt and bound with homemade bias tape with the wrong sides (batting sides) together.
This way there are three layers of batting, the top, and the back.
If I run out of Insul-Bright, I have used two layers of 100% cotton batting for the top of the potholder.
Insul-Bright cannot be doubled because there is a problem with needle breakage.
I have not had any problems FMQ without a backing fabric.
The best things about potholders are they wear out quickly and they do not have to be perfect :)
Thank you Pat for the pattern!
Pat is from Connected Threadz an online quilt club and if you are a long arm quilter,
Pat has a wonderful online shop at http://www.urbanelementz.com/

I am also teaching a mini class on sewing room organization.

Here my tip of the week:

When I change needles and the needle is still good, I put it in my old tomato pincushion.

If you click on the picture, you will see that I have all the sizes and different kinds in their designated area.  I wrote the areas with a fine tip pigma pen.

For many years I put them back into the original box, but I like this method better because the tomato reminds me that "this needle has been used".

Stay tuned for more tips as time goes on.

I am always looking for more organizational tips--please share :)

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne