Sore Brain Cells aka learning new things

For Christmas Santa brought me a new sewing machine.

The old one though top of the line with Singer

when I purchased it in the early 70's,

just wasn't keeping up any longer.

I spent the next three months taking classes,

because quite frankly I was intimidated by all these buttons

not to mention an instruction guide an inch thick!

But oh so excited.

And nervous.

And eager to begin.

April brought multiple birthdays 

and house repairs

and a surgery,

but today I finally felt better and into the sewing room I went.

I had watched a segment on Fons and Porter where they made cute coasters.

I thought this would be a great project to learn my machine

 and try out some of the MANY decorative stitches

while using up stash materials.

However, since I had some thermal batting I opted to make them a bit larger.

I was right.  This was a good project to learn on.

And I will be making a few more as I learn to use the laser guide

and pivot feature as well as changing feet to stitch other designs.

I am sure my finished products will improve too.

Right now I am focusing on learning and getting comfortable with the machine,

and am not concerned about corners that did not meet or fabric tucks,

(the moving foot practice will come another day).

But enough on this side of the pot holder.

The key to their project was the folded back...

After doing the decorative stitches on the front and batting,

The back consisted of four squares folded and pressed in half to form triangles.

With the front of the pot holder face up,

I laid the first triangle down on any corner.

The second triangle on an opposite corner.

The third triangle lays across the first two pieces.

The last triangle lays opposite number three.

The magic happens next.

(I broke this down into two segments due to the large number of photos, so please go on to the next post to see the magic.  Also I apologize for the changes in camera angle that make these steps a bit confusing but my dog kept moving and I had to work around him.)