What I gave for Mother's Day!

As you know, I've been working on my sewing skills lately. I wanted to make my mother and my mother in law something handmade for Mother's day, so I chose to make them potholders. Something pretty and useful.

I found this pretty bird fabric at Hancock's Fabric that was white with black birds. I decided to applique a bird on the front in a turquoise color to give it a POP. Plus, I LOVE this turquoise color, though I'm never sure if I should call it turquoise or aqua. This one actually looks more Tiffany blue to me.

I think the finished product was pretty good although not perfect. My machine HATES sewing on seam binding for some reason. It completely freezes up. Is that just because my machine is cheap and crappy? Or because it's about to die? Or do all machines hate sewing on seam binding? I just don't know. But the binding that I sewed around the edges didn't come out like I had hoped.

I drew the bird out myself and hand stitched around it (after using fusible bonding). My hubby suggested using the red thread which I think was a GREAT idea.

I used two layers of Insul bright inside the potholders. I'm hoping this will help keep the heat off the hands. I have some handmade potholders that I think the maker just used batting in. They are not good for lifting hot pans out of the oven - and after all, isn't that their intended purpose?

The last picture shows the "plain" potholders that I made to go with the appliqued one. So each mom got one birdie and one plain potholder. I like the way I did the "plain" ones. I think it worked out well and my machine liked sewing them better since there was only seam binding on one side.

Sorry my pics are a little fuzzy. They looked fine on my camera but when I uploaded them, they were fuzzy. Weird.

My MIL liked her gift but I haven't given my mom her's yet. She's a much better seamstress than me so I'm sure she'll be able to catch all the flaws. But at least they are made with love (not mass produced in China).

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out in ciber world. We have the hardest but most rewarding job on the planet.