Splurge alert!

Last Sunday I was shopping at the big J store and could not resist. I splurged on an Oliso iron. One of those that lift up from magical little feet. 

I know it isn't a high necessity to have a fancy iron, but please allow me to make my case. I remember the first time I saw one of those was when I watched a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial. When Jenny touched the iron and I saw it go down I went "wow, what just happened?". I pressed the rewind button (maybe a couple of times) to understand what was that new contraption. From then on I kept seeing on blogs I follow, so when I saw one this past Sunday for over 50% off it was not surprising (to me anyways) that I had to have that little steam machine. 

This is not the Pro (which costs $200), but as I got home I did my research and I found out that this one runs from $99-$145 online. Well, I paid $55 since it was on sale (and it was the last one, so it was meant to be). 

I kind of feel guilty buying a fancy iron when I had one that still worked pretty well, but I like my new toy too much so I'll  just try to not think about it and go on do some pressing (and, ahem, make a new iron board cover). 

A late Christmas gift done and gifted.

With the craziness of the holidays (trying to finish up those two quilts, plus lots of traveling) I totally dropped the ball on the teacher's gift. As soon as I came back I had to work on it.

I made these oven mitts and pot holder because there is a lot of baking during winter. I used scraps from my Sugar BOM, some neutrals (brown, deep purple and tan) and some polka dots and then I played with some FMQ.

 

The label still on the works - I used a Micron pen to write the other info. 

I used Insul-Bright by the Warm Company as a thermal batting, plus a layer of cotton batting. It is a little noisy and crinkly which I am hoping will fade away, because of the reflective metallic layer that protects from the heat. The bias binding on the mitt was a pain to get it machine stitched. Plus, I wasn't very happy with my bobbin thread showing up a bit (I used light gray on top and dark brown on the bobbin) but anyways, I want to make one for myself now. 

What kind of thermal batting do you use when making oven mitts and pot holders?