Potholder #2

I had to try those Tsukineko Inks!
And I must say, I like them a whole lot better than the paintsticks for this application. The colors are clearer, go on like a breeze, don't gunk up the threads, and are more blendable.
Have a look and see what you think.....

This time I decided to trace Pam's image, as I didn't want all those blanket-stitch looking lines on there. They took too long to sew, and weren't necessary for the design, so I got out my trusty 25 year old lightbox.

I used an erasable quilter's pencil to mark with.

This was much faster to sew, and the line is not so heavy without the black printed ink behind the stitching. This cotton is interfaced, by the way.

I am just getting started applying the inks mixed with the aloe. What a slick trick; I give this technique four stars!!!!! The ink did not lose saturation, and did not run a bit. It was easy to get quite articulate with those fantastix coloring tools, too.

Finished, heat set, rinsed, ironed.

I went through my cotton stash to find green and black prints. Amazing that I came up with five of them!
I tried to do a better job on lining up the binding, too.

The decorative stitches on my bare-bones little Brother Pacesetter PC 2800 machine are very nice, but......

I won this new machine as my prize for being a finalist in the $100,000 Quilting Challenge, and I have yet to take it out of its box. I keep thinking I am going to sell it on Craig's List so I can buy a ton of oya from my friend Rengin in Istanbul. That way I will have a stash for life and could sell some on Etsy too.
When I brought out the manual just to see what kind of decorative stitches were on the machine, I was overwhelmed by the choices, diagrams, buttons, etc.
Does anyone else get turned off by digital choices and steep learning curves like me? Sad, isn't it?
I am still thinking about that oya.......