Stashbusting: Quick & Easy Easter Egg Potholder

Easter might still be a few weeks away, but we're gearing up for the season by sharing a project that will look great all through spring!

Hi, everyone! This is Mona Phelps from Kentucky Whittaker Creations. I started sewing and quilting a little over two years ago. As soon as the sewing bug hit, the desire for all the fabrics followed. As I’m sure many of you can relate, I started stocking up on various fabrics – “building my stash,” if you will. I realized at the end of 2017 that I needed to try to focus on using the fabric I have on hand instead of shopping every time a new project came along.

I have the Ready. Set. GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System which includes the GO! 2½” Strip Cutter. I do not enjoy cutting fabric. It stresses me out. I worry that I will cut something incorrectly or cut myself (experience has shown both to be true). I also don’t enjoy the amount of time it takes to cut small pieces. The Ready. Set. GO! is perfect for someone like me! I have avoided a lot of quilt designs previously because of the number of small pieces included. I have entered a whole new world of sewing!

Now I’m going to share with you a fun stashbusting project that you can use with your GO! Qube 8” Mix & Match Block and 2½” Strip Cutter: Easter Egg Potholder!

This is a quick and easy project that will definitely use up some of your stash and AccuQuilt dies make for very efficient and accurate cutting! This would be a good quilt pattern for beginners or for those who are more comfortable with quilting.

Supplies Needed:

Dies:

GO! Qube 8” Mix & Match Block
- GO! Half-Square Triangle (2” finished square)
GO! 2½” Strip Cutter

Fabric for Front:

4 different fabric colors (note – I used solids. Don’t have solids on hand? Try prints!)
For 3 of the colors, a fat eighth, 10”x10” square, or larger piece
For the top/bottom color, a fat quarter, or linear quarter.

Fabric for Back:

Approximately 9"x11" (or a fat quarter if you’re using the same fabric for the binding)

Binding:

Your final measurement will need to be 2½” x 42". (I used the same fat quarter as the back.)

Batting:

Insulating fabric (I used Pellon®975 Insul-Fleece™)
Quilt batting (scraps 9” x 11” or larger)

Thread

(I used a variegated thread for the quilting and binding)

An egg-shaped drawing (I drew one on an 8½” x 11” piece of paper but you can search for an image on the internet)

Cutting Instructions:

Use the GO! Half-Square Triangle (2” finished square) to cut eight half-square triangles (HST’s) of each of the four colors used on the front of the potholder.
Use the GO! 2½” Strip Cutter to cut the top/bottom fabric – you’ll need 2 pieces each that measure 2½” x 9". You can either cut one long strip with the cutter, and then cut it down, or two smaller pieces.
Use the 2½” Strip Cutter to cut the binding. I used a fat quarter, so I cut 2 pieces of 2½” x 21”, and then sewed them together to create one long strip.

Assembly:

All seams are ¼” unless noted otherwise.

1. Lay out your HST’s to ensure that your layout is the way you want it.

2. Sew together the HST’s by rows, then sew the rows together.
HST's chain pieced

3. Sew the 2 ½” x 9” rectangles onto the top and bottom.
4. Cut out the egg-shaped piece of paper and lay it on top of your pieced fabric.

Note: You’ll want it to be centered, making sure that it’s in the middle both top/bottom and left/right side.

5. Cut around the edge of the egg shape. You may want to pin the paper to the fabric. I held the paper on the fabric and used a rotary cutter to go around the edge.

Layer your Potholder

Start with your backing fabric – lay the right side down
A piece of batting
A piece insulating fabric
A piece of batting
The egg-shaped piece

Pin Baste

You’ll want to do this to make sure that nothing slips.

Quilt

I stitched in the ditch for the quilting. It helped bring out the chevron shape I was looking for.
Using a walking foot during this is a must. With this many layers, you will have a hard time without one.
Sew a single line approx. ⅛” inside the edge of your egg shape (this will help with binding).

Trim Your Quilted Piece

Using scissors or a rotary cutter, trim all pieces to the size of the egg-shape. Note that some of the batting can still be showing as long as it is less than ¼” as the binding should cover it.

Bind the Easter Egg

Make a double fold binding the 2½” strip.
When sewing curves, just take your time. Make sure that the binding is distributed evenly on the top and bottom of the piece.
Start at the top of the egg. When you get back to the top of the egg, make sure that the binding you are sewing covers the binding you had already attached. Then, you are going to adjust the binding strip to continue sewing the binding piece only.
After you’ve completed sewing the strip, you’ll need to decide how long you want your loop. The one pictured is approx. 3” from the top of the egg to the top of the loop. Add an extra inch to that length and trim.
Fold the raw edge under and attach the loop to the top of the egg.

That’s it! Now you have a fun Easter Egg Potholder – and you used up some of your stash! What do you think? What will you be making with your stash?

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Want a few more free spring and Easter quilting projects? Check these out:

FABRIC CUTTERS >

GO! CUTTER DIES >

GO! APPLIQUE DIES >

STUDIO CUTTER DIES >

ACCESSORIES >