I'm not much of a quilter (cutting fabric is the bane of my existence) but I'm more than happy to do basic quilts or small projects such as this potholder. It's very cool to see how some scraps of fabric can become a pretty design for a quilt. This particular style is called the Log Cabin block and it's fairly easy to learn. I've drawn a diagram below (3rd picture) which should help immensely.
Materials:
Cotton Fabric (4 light colors, 4 dark colors, and red)
Batting
Bias Tape
Instructions:
Cut a 2" by 2" square from the red fabric.
Take a light colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 2" square.
Take a different light colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 3" rectangle.
Take a dark colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 3" rectangle.
Take a different dark colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 4.5" rectangle.
Take a light colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 4.5" square.
Take a different light colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 6" rectangle.
Take a dark colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 6" rectangle.
Take a different dark colored piece of fabric and cut a 2" by 7.5" rectangle.
Referencing the picture above, place your light square against the red square. With the right sides together, sew 3/8 inch seam. Open the joined squares and use an iron to press the seam flat. Continue to sew the pieces together, following the diagram written above.
Once all of your pieces have been sewn together, make sure to iron the front and back one more time so everything is nice and flat. Cut a piece of batting roughly an inch bigger on all sides than your covering. This piece is bigger because when we start quilting it's easier to work with a larger piece of batting. Pin the batting to your covering.
Next you're going to sew lines going horizontal and lines going vertical. This is the actual quilting process. There should be 4 lines for each direction, and you should alternate going up or down between lines to avoid warping the fabric. Once the top has been quilted, trim excess batting off.
Cut one more piece of batting (7.5"x 7.5") and the fabric bottom (7.5"x 7.5") for your potholder.
Sandwich the batting between the two layers of fabric, and clip or pin together.
Sew 1/4 inch around the outside edge of the potholder. After you've finished, cut a piece of bias tape long enough to go around the outside of the potholder (with a little extra if you want a loop to hang it). Pin the bias tape in place. Sew bias tape around the potholder (1/4 inch) and secure loop at the end. Make sure there are no stray threads poking out or raw edges showing. Enjoy your finished potholder!
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