sewingsuz

Do any of you take a pot holder to exchange at your guild winter party? If so, how fancy do they get?

PaperPrincess

I've never participated in a potholder exchange, but my guild is pretty competitive, so if they were to have one, many folks would be bound to out do the others.

lynnie

we had one here about 3 yrs ago. some were run of the mill, some barely thick enough and some really great ones.
but I guess you could expect all of the above.

ManiacQuilter2

I agree. But in any group of quilters, there are some who are contented with just slapping anything together.

Tartan

I picked up all the stuff to do the pie pot holders that someone posted on QB but that's as far as I got. They were super cute though.

cjsews

Have not done this exchange but as with any group, you have all levels of experience. Therefore do not get your feelings hurt if you go all out and receive one that is more basic. Just part of the event. Main idea is to let all join in and feel they did their best.

Wunder-Mar

I organized several secret swaps for my quilt guild andfound that you have to set some construction and design parameters. My potholder swap had the following “rules”:

Size: approximately 9” in diameter or 9” square

Batting: either 2 layers of insul-brite OR a sandwich oftwo thin cotton batting squares with a square of insul-brite in the center. Thisensures the safety of your swap partner when using your gift.

If you saw your own pot holder for sale, you would paybetween $7 and $9 for it. The “price” parameter gave people a very good idea of thelevel of effort they needed to put into it.

These parameters brought excellent results and everyone was very happy with what they got.

0tis

I agree that you need parameters - I have received pot holders from family members and they only had one thin piece of batting - I burned my hand when I tried to use it - I make sure that I always layer insul bright and batting together - they are thick and slightly more difficult to quilt but they work well.

sewingsuz

OK ladies, thanks for all your input about this. Here is the one I made for the swap. It has the insulbright and two layer of cotton batting. I was going to do a fancier one but I guess this will be considered intermediate. I am not so happy with the size and if I make anymore like this they will be bigger. I like to start with 9 inches. [ATTACH=CONFIG]498739[/ATTACH] Oh, I would like to see the Pie Potholder. Can anyone direct me in the right place!

FroggyinTexas

I do not want to receive a pot holder that is so gorgeous it can't be used. Last time we had a pot holder exchange, I made several strip blocks, used insulbright and cotton batting to be certain that they would do the job a pot holder should do, backed it with some really pretty but durable fabric, quilted in the ditch on either side of the strips, put a machine binding on them and wrote a note saying that the pot holders were to be used, used until they were too greasy to get clean any more.
Because I made some for myself at the same time, I know they were both pretty and utilitarian. Unfortunately, the pot holder I received is too fancy dancy to use, so it will lie in the drawer where the pot holders live until I leave this vale of tears and then whoever does the estate sale will put a price on it and someone else can have a pot holder that lies in her/his pot holder drawer.
You can make one or some that are pretty and rugged so they can be and will be used and they will be more appreciated than one that is just too pretty to use. froggyintexas