Happy Man Hotpads

Here's a simple and quick way to recycle some scraps of denim.

Because of all the canning The-Man-of-the-Place has been doing,
with most of it being outdoors over a campfire (which means lots of black soot!)
here is how I found my prized kitchen potholders that I crocheted by hand a couple of winters ago:

Not too pretty, eh?
This stuff has kind of a greasy feel to it, so I know it is not going to come out.
Sigh.
I do love that Man, and I really appreciate all his hard work canning...
he is such a good provider for our family.

But, in order to stay on the best of terms with him,
I decided it was necessary to have a little "discussion"...
which was mainly me explaining to him
how it makes me feel when I spend time creating things
to make our home lovely
and then he grabs them and uses them in ways that
permanently damage them.....
We eventually (calmly) came to a solution.....
He requested a box of rags,
conveniently placed and clearly marked for his use
and four hot pads made from old blue jeans.

I can assure you I set about that day to make his wishes come true!

I grabbed the closest stack of old blue jean legs laying around...

...asked him just what size he wanted his hotpads to be...

...cut out a prototype with pinking shears,

then cut out four more just like it, according to his specifications...

(on the following three hot pads,

I got smart and made a 7-inch template from light weight cardboard

and just traced around it with a pen...

I can get all four layers for one hotpad from one jeans leg)

Then I clipped the layers together and took them to the sewing machine.

Stitched them together with a straight stitch,

and when I got to the last corner I turned around and made an X

to hold all the layers together a little better.

Now, if I were making these for the house,

I would have been a little fussier...

I probably would have just used two layers of denim

and put cotton batting between,

and I would have left an opening and turned them inside out

and then topstitched all around...

...but knowing what is going to happen to them,

I didn't bother at all with fussy!

So there you have it, a stack of four waiting for him

at the place of action.

I think he'll be a happy man!

(After previewing this post prior to publishing,

the Man dryly informed me...

"It should have been entitled Happy Woman Hotpads."

:)