Potholders – who would have ever thought
As I was taking some fresh brownies out of the oven for my dear hubby, I noticed the two potholders that I had chosen from a drawer full of them that I have accumulated over the years. Billie Crumly was quite the quilter and she also sewed, but I am not sure she loved to sew but did it more of necessity than for any other reason. She bought a singer sewing machine when I was yet a teenager and made every single formal gown that I wore anywhere. I had quite a few as I was a member of the Rainbow Girls which is a teenage girls extension of the Eastern Star, of which Billie Crumly was a member. Now I notice I have inherited that rambling thing that Mother would oft times slip in to. Guess that would be yet another story. 
One of the last times I was at Mother’s house she told me she wanted us to go downstairs and make some new potholders. These pot holders were not the most beautiful ones, but I do have some favorites. One with a heart and a little finge on it is probably my favorite and I have gotten it dirty sometime and have yet to put it in the wash, but I have stopped using it. 
I notice that one of my more utilitarian potholder has been used so much the edge is frayed. I know when mother made these she would keep a stack by her chair and good friends which would stop to visit would often leave with one the Billie Crumly potholders. When I had gone through that particular ugly and long divorce I changed churches and one lady in the church seemed to take me under her wing of friendship and when I told Mother about it she handed me a potholder and said, “Please give this to her as a gift from me for caring for my daughter.” Yes, you who were lucky enough to know her realize as I do that she had a very big heart and was always giving something of herself to others.
Those potholders were made from whatever serviceable fabric that she had on hand. But it is the in-between layers that cannot be seen which really make the potholder a “goodie”. She would save old blue jeans or work pants that the love-of-her-life would wear out. I, having raised 3 step-children, would bring the old blue jeans which looked much like the ones teen pay over $100 today to purchase. I can just hear her saying “For pity more. What is the world coming to!” Can’t you? But the jeans legs were cut into squares and used as the innards of the potholder. Then the outside visible pieces were a more pleasing fabric. But these Billie Crumly potholders are one of the things that I scarfed when I was leaving the divorce home as they were gifts from MY mother. Good thing I did or I wouldn’t have a one.
Now you will notice in some of the pictures that she had used that Singer sewing machine to make decorative stitches across a couple of the potholders. She always tried to make them nice. Sometimes she did not feel like taking the extra time and would throw them together because they were needed. Now her binding is one thing that I know she taught me to make but for the life of me, I cannot remember and will have to take some time trying to recollect my thought and bring it back to remembrance. I know there is something there about an old man’s pants. The binding starts with a square of fabric and it is folded across the catty corner so the bias is down the middle and it is cut on this bias fold. Then the edges are placed together with the right sides together so what is sewn makes it look like and old man’s pants. (This is where I will have to work on it.) After that point some of the other sides are sewn together so it forms a tube and when it is sewn it is offset just the width of the bias binding that one wants so it can be cut and have a continuous piece of binding. Ok, I bet that is just as confusing to many as it can be but that is what I remember. You quilters out there may be able to post a reply and give me some better directions. I will watch for them, because I bet she taught you or you were taught by some wonderful person.
After the old man’s pant routine, and cutting the binding, it was then folded in half so the pretty side was on the outside. She would sew the raw edge of the binding and the raw edge of the potholder together all the way around. Hooray, we are almost there. Then she would fold that finished side of the binding over the raw edges and back up the other side and sew it in place. I don’t believe there was any handwork which was performed at all on these potholders. 
Now you also know that Mother and Daddy loved to cook with the old iron skillets, because I have read her articles where she has talked about them. Those iron skillet handles get way too hot and the pretty little store-bought potholders will burn like fire right through them and you have to have a big wad of potholders to keep from burning your hand. But not the Billie Crumly potholders! You will just be able to pick up that old iron skillet full of gravy and pour it right out into the bowl and not blink an eye with the thought of it burning your hand. Only time I have ever had a problem is when I got the potholder wet for whatever reason and the water got hot to my hand. My fault entirely and not the potholder.
Now you go out there and try making yourself some of these Billie Crumly potholders. You will not be saddened to have them and maybe you can pass them on as gifts. I just ask that you call them your Billie Crumly or even “Aunt Bill” potholders for her name sake. This too is an interesting part of country living that we can pass on to other.