Paper Pieced Mug Rug Is Finished!!

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Can someone tell me why I was so stressed out when I started this last Sunday?

Shhh… don’t tell anyone but I think I am softening up to paper piecing. I like it much better than I did a few days ago.

Mug rug measures 10 3/4″ square. I put hanging tabs (triangles) on the back so it can be used as a little wall hanging also. I did just a bit of quilting. Only straight lines outlining the “branches” and all around the green border. With the focus on the trees, it didn’t need a lot of extra stitching.

Off it goes in the mail in the morning. It is going to my Winter Themed Mug Rug swap partner. Hope she likes it!!

Thank you so much for the comments you left about your own paper piecing experience and for giving me encouragement not to give up.

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Want to know how I am coming along on my green scrappy braid quilt top? It is going nicely.

I worked on it in between working on the mug rug. I now have 11 panels completed with plans for one last one to make it an even twelve. And then I will sew the panels together.

Originally I wanted to add sashing but now I think it will be too much green as you are looking across it. And I don’t want to bring in another color. The border I am going to add should give the eye somewhere to rest.

I am pleased with how it looks thus far. Wait until you see how many scraps I used up. Will have to take a new photo of my green scrap bag to show you. But for now… here is what it looks like up on my design wall.

I ran out of the green fabric I need for the border. It should be here in a few days. Hopefully I can get this project finished soon. Don’t need to add to my UFO’s.

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Linking up to…

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2013/01/pezzy-complete.html

http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2013/01/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-keeping.html

http://richardquilts.blogspot.com/2013/01/link-finish-friday-49.html

http://aroundtheblockdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/01/really-random-thursdayfriday-11113.html

Patriotic Mug Rug… Is Finished!!

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That didn’t take long. I spent a couple hours making this mug rug today. The longest part was cutting the squares and after sewing them, trimming to exactly 3 1/2″. Even with my 3 1/2″ square little ruler and revolving cutting mat, it still took time and patience to get the squares cut right. I don’t do “points” well, hate flying geese, or whatever they are called. Only because I can’t seem to get the points lined up nicely. So I carefully trimmed the squares.

I think I did OK with these. May even give “on point” another try.

I wanted to make a beverage cozy to go with the mug rug but ran out of time. Maybe I will put it on my To-Make list for later. It is one of those small projects I keep meaning to try.

This is what I used as inspiration to design my mug rug. Mine is more like a placemat. A little larger than the usual mug rug.

http://quilterscache.com/G/GloryinScrapsBlock.html

Starting with the large star half triangle in the upper left corner and two rows in diagonally. Then I just did the reverse coming down to the bottom right corner. I liked the original design and plan to make a few blocks per the pattern.

This is the back. Plain and simple.

Hope my Swap Partner likes her Patriotic Mug Rug. I added a little something extra to make up for my tardy mailing.

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Linking to…

http://www.sew-much-ado.com/2012/07/we-did-it-wednesday.html

Two Hour Mug Rug… Made and Shipped

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With my attention focused on jewelry for the last week, I totally forgot I needed to make and send off a mug rug to one of the ladies in my quilt group. I signed up to participate and then tucked the mail out date deep down in my brain.

Only after I had finished my Bead Soup project did I surface to the top to exhale. I realized my error yesterday. I thought the mail off date was March 9, today. It was actually March 1st!!

Boy, did I feel bad, sad. I sucked. All the others had mailed theirs off. I even received a pretty mug rug with shamrocks from the person who had me in the exchange. Got it yesterday.

I hate it when I agree to do something and then don’t. I feel like I let myself down as well as let down the person it was intended for.

So… since I thought the mail out date was today… I got busy and made it.

It took me two hours from start to finish.

These are some of the fabrics I worked with.

As you can see in the photos, I now have “for real” St Patrick’s Day fabric. Shamrocks!! Two weeks ago I went to JoAnn’s and bought some. Only half yards and Fat Quarters. (I didn’t even need that much.)

I had been looking at this block and wanted to try it. Fabric folding mostly. It was super easy to make. This is the tutorial I used.

http://spottedstone.blogspot.com/2010/07/cathedral-window-tutorial.html

I added two quick borders. One in green with swirls and one in black with green shamrocks.

Didn’t bind it. That would have made it the Three Hour Mug Rug. Just stitched around the seams, turned it inside out and stitched along the outside edges.

Then I did a quick quilting. Just loopy loops. Kind of like the green fabric with whirls.

The shamrock on the back was just something I thought to add at the last minute. It was ironed on using Steam-A-Seam2. I love that stuff!!

And done. Now I feel better. Don’t feel like such a loser. It will be late. But better late than never. Hope she likes it. I shipped it off today. Got to the post office with 15 minutes to spare.

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Several things I want to mention, in case you plan to make this Cathedral Window block…

• The 2 1/4″ center square didn’t completely cover the folded square so I recut it and added an extra 1/4″. Otherwise you will see the background fabric after folding up the flaps.

• I used my zipper foot to stitch down the flaps to make the “windows”. I could see where I was sewing the whole time and that helped keep the stitches straight.
• I used my walking foot to sew around the seams when sewing my quilt sandwich. I stopped about 1/4″ from each corner before pivoting to the next side. Made the end points nicer on the outside.
• Going to try this block as a pincushion. Should be cute!!