Eat Your Greens - Mug Rug

Green vegetables - Brussel Sprout Mug Rug

It hasn't all been Dear Jane blocks here this Easter.  I have been working on some other projects which you will hear about in due course.  One little project was this 'Brussels Sprout Mug Rug'. A finish deserves a link with Crazy Mom Quilts.


Brussel Sprout patchwork fabric

I guess sprouts are popular with some people and not so much with others.  I tolerate one or two with my Christmas dinner, but I tend to draw the line there.  However, my husband loves them and tries to sneak them into as many dishes as possible.  I saw this Brussels Sprout fabric in a shop a while ago and had to purchase a fat quarter.  I always love to look at the 'fruit and veg' section in a quilt shop.

Green vegetables - Brussel Sprout Mug Rug

So for Easter he was gifted this little mug rug for his cup of coffee.  It was a quick make.  I didn't want to cut up the sprouts too much, so I went for a simple design, which is large enough for a cup and a biscuit.  I think he was quite pleased with it.
So which side of the fence do you sit regarding sprouts?

4th July Independence Day Patriotic Mug Rug

4th July Mug Rug

Happy Fourth of July!  OK, so I am in the UK and naturally it is not one of our Public Holidays, but I love the colour scheme of red, white and blue and I felt the urge to make something quick and easy. As part of the Mini Doll quilt swap, I had received a lovely selection of Civil War reproduction fabrics from my swap partners, and in my stash I had a lovely blue starry fabric, which fits the patriotic quilt theme perfectly.


Patriotic fabric scraps

Just by using a few squares of fabric I had enough to cut strips for three scrappy mug rugs, two for my swap partners in the Mini Doll quilt swap, and one for myself.

Foundation Piecing - Carol Doak paper

I used my Electric Quilt software to draw up a simple log cabin pattern and I printed it out onto the Carol Doak foundation paper I bought a few weeks ago.  It is working great in my laser printer, I just have to remember to replace it with normal paper once I am finished(!).


Foundation Paper Piecing - Pressing with the iron

Foundation paper piecing is very satisfying when it is going well.  With a log cabin pattern I was only working with straight lines and with a quick press with the iron at each stage, the block was coming out a dream.

Quilting a Log Cabin block

With narrow strips and thick seams I kept the quilting simple by stitching in the ditch and in the centre square I stitched out a star.  Mine is currently sitting in front of me by the computer with a cup of tea - yes, the same stuff that started the American Revolution!


Fourth of July Mug Rug 6" x 6"

Anna Maria Horner Liberty Fabric Feather No #4



Liberty Fabrics - Anna Maria Horner Feather

These Anna MariaHorner feathers are so addictive.  I thought I would make a little mug rug feather from some Liberty Tana Lawn scraps. The reality is I don't have Liberty Tana Lawn scraps and who does at £22.50 / metre?  The fabrics are so lovely that instead of cutting a set of them up, I thought I would showcase just one, and for this project I used Poppy and Daisy from the Liberty Art Fabrics collection.  The background is a French General solid.



Machine Quilting - Angela Walters Diamond Pattern

Also, I felt like I would be wimping out by just meandering the background again, so decided to try something new.  I am not short of books of machine quilting and this time I reached for Angela Walter's 'Shape by Shape' Free-Motion Quilting book.  I found a great diamond pattern - great because it is made up of straight lines, so I could stitch it without having to lower the feed dogs.  I also liked it as it has an art deco style which fits nicely with the historical Liberty print. I had to mark the fabric with a water erasable pen, but it was worth it to get the lovely all over pattern.

Detail - Machine Quilting Diamond Pattern

I haven't used Liberty fabrics for quite a while and had forgotten how lovely and crisp the finish is.  Putting the binding on this one was a dream.  I also added some corner pockets on the back so that it could be hung as a mini quilt on the wall.  It won't be on my wall, as this one a is gift.

Liberty Mini Wall Hanging - corner pockets

See more feathers here, here and here
Linking up with Confessions



Red and White Pinwheel Quilt - March Update

Hand Quilting the Red and White Pinwheel Quilt

Over the weekend I did lots of hand quilting on my Red and White Pinwheel Quilt.  At the moment, I am just stitiching around the pinwheels, but I did manage to complete that stage, at least.  It is slow because I am having to stitch along the edge of the seams, but I do love the way that hand stitching slowly calms down a quilt top.  I have a motif prepared waiting for the centres, but no plans for the borders or the edges.  I tend to let it evolve as I go along, ( ... in answer to Leanne's contemplation about Quilting Decisions, at Quilt Wangarei from New Zealand).

TOP TIP: You will see a scrap from 'A Morris Tapestry' by Barbara Brackman which I used in the Mini Hexi Mug Rug that I made, which I am using as a contrasting marker, to spot where I have I have left my needle. Finding the white thread on the white background can be challenging!

Mini Hexagon Mug Rug

A Morris Tapestry, Hexagon Mug Rug

As you would have read in my last post, I have been aching to do some sewing this week, and finally I have managed it. Firstly, thanks to Sarah at Sarah Did It for the gentle nudge and inspiration for this Mini Hexi Project, which has kept me quiet for the past 24 hours. I wanted a little hand piecing project, using the English Paper Piecing method, AND I needed to produce a little birthday gift for this Monday, so this little hexagon Mug Rug fits the bill nicely.

English Paper Piecing Templates in MS Powerpoint

The other night, whilst doing some work on the computer, I quickly popped into MS Powerpoint and drew up some paper templates. I found that the actual 'hexagon' shape in the package did not have equal length sides, so instead combined six equilateral triangles and some lines to make up the hexagons. The sides are 3cm each.


English Paper Piecing Hexagon Templates

I was travelling yesterday and NOT driving, so I seized the moment to start the project. This meant a rather hurried choice of fabric, so I played safe and went for a fabric range I had in my stash.  I was literally cutting out the fabric with my coat on, and the engine running on the car! 

A Morris Tapestry Fabric, MODA,
(L-R) 8172-15, 8177-17, 8176-15, 8171-34) 

The fabric I chose was from 'A Morris Tapestry' by Barbara Brackman for Moda. They are reproductions of some William Morris (Arts and Crafts Movement) prints from about the 1890's, featuring the Strawberry Thief and a pretty Daffodil print. I thought this was appropriate because, it was a lovely sunny day here today and a chance to see the progress of the Spring DaffodiI bulbs - little way to go yet!  

Daffodil Bulbs - February 2013

During the hour I had in the car, I was surprised to see that I had covered all my paper templates and that they were ready for stitching together.  I tend to use cheap tacking thread in a contrasting colour and stitch right through the paper.  It is the way I have always done it.  I like this method, as you never know how long it will be before you actually are going to stitch it together when you are hand piecing, so they can sit there for years without a worry.

But this project had to be done today. After a little thought, I decided that the easiest way to construct the little Mug Rug was to do it in columns, this avoided any awkward seams, and you can see here the different stages.

With only tiny pieces, it did not take long to piece together, and in no time at all it was time to take the paper out.  This is a picture of the reverse of the mug rug, after it was stitched together, but with the paper still in place.  I tend to give  projects like this a good press whilst the papers are still in place - I find it helps to keep their structure.


Hexagon English Paper Piecing - Reverse

With the papers removed, I pressed out the seam, and made up a quilt sandwich from some scrap wadding, and some fabric for the reverse.  I just did some simple hand quilting, outlining the shapes. If I am hand piecing and hand quilting an item, I usually like to keep the integrity of the piece by banning ALL machine stitching, but lately, once the top is quilted, I have started to machine stitch the edge, to stay stitch the quilt sandwich, which will then be hidden in the binding. I used a straight edge binding.  Again, for this little project I did use the machine to sew on the binding, and then hand stitched it on the reverse. 


Hexi-Puzzle Mug Rug - English Paper Piecing

The good news is that the gift is completed in time, and that I still have the rest of the day to do some stiching!  If you enjoy hand piecing, especially Hexagons, Sarah Did It has a special Hexi Link Up on the 17th of each month - do be sure to join in!
Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion By The River and Crazy Mom Quilts.



Blue and White Broken Dishes Quilt Mug Rug

Everyone has been so busy getting quilted Christmas gifts together on their blogs, that now I finally have some time,to myself, I decided to make my first Mug Rug for a gift.



"I'd Rather Be Quilting" Mug Rug

I have purchased this 'I'd Rather Be Quilting' Mug from Stubbs Mugs, which is a lovely Fine Bone China, printed in blue, so the blue and white combination was the inspiration for the mug rug colour scheme.
I have used a nice Japanese blue and white fabric, with a little floral motif on it. I have had this for along time. Those lovely Japanese fabrics are so enticing, that they don't often need an excuse to come home with me.
I have used a Broken Dishes quilt pattern , made up of quarter-square triangle units, for the centre of the mug rug. I had a few 5" charm squares in cream, cut them into four and used them as the basis of the quickpiecing method outlined in the back of Katharine Guerrier's 'Scrap Quilt Sensation' book. They are quite little, so they were a bit fiddly.
This is now ready to wrap for a present swap rendez-vous this afternoon.
With that finished, I have just popped over to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Blog to see that she has Part 5 ready for us.  With this large ongoing project, it was nice to have a 'quick win', and something to share on Finish It Up Friday.