Today I woke up to 1/4 inch of glare ice everywhere, and the sound of spinning tires in the street out front. I cannot tell you how much I hate freezing rain! Sounds like an excellent day for soup in the slow cooker, football on TV, and sewing Mug Rugs.
Looking for a basic Mug Rug Tutorial? Check out my posting Make A Basic Mug Rug, a tutorial for two different styles. Or perhaps you want to make a Lady Bug Mug Rug or a Black Cat or a Jack-o-Lantern–try it out!
If the Mug Rug Bug has not hit you yet, look out! These oversized coasters are a ton of fun, and a great use of scraps. You can pack a lot of personality into one of these small quilts. There are several tutorials online. While sizes vary, I have settled on about 6×9 inches—plenty of room for Santa’s milk and cookies. Or a lovely bit of wine and fruit.
I love things that do not need a lot of instruction, or have rules. Pair a scrap of pretty fabric with a simple partner, and you have a great start. Make a mini block for another. Try rounded corners, ovals, strips, whatever appeals! This is a great use of batting scraps as well.
Perhaps the only rule I adhere to it is using enough quilting to keep the Mug Rug flat and sturdy. If you are new to free motion quilting, this just might be the perfect way to start! A friend suggested experimenting with thread painting for one, hmmm, now that sounds like fun too.
Life in QuiltBlogDom does slow down a bit over the holiday season, as we all try to churn through our massive ‘to-do’ lists. But there are still several very nice giveaways going on, and the Holiday Fab Shop Hop as well. Spend a little time, and you just might win yourself a bit of fabric for a nice new project in January. My Other Quilty Giveaways list is updated at least weekly, and if you know of another giveaway, please share! Along with the list, there is a link to add new giveaways in the right hand side bar.
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Yummy colors in those mugrugs!
I made some to give my retreat friends. I surprised them and put them at their work station when they were not around and no one caught on it was me until the very end of the retreat. They asked me several times if I had received one and I kept saying no, strangely they never asked any of the other retreaters.
I have been seeing these in all sorts of sizes and using different techinques as well. The quilting blogs are making these nice big ones while my machine embroidery groups are making them about the size of a regular coaster. The digitizers for machine embroidery are making them the size of regular coasters so they appeal to all their customers since not all have the newer machines with huge hoops since they are being created as in the hoop projects. I really think the larger sized ones are more usable and the ones I might try to do myself.
I will have a mug of soup and a chunk of bread on my mug rug, please! What kind of soup are you making today?
Good idea! Corn and cauliflower chowder (with a wee bit of bacon.)
I’d love to see all of Deb’s tools in action. Maybe I’ll have to suggest her for a guild class
🙂
I think you need to hop over to Canton Village’s giveaway of Deb Tucker rulers! LOL, have a great time, Brita!
Redfaced here — Oops, sorry about my previous comment, I flipped to the wrong blog.
What is thread painting? Maybe that is a dumb question, but that is something I have never heard of before. Of course I am still considered a newbie to the quilting world only 1 1/2 years into it now and loving it.
Not a dumb question! We are all newbies to some topics, and learning is fun. (Besides, no apologies are needed in quilting.)
Thread painting is a technique of free motion embroidery, done by machine. It can be simple, like adding a few veins to a leaf before quilting, or extremely elaborate. Take a look at Terry White’s galleries online for some absolutely stunning examples ( http://www.threadpaint.com/ )
How about YOU doing a tutorial for a basic scrappy mug rug? Perhaps aimed at us beginners, who are feeling a bit intimidated by the small size, and the need for perfection?
Here Here! My daughter was looking for one and scared off, as so many tutorials seem to assume you know how to do so many things already.
Yeah, how about one without mitered corners for those of us who are not ready to go there yet?
Thanks for the suggestion, I posted a tutorial today, showing a couple of variations. It has a version with no mitered corners too (but hey, they are fun to learn!) – Mary
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Can’t wait to try these! I have one more project to cross of my must-do before Christmas list & then on to these (which if all goes well will make it on the must-do list because I’m planning on making a ton as gifts)! They look easy enough…wish me luck! Thanks for the tutorial.
Hi everyone, I’m going to try a mug rug. never made one before. But going to try.
Hi I’m from Allen Park,Mi and would like to join your group. I’m going to try and make a few mug rugs.
Virg
Love the idea of mug rugs! Great stuff you have here in you blog. Added you to my favorites!