Mug Rugs

I've been making mug rugs lately. I have a some vintage fabric from one of my great aunts. Try matching fabric colors to a piece that is 30 years old at best and more likely 50 or 60 years old.


The aqua color is actually the reverse side of a printed piece but it works pretty well. The black with green circles is pretty close but not quite right. I found a better solid that I will try to work with on the next one. The white is actually an off white because the vintage piece is just a bit off as well. Fortunately the black is nice and crisp.



I was going for a modern vibe incorporating the old fabric. I just love the figures in this piece. Look at the gentleman driving the carriage. Such simple lines that express so much.
I was so excited about finishing that it never occurred to me to change the bobbin thread. So I have lovely white thread showing up on the back of my wee quilt. Oh well. I'm also not so happy with the way the binding 'rolls' around. I cut it on the straight but the pattern wasn't. Next time I try that I will go with the pattern.


This next one was a bit of an experiment in a number of ways. I've always admired the appliqued quilts that have pieced backgrounds: blue sky, green grass. I pulled a bunch of gray fabrics from my stash to see what I could do. I did a variation of foundation piecing to get it to work out. I could be more random, but I have some ideas for making it better next time. I didn't manage to leave any raw edges showing, which is probably OK for a mug rug. I also ended up doing a bit of machine stitching which makes it look more crazy quilt that modern pieced background.

The orange circle was appliqued by sewing the 'glue' side of some iron-on stablizer to the right side of the fabric, cutting a slit and turning it. I worked pretty well.

Here is the back on this one.

This is the mug rug I received from the_trademarks in the craftster mug rug swap. It is gorgeous and I love the frog fabric in the middle. There seems to be a bit of frog theme going on around here lately. Once again, there will be a certain subset of my readers laughing hysterically! I know I didn't put frogs in my wish list! I am definitely going to have to tell the frog story one of these days! Thank you so much t_t!

You will have to wait until she receives it to see what I made for her.