3D Flower Mug Rug Tutorial.

Hi there,
Today I thought I would do a tutorial on my 3D flower mug rug.  In the past week I have made 6 !

They are pretty straight forward, so why not give it a go ?

Using 4 different fabrics and referring to the photo above, make up the rug as follows :  Left hand side is a 4.5" square bordered with 2 x 2.5" x 4.5" strips in a contrast fabric, then 2 x 2.5" x 8.5" strips.

Right hand side : 4 squares of each fabric measuring 2.5" each.  Make up your checkerboard and join to the left hand side.
Layer, and quilt as desired.  I used a meandering pattern on the checkerboard and in the center square. I filled the border on the left hand side with a continuous feather.

Trim away the excess wadding and backing.  Your mug rug should measure 8" x 16"

Bind in the usual way.

Now for the fun bit - making the flower.
You need 5 circles for the petals and one contrasting for the flower center.
I use just whatever I lay my hands on which in this case was a little glass bowl.  It has a diameter of 4"  Perfect size for the petals.

Fold each of the petal circles in half and press, then fold them in half again and press.  Leave the center one for the moment.

To make the leaves, put 2 small pieces of green fabric right sides together and draw a leaf shape.
Add a piece of wadding to the back and machine stitch ALL the way around.  Cut out leaving a very small seam allowance.
Now with a sharp pair of scissors and bieng very careful to only cut one layer of fabric, make an incision and turn right side out.   You will need 3 leaves.

Using a double thread in a matching colour, work a running stitch along the curved edge of the petal.  Make sure you have the folded edges all facing the same way.  Pull the thread so as to gather the petal.

Add then next petal, then the remainder.  When you get to the last one pull up tightly then join to the first one. Work a couple of extra stitches just to hold it securely.

Do not fasten off the thread.

Make a Suffolk Puff or a Yoyo with the center circle.  Do not fasten off this thread either. 

Using your flower as a guide, position the 3 leaves in a nice arrangement and pin.

To attach the leaves to the rug, I machine quilted mine but this could easily be done by hand. 

Now using the thread already attached, stitch the flower to the rug.  Use small stiches and 'hide' them in the folds of the petals.

Add the Suffolk Puff in the same way and finish off with a nice button.

Taaa Daaaa!!!  All done!
Here are some of the other rugs I made earlier.

I hope you enjoyed my wee tutorial.  Please let me know if it was useful or if you would like to see tutorials on anything else and if you make one of these mug rugs, I'd love to see it.  Why not post a pic on my Nifty Stitcher Facebook page.
Thanks for visiting - I'll be back with more quilty stuff soon.
Rhianon.

Update :  Seen as I finished the last mug rug last night and added it to my post this morning,I am going to link this post to  http://tgiffriday.blogspot.com/2011/10/tgiff-party-here-today.html
It's lots of little finishes for me this week.
Click the linky and head on over to see what everyone else has been up to this week, or even add your own link.  The more the merrier and everyone is welcome.

Tallships Quilt -Finished!

Hello Everyone

I've had a busy week on the quilting front with way too many projects lined up.
Around wednesday I finished my Tallships quilt.

                                                  Middle border on.

I decided on some simple pinwheels for the next border.

Let the machine quilting commence!

I was very pleased with how my feathers turned out in the sashing bearing in mind that I am still a novice at free motion quilting.

I worked a bigger swirly pattern over the pinwheel section.

Simple but striking.

Finally bound with the same fabric as the inner border.  Always feels good to get another finsih under your belt.
Today I am working on 3 mug rugs and over the weekend I hope to get back to the Dresden quilt.
I've just realised that I have a huge to-do list for Christmas and I am going to be doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt which starts on 18th November.  Going to be a busy time which means I will be busy in blogland too!

I'm linking this post to http://missymaccreations.blogspot.com/2011/10/tgiff-epic-fail.html

Missy Mac creations is hosting this weeks TGIFF, so if you want to join the fun head on over there and post you link.

Have a great weekend - hope it is filled with lots of sewing.

Rhianon.

Work in Progress - Batik Dresden Quilt.

This week I have been working on a Christmas quilt for my eldest daughter Natalya.
A dear friend in America sent me some gorgeous batiks ( love batiks!!!)

I decided to set the plates on a black background to accentuate the colours.

Thank goodness for my Dresden Plate ruler.  it takes a lot of hard work out of it.

MMMM - to sash or not to sash ????

This is as far as I have got at the moment.  I will be starting on the borders later on today and I cannot wait to quilt it as I got the most gorgeous rainbow coloured thread at the quilt show.

I'm linking this post to http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/ for Work in Progress Wednesday.

If you are in the middle of something, please head over there and share your work.  We would love to see it.
Til the next time .....
Rhianon.

That Mug Rug Bug !

A friend asked me to make a mug rug for her so yesterday afternoon I duly obliged !
She is a lovely lady who deserves so much more than a mug rug but I hope she likes what I came up with.

It's very 'busy' with all those patterned fabrics but I think they work well together.

3-D flower detail

Simple meandering quilting for the mug bit.

A Suffolk puff and a colourful button just finishes off this flower perfectly.
This is the second mug rug I've made and I love them.  Yesterday I looked out some Christmas fabrics and I'm now planning  a table runner and some placemats.

The last few posts I've been meaning to show you a cushion I made as a birthday gift for my friend Shelley in Australia.  I kept forgetting but I've remembered today.

Shelley's fave colour is purple and she loves the Victorian/shabby chic/ romantic look. She loved her cushion.

Finally today, have a look at these little button jars.

Aren't they super cute ?  My daughters got a jar each at the quilt show.  You should have seen their faces when I asked for ONE button for the mug rug - they didn't want to give me one !  I bribed them with chocolate!
Have a great weekend everyone.  I will be back with another finish very soon.
Til then
happy sewing
Rhianon.

PS I am linking this post to http://quiltmatters.blogspot.com/2011/10/tgiff-falling-for-stripes.html

  It's all about Friday finishes, so if you have some thing you've just finished then come and join the fun.  We'd love to see what you have been up to.

A Friday Finish - purple butterfly.

Ok, well I'm fibbing a little because I actually finished this yesterday.
Another trapunto butterfly made for Karen, a quilter friend of mine who lives in South Africa.

Karen had seen my butterfly and asked if I could do her one in purples.  No problem.

I used exactly the same method as before and I still don't like having to cut the wadding away from the back.
It's just so nerve wracking!

Preparing to quilt

Detail

I love  how the early morning light shows up the trapunto in this photo.

another angle

I have a full free day ahead of me - and a full list of works in progress - just don't know what to work on next.    DH modified my darning foot on my new sewing machine, so I can actually see where I am going now.   Have a great weekend - I'm off to do lots of sewing now.