Mug Rug Class

 I love libraries.  After we moved to Purcellville, I made it a point to get a library card as soon as I could. The Purcellville Library is part of the Loudoun County Library system. Loudoun County has a lot of money available to put on some great programs.

I volunteer at the library one day a week. Mostly I shelve books or pull books to send out to other libraries. Sometimes I help set up or take down one of the meeting rooms for art classes.  I was asked if I had something I could teach.  The library owns 5 sewing machines and will be bringing in some from other libraries. (Yes!  You CAN check them out!)

Fabric baskets take too long to do in a two hour class. But over Covid I started to make mug rugs.  You can see many examples in other posts on this blog. They are small quilted squares to use as a coaster under a hot drink with room for a treat, like a biscotti or scone.

These are some of the ones I have made recently and I will be taking to the class to show as examples and demonstrate the steps used.

As you can see I like animals  especially horses.

I hope I get a good crowd. 

Mugs and Masks

I have a friend with a black lab and a beagle and I thought she would like a mug rug.  I went online and found a great fabric with lots of dogs.  There was a black lab and a beagle in the groups so I ordered it and started on the rug.

The Lab's name is Blossom, so I put her in a field of blossoms! After I finished it, I thought it would be fun to make a mask using the same fabric.  

I liked the way it turned out and was pleased that she liked it, too.

I have a good friend and former roommate that I have known since college. She has a gentleman friend (there has to be a better term at our age, but there you have it) who has a fabulous cactus garden, along with an artist's home.  You can see it here.

She also has a much loved granddaughter.  I wanted to take these two aspects of her life and make a mug rug.

My Cricut helped with the shapes. I got a cactus shape and a dress shape and played around with them. 

I sized them and cut out some templates.  Then I used Steam-A-Seam to cut out the shapes on fabric that I appliquéd to even more fabric.  

I used the dress to make a star quilt square and added the cactus on some fabric with rocks on the side.  I added some darker green thread to finish the cactus during the quilting process.

I used the horse shapes I had on Cricut for the horse quilt to make two rugs for another close friend that I have known since elementary school.  She has a young granddaughter that helps her with her MANY horses.  She breeds them. and frequently has as many as 40 at a time.  I made one for each of them, just in case they wanted to have a tea party!

The last one was for a friend from when we lived in Laguna Niguel.  She is a good friend who loves gardening.  And  a good cup of coffee or tea.  My Cricut came in handy again for the coffee pot and I used the Steam-A Seam for the flower I cut out of fabric.  She loves purple.

I mailed these all off and now I have no projects. Maybe I'll start on a quilt!

Bee Rug

I just finished my favorite Mug Rug so far. I have a mug rug pattern using bees and I also have some really cool yellow fabric with bees buzzing all over it.

  

I've made this pattern before with a different center to the star block. This time it's all about the bee's!  

I did some fussy cutting of just the bees and scattered them about the beehive.

I assembled the three different bee designs.

Then I quilted with a meandering pattern that, in my mind, replicates the dance that bees do for each other to direct them to the best flowers.  I finished with a coordinating green with tiny flowers.

And I love it!