Mug Rug

Mug Rugs are everywhere!  This phenomenon rapidly sweeping across the quilting world has reached Belfast!

I love gift ideas that are a little bit different, and have been seeing a number of mug rugs appear on various international blogs.  Check out A Cuppa and a Catchup, Pin, Sew, Press, and I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts has a great wee tutorial on how to make one.

My friend's birthday is this week and as she is an avid coffee drinker, I thought she would love her very own mug rug.  As a devoted lover of log cabin, I thought I'd give it a go - and this is what I came up with!

This was so quick to make, I'm definitely hooked!  I have a few more birthday presents to make this month - guess what they'll be getting!!!

I've been tagged!

I'm still getting to know this wonderful world of blog-land!

Today I discovered that the lovely Sheila of Blue Patch Quilter has tagged me on her blog.  This is a way of raising the profile of new/lesser known blogs that the person likes or recommends.  Many thanks Sheila, what a compliment!

In keeping with the rules of tagging (see below) here are my top blog choices:

Sew Me




Nellies Niceties

Sew what I love

Rules:

1) If you are tagged, and you want to accept, then create a post on your blog and add the leibster blog pic.
2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.
3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.

The aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, (less than 50 Followers is ideal), therefore, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers!

Cot Quilt

I've just finished a commission quilt, for a wee baby not yet born.  As we don't know if this new life will be 'blue' or 'pink', I took inspiration from Makower Farm fabrics, soft lemons, zingy green, fun spots and vibrant check red.

There's a lovely lemon fleece backing on the quilt, to make it even more snuggly. 

These gorgeous farm friends are soooo cute, I've saved some for my Eye Spy quilt!

Fabulous Bags!

My 'Friday girls' finished their bags today.  Well done girls - they look fab!

Enjoy your beautiful creations.  Permission to show off granted!

Recycled Denim

I live in jeans 365 (pretty much!) and always have a pair or two to cut up.

Denim is such a great material to recycle and is strong and durable enough for handbags.  I made a few of these crazy patchwork ones last year for a bag sale, and loved how they turned out (they sold really well too!).

I've also used different coloured denim for a weekend bag which I'm currently teaching in class.  I even used the tie belt from one pair of jeans to make the handles!

I've even used denim in cushion making, although I don't recommend mixing denim with lighter weight fabric scraps.  Keep everything to the same weight and you'll be fine!

Other uses for denim I've found are doorstops - again strong and strudy for such a heavy object.

I'm afraid charity shops don't ever get my discarded jeans now!

Bethany's Cushion & Flickr Pics!

I have succombed even more to this technological age and set up a photo stream on Flickr (you'll find a button on my blog which should link directly to it).  Flickr is a great place to 'surf' for inspiration on a vast range of crafts & projects. 

As I was uploading some pics I was reminded of a cushion I made recently which I haven't yet blogged about. 

My youngest daughter's favourite colour is green; she even got her bedroom decorated green & white last year!

I'd already made her a log cabin cushion for her bed, to match her new bed linen ...... 

..... but thought a floor cushion would come in handy for the many hours she spends playing with toys on her bedroom floor!

I had seen a lovely quilting technique on the web (sorry can't remember where - if I come across it I'll put a linky in here!) & wanted to try it out so thought of doing it floor cushion size (24") for Bethany's bedroom. 

The strips were foundation pieced onto the wadding, so the piecing and quilting all happened at the same time.  I then outline quilted the strips with a variegated thread (not so obvious in the pics) which was a new, decorative technique for me.  I really like this effect, especially against a plain while background.

Bethany loves her cushion and drags it around the house to sit on wherever she goes.  Needless to say it won't stay white for very long!

Table Topper

March is going to be table runner month for my classes (also called table toppers). 

I've had a jelly roll sitting about my sewing room for some months now, thinking I'd 'save' it for a quilt one day (that day never arrived!).  I finally plucked up the courage to pull the ribbon and unfold the roll.  Only fellow quilters will understand the sheer delight of experiencing jelly rolls! The revelation of colours and patterns, all coordinated, demanding to be created into a feast for the eyes (not to mention pre-cut strips - yeah!).

 
Anyway, I decided to create an easy table topper using some of my jelly roll.  This pattern is really easy and will be suitable for all abilities.  I took my lead from the table runner tutorial posted on Diary of a Quilter which shows you how to use up lengths of scraps.

I still have loads of strips left over (although only half a purple strip left as the binding used up most of those).  My daughter thinks the prints are very funky so I might make her something with the leftovers.

40 Shades of Green!

A good friend of mine was celebrating her big 40 this month and was throwing a '40 shades of green' themed party.  Sadly I was unable to attend the party so thought I'd make Angie something that contributed towards her creative theme.

The birthday girl!

I foundation pieced 40 different green fabric scraps onto a free hand drawn template, bondawebbed them down onto a plain background and then satin stitch appliqued them on.  I was delighted with the result and even more so that Angie loved it too! 

Happy birthday girl!  Life begins at 40!

Classes Update - Well done everyone!

Both my classes have just finished their first projects.  They all did really well and I hope they are as proud of their achievements as I am!

Thursday evening class:               Project - Floor cushion

Working hard!

Oh the concentration!

Always time for a smile!

Gorgeous!

Classey!

See more of this one at Sew Me

Stunning!

Patricia's Vintage Chic!

Marion was so chuffed about putting a zip in her cushion,
we are going to call her 'Zippy' from now on!

Well done girls!  I hope to post a few more pics of those who were finishing theirs off at home.

Friday Morning Class:                 Project - Log Cabin Cushion & pot holder

Golden Glory!



Recycled Chic!



A Denis & Dan delight!

Funky Caterpillar Pot Holder!

Beautiful blues!

Stunning red & black pot holder

Calming green!

Elegant lilac & yellow!

Isn't it wonderful how a change of fabric can transform & individualise items.  Well done girls!  I hope you enjoy your new creations.  And don't forget to show them off!