Teachers' Gifts Sorted!

My kids' Primary School teachers always get a handbag from me at the end of the school year (except the year when one of my daughters had a male teacher - before 'man bags' were cool!).

I've only one daughter left in P.S so I could spend a little more time & thought on her wonderful teacher.

I recently saw a tutorial for a cute summer tote bag on Grosgrain.

And here is my version of it:

I added a handy pocket for the wee stuff that always gets lost at the bottom!

This pattern follows the standard rules of bag-making (pocket & snap fastener instructions not included) and was very easy to make.

My daughter loves it and is confident her teacher will love it too!  Phew!

The same daughter has 2 classroom assistants in her class who she doesn't like to leave out.  So they (plus my other daughter's favoured form teacher) are getting mug rugs which I had made a few months back.

All that's needed now are a few yummy biscuits or sweets to go with them and we're sorted!

I'm going great guns with my lounge cushions (once I finally bought the right size cushion fillers - duh!).  Will wait until I've all 6 made before the grand unveiling!!

Here endeth another productive day!

Not so fishy!!

Lynne from Lily's Quilts very kindly posted a tute on a mug rug called Fishy Piecing.

I always love the look of curved piecing, but don't usually enjoy the process, but I thought I'd have a go anyway:

'This looks nothing like Lynne's' I hear you cry! And you're right!

When I got mine to the stage where the fishy shapes were pieced, I had an overwhelming urge to slice up my fish!  (must have been a bit peckish at the time!).

After slicing through the fish, I swapped the new strips around and pieced them back together with more white stips in between. 

 Some random quilting lines completed my 'not so fishy' mugrug!

I had a lot of fun making this.  Thanks Lynne for the tute.

Mug Rug Madness Week:

As this 10 day period of madness draws to a close, I thought I'd post one more mugrug:

You can see lots more mug rugs on flickr.

For someone special!

You may remember from previous posts that this has been Mug Rug Madness week!  Check out what the Flickr Group has been making this week.

I've been wanting to blog about a Mug Rug I made for a very special friend, but couldn't until I'd given it to her today (she's a follower of my blog!).

My friend Sarah of SewMe is having a love affair with the colour purple this year.  Check out her amazing cushions and quillow in vibrant purples & greens.

She has also recently taken a shine to paper/foundation piecing, so I thought her Mug Rug had to have these key elements: Purple (a must), green & foundation piecing.  So here's what I came up with:

The little house is significant because Sarah is a true homemaker and her house is full of warmth and love.  She has been a huge inspiration and encouragement to me. 

Enjoy my friend!

Join in the Mug Rug Madness!

If you are as passionate as me about these cute wee mats that are taking over the world (ok I'm exaggerating!) then next week is for you!

Erin from Two More Seconds is hosting this official madness!

Starting Monday, there will be 10 days of creative ideas & tutorials about mug rugs. 

To get you even more inspired, you are invited to join the Mug Rug Madness Flickr Group, to share any mug rugs you've already made or pics of the ones you'll make next week.

Be warned, these things are addictive!  AND there will be giveaways too!

See you over on Flickr!