Learning New Things

Sometimes I like to play around and mug rugs are a perfect way to try new ideas without a huge commitment of time and materials.

Do really BRIGHT and LOUD colors work together?

Can I make flying geese and how in the world should I quilt them?

I love wonky stars... can I make one to fit a mug rug?

How hard can something like this be?  (Answer: Not hard, just time-consuming... there has to be an easier way!)

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Give-away News!

Heidi of Handmade by Heidi is celebrating her 2nd blog-iversary AND her 500th follower by having TWO give-aways!  

First give-away: a layer cake of "Soiree" by Lila Tueller for Moda. 

and

Second give-away:   3 Kaffe Fassett FQs and an "idea" journal.

Thought you all would like to know...  

It's All Debbie's Fault!

Yes, it is indeed all the fault of Debbie of Homemaking Dreams... not only did she make a darling mug rug... she found the perfect mug to go with it!

Debbie shared where she found the mug and off I went to find me one!  The two "Hope" mugs left on the shelf were slightly damaged but the "Joy" mug was perfect!

 

It looks kinda peachy in this photo but it's more mauve.  The mug and mug rug went in yesterday afternoon's mail to a cousin who is a breast cancer survivor.

Now, I'm gonna have to try making flying geese... I haven't done that before... and YES, that's all Debbie's fault too!     *lol*

On a Rainy Wednesday

Knowing that today would be cold and wet, thus making errands a royal pain in the kazoo... I did the errands yesterday afternoon when it was sunny and warmer.  Warmer... not warm...

The plan was to clear out the left side of the closet in the sewing/computer room and GET ORGANIZED!  Somehow, the impetus to do the errands continued when I got home so, instead of waiting until today, I started yesterday.  Thankfully, the shelves fit perfectly... as in "not an inch wiggle room" once they were both in there.

Then, the first stages of organization began...

Looks good so far... but there is a ton o' stuff on the bed in the room next door that will need dealing with today.

I discovered that I had way more fabric than I thought...  yes, the fabrics were purchased for specific projects; however, looking at it all I realized that I need to stop planning projects and get these done!  Now that everything is together instead of some in this location and some in that location and... oh wait... there's more over here... everything is in one spot where I can find it... and I won't forget that I have it!

Did take a little time to make a couple of mug rugs as a pick-me-up...

 

Both will be gifts...

Mug Rugs

I've been going through a bit of mug rug withdrawal most likely due to the Mug Rug Madness week led by Erin of Two More Seconds.  Plus, I needed a small gift to send to my sister who does my taxes for me each year.  One of items on this weekend's "to do" list is to package up all my tax info to send to Carol and I wanted to enclose the mug rugs.  So, here are the mug rugs I made...  

Carol's husband is retired Coast Guard and they collect lighthouses so I thought these would be cool.

While these would be acceptable to her DH and her two sons, the mug rugs aren't very girly, I don't think... so I made a couple JUST for Carol...

 

I don't think any of her three boys will be claiming these two...   *lol*

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My daughter and granddaughters stopped by to visit yesterday afternoon and the youngest drew me a picture...

All the grandchildren like when I hang their artwork on the frig... so, after I admired her drawing, Chloe took it over and posted it on the frig for me.

Note: According to Chloe, the "love" on her shirt means she loves me.  

Sew A Little This, Sew A Little That...

Finished up a set of four coordinating mug rugs last night...

Another project checked off the list...

Today's project, working on bottled rainbows blocks!

Think Spring

Question of the day:  If I work with spring-y fabrics, will Spring come sooner?

 

I'm not sure if Spring will come any sooner but it sure made me feel Spring-like!

The Week in Review

Although I don't have a lot to show for it really, some stuff was accomplished this past week.  For me, the biggest thing was locating fabric I would be happy with for the leaves and stems of the pieced flower border for the pink-and-white double four patch.

Had a great day shopping yesterday and found four fun fat quarters to play with...   (How's that for alliteration?)

Also found some magazine storage bins to store quilting magazines and books that will look nice on the shelf...

I will be organized if it kills me...   *lol*

I also made a few mug rugs... a quick project that I can do after work when I'm too tired to tackle a large project but a nice way to be productive while I relax...

 

 

Today, I'll work on the math part of the pieced flower border and try making a folding scrap bin following the tutorial posted by Chris of Weekend Wisdom.

This coming Friday is the Friday Night Sew In and I'm looking forward to it.  Hope you will think about joining in too!

Update on the Double 4-Patch

One thing about having a blog and telling folks what you plan to accomplish over the weekend certainly helps keep me honest!  It’s chilly here and I was soooo tempted to pop in a movie and curl up on the sofa with a cup of hot tea.  But no!   I said I was going to finish the center of the quilt top...

You all would be very proud… I got all the blocks sewn together into rows and all the rows sewn together!  Yea!

Sewing blocks together is not one of my favorite quilting tasks so I figuratively dangled a carrot on a stick in front of me…. after I finished sewing the blocks into rows, I would allow myself to make a mug rug!  *grin*   And after all the rows were sewn together, I could make another mug rug!  As you can see, it worked!

Here are the mug rugs I made today…

And because it’s almost Valentine’s Day...

 .....and  because I can…  I’m doing my very first give-away!  If you are willing to give the Heart and Flowers mug rug a good home, just post a comment that you’re willing to do so and I’ll draw names tonight.   

Can’t beat the odds here…  you will NOT be completing against hundreds of folks because not all that many folks read my blog.   *lol*

Mitered Corners

Yesterday, I received a comment on the nicely mitered corners of the mug rug… I appreciated the compliment but was glad she was not able to examine the corners more closely.  Then, I thought… not only are mug rugs fun to make and put leftover bits of fabric to good use… I can practice mitered corners making them!

I practiced 8 mitered corners last night!   *grin*

I’m gonna get good at this some day!