Weekend Wrap Up - Mug Rug Madness

Mug Rugs have been all the craze lately. I say lately, but its probably more like 3 years. Im behind the times. ;) Until now I have not joined in the fun. Not sure why, but I think I have been intimidated by trying to work with something so tiny. Now that I have started, I'm really not sure why I waited! It's great practice for some of my lacking piecing skills, and it's wonderful instant gratification. Who doesn't love that!


One of my downfalls has always been working with half square triangles. I don't know why, I can just never seem to get the points exactly right, so I decided to start there. This big pile of itty bitty triangles are leftover from the Spring Stripe quilt I mad easing Amy Butlers Midwest Modern fabric line and from some other digest modern strips that I used for binding on another project.

Here's where I probably need to admit that I don't toss any scraps! Not even the smallest piece. Now, I'm glad I don't. I started by chain piecing pairs of these little bits not really knowing what would come of this.

I pressed each one and started trimming. I was able to get 2 inch finished squares from the first few, but only 1 3/4 from some of the others. I figure a mug rug and matching coaster might be nice.  That's what we call a happy accident!

Once I had them all trimmed I started playing with the layout. I wasn't too particular with the different fabrics and it seemed to work out well. I added some white Sashing to each small square and ended up with these adorable little blocks.

I added a few more bits and pieces from my scraps it was all ready to quilt. I went with some basic straight line stitching and then bound it with a few more Amy Butler 1.5 inch strips from my scrap bin. I actually hand stitched this one and reminded myself how out of practice I am with a simple needle and thread.In the end though, I love the way it turned out.

In fact I loved it so much I didn't want to give it away. So I whipped up another one for the CFMQG meeting I went to and ended up contributing this one to the swap ;)

I worked on a few other ongoing projects this weekend, but they are gifts, so I can't show you. It would ruin the surprise! I should be done with them soon, so more to follow. What did you accomplish this weekend?