Mug rugs

As I was deciding how to design my mug rugs for a mug rug swap that I am participating in, I decided that I should use blocks from quilts that are in the works.  So here's a sneak peek.  This first mug rug uses the main block from the quilt that will be posted next week.  I can hardly wait for you to see that quilt.  It's one of my favorites! 

As I was about to start on mug rug #2 (we have to swap 2), I received my mug rugs from my swap partner (below).  Aren't they creative? 

She even made them completely reversible with designs on both sides.  I hadn't really thought that far ahead but decided to make my second one with designs on both sides also. 

I used raw edge applique on both the flower and the butterfly designs.  The raw edges will fray a little with use and washing and give it a little more character.  That's large rickrack in the center of the butterfly, in case you were wondering.  Can you tell I was dreaming about spring when I made these?

What's a mug rug you ask?  It's a place to put your mug and your snack.  For the swap, we made them 6"X10".  Kind of a double size coaster.  These are a great little project to use up some scraps.  Great gift idea too.  Oh yeah, I did use 5" squares for the the pieced butterfly block as well as the flower and butterfly appliques.

Ziggity Zag quilt

For my birthday this year, a quilting friend gave me a June Tailor Perfect Half and Quarter Square Triangles Ruler.  I decided to try it out on a stack of black and white print nickel squares(5") that I had sitting around and Ziggity Zag was born.  This little gadget helps you make very accurate half square and quarter square triangles.  It's a slotted ruler that you use with your rotary cutter.  Here's a video that shows you how to use it. 



I started this quilt by creating the border and thinking that I would use some arrangement of half square triangles in the center but when I found this fat quarter in my stash, I decided to use it instead.  I thought it would make a nice wall hanging to go with the quilt shown on the right that I made a few years ago.  Many of the scraps from the first quilt are used in the wall hanging and I even had enough leftover binding from the first quilt to use on the smaller one!

This would be a good pattern to use if you have a fabric that you just don't want to cut up.  Just use it in the center! I used a fat quarter but you could really use any size fabric and adjust your border accordingly.

The zigzag effect is easy to achieve.  Here's a short tutorial-

For one block, you will need:

2 black 5" squares and 2 white 5" squares

Using one white square and one black square, make 2 half square triangles by your preferred method. Repeat for the other set of squares.  You will have 4 blocks that measure 4 1/2" each.  Arrange them as shown below and sew.

 

The quilting used on this quilt was a custom design by Linda of L&R Designs.  Here's a close-up-

In the center, the quilting goes out from the center of the flowers and imitates the lines of the flower.  A feather design was used in the border.

Next week, I'll show you what I am doing for the Mug Rug Swap I am participating in.

Nickel I Spy #2

Here's my Nickel I Spy #2 quilt.  Two down, about 10 to go.  I say about 10 to go because if it takes me long enough, some of our grandkids will be too old for an I Spy quilt.  This version is a little trickier to make if you don't have a large assortment of I Spy fabrics to choose from.  Each diagonal row is a certain color so you need to have the right amount of 5" charm squares for each row.  Another option would be to alternate light and dark rows of fabric instead of making each row a different color if you don't have enough different colors of I Spy fabrics.  I will probably have to do the same thing myself for one of my grandkids. 
Also, don't be afraid to mix in some other fabrics.  I used a couple of flannel I Spy fabric squares in this quilt.  Children like to feel the different textures of fabrics.

Even though I have been referring to diagonal rows, I did not construct this quilt in rows.  I used the same 9-patch construction that I have used in previous blog posts of my quilts.  There are nine 9-patch blocks in this quilt.  That's 81 nickels (5" squares).  It finishes at about 41"X41" which I think is a good size for a young child to drag around.


Nickel I Spy #2

I decided I wanted an allover quilting design for this quilt.  Linda of L&R Designs used a pantograph quilting pattern called  "Bubbles" and a variegated thread.  I love the way it turned out!  Here's a close-up-

For the back of the quilt, I used a fabric that I had purchased online to use in my I Spy quilts.  When I received the fabric, I realized that the motifs were too big for nickel squares.  That's one of the problems of ordering online. The next problem was that I had only ordered a yard and the quilt was 41"!  Sooo, I pieced the backing.  Here's what it looks like-

I was lucky enough to have two fabrics that I feel work well together.  So the backing has plenty of things for kids to spy with their little eye and I used up some of my fabric stash instead of buying more.  Well, at least I didn't buy any more for this quilt.

Nickel I Spy #1

I call this quilt Nickel I Spy #1 because I need to make a bunch of them.  My husband and I have 20 grandchildren between the two of us. More than half of them are young enough to get an I Spy quilt and I don't want them all to be the same pattern.  So we'll see how many I can come up with.  That will be a challenge within this challenge.  I guess that answers the question about whether or not I'm crazy!



Nickel I Spy #1

There are only 9 blocks in this quilt.  I used the same basic 9 patch block that I used in my Nickel Row quilt but changed it a little for the corner blocks.  It measures about 41" X 41" and uses 81 5" squares.

I used a polyester batt in this quilt so that I did not have to quilt it very much.  I didn't want a lot of quilting that would take away from the objects in the fabrics.  Linda of L&R Designs used a wavy quilting design to outline the rows.  Did you know that a wavy line is stronger than a straight line of stitching?  Straight lines can pop their stitches more easily.  Here's a close-up of the quilting design-

The backing fabric I used ties in with the I Spy theme also.  It looks like writing on a chalk board and there are things that kids can spy with their little eye.  I wonder who will get this one!





Nickel Row quilt

Here is the fourth quilt pattern of my Double Nickel Quilt Challenge.  I call it Nickel Row.  I used scraps of the same Kaffe Fassett fabrics that I used in my Nickel In A Box quilt from my last post.  This quilt goes together very quickly and without long rows of strips to sew.  Can you figure it out?  It's made up of nine patch blocks!  The placement of light and dark fabrics creates the look of rows without having to construct rows.  It's great for using fabric left from another project or for using some of those charm packs you've been collecting. 

A variegated thread was the perfect choice for the quilting.  It works well with the many colors and patterns of the fabric.  Linda of L&R Designs used a large meander quilting design that does not compete with the busy print fabrics.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to construct the block used in this quilt-

For each block you need-
 3-5" squares of light fabric 
 6-5" squares of dark fabric 



Sew 3 squares of light fabric together.  Sew 2 sets of 3 squares of dark fabric together.

Sew your 3 strips together alternating dark and light strips and your block is complete.