Still here…stitching away

I have been very quiet recently but I have been doing plenty of sewing. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and tell you all about what I have been up to soon but in the mean time a few piccies of some bags I have been working on for the goodie bag swap.

A rainbow of colours…….

Working on my rainbow mug rugs is such great fun. I get to search through my stash of fabric for the right little pieces of fabric to cut out – there is always some pattern that catches my eye. After cutting out the fabrics I get to play around with the squares to find that perfect lay out. This time I spent a really long time laying them all out. I had such a dilemma as I liked the idea of a 7 striped rainbow but that meant I would have more of a place mat than a mug rug….once I had 7 colours in my head I found it hard to see anything with less colours although I did try them out. I have taken photos of the various layouts which I will share in another post as its really interesting how much difference a layout change can make.

Eventually I just went for my 7 colour lay out…

I really liked how the colours worked together in this lay out. All the bright hot colours on one side and all the cooler colours on the other. Sewing it all together was nice and quick …I just added some very simple straight line quilting so that the fabrics weren’t obscured (you will notice the obvious mistake where I sewed them together in the opposite order – it still has the same effect though).

The question of binding came up as usual. I always spend a disproportionate amount of time trying to decide on what binding to use and after some deliberation I went for black polka dots as a frame for the rainbow colours.

I do hope my partner likes their giant rainbow mug rug. If they don’t like it my daughter will have it as she loves it and to be honest I may have to tear it away from her. I actually like the back almost as much as I love the front as you can see the criss cross of the quilting.

So that’s one down and I still have one more to go aswell as the extras so this weekend will have to be one of my sewing frenzies!!!

Another rainbow rug mug coming up …….

It’s that time again…mug rug swapping! This time I have joined the Goodie Swap hosted by Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting. For this swap I have been assigned two partners for whom I have to make a mug rug and a small extra goodie such as a pincushion or bag. As usual I have pulled together a mosaic of pictures to inspire my partners. I keep meaning to have a go at making some thread spools myself, maybe my partner will send me some so I have something to show me how to make them!

The finished items need to be sent in about 10 days so this weekend I need to get to some hard work on what I am making. Having done some partner stalking the first mug rug I am working on is another rainbow mug rug. Do you remember this one?

 

My intention is to make something very similar so I have been searching through my stash and cutting lot of 2.5 inch squares to play around with…

So far this is my potential combo……

Do you like the camel? I have to admit it will be hard to part with that square!!I’m off now to start sewing the squares together. Hopefully later today I will be able to share my finished mug rug top.