Mug Rug Tutorial

"Jumping on the Pay it Forward 2013 Bandwagon ;0) The first five people to comment on this post will receive from me, sometime in the next calendar year, a gift.

Perhaps a book, or handmade item, or a candle, music – a surprise! There will likely be no warning and it will happen whenever the mood strikes me.

The catch? Those five people must make the same offer in their FB status."

That was my Facebook status on my personal account January 9, 2013. 
The very first comment I got was from my friend Julia, whom I stole this status from! 

This is what I'm making for her. 

I'm very excited to announce that these little 'mug rugs' will be my very first (of many) tutorial! 

 

When I bought this beautiful fabric a few months ago I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Today while drinking coffee and reading some blogs a light bulb went off in my head: Mug Rugs!







You're first going to want to cut your fabric. I chose to do 5 1/2" by 5 1/2" squares.

















Cut out some batting that is a bit wider and longer than the fabric and make your quilt sandwich by basting with pins. This just means pin a sandwich of fabric, batting, fabric with quilt pins or safety pins. 



Then, wham! I got a great idea! I remembered the "pay it forward" I had decided to do in January and thought this would be great for Julia!

After basting free motion quilt (FMQ) all over that mug rug! I also thread painted the words "trust in God," because I knew this would be special to Julia.                                                      From here you're going to either bind it or leave the edges raw with a zig-zag stitch. I personally like the raw edges better, but I'm going to send one raw and one binded edge to Julia. 

To get a great tutorial for binding visit Diary of a Quilter's blog!

    

There you have it! My very first tutorial. Mug rugs are great for beginner quilters, or for those looking for a quick satisfying project! From start to finish this takes about 30 minutes! 

I can't wait to do more tutorials for you guys! For those of you who love these mug rugs but just don't have the desire to make them yourself you can find them for sale in my shop (coming soon)! Hoppi Quilts Shop is having it's grand opening June 17th, more information on that to come! 

For now...

Quilt on,

Hoppi