On a Roll!

Following on from yesterday's productivity, I finished Belinda & Linda's Good Fortune mug rugs this morning..

Belinda's

Linda's

Top side

Reverse side

I still have mine to make, and I was planning to make it exactly the same.. but I had an extra 9 patch block and I hate seeing things got to waste... so instead I used the extra pieces to square my blocks up.. I think I'll put a thin border of white homespun around it before I quilt and bind it.. it'll end up being a little bigger than the other mug rugs, so I guess it could always double as a candle mat!

 Next I pulled out the Drunkard's Path blocks that I'd split and pressed (enough for 3x star blocks), squared them up to 3.5" and laid them out. Unfortunately one of my blocks doesn't quite work for me (colour combination-wise) so I set it aside because I might be able to switch around some of my other blocks and retrieve the situation. But I finished one piecing one block (I couldn't be bothered going outside to the ironing board in the dark, which is why it's not pressed) and I've nearly finished the other (see note re: pressing)...

One block complete (needs final pressing)

  I *did* work out how to do that cool web string chaining thing though, so that my block actually stays looking like that even if I pick it up, and once I've pressed it all I'll need to do is just zip down those rows and it will be done!

Second block nearly complete 

 Linking up with:

Sharing in each other's Good Fortune..

So I had this idea late last year about making some mug rugs for my girlfriends using a charm pack of "Good Fortune" by Kate Spain. Originally it was supposed to be part of their Christmas presents, but I ran out of time. But I still really wanted to make them.. it all came out of this silly little "Chinese moneybags" meme-y type thing that went around, where you added up your age, plus the last year you were born (dropping the 19) and it would add up to 111. So at playgroup one day we all sat around and worked it out.. and it worked.. eg. I just turned 30, and I was born in '81... 30+81=111. We also worked out that for our kids, theirs all worked out to 11.. eg Blossom was 3 & born in '08 - 3+8=11. Amusing, yes? So I decided that if I made us all mug rugs out of a single charm pack of "Good Fortune" we could "share in each other's Good Fortune". Completely corny, I know - but that's me!

So I made up a whole pile of disappearing 9 patch blocks using my good fortune charms and came up with:

Kym's, Linda's, Phillipa's & Belinda's, basted and ready to quilt.

 They're completely double sided, and each mug rug uses 3 disappearing 9 patch blocks. Once I've finished them all I might even post a tutorial for you, incase anyone is interested in making their own!

Kym's & Phillipa's, side #1

Kym's and Phillipa's, side #2

Because I only had a charm pack I had to go out and buy some generic fabric for binding from Spotlight - which of course Kate Spain picked up on straight away when I sent her some pics on twitter! Oops! Next time I'll have to plan in advance and buy yardage to match. I've finished 2 mug rugs (and given them to Kym & Phillipa), with Linda's & Belinda's quilted and ready to bind.. and mine still needs to be quilted & bound. It was surprisingly hard to give them away, because I just love this fabric! So to ease the pain I purchased a Fat Eighth bundle from Quiltjane's Want it, Need it, Quilt store.. I'm definitely making a throw quilt for my couch out of that.. and I'll have the mug rug to match!

Linking up this week with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday..

Quilty love...

Clearly today is a day of discovery for me! Aside from finding my Disappearing 9 Patch table runner on FaveQuilts.com (I must confess I knew they wanted to feature one of my tutorials, I just didn't know which one, or when), it was apparently also featured back in November on The Curious Quilter's "A Generous Helping of Quilty Holiday Gift Tutorials" blog post! How lovely is that?

And speaking of featured tutorials, Ebony from Love Bug Studios asked me if she could feature my Split Drunkard's Path Star block tutorial in her online magazine Blocks to Die For, which is all about ways to use your fabric die cutters (Accuquilt etc)