Quilted Mug Rug

From the Writers Wall Quilt I had a lot of leftover fabrics due to my little “design opportunity”, I pondered long and hard what I should make to use up some of my scraps.  I looked at a ton of ideas I pinned onto my Pinterest boards and came up with the idea of making a quilted mug rug.  What is a mug rug you ask?  Well… it is larger then a drink coaster and smaller then a placemat and usually heat proof, primarily used for a drink and a small snack plate or anything else which fits on the small surface.  I looked for tutorials or patterns but really did not find one which gave me dimensions or instructions, as usual I made up my own pattern and inserted Insul-Bright to protect surfaces from hot and cold drinks and foods.

I still had more leftover fabrics so I made a couple of coffee cup cozy’s which came out pretty cute.  I lined those with Insul-Bright as well to keep in the hot and cold.  I did not take a photo of one wrapped around a coffee cup but you get the idea.

Here is the photo of my quilt hanging in my sister’s office and the coffee cozy and mug rug on her desk.  I was really thrilled to see them all in her office, I was absolutely honored she did that.

Thanks for letting me share some of my scrap projects with you today; I hope you got inspired to use up some of your leftover scraps to make some fun gifts.  There are several more sewing projects on the books to share with you so keep an eye out for them.

See you soon.

Laurette

Finding Fabrics

Last week during a visit from my oldest sister, who lives in the mid-west, she and I spent lots of sister time going to all our favorite places together.  One of our outings was fabric shopping at my favorite quilt shop, Homespun Harbor, during their close out sale.  We both were able to pick up quite a bit of beautiful fabrics to fill in some of the missing elements of our individual fabric stashes.  A good fabric stash is now very important for me because there is not another local fabric store, I will have to go one town away to shop for quilt fabrics and two towns away to shop for garment fabrics and notions.  No more popping into the shop to pick up thread, elastic, zippers or more fabric when I am in the middle of a project, now I have to plan a day trip instead.  

Anyway….. back to our shopping trip, fat quarters were on sale for $1.00 each (for those of you who don’t know what a fat quarter is, it is fabric which measures 18”x 22”, a regular ¼ yard of fabric measures 9”x 44”, quilters use them to make quilts and other small projects, there are whole books dedicated to sewing with fat quarters) they were a fantastic price, they usually start at $2.50 and up depending on the shop.  I don’t use as many fat quarters as my sister, she bought more of those then I did, but I did manage to pick out a few of my own which I like to use for children’s Christmas stockings, table napkins and wine bags, at a buck each it was a real steal.  I also purchased some basic solids at a wonderful price as well as some retro print fabrics for dressmaking.

I was thrilled to get these retro inspired fabrics at such low prices, some as low as $3.00 a yard for very high quality cotton fabrics, the average price is normally $10 to $12 per yard.  Some of these prints will be made into dresses, tops, aprons or purses, scraps will be sewn into zip bags and other accessories, no wasted fabrics here.

My sister purchased these classic fabrics for me as an early Birthday present.  The set tied with the black bow is a kit which includes a pattern for a table topper and a table runner, the table topper could also be used as a wall hanging.  The other set is the complementary fabrics to the kit which would allow me to complete a wall hanging and a table topper, one for each of us.  I love those fabrics and can’t wait to work with them; they are already on my cutting table ready to be made into some fun projects.

Our day was filled with a whirl of colors and fabrics but it was bittersweet in the loss of such a great shop.  To cheer me up we went on an exploration of a newer shop which opened, one town away, in San Juan Bautista.  The shop, Family Treads, is a darling place with some of the same types of fabrics and notions I like to create with; I think I will probably visit there often as travel time permits.  It was great fun to explore the lovely fabrics and chat with the other ladies about their projects, we both had a really good day and we were all shopped out by late afternoon.

Thanks for letting me share all our fabric finds with you from my visit with my sister.  Our trip inspired me to get back to sewing and creating more colorful projects, look for those to begin in my next posting.  See you soon.

Laurette

Quilt Shop Heaven

Quilt Shop Heaven

For those of you who follow me on a regular basis you already know my studio assistant and myself were suppose to go to the big Quilt Show in Santa Clara this past weekend.  Due to unforeseen circumstances we didn’t make it to the show, we were very disappointed but it couldn’t be helped (heavy sigh).

We were, however, able to do something just as fun, at least we thought so.  We went out quilt shop hunting and came across several wonderful shops with magnificent arrays of beautiful fabrics and all the goodies to go with it.

One shop in particular really caught our attention that day; SEW BEE IT QUILTING, in Morgan Hill, CA.  What a beautiful, friendly shop, they had so many fabrics, patterns and notions to see, we were there for a long time picking and choosing all our fabrics and patterns for our next projects.  I know I just edited my fabrics but I couldn’t resist all my favorite fabrics by designer Amy Butler.  The price was fantastic and the fabrics were going quick so I just had to buy before they were all gone.

 The Amy Butler wall, I was in heaven!  Lots of pictures of this great shop, enjoy!

 This great shop really has it all, there are prints, solids, basics, batiks, patterns, books, classes and so much more, you just have to stop in and see it.

 The whole shop is bright and colorful, a truly happy place.

Rows and rows of colorful fabrics to choose from, they are a feast for the eyes, they make me smile just looking at the pretty colors.

A peak at the great selection of books and patterns and more beautiful fabrics.

The shop was really hopping with classes and lots of happy, friendly shoppers.  We got to see some fantastic quilts made by one of their customers, a mini quilt show right there in the shop. 

It was a lot of fun and the two of us can’t wait to go back and shop again.  I hope you enjoyed the little peak into this darling quilt shop we visited and I trust you will take the time to check it out for yourself if you are ever in that area.  If you are not in the area you can check out their web site listed below.

Happy shopping!

We also shopped in several other delightful quilt/fabric shops, I plan to share those, the fabrics and patterns we purchased, with you in the very near future.  Watch for those, see you soon.

Where it is:

SEW BEE IT QUILTING

94 San Pedro Ave.

Morgan Hill, CA  95037

408-778-5058

Check out their web site at:

www.sewbeeitquilting.com