My First Mug Rug

Last month at our NEMQG meeting we learned a new binding technique.  To help us practice we were all asked to bring a mug rug to bind.  I've been admiring all of the mug rugs I've been seeing out in the blogosphere and Flickr but never really decided to make one, until now.

For this, I finally cut into my stash of hand dyed fabrics.  I've been saving them for a special project, but I had won some fat 16th hand dyed fabrics a while ago and I decided that this was the perfect use for them. 

I cut the purple and orange fabrics in some wavy lines and cut them in half.  I had ironed on some Wonder Under on before cutting and had removed the paper backing.  I was trying this method after seeing Frieda Anderson show this method since she claims she never gets the stray pieces of fabric when cutting this way.  I then ironed the orange and purple fabrics together on the paper backing I had removed before trimming and ironing it onto the green fabric. 

This whole mug rug was an improv project that I experimented with as I went along.  After attaching the purple and orange piece to the green I then cut that down into a wavy piece.

I used my 18mm rotary cutter for this because I had more control and could make the wavy edges better than I could with your standard 45mm rotary cutter.  I would highly recommend that you invest in a small rotary cutter for projects like this.

Once I added the Green I felt like there was still something missing, so I found a nice, bright yellow fabric and placed the piece on top of that.  It really popped and I decided to go with it.

Voila!  At this point I did some quick quilting to get the mug rug ready for the meeting.  I don't have any pictures of that right now, but I'll show some soon.  I just need to get my camera out.  I'm in the middle of hand sewing the binding down to the back, which shouldn't take too long. 

I'm probably going to hang this in my sewing room on the side of my new bookshelf instead of using it as an actual mug rug.  It took a lot for me to cut into my hand dyed stash, and I just can't bring myself to put food or drinks on it.  Maybe some day, but not now.

Monet's Bee Block

I also finished Monet's bee block to give to her at our March meeting of the NEMQG.  She posted a tutorial for a spiderweb block on her blog and asked us to make one for her with the fabrics she provided.

Here's what I was able to come up with.  I had to add the dark grunge fabric because I didn't have quite enough.  I think it works well in it though.  

Aimee's Bee Block

I finally finished Aimee's bee block the other night.  Aimee asked for a butterfly block for a quilt that she's making for her daughter.  She sent along some great Art Gallery fabric, which I love.  

Here's the block that I came up with.  I really struggled with this block.  Aimee gave us a lot of freedom, but that almost worked against me.  I kinda wish there was a bit more guidance besides no applique.  I think I used my seam ripper more with this block than I have in a very long time.  

In the end, I like the outcome and I hope Aimee likes it. 

NEMQG February Meeting

Saturday was our monthly meeting of the NEMQG.  We met a Laurie's church which has a nice big gym to baste our quilts in. 

Laurie basting her quilt above.

We also got to see Jill's quilt top minus the outside border made with her blocks from our bee.  She was the first to go in the bee and it's great to finally see one close to completion.

She was also laying out some blocks to determine positioning on the floor. 

And KK showed off her two adorable quilts that she's making for some soon-to-be born twins.

I basted one of my quilts but of course forgot to take a picture.  I also did a bunch of cutting for a storm at sea quilt that I'm preparing to make for my parents. 

NEMQG January Meeting

Last Saturday was our January meeting of the NEMQG.  We met up at the Arlington public library where we were greeted by a trunk show from Sew Fresh Fabrics.

They talked all about what it is like to own a fabric store on etsy and what it's like to work in the fabric industry.

After, we all had a chance to purchase some of their great fabric.

Here we are digging through everything, making a mess, and buying lots of fabric!

These are the goodies that I came away with.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love Art Gallery fabrics.  Well, I love Art Gallery fabrics.  I'm not a big orange person, so some of these fabrics are a bit out of my comfort zone.

I also managed to snag some Castle Peeps fabrics.  6 fat quarters and a half yard.  I'm not sure what I'll do with this, but this was one of those lines that I was hoping to get before you couldn't find the line anymore. 

Bee Block

Last Saturday was our January meeting of the NEMQG.  At the meeting we gave Laurie her bee blocks.  She provided some awesome purples, grays, and white to make a very cool block.  I absolutely loved the colors Laurie picked and would love to make a quilt using this colorway sometime.

Here are all of the blocks together.

This is going to be one great quilt.  I can't wait to see what Laurie does with it.

Bee Block

Last week I finished a bee block for Rebecca for the bee we're doing in the NEMQG.  This was due at our December meeting, but there was a bit of confusion and I thought it was due at the January one. Oops.  Needless to say I felt bad. I'm never late and I hate the fact that I messed up.

I had a lot of fun making this block.  It's not something that I would have made for myself, so I really liked the challenge of doing something outside the box.  I think it turned out great and I hope Rebecca likes it. 

NEMQG - Holiday Mini Quilt Challenge

Last weekend the NEMQG held a holiday mini quilt challenge with our pincushion swap.  I decided to make a small quilt using needle turn applique that we learned in our last meeting.  I knew that I was going to be busy traveling for work, so I saw that as the perfect time to work on a needle turn applique quilt. 

I designed the quilt myself after sketching up a few different designs and settled on a gingerbread house and a Christmas tree. 

I made it using the scraps that I had from the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM except for the brown house.

Here are a few close-ups.

I added some crystals to the Christmas tree to look like ornaments.

Here's the house.  The windows and door knob are made of buttons. 

Here's the back of the quilt where you can see some of the quilting that I did. 

I was running short on time for the binding, so I ended up machine stitching it down using some metalic thread. 

Now for the competition.  There ended up being four quilts total entered into the challenge.

After seeing all of the quilts up there, I knew I had no shot of winning.  I mean, come on, look at some of those.  They're fantastic.  Everyone at the meeting was given a piece of paper to vote on their favorite quilt.  After the tally, quilts 3 and 4 (from left to right) were tied for third place and quilts 1 and 2 were tied for first.  I have to admit, I was a bit shocked when I learned I was tied for first.

Because there was only one winning prize, we had to have another vote off between quilts 1 and 2.

After the second tally, again quilts 1 and 2 were tied.  (I was shocked that I was still in it, much less tied for that awesome quilt on the left.)  Then, we realized that we were missing one vote, the deciding vote.  After all of the votes were recounted and the tally was final, MY quilt was dubbed the winner!!! Holy cow!!!  I seriously never expected to be the winner after seeing all of the cool quilts. 

So now this cute quilt is hanging in the hallway off our kitchen to our master bedroom. 

NEMQG Pincushion Swap

On Saturday, at the NEMQG, we had a pincushion swap.  It was a "bring a pincushion, get a pincushion" swap. 

Here's the pincushion that I made for the swap.

I made it using the leftover scraps from the Carol Doak Radiant Star BOM.  All of the pieces that I had leftover from trimming the paper pieced blocks became this pincushion.  I filled it with crushed walnuts.  I loved it and didn't really want to give it away, but I did.

Here we are swapping pincushions.

And this is the pincushion that I received.  Isn't it cute?

 

And here are all of the pincushions.  I wish I could have taken them all back with me, but if I did that I'm guessing I wouldn't be welcome back to the group.  So, I resisted.

NEMQG November Meeting

Yesterday was the November meeting of the NEMQG and the first one I was able to attend in person.  It was great to be able to meet everyone that I've been talking to online and those that have been participating in the bee.

In this meeting we learned needle turn applique.  I was excited to learn this because I've always wanted to make an Aunt Millie's Garden quilt.  Joanna, the applique queen, taught this lesson using her tree tutorial.  Here's my tree in progress.

I also received my blocks back from my month in the bee.  Here are the blocks (one is missing).

I had asked for a star block and these are everyone's interpretation.  Now to think of how I'm going to put it together.  Hmm...

New England Modern Quilt Guild Bee Block

I signed up for a quilting bee as part of the New England Modern Quilt Guild.  This month marked the first month.  Jill was up first for the month of September.  She asked for a 12.5" block with a friendship star somewhere in the block.  I decided to do a friendship star within a star.

What do you think?  This is the first bee that I'm participating in and I really hope that Jill likes it.

I'm up for next month and I think I'm going to send out some jewel toned fabrics with white background fabric and ask for any sort of star block.