Grand Piano Mug Rug

This mug and mug rug are for my niece, Susan, who is a skilled pianist.

The mug rug is paper-pieced, and there are 165 pieces.  The black keys on the keyboard border are just an eighth of an inch wide.

Post Script:  This mug rug won a blue ribbon at the county fair.

Doilies from Hannah and Victoria

Hannah and Victoria both made me doilies for Mother's Day.  Here's the one Hannah made:

And here's the one from Victoria:

Apple Mug Rug

Getting started on Christmas gifts. 

I traced the apples from the cup onto freezer paper to make the templates for the appliqué.

Needlecase and Eyeglass Case for Lura Kay

These are for my sister, whose birthday is on the 17^th.

Needlecase

This needlecase is for Norma for Mother's Day, along with the checkbook cover (below, May 08).  The miniature log cabin block is 1.75 inches.  Each log's finished size is ¼".

Checkbook Cover

This is for Norma for Mother's Day (let's hope she doesn't see this page before Sunday).  I used a pattern from my book, Lively Little Logs.  Even with blocks and pieces so tiny (finished block size, 1.75 inches; finished log width, ¼ inch) (the logs are cut at ¾ inch), the instructions are for regular piecing. 

Knowing that I would achieve far greater accuracy with paper-piecing, I made a block in EQ7 (Electric Quilt 7, quilt design software) and then printed it in triplicate on the newsprint I got from www.dickblick.com. 

I used two layers of light-weight Pellon sew-in interfacing in the pockets, 80-20 Hobbs Heirloom batting in the main cover.  Paper-piecing these little blocks worked like a charm. 

I think I'll make a matching needle case tomorrow!

Disappearing Nine-Patch Mug Rug

Today I decided to join in the Quilt-Along going on in the online Cyber Quilters group.  Several ladies made entire, lovely quilts.  I made an odd little mug rug that's supposed to match this plaid mug.  This will be a Christmas gift for a friend, and I will add packets of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate to the set, and perhaps a chocolate stirring spoon.

Here are the mugs I've collected so far (I need about two dozen more):

Here is the D9P (Disappearing Nine-Patch) block, first step.  

The squares are cut at 4" x 5".

Here it is after the next step -- I cut it apart, then sewed it back together again.  I cut the block one more time horizontally, since it needs to be rectangular, rather than square.

Now to put some fancy stitches on the seams to make it look sort of crazy-quiltish... then some embroidery... then add batting and backing... and, finally, sew on the binding.  I should have used batting with less loft; the rug is too puffy.

Close-up of embroidered teacup

Embroidered teacup close-up

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