Sewing Goals for May

If you want to join in the Stocking Swap it's not too late!!!  You just have to have everything finished and ready to mail by the first week in December.  This is a good thing since I haven't even started on January's mug and mug rug much less anything else.  I am so far behind!!!  I think I will try to make one thing every week or every two weeks if I am being practical, to try and catch up.  Maybe by July I will be caught up and can continue on with making on item a month.  Let's see, besides January's mug and mug rug, I need to make February's pillow cover for a 14" pillow form, March's - 2 matching pillow cases.  Hmmm, I just made two, but I am not sure I could give them up.  (they are Alexander Henry's men of Halloween.  I also recently made the men of Christmas and blogged a picture of them), I think I will make other ones to give away.  Since I don't know who my box will go to, I am not sure they would appreciate my men pillow cases.  Plus, I want to keep them for myself. LOL  Okay, April's  pin cushion and a set of pins will almost get me there - I will also need to add in May's 4 placemats since tomorrow is the beginning of May.  What happened to April?  What??? We only have 5 weeks of school left?  This is crazy!  Really, can someone tell me where April went?  I think it blew out of here with all the dust and wind we have been experiencing lately.  (58 mph on Sunday and 25 - 30 everyday since.  That doesn't include the gusts!)

The good thing is, I think I have two placemats finished and all I need to do to the other two in that set is to hand stitch the binding.  That one can almost be marked off.  Yea!!  That is all I have to concentrate on for now to catch up in the swap, so I guess this weekend I will crank out the easiest thing for me, pillow cases.  I have a few sets made (not just my men) and I could and may give one of those sets, but I have purchased fabric in the past year just to make into  pillow cases so I need to make at least one set and maybe 4 or 5 sets.  Now I have a sewing goal for this weekend.  Okay, I know, the binding thing - I sewed all my black strips and trimmed them, but they are not pressed or ready to be used yet.  That is another thing that needs to be done this weekend.  One thing at a time, but those are at the top of my to do list.  Do you have a to do list? I am going to have to put several things on mine to keep me focused in my studio or else I will go off on a tangent and make fabric or start a new quilt.  I almost did that tonight and didn't get the binding done.  But I did get it sewn and I also went through a ton of mail and threw away and shredded 2/3 of my stack.  That always feels good.  Do you let junk mail and magazines just pile up?  I usually pick my mail up in the morning on the way to school, sift through it quickly when I get back in the car, pull out and read the personal letters and then put the rest in my school bag.  Then when my bag gets heavy, I take it all out and stack it together.  That is what I went through tonight, one of those stacks.  Solicitations from credit card companies and insurance companies, advertisements from local stores and churches for special services or guest speakers, all those political flyers that the majority of the universe doesn't read (what a waste of money) and last but not least and one of my favorites, coupons from local eateries.   Now, those, most of them, I will use.  Well, not all of them, but at least one or two from each of my favorite places.  I will sometimes take the rest up to school and share with my students. 

Mug Rugs - January's Stocking Swap

As soon as I can remember where I put my camera (to keep it safe, LOL) I will take some new pictures of some mugs and their rugs that I have recently made.  However, to get you started, please enjoy the following pictures of my previously made (and some even given away) mugs and their rugs. 



Penguin mug



penguin mug rug



I decided that the rug didn't really go with this mug and have since made another one.  that is what I get for making the rug without having the mug right there with me and trying to remember what colors to use.  LOL

Tic Tac Dough - you can actually play on the mug!

closer up of the rug

These mugs were on clearance after Christmas one year.  the rug has a pocket to tuck a napkin or other goody inside.

these rugs go much better!

Chalkboard mugs that you can actually write on needed a chalkboard rug - too bad I didn't have any chalkboard fabric.  Just black Kona. 

 

I have purchased several cute, cute mugs in after Christmas clearance sales and can't wait to make some rugs to go with them.  these make awesome gifts with a little cocoa packet inside or even homemade treats.  They are quick to make and nice to have several on hand for that last minute Oops I forgot about . . . gifts.   What mugs are you creating rugs for this month?

 

 

Rugs and Bags

The last of the mug rugs have been completed for this month.  I re-did the rugs to go with this mug and I am much, much happier with this color combination.  I have two mugs just like this so I made two rugs. 

This last rug and mug combination was a great find!  I found them in the Christmas clearance isle with a bag of stale marshmallows stuck inside.  I just pulled those things out and threw them away and now, I have the perfect mug for a teachers gift or for someone that likes to draw.  This mug is a portable chalkboard and even comes with it's own stick of chalk.  So, of course the perfect rug had to be a larger chalkboard, bordered with a red/black and white plaid and either letters, numbers or both appliqued on the "board".  The picture below is an example of just one of the three rugs I made.   

Not only have I been making mug rugs, but I have also made some of these wonderful bags.  They are a little bit addictive and I have no idea, at this time, what I am going to do with them.  If you get a chance check out Jenni's tutorial and make some bags for yourself or your friends.



Mug Rugs Revealed

It has been another crazy, busy week at school and doesn't look like it will let up for a couple more weeks.  However, the good thing is that I get to come home and sew in the evenings.  I have been working on making some mug rugs for the stocking swap. 

Here are my two tic-tac-toe mugs (they call them hugs and kisses) and the two mug rugs I made to go with them.  they also come with a marker so you can actually play the game on the mug!  When I saw them at Tuesday Morning I fell in love with them and knew that I wanted to make mug rugs for them.  I pieced the grid and then appliqued the x's and o and the words.  These are machine bound in the same black and are about 5 1/2" X 9".  

A closer look at the mug rug.  I know I could have made it easier if I had just appliqued the grid, also, but I didn't want to do that.  (actually, I didn't think about it until I had already made the entire two rugs)

My Maxwell House coffee mugs get a solids rug with a pocket on the right hand side.  This one is a little more narrow - measuring about 4" X 8 1/2" - but this is a slightly smaller mug so it fits it.  The colors are pulled from the pictures on the mug.  I didn't want this one to be too complicated, even though the right side is a bit too plain.  I don't know the exact purpose of a pocket on a mug rug other than to put this packet of coffee in to give it as a gift -which is my intention.  However, I had seen someone else on the blogs - can't find exactly where, but I did see it more than once - make a pocket on their rugs and thought it would be a great idea to try it. 

 Here is the mug using the rug with the coffee snug in it's pocket.  Okay, too much rhyming for today.  I have a few more rugs to get to today, but before I leave, here is a the link to one that BeeBee made for the swap.  If any of you want to share what you have made and want me to link it here, let me know or you can link it in your comments.   Great job Beverly!!

January's Stocking Swap - Mug and Rug

January's Stocking Swap project is a mug and a mug rug that coordinates. 

When the mug rug craze was sweeping the blogs a couple years ago, I loved the idea.  However, I  always thought that the rug should go with a mug.  Two years ago, I found this wonderful penguin mug in the Christmas clearance and picked him up for cheap.  He needed a rug to make him the perfect gift, so I made one that coordinated with him.   Now, I am not an artist and before you think that I drew that penguin, let me say, Au contraire, Mon Ami.  I took a picture of my mug and printed out the picture.  I then had a template of the penguin.  I did fudge a little on his eyes, mouth, feet and bands on the hat, but those are just snippets and easy to cut out.  It was harder to try and make them exactly like the picture because I did try that first.   The words "mug rug" are just free form writing with my sewing machine - over and over - to make it darker and stand out.  You could even write it with a pencil and go over your writing to start off.  It's not hard to do, but not necessary for this swap. 

I still have this mug and it might be the one included in this swap or I could make rugs for any of the following mugs in my gift closet.  I have had two of these Maxwell house mugs in my closet for far longer than I care to admit.  They were part of a package I got one Christmas, but not really my style.  I thought they would have been a great gift for someone else, but yet they still sit in my closet, just waiting for that perfect someone to go home with.  I think a nice blue, gold and white mug rug with a traditional pattern might just fit this mug fine.

Notice it still has a package of coffee in the mug.  That might be a great idea to include with this swap.  A small sampling of your regional coffee.  Or a couple of your favorite tea bags (in their own little gift bag?).  What about a package of hot chocolate?  Something to think about, but not part of the swap, just a little extra.  

Here is another mug that I picked up on clearance, can you tell that I have a mug fixation? I picked 4 of these up on sale with the express purpose of making mug rugs for them.  A couple of months ago I sat down and made two mug rugs to go with these and when I was finished with the rugs, I got a mug out and, they didn't really go together.  My mind had an idea that this mug was green and yellow. . .it's okay, but not exactly what I wanted either. 



I think I will be making these over again this month to get the perfect (for me) mug rug for that particular mug.  I may have to find a mug that goes with this rug since it is already made! 

Another mug that I have in my closet that, yes, again, picked up on clearance, is this tic-tac-toe mug.  It was such a cute idea that I couldn't pass it up.  Here again, I got it just to make a mug rug for it and give it as a gift.  This mug comes with it's own marking pen that erases off the mug so you can play the game over and over.  The inside of this mug is a deep red and on the back has a description of how to play the game. When I saw this mug at Tuesday Morning, I could just picture the mug rug with a tic-tac-toe game in progress.  I think it will be a fun rug to make. 

This is the coffee mug I am drinking out of this morning.  It will not be one of the options for the swap, but I may just have to make a rug to go with it.  This one is part of a set of four that I received 10 or 12 years ago from a co-worker.  The mugs are over sized and perfect for the large mug setting on my Keurig along with my flavored cream.  I can just picture little grapes on the rug or maybe just these muted colors and not an exact replica of the grapes.  Like I said, this will be a fun month to play with making mug rugs.  I have several options, as you can see.  Someone is getting a mug and rug for Christmas.  

Mug Rug 1

Finished a mug rug to go with this new mug I purchased. It was on clearance for 25 cents!! I made the mug rug to go with it mostly from scraps from my scrap pile and from some pieces I pulled from my stash. So, for very, very little money I have my first Christmas gift for next year. To get the penguin almost the same, I took this picture of my mug, printed out four copies of the picture, cut out each of the pieces I needed, traced them onto heat and bond light, ironed them onto the fabric choice and built my pieces from there. I sewed the strips for the background, layered my penguin, stitched around all the parts with red or black thread, added the mug rug in black thread - over and over and over to build up the color, put a binding around it and called it a night. Well, almost since I am still awake and blogging about this.

See how cute they are together? Sorry about the shadows, but it is almost midnight here and I am doing this with just my overhead and one lamp. You will just have to trust me on this one, they are cute together.