May Your Life Be Like A Basket...Useful...Bountiful...Beautiful...

Basketmaster's Weavings is about my passions, much of which revolves around basket weaving. I weave with reed and I love teaching others to weave. Many of the patterns and styles that I show in the blog are geared to the beginning weaver, or even the brand new weaver. If you have been thinking about wanting to learn to weave, then this blog is for you. Throughout the blog and videos I take you step by step through each and every process of weaving. I want you to be successful in weaving the very first time you try. For the intermediate and advanced weaver, my wish is that you take ideas that I show, mix them up a bit, and incorporate them into your own beautiful creations.

Happy Weaving and Baskets of Blessings to all my visitors,

Nancy

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

What is a Mug Rug? Let Me Show You!

Hi Friends,
Have you seen these little cuties floating around the internet lately?  I love these things!  They are called a mug rug.  What is a mug rug you ask?  A mug rug is like a mini quilt that is somewhere in size between a coaster and a place mat.  Most I've seen are rectangular in shape but I've seen heart shaped and flower shaped ones as well.  They are made to set your beverage on as well as a crumbly baked good.  You are encouraged to eat off these sweet mats!  I think this is just a nice little touch as I sit quitely with my coffee and spend time with our Lord.
If you are a scrapbooker, you probably know what ATC's are.  IMHO, this is the ATC in the sewing world except sizes vary unlike the ATC's.  These mug rugs are embellished lavishly and traded in sewing and quilting circles.  One of the best parts is that they use your scraps!  I'm going to encourage you to google mug rugs and you will see the beautiful work quilters have done in making these.  Some are true mini works of art!

Let me tell you how I made my mug rug.
I found my favorite size to be 5 1/2" x 11".  I like this size where the length is double from the height.  The binding you see around the edge is the backing of my mug rug just wrapped around to the front.  You could finish the edge in bias tape or with another binding, but I find it is super easy to just wrap the backing around to the front side, fold it under so there is no raw edge, and stitch.  There is a piece of batting 5 1/2" x 11" sandwiched between the front and back.


I made my mug rug just last night and it took about an hour.  The only real embellishing I did is I stitched this little phrase with my sewing machine.


Here is the back side of my mug rug.  I cut the backing one inch wider than the mug rug so that I could wrap it around to the front and fold under my raw edges. 

So my top fabric I did first and pieced the pieces together and then squared it up to a size of 5 1/2" x 11".  I cut a piece of batting 5 1/2" x 11".  I cut the backing 7 1/2" x 13".

Here was my first attempt at making a mug rug.  This was leftover fabric from my son's curtains that I sewed several years ago.  The fabric is printed to have this pieced look to it.  This mug rug happens to be 5" x 10".  That is when I decided I wanted my next one to be just a bit larger.  This will be great for his room though. 

Have you tried to make one of these?  Send me a picture if you have.  What else are you sewing, weaving or crafting these days?  I'd love to hear!
Blessings,
Nancy

2 comments:

Lissa (Bellenza) said...

Had never seen these before...but they'd make a wonderful hostess gift! Thanks for sharing!

J. Anthony Stubblefield said...

I wish I knew how to sew. I mean I can sew on a button and I have muddled my way through sewing a liner for a basket, but anything were you would need to see a nice straight seam and piecing is beyond my skill set. I need to take a class sometime. I don't think I would make a quilt, but I would at least like to be able to make a pillow if I wanted to.

Tony


Grab a cup of coffee and take time to enjoy some posts from the past

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