Mug Rugs!

Silliest thing I ever saw...

When I first saw a "mug rug," I thought it was just another way to make and sell quick projects, thriftily using old blocks and scraps of fabric.

Gimcrackery: an ornament, showy but cheap and useless (Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition)

It looks like (and is) a skimpy placemat or an overgrown coaster. Placemats and coasters come in sets of four, however, and each one has to be individually bound. The binding takes longer than the rest of the project! I don't mind tablerunners, because that's only one binding job. A single quilted block, less than twelve inches square, looked like a cop-out. That's not even big enough to be a wall quilt. It's more like a potholder, but even those are usually sold in pairs.

I just couldn't justify the making (and especially the selling!) of one little quilted mat. Besides, it wouldn't even be very profitable, since anything really nice would take over an hour, and they wouldn't sell for more than $10 each.

But as time went by, I started noticing things: When I carry my coffee cup into the livingroom and set it on the coffeetable, or take it up to my studio or into the office, I always have to find something to act as a coaster. Cups get hot, and I tend to dribble. I'm not fussy; I usually have some (unbound) coasters stacked on top of the piano, so I grab one of those if I am in the living room. Otherwise, I use a cloth napkin. Or dish rag. Or a paper towel, if the cup isn't too hot. On my desk, I always have a few envelopes and other papers sporting brown rings.
It's not the end of the world. Our life is simple. I won't die of embarrassment if I have to hand a flannel or terrycloth napkin to a coffee-drinking guest.
And then I realized that sometimes I was using two napkins, or a napkin and a coaster. Yes, I sometimes have cookies or some other small treat with my coffee. With a mug rug or snack mat, I'd have a handy - and much more attractive! - place to set everything. I'd even have room to set down the spoon after I used creamer or sugar. My days of slovenly coffee drinking are at an end!

Possibilities abound. I can make them in colors to coordinate with each room, or in seasonal fabrics and patterns. I might make two dainty mats for tea parties with my granddaughters, or some his-and-hers sets. I think there ought to be "manly" ones, and some discreet enough to use at the office.

Think of the possibilities for gifts! You could assemble a very nice gift basket with one or two mug rugs, pretty (or manly) cups, and packages of coffee or tea. Or maybe even animal crackers and cocoa to drink!

And I only have to do one little binding.

Stash Reduction - Tessellating Stars

This is a fun 2” strip project. You can, of course, use any width of strips that you like, but if you have been taking my advice and cutting all of your scraps into 2" or 1 1/2" strips, you may be ready to start sewing! This is one of my all-time favorite patterns.

Divide your strips into 2 piles. I am dividing these into darks (greens) and lights (multicolored). You can divide them any way you like, as long as you have a good contrast between the two groups. For the quilt shown above, I used one group of purple fabrics and one group with orange, burgundy and green fabrics. It is a lower contrast, but I like the way it turned out. Working with clearly defined groups gives you a scrappy but coordinated look and you will see the tessellation effect more clearly.

Sew panels – one dark strip to one light strip – using a ¼” seam allowance. You don’t have to use full-length strips for this. Press the seam allowances toward the darker strip.

Cut 3 ½” slices. (The panel of two strips should be 3 ½” across, so you will have squares. If you are using a different size of strip, measure across your panel to determine the size of the slices. These units should be square.) You need 4 units to make one block, so be sure you have multiples of four. Count your pieced units. For each of these units, cut one 2” square of light fabrics and one 2” square of dark fabrics. If you have 36 pieced units, cut 36 light squares and 36 dark squares.

Having right sides together and raw edges aligned, position a dark square in one corner of the pieced unit, on the light fabric. Stitch diagonally across the dark square. You can mark the diagonal with a pencil or by pressing in a diagonal crease, but I usually just “eyeball” it on these small squares.

Run them through the sewing machine without stopping to break threads and remove them from the machine. Chain a few stitches between units.

Press the square outward toward the corner to create a triangle across the corner of the pieced unit. If you like, you can trim away the layers underneath (the seam allowances) to ¼”. I usually only trim the middle layer or leave them both intact.

Position a light square in the opposite corner of the pieced unit and sew across the square diagonally. Press as before.

Arrange your units in two piles as shown. Sew them into sets of two. Each set of two units constitutes half of the quilt block. Press all of the seam allowances (for this new seam) the same direction on each set.

Sew two halves together to make the whole block. Press. The block should measure 6 1/2”.

You may prefer to use only two fabrics instead of scraps:

Same blocks – one quilt has a light border and one has a dark border!

Spring Wedding?

Do you have a bride-to-bee in your life? Create an heirloom quilt and a precious memory at the same time, with a GloryQuilts Women of the Family Bridal Bee.

A new generation of women is reaching adulthood. These women value family history and relationships, and they want to establish extended family ties that will last beyond their own lifetime. Separated by busy lives and distance, many of us seldom have the opportunity to really visit with our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, nieces, and old friends. A quilting bee provides this opportunity. Conversation is easy when the hands are busy. There will be time for leisurely reminiscence, catching up on current events, advice on marriage and motherhood and life in general, laughter and maybe a few tears. New brides and new babies are wonderful reasons for women to come together.

Stash Reduction Project Part 1 - I'm not really throwing anything away.

I am making huge progress in my stash reduction process. I have an obscene amount of quilting fabric, but not a lot of yardage. It's mostly remnants and scraps. And it’s not disorganized; the fabric is already sorted by color or style into Rubbermaid totes, and the totes are neatly labeled on both ends. I have separated all of the dressmaking and other fabrics, and those are stored in other parts of the attic, so the “quilting” area of the attic contains only cotton fabric, batting, a few file boxes of quilt class patterns and paperwork, various class supply/visual aid boxes, quilt frames, and other quilt-related stuff tools and supplies. It looks good up there, but those totes are whited sepulchers. They appear nice and clean on the outside, but in reality they are crammed so full of fabric that it’s hard to find and use the pieces I want. It’s a wadded-up mess. Every time I want to do a project, I have to dig through tangles of unusable little pieces and strips, and it’s all so stubbornly wrinkled that I have to wet it down before I can press it smooth. I want my fabric supply to be accessible and usable.

I do have a system, but I have not previously applied it to the entire stash. It’s a big project, and time-consuming, but it works for me. One box at a time, I am sorting through every bit of the fabric. Any pieces smaller than a fat quarter or odd shapes are pressed and cut into 2″ strips. If they are too small for that, I cut them into 1 1/2″ strips. Anything too small for that DOES get thrown away. The remaining fabric pieces get pressed, folded, and put back in their tub. If a larger piece is not square/rectangular, I cut off the odd ends and strip those, replacing the tidied-up larger piece in the tote.

I really do use these strips. OFTEN. It’s a very convenient system for me, because I like scrap quilts. I enjoy rummaging through the ready-to-use strips. The problem is that they multiply. In their nice dark totes, up there in the attic at night, some kind of reproductive process is happening. I currently have three 18-gallon Rubbermaid totes packed full of 2″ strips and two of 1 1/2″ strips, and they are all full.

Last winter, I sewed seven tablerunners and two baby quilts from the 1 1/2″ strip tote without making a noticeable dent in the stash. Over the years, I have made innumerable large and small quilts from these boxes, but they never get emptier. Sometimes I get low on one specific color, but sooner or later they reproduce themselves and I once again have enough to make more quilts.

I have dressmaking friends who sometimes send me big boxes of their scraps. When I am organized like this, all of their gift eventually gets used. Efficient organization and storage prevents waste.

Now if only I could apply that concept to my kitchen…

Another Autumn

And I am grateful for it, of course, but summer is sadly short here in Wisconsin.

Like everyone else on Planet Earth, Glory Quilts has a facebook page. Stop by and visit there.

Quiltmaking is generally considered a winter sport, so I am being re-inspired by the unpleasant weather. The sewing room doesn't look anything like it did in those previous posts... it's a MESS! Fabric everywhere, stacks of books, and (of course) Rubbermaid totes. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who has to start with a clean room. Because cleaning is boring and I have a short attention span, that means I don't get to be creative as often as I would like. Perhaps today I can muster up some self-discipline and JUST DO IT.

Homegrown Fabric

I am very pleased to announce that Connecting Threads is providing American-made fabrics! Connecting Threads is an old friend. I have enjoyed their catalogs for nearly twenty years! Just last year, I finally cut out my favorite "inspiration" pictures and pasted them into a binder and threw the rest of the catalogs away.

They have an interactive educational community called Quilt With Us, which is worth looking into - right now they are giving away fabric!

Connecting threads has always offered some of the very best free quilting patterns online, and they now have video tutorials and free downloads for the EQ6 quilt design software. They also have a discussion forum!

Check out their fabric lines. They have a wide variety of themes and styles of fabrics!

Cranston/VIP Fabrics

I was seriously disappointed today to learn that Cranston is moving their fabric printing plants out of the United States. For many years, I have promoted their fabrics because they were made domestically. It's always a good thing to provide employment locally. Their fabric has been inexpensive and of a reliable quality. Primarily, however, I endorsed the company because they were extraordinary supporters of their military employees. Reservists are protected by federal law, but Cranston exceeded those minimum requirements. As a military wife and mother, that blesses me even when it's not my own family.

I am working on an article about fabric selection, and I called their customer service number today to ask some questions. The man on the phone didn't speak English very clearly, he didn't know anything about their military reservist support program, and when I got to my questions about the specific "Made in the USA" issues, I was shocked to learn that after June 30, Cranston/VIP/Quilting Treasures fabrics will no longer be printed in the Unted States. They have been printing fabrics in the Unites States since 1824.

From their website:

Cranston Print Works Company is a large, diversified corporation with operations in textile consumer goods, transportation, and specialty chemicals. The textile operation began in 1824, at the very beginning of America’s Industrial Revolution, and is distinguished as the oldest textile printing operation in the United States, as well as the largest supplier of printed fabric to the home sewing market. The company’s outstanding reputation for quality, service, versatility, and manufacturing expertise is a direct credit to the employees that work here. We continue to believe that our employees are our strength, and remain committed to employee development. Cranston Print Works is an employee-owned company, wherein the ownership philosophy coupled with the company’s excellence in manufacturing, product design, sales, and marketing, create a culture which encourages achievement and innovation.

I firmly believe in the right of every private business to make their own decisions, but I am personally saddened. I am now on a quest to find new sources of affordable American-made fabric.

At the beginning of this war, I made a new quilt for my bed. A very special quilt, made mostly of Cranston/VIP fabrics because I was so grateful for their military support. My husband was no longer in the Air Force, having just finished his reservist commitment, but our oldest son was in the army, stationed in Korea.

Let me know if you have good sources for American-made fabric!