New project completed...

So, what was the result of all my planning the other day?  Well, I only have a few little bits of fabric at my disposal at the moment as most of my 'stash' has been packed away ready for my house move.  I really have had to patchwork together little scraps of my favourite Tilda fabrics and I didn't have enough to make anything too large. The result was these cute little mug rugs.

The first one I made by cutting sixteen 2" squares of fabric. I pieced them together into one piece of patchwork, four squares across and four squares down.  Then I added a slightly larger rectangle (3.5" x 6.5") of cream fabric to one edge of the patchwork piece.  I pressed all the seams open and fused a piece of interfacing to the back which reinforced the panel for hand embroidery (it helps hide the threads at the back).

I hand embroidered the flowers, stem and leaves using three very simple embroidery stitches. When I had finished, I placed the pieced mug rug front on top of a piece of batting and a piece of backing fabric and quilted it. I trimmed it up and added a binding. I like the result!! 

The second one I made by cutting four strips of fabric 8.5" x 2".  I sewed the four strips together to make on 8.5" x 6.5" piece.  I then cross cut four strips 2" x 6.5".  I cut the centre rectangle of cream fabric 3.5" x 6.5" and added one of the cross cut strips to the top and one to the bottom of this central piece.  I then added a piece of green grosgrain ribbon to the centre of the cream rectangle, stitching it in place very close to the edge of the ribbon on each side.  I trimmed the ribbon even with the edge of the cream fabric at each end and then added the last two cross cut strips to either side, being careful to make sure I turned them so that the different fabrics were evenly distributed. I pressed all the seams open and fused some interfacing to the back.  

Then I hand embroidered the flowers, stem and leaves and a row of chain stitch on either side of the ribbon.  The front was then sandwiched with some batting and backing fabric and quilted. To finish I trimmed up the batting and backing and added some binding. Voilà!

I think I will send one of these to my son's girlfriend.... I don't think she has a mug rug and EVERY girl should have one don't you think?!