Tuesday, April 9, 2013

April Showers: A Mug Rug Hop


Coming to you bright and early on Day 3.  Let me start by saying, "Thank you!" to Madame Samm and Erin for organizing and cheering us all through April Showers.

I've been so excited for this hop!  My little valley in Oregon is quite rainy throughout the year, so I'm definitely feeling the spirit of April Showers :)  I immediately knew what I wanted to do this time around, and I didn't wait 'till the last minute, either--I'm SO proud of myself.  Mug rugs are almost-instant gratification for me.  Plus, their size gives me the freedom to experiment without worrying about messing up.


This first mug rug is made from left-over squares from Samantha's memory quilt.  The greens remind me of a beautiful day in the woods.  I love that the rain bring such lush greens year-round to my little corner of Oregon.  I wanted to practice some orange peel FMQ and the 2" squares seemed like just the right size to do that on on my machine.  I'm quickly learning that the smaller scale designs work much better on my little machine.  Even with gloves, I have control issues moving the fabric in larger patterns.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.


The second one I totally love!  I had a picture in my head that evolved as I looked at pictures online.  I knew I wanted to do a plumeria bloom, but had no idea how.


Then, one day while skipping around on various blogs, I saw some gorgeous raw-edge applique--not flowers, but when I saw the effect, I knew that's what I wanted to try. (I wish I could find it again, but I have no idea how I got there ...)  I found a plumeria sketch online that I liked and adapted it.  Wonder-under held the pieces in place while I stitched.  After quite a bit of experimenting, I decided I liked the regular old sewing machine foot and straight stitch much better than the darning foot for the applique work.


I wasn't sure how to quilt it until I saw this trapunto tutorial.  I've never tried trapunto before, but I LOVE the effect.  It was surprisingly easy--time consuming--but easy.  I used some of Leah Day's suggestions for FMQ and did micro-stippling around the background.  I totally love this!  Don't know how practical it is to have the trapunto in the middle of a mug rug, but it makes me smile every time I see it and touch it.




Hope you enjoyed a little eye candy ... I certainly had fun playing with my new mug rugs and my camera :)
Be sure to stop by and share the love with the rest of these talented ladies today:

Hayley @ Mrs. Pickles
Heather @ A Reformed Heath'n (YAY, you're here!)
Marica @ ~Englating~

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to see you back soon :) Linking up to the CSI project.
  Visit thecsiproject.com

98 comments:

  1. Your Plumeria Mug Rug is sew fabulous. Thanks for sharing. Thanks, also, for the link to the trapunto tutorial ... :) Pat

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  2. Gorgeous! And your quilting technique really topped it off. Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring! Lovely!

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  3. What pretty mug rugs! My favorite is the flower - your quilting is just perfect for it! Nice work!

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  4. Very pretty and good for you in being inspired to try some new techniques - and play with the abilities of your machine.

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  5. These are really nice! I love the fact that making mug rugs allow us to try new techniques. Thanks for sharing your creations with us today.

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  6. Lovely mug rugs! Your FMQ is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

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  7. They are super cute, thanks for sharing!

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  8. Lovely the one with the flower.
    Thanks for sharing
    Frederika

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  9. I like both.You did a great job.

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  10. Just lovely! Love your fabric choice, I just adore batiks.

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  11. Your mug rugs are gorgeous, I love the flower, it's so effective.

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  12. Great mug rugs...your flower turned out beautiful!!! Nice job.

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  13. Great job! I've never tried trapunto either...so naturally I have questions...but I will be good and only ask 1. :) What batting is best to use? I like your flower perched in the middle as pretty and springy as it is...it should be seen and not hidden. Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Both are pretty but that flower gets my vote!

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  15. Very nice and I can tell you all the effort you put into your trapunto is wonderful it looks dimensional and very pretty.....Love them. Enjoy your day

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  16. Lovely mug rugs - thanks for sharing.

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  17. These are fabulous. It's so nice I can quilt vicariously through you! Keep on inspiring us - maybe one of these days I can start my own projects.

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  18. love love the plumeria bloom with the purple background - so striking!

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  19. Those are so beautiful with wonderful detailed work!

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  20. I love the trapunto bloom on purple. It is so happy and appealing!

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  21. I love both of them very much! And very springy too!

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  22. Oh so beautiful...thanks for sharing.

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  23. Sweet! The orange peel quilting looks really good! I'd like to give it a try!

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  24. Adorable!! You did a great job on these pieces.

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  25. How beautiful your plumeria is--gives it quite the Hawaiian feel! You certainly had the learning experiences making these mug rugs! Free motion quilting, raw edge applique, trapunto--you've done a great job with all of them. Good work!

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  26. Your mug rugs are so pretty with all the wonderful quilting. You really did a great job. The flower looks perfect on the purple background.It really pops with the trapunto. thank you so much for sharing.

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  27. Your choice of color pops - beautiful

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  28. Love the mug rugs! I was lucky enough to visit friends in OR several years back and you are right about the lovely greens. All that rain keeps things looking lush.

    The plumeria piece is quite lovely! How fun that you could try some new to you techniques to bring that about!

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  29. Your mug rug with the flower is so cute. Thanks for sharing

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  30. Splendid! Your flowers are lovely and the sewing is fantastic! Your mug rugs are a treasure.

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  31. They're both so pretty! Great job!!!

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  32. Very nice! I especially love the flower. It reminds me of the Hawaiian plumeria,

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  33. Your mug rug is beautiful...love the trapunto technique and will have to try it!

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  34. very dainty...a lovely demonstration of spring...

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  35. I love the plumeria bloom! Great job.

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  36. Really nice mug rugs! The flowers have movement and depth... very nice!

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  37. Your flower mug rug is just stunning!

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  38. Great mug rugs - I love the plumeria although I have no idea what one is!!
    Thank you for sharing!

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  39. The plumeria is gorgeous! The greens are soothing...

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  40. Plumeria's are lovely flowers, love the way you did your FMQ on the background. Both mug rugs are great.

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  41. Lovely mug rugs. I love plumeria flowers and the tree too and there there is the wonderful scent..ahh. Wish a plumeria tree would grow here where I live.

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  42. Your mug rug is "sew" perfect, it has me wanting to try trapunto.

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  43. I certainly enjoyed your eye candy, it is yummie, great mug rugs, super close ups, beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing!

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  44. Your eye candy is beautiful! Fabulous work. Thank your for sharing.

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  45. So pretty... love how you enhanced each one with your quilting!

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  46. very nice - thanks for sharing!

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  47. Sweet! Great idea trying a new technique on a smaller project! I usually try it on something bigger and then regret it:(

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  48. I like your mug rugs Very pretty.

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  49. Your plumaria is just lovely! Thanks for joining the hop!

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  50. I love plumeria and yours is a beautiful rendition! Your orange peel quilting turned out great and I agree that mug rugs are perfect to play with new techniques.

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  51. lovely flower and I like how you did it. Thanks for the parade of photos and your blog.

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  52. Very pretty plumeria! Thanks for sharing.

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  53. Very pretty mug rug. You did a wonderful job with the quilting too.

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  54. Great job! Both mug rugs are cute!

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  55. Very cute! Love the flower especially the great colors!

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  56. Sua flor é um hibisco do meu jardim,parabéns.

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  57. Your plumeria is incredible! Boy the trapunto makes it look real. Great job.

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  58. Heather-Love your mug rugs. The back-stories are great-too. Maybe I try that "orange peel FMQ as it doesn't look too difficult. Your give me hope and I am not too secure with FMQ. The flower came out lovely. From NoCAL, thanks for sharing.
    Rosemary

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  59. Yes I certainly enjoyed your "eye candy". Love the flower and isn't it fun to experiment with new stitching techniques.

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  60. Sew Sweet and Lovely Heather! Your mug rugs are beautiful and I am not a green person, but love your fabric choice and your FMQ turned out sweet! Thanks for sharing...Judith, Texa

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  61. wonderful mugrugs, great quilting!
    Thanks for sharing ☺
    Liebe Grüße
    Bente in Germany

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  62. Your rugs are beautiful! I love the flower! I haven't learned to do FMQ yet. Maybe someday. It looks pretty intimidating to me! Thank you for sharing!

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  63. Nicely done. Good way to work on your FMQ skills. Thanks for sharing!

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  64. Well done! Your mug rugs are beautiful and very inspiring. Thank you for the tutorial links, as well!!

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  65. Very pretty. And very "Sprinish" for sure. Thansk for shareing them with us. I lov ethe yellow flower. It just leaps out at you. Great job.

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  66. Very pretty. Your stitching is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

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  67. I love your yellow flower mug rug - it is so striking! Gorgeous work! And thanks for the link on trapunto - it fascinates me.

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  68. marvelous mugrug! love the trapunto ... shouldn't make a difference when a mug is set on it.

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  69. So very cute. I love the colors you used.

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  70. Your plumeria mug rug is amazing! Great job.

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  71. Both of your mug rugs are very sweet but the blooming plumeria is wonderful! Someday I hope to try trapunto and your small projects makes me think I should start small like that. Love the colors in that especially the purple.

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  72. Wonderful mug rugs - love the flower :)

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  73. Beautiful! Thank you for sharing your beautiful flower mug rug.

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  74. Both mug rugs are such beautiful a and spring like colours they make me feel that spring is coming.

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  75. Your mug rugs are indeed wonderful eye candy! I just love the purple and yellow one - my favorite color combination. Thanks for sharing!

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  76. Beautiful mug rugs! I didn't think about it until you mentioned it about green in spring! We are finally greening up here in Arkansas! The flower is fantastic and you did awesome on the stitching! Thanks for participating and inspiring us today!

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  77. Very nice rugs. Love the flowers and the trapunto effects

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  78. Love your mugs also. Nice to try new techniques on something small, good job!!

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  79. OMG you mug rugs are soooo nice! I love them! Thanks for the inspiration! I just discovered your blog through this blog hop and now I'm following you via GFC and bloglovin, my day to participate in this blog hop is on April 15, nice to meet you.
    Marisa from
    http://passionetcouture.blogspot.ca/

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  80. Your green fabrics are beautiful, and I love your flower rug. Great job!

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  81. Love the plumeria mug rug. what an inspiration. Thanks for sharing.

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  82. Love the plumeria. You did a great job, I knew what it was without you saying. Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

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  83. Beautiful creations. :) Thank you for sharing!

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  84. Your mug rugs are beautiful, love the quilting. You did a fantastic job, thank you for sharing.

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  85. Beautiful, and I love the stitching! Thank you for participating!

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  86. They are lovely, I love the quilting you have done on them - thanks for sharing.

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  87. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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