HOLIDAY MUG RUG TUTORIAL

It has been several months since I posted anything on my blog.

With Christmas right around the corner,

 I wanted to share a couple of gift ideas.

Since I had hand surgery a week ago,

I was limited to what I could do.

I had heard so much about mug rugs that I decided to do one.

I found the instructions for this one online and 

I'm going to share with you how this was made.

It took me less than an hour to make one.

So if you want to make one, it is quick and easy.

Assorted fabric scraps for mug rug and 9″ x 12″ piece of batting and backing
You’ll need to cut the following pieces:

• (1) 5 ” square (snowball center)
• (4) 2″ squares (snowball corners)
• (1) 2″ x 5″ rectangle (bottom of snowball unit)
• Tree pieces:  (1) 2″ x 3 1/2″ rectangle, (1) 2″ x 4″ rectangle and (1) 2″ x 5″ rectangle
• (1) 1 1/2″ x 2″ rectangle (tree trunk)
• Tree background pieces: (2) 2″ squares, (2) 2″ x 2 1/4″ rectangles, (2) 2″ x 2 3/4″ rectangles (2) 2″ x 2 1/2″ rectangles

Step 1:  Make the snowball:  Draw a diagonal line on the (4) 2″ snowball squares and pin to each corner of the 5″ square.  Stitch just to the right of the drawn line.  Press towards the outer corners and trim.

 

Step 2:  Make the tree.  Draw a diagonal line on the remaining background squares/rectangles.  For the rectangles, place the background rectangle on top of the green rectangle so that the top edges line up and you can see where the bottom edges intersect.  Draw the line from top corner to bottom intersection as shown.  Do this for both sides of the tree.  Trim making sure all the segments of the tree measure 2"x5" and the snowball block measures 5"x5".

 

  

Step 3:  Assemble the mug rug unit.  Arrange the tree rectangles in order. Stitch together the tree pieces.  Press seam of tree trunk unit up towards tree. The other tree seams can be pressed either way.

Step 4:  Stitch the two halves together, nesting the lower rectangle seams and pinning first.  Press seam to either side.

Step 5:  Layer top, batting and backing together and quilt as desired.

For the binding, I decided to wrap the backing fabric around the edges to form the binding.  I do not have the Quick Easy Mitered-Binding Tool but I used my ruler and placed it on a 45 degree angle.  You can find a tutorial for that here.

Here is the finished product.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES DAY TWO

Jorge and I decided to go to Cades Cove Loop.

It's an 11 mile trip where we saw many

log homes from the original settlers of the area.

The drive was absolutely beautiful.

We met a couple from North Carolina that were

celebrating their 30th anniversary just like us!

We had a wonderful time talking with them.

As we drove home, Jorge wanted to stop

at Zaxby's in Sevierville for a chocolate shake.

We ended up having dinner there.

Sadly, we weren't impressed with the meal.

Jorge did like his shake.

We made our way back to our cabin

going through Pigeon Forge.  

One thing I do have to say about

this place is that it is very family oriented.

There are lots of attractions geared just for families.

 John Oliver's home.  He and his wife were the first

white settlers in the area.

 Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church established June 16, 1827.

 An old Methodist church.

 Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church established 1839.

 Elijah Oliver's home.  He was the son of John Oliver.

Before we started our trek on Cades Cove,

we spoke with one of the rangers and she told us

that bears love coolers because of the taste they have.

It's sweet to them.  Go figure.

This pitcher was destroyed by a bear.

 King Kong at Pigeon Forge.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES

My husband and I planned to celebrate our

30th anniversary in September instead of August

because of the heat.  We remember how

hot it was when we got married 30 years ago.

We chose our destination to be Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

 The cabin that Jorge and I are staying in.

We were told that black bears are in the area.

The garbage cans are in bear proof cages.

 Our anniversary dinner.

Steaks, salad, rolls, and wine.

Brownies for dessert.  

We have to have chocolate.

 On Sunday, Jorge and I were on our way to church.

I'm so glad I had my camera ready because out came a bear cub.

I saw the second cub rolling down in front of our car.

Jorge had not seen him and I told him to stop.

They both rambled on but we didn't stop or come out

because we did not see momma bear and we didn't want to see her either.

Jorge and I went to church in Gatlinburg.  

We learned that this church was formed in the

early 1800's on Baskins Creek.  It was moved

to its present location in 1991.

 Not very often do you see signs like this.

 Jorge and I asked a local which restaurant we should go for dinner.

He told us that to go to Riverstone Restaurant.

Boy was he ever right!  The food was delicious.

The restaurant is located in Townsend, Tennessee.

 Look who Jorge and I bumped into but Santa Claus!

He was awesome!  He said he was on vacation

before Christmas came.  

 Jorge and I are Clingman's Dome, the highest point of the Smokies.

You can see why they're called the Smokies.

Sunset.

How do we end our evening?

We go to Starbucks and we have coffee.

QUILT JUST FOR ME!

The last several weeks I've been really

busy making quilts for other people.

To be perfectly honest,

I've reached quilt burnout!

When I finally understood the warning signals,

I took a break and decided to make something for myself.

I made a small quilt for myself.  

The blocks measure 3" finished.

Taking the break was exactly what I needed.

All I need to do now is just finish quilting

the borders and put on the binding

and I will be done.

This will be one of the few

quilts that I will actually keep for myself.

AFGHAN

I have a dear friend who got me started again with yarn.

I had taught myself when I was a newlywed.

Most of my work at that time was not good at all and I gave up.

With her encouragement, I started back up again about three years ago.

Lisa, my friend, is an avid yarn lover.

I was thinking what I could give her for Christmas

and I thought an afghan would be nice.

This particular afghan took me about four months to complete.

It was much easier than I had expected.

Here are the directions to making this afghan.

• Chain 171 loosely.
• Row 1:  DC in fourth chain from hook and in each chain across.  (3 skipped chains count as first dc): 169 dc
• Row 2:  (Right side):  chain 3 (counts as first dc, now and throughout), turn; dc in next dc, work popcorn, (dc in next 3 dc, work popcorn) across to last 2 dc, dc in last 2 dc:  42 popcorns.
• Row 3:  chain 3, turn; dc in next dc and in each st across: 169 dc.
• Row 4:  chain 5 (counts as first tr plus ch 1), turn; skip next dc, tr in next dc, (ch 1, skip next dc, tr in next dc) across: 85 tr.
• Row 5:  chain 3, turn; dc in each ch-1 sp and in each tr across: 169 dc
• Row 6-67:  Repeat rows 2-5, 15 times, then repeat rows 2 and 3 once more.  Finish off.

MOTORCYCLE QUILT COMPLETED

I finally finished piecing the quilt together.

All that is left is to quilt it.

I have not decided yet how to quilt this.

The quilt will make its debut this weekend at the

state rally this weekend.

MOTORCYCLE QUILT

As many of you know, my husband and I love to ride our motorcycle.

Every once in a while, I get the desire to buy one for myself.

I have shared with you our adventures on the

motorcycle as we ride in Indiana and in the East coast.

We both are members of the  Christian Motorcyclists Association.

They are based in Hatfield, Arkansas.

Their minister to individuals in the motorcycle world 

in many different ways.

The CMA holds a fundraiser only once a year.

The association keeps 40% of the funds.

The other 60% is divided between three different organizations.

They are the Jesus Film Project, Missionary Ventures, and Brother Andrew.

If you are interested in learning more about their work,

click on the link below:

Christian Motorcyclists Association

With that little blurb about the group my husband and I are involved in,

each chapter is responsible for raising funds for Run for the Son.

The chapters can raise the funds throughout the year

in many different ways.

So with that in mind, I'm making a quilt for our chapter to raffle off.

I don't know where I found the motorcycle fabric but I'm glad I bought it.

The quilt is going to be a queen size quilt once it's all done.

Pictured below are the two blocks that I have made for this quilt.

I plan on having it ready by next week in time for the state rally.

That's when I'm going to take it and start selling tickets.

If you are interested or know of someone that would 

like a motorcycle quilt, please contact me.