Another Last Minute Gift

Mug Rugs! 

I see these all over Flickr and they're so cute! They're sort of a little snack mat for a cup of coffee or tea and a few cookies or a little sandwich. They can be as simple or as complicated as your time and creativity allow! They could be pieced with a small version of a quilt block or appliqued or just scrappy pieced.  If you need a little inspiration, go to Flickr and search "mug rugs".

We're going to do a super fast one. For this tutorial, I picked this cute mug that came with a flower arrangement. Then I found some fabric to match.

Because I couldn't decide on a section of the fabric that I liked best, I made the front and back out of the same fabric (just fussy cut in two different places). Ordinarily I would put different fabric on the back.

I cut my rectangles about 7 X 10 inches, because I want to trim to 6 X 9 after quilting. I also cut a piece of batting about the same size. Then, I layered the fabrics and batting; pinned and quilted.

I quilted a cross-hatch on the purple one, but a quick free-motion meander would probably be faster (like I did on the one in the intro).

After quilting, square up the rectangle.

Attach the binding and you're done! Wow - that was fast!

You could also roll the rug up, tie it with a ribbon and stick it in the coffee cup with a biscotti and a tea bag for a cute gift.

Bonus idea: For an even faster finish: quilt the layers, stitch around the outer edge a couple of times (say, at 3/8 and 1/2 inch) and then clip up to the outer stitching line every quarter to half inch for a ragged edge finish!

"Hey! Those are doggie cookies on that mug rug!!"