Wonky mug rug mania...

Now that I've distributed these mug rugs, I can share them!  You know it's a brutal winter when you don't get out to see and visit with your quilt friends...some of us (me) have been hibernating, waiting for it all to just stop...the snow, the below-freezing-temps, the isolation, the depressed mood.  I think we are 3 inches shy of the snowiest winter on record (since the mid 1850's), and it may not be over yet...dang it...

When I need to do "fabric therapy," one avenue of stress release is playing with scraps and making wonky stars (aka Bonnie Hunt's Maverick Stars from here).  Making them is fun and fruitful...I keep them, and some scrappy ingredients, in a box until I think of something fun to do with them.

It is a great way to use those brights tidbits and left over neutral scraps that I just can't bring myself to throw away.

Ta da!  Wonky mug rugs!  I mean, don't we all need a little mat by our sewing machines to put our beverage/snack on to catch the moisture and crumbs?!?  I even subjected my friends to my BAD machine quilting, LOL...

I finally had a day out with these ladies last week, and THAT was some fabulous fabric therapy.  We hit Jennifer's Quilt Shop in Pinckney, MI (see pictures of this FABULOUS SHOP in this old post), Wood N Things in Brighton, MI (GREAT shop for small home decor items), and lunch.  

I was reminded that hibernation is STUPID...connecting with friends is PRICELESS!  Thank you, Ola, Mary and Beth, for a great day...

Have fun with YOUR favorite fabric therapy!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

HOT project!

Santa's workshop is open and humming!  This is going to be a casserole mat.  My scrappy strip containers were overflowing (thank you, Mary J.!!) and then I saw the hot pad tutorial on the Esch House Blog.  Yippee!  A gift idea AND a way to be able to close my containers again!  A definite "two-fer!!"  These will be pads to put hot casseroles on and feature Insul-Brite insulated batting.  EVERYONE needs these on their Christmas list!

And I get to play with Tonya letters, just in time for the much anticipated release of her first book, "Word Play Quilts!"  Oooo!  I'm so excited to get a copy!!  Come on Santa...get your butt here and deliver me a book!

These hot pads measure 10 x 15 inches, which is what these first 4 efforts will measure when finished.  That is the perfect size to work for a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Her tutorial is fabulous, and I am working on making several "tops," then I will layer, machine-quilt, and assemble in true elf assembly line fashion.  Ho-ho-ho!

Here are 3 strippy ones without words. 

OK...they are definitely more fun with words.  I made the following words to incorporate in some strippy tree blocks.  I'm going to vary the sizes on these to accommodate steeping teapots and smaller casserole dishes.  This project is getting hot-hot-HOT!!

 

Making some tree blocks...

Now I will attach a "hot!" block to a tree(s) to make more fun casserole mats.

The strips start like this...

Then turn into free-pieced blocks and trees.

Using my 5.5 inch square ruler, it just takes 6 blocks to make a 10 x 15 mat.  Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy!

I'll be back soon with some that are finished!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Word games...

The words for my Liberated Lady swap block quilt are done...this is just five of them (for those of you trying to make an intelligent phrase from what you see in the picture...LOL).  The rest are sloppily pinned to my too-small design wall...not pretty.

These letters are in the spirit of Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting.  I intentionally did not read her tutorials...I was trying to be totally liberated!  I probably should have read the tutorials first...especially when I got to the letters S, G, and R.  I've always been bad about reading the directions...

I was battling all day with my perfectionism, which wanted them to be the same height and perfectly spaced.  They look far better in all different sizes and with wonky spacing, which is really easy to accomplish if you loosen up and just let 'er rip!

Because the quilt center is so busy, I decided on one color for the letters and one for the background (I just love the new "Fizz" by P&B!).  Now I want to make more in lots of fun colors and fabrics.

The next step is to decide how to place the word phrases around the quilt center.  I am enjoying the "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" design style.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)