Mug Rug Tutorial :: Scrappy COLORBLOCK

Welcome to Mug Rug Madness Day 9 ~ A huge thank you to Erin for inviting me to be a part of this fun bloggy get together. I have created something very special just for you mug rug fanatics out there. I hope you enjoy making them ( I might have gone a little overboard with pictures, but I hope that you can see each step clearly and you will surely make one just as cool)

Mug Rug Tutorial :: Scrappy Colorblock

This is a great project to use scraps with. I have now made two of them and have only used my scraps to piece the entire top. So pull out your scrap buckets and let's get started.

You will need::

Rotary cutter

Self Healing mat

Ruler

9 scrap pieces in your favorite rainbow colors

FQ of a neutral solid fabric ( I used Kona Snow)

Please use .25 inch (quarter inch) seams

From each of your 9 color scraps cut 1 piece each measuring 1.5" x 1.5 " Square and  1.5" x 3: Rectangle

You will have nine stacks that look like the picture below.

From your solid neutral fabric cut

9 pieces measuring 1.5" x 2"

18 Pieces measuring 1.5" x 4"

2 pieces measuring 1.5" x 11.5

To sew your first piece, take your colored 1.5" x 1.5" pieces and sew them to the neutral  1.5" x 2" pieces using a quarter inch seam

see the photo below for example.

The pieces you just made now measure 1.5" x 3" take these and sew them to the remaining color pieces that measure 1.5" x 3"

See the photo below



When finished you will have 9 pieces that look like the above photo. Sew your 1.5" x 4" pieces to the tops, and bottoms of these strips to look like the photo below. Still using a quarter inch seam.

After your strips are sewn, line your strips up to checker board the smaller blocks in the strips. The only points that you need to match up are those small 1.5"x1.5" blocks, everything else will fall into place.

Pin the meeting joints if needed before sewing them together. Then sew a quarter inch seam along the entire strip joining the two strips together.



Keep joining each strip in the order you have chosen until you get

something that looks like the photo below.

Your last two pieces are 1.5" x 11.5"

These are sewn to the left side and the right side of your strip picture to finish the mini quilt top.

This is a detail of the graph I have just explained. hopefully

 this makes sense where each piece should go.  (To see this more clearly please click on the photo to enlarge it at any time)

Now that you have everything pieced, square up (or rectangle up) :) your block. This can be any size within the parameters. I squared mine up to 9" tall and 11.5" wide.

After you have squared up your block. Sandwich it with batting and backing to make a mini quilt.

Pinn everything into place and quilt the mini block in what ever pattern you desire. I personally think the straight line quilting looks best but of course I had to practice a little stippling to. ( I really need the practice)

Square up the sandwich , sew on your binding, and stitch the back of the binding to your quilt. I prefer to do this by hand, but your machine will work as well.

The finished product will be this GORGEOUS piece of art!

OR

I hope this is clear, and that everyone enjoys making these perfect little mini quilts.

Don't forget to upload your scrappy colorblock mug rugs to the flickr pool HERE

and stop by Erin's blog post HERE to sign up an win one of the 10 FANTASTIC mug rugs that were shown this week.

Happy Sewing