Twirly Hexagon mug rug

 

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty tired and lethargic...you know that feeling. When you know you have about 5 projects you should be doing but can't summon the energy to do any of them.

One of the projects was a mug rug - well, actually, a few people had asked me to make some. I was trying to think of an idea for one of them, incorporating the theme of 3 people and wanted to get away from squares, plus give myself room for something really colourful. I pulled out my scrap baskets and happened on the idea of hexagon wedges twirling around. I don't know what inspired it - maybe it was because I was thinking how much I loved pinwheels but they wouldn't work for 3! 

Then Felicity's gorgeous potholders came into my mind and I decided to try and do the hexagon wedges a little like what she had done for some of her piecing - made up of scraps.

So I drew up a template really quickly as a guide, dived into my scrap basket and came up with the three wedges you see here. Pink/red, Orange/Yellow and Blue/Green. As I pieced, cutting randomly without a ruler and flinging fabric around the table in fine old style, I really suddenly felt my sewing mojo return with a bang. In no time at all, they were done, I used my template to trim them back and cut my white wedges and pieced them together.

(Then my hubbie arrived in the kitchen to cook the dinner and groaned. Quote: "one thing I haven't missed about you not sewing so much is the fabric bombsite in this room".)

Later in the evening, I returned to it, pulling out my perle cotton and handquilting 2 lines on either side of the coloured wedges while watching some football with himself. I had stitched in the ditch to secure beforehand.

No doubt about the binding - it had to be black - perfect to set off the fresh colours. I never use black in my sewing, as you will know, and I just LOVE how it works in this. I think you'll be seeing a lot more of black in my binding from now on.

And hey presto - it was done. And I can't wait to make a few more, to be honest. It feels like summer when I look at it :-) I'm not sure whether this is what that original person had in mind when she asked me to make mug rugs, but it doesn't really matter as I have a few other ideas floating around for that order, and I have other mug rug orders to do for someone who I am pretty sure would love this one :-)

Speaking of summer, I have a little giveaway coming up next week so be sure to pop back and check in!

I'm linking this up to Jennifer's Summer Sewing Contest over at Ellison Lane Quilts and {Sew} Modern Monday.