Kona Circles Mug Rug

I'm busy busy busy this week with the kids starting school and Montessori and with all the swaps I've got going on. Not to mention the Quiltalong!! Most pressing is the For the Love of Solids Swap which I need to finish and get in the post at the beginning of next week at latest.


Today I finished up the small item for my secret partner. I came up with and discarded quite a few ideas before remembering a lovely stitch-along I had seen a couple of months ago over on Rachel's blog Contented which I thought would be perfect for a small size like a mug rug, and would work great with the array of Kona blues I had for the swap items.

I had a fat quarter of Kona Ash grey (a colour I have totally fallen in love with, to my complete surprise. It has such a lovely natural tone!) which was my starting point, and I played around with the varying shades of blue before arriving at my combination. This was a very straightforward make - I appliqued on the circles using Bondaweb and then handstitched around the edges of each circle, varying between running stitch and backstitch, and matching or contrasting threads.


Then I basted it with a few small stitches in a variety of places, and started to hand quilt it. In the original, Rachel used a variegated thread, which I didn't have. I also had quite a variety of tones in my blues, so none of the flosses I had was quite right for the whole thing. So I decided to make my own 3-tone thread, taking a strand from each of 3 colours. I really really love how the colours change throughout the quilting and how the thread picks up the colour of the circle it is closest too.


This is the first time I've hand quilted and I really enjoyed it, even if it was a little hard on the hands and fingers. I tried to vary the stitch length in different rows of quilting for interest. I love, love the effect of the stitching rippling out from the circles, I think this is an inspired pattern to be honest! So simple, so effective. It reminds me of stones dropping into a lake.


Lastly, I bound it in the same Kona Ash fabric to keep it simple. I'm slightly in love with this mug rug. I hope my partner will like it, I'll find it hard to let it go! If you want to make it, check out this great tutorial series over at Contented.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday on Quilt Story and Sew Cute Tuesday on Creative Itch:

Felt Phone Cozy

 

I've been doing a lot of crafty blog reading lately and over the last week or so decided to treat myself to a few pattern downloads! I picked out some beautiful quilt patterns to work on in the New Year (my main resolution!) - Alice from Red Pepper Quilts and Skittles and Charm Bracelets from Kate Conklin Designs. I have a lovely charm pack I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show in October that I'm thinking of using for the Charm Bracelets. Then, as I was on a role, I went and downloaded this pattern for phone cosies from http://www.mmmcrafts.blogspots.com/. I've been reading Larissa's blog for a long time and love her crafty style. I saw these cosies when she first posted them and thought they were gorgeous. So tonight I was in need of something completely different and had one sewn up in no time. They are a lovely, easy make and I just love working with felt, it's such a great, tactile fabric.

The pattern is sized both for an iPhone and a smaller version for a smaller phone. It fits my iPhone perfectly and I can attach to my bag using the ribbon loop. I made this with a lovely purple wool mix felt and appliquéd on the poppies in blues and pinks and think the colours work well together. The felt is top stitched with wonky lines and I love the effect.

 I also put on a pocket at the back for my headphones - no more rummaging around in the bottom of my bag.

I put a small snap fastener on the tab closure and I added a little ribbon trim on the inside of the cozy for some extra interest!

I will definitely be making some of the other versions of this phone cozy, using up my large felt stash and it will make a perfect addition to some of my Christmas gifts this year.