Coffee Time!

Here is the latest creation from my craft room. Mug Rugs. When you have a girlfriend over for coffee or tea and you don't want to just set the mug or cup on the table, viola!

Kinda looks like a watercolor effect, but no, just pieces of fabric and rayon embroidery thread. I have several other designs in mind to stitch up. These took longer than the others that I'm planning on making. The binding is always more time consuming because I need to hand stitch it on the reverse side. Here is what I did. I backed some green, blue and turquoise fabric with Steam-a-Seam (or you can use Wonder Under) and then cut out the leaves and circles and ovals. After ironing them in place on some plain white cotton I added the green borders. Then I put some InsulBrite (batting meant for use with hot items) in the middle, with a piece of white cotton for the backing, used more Steam-a-Seam to hold the layers together, pinned it and began stitching the outlines of the leaves and created the flowers freehand. After trimming it to make sure it was square I added the binding. Simple! Here is the book I used where I found the idea and I'm showing the very beginning for some other mug rugs.

I guess I'm really gearing up for fall. I harvested the last of my potatoes that I grew in a big Rubbermaid tub (red potatoes way out produced the yellow ones) and I'm once again making sprouts. This time I'm using red clover seeds. I'm not too happy with how long it is taking them to get going. My favorite is mung beans or alfafa. I haven't sprouted seeds for years!