Mug Rug giveaway and more sewing

So after I took that picture the other day of the HUGE mug rug that I made I promptly chopped it in two.  Yup, straight down the middle with the handy rotary cutter.  There's no set size to mug rugs as I understand it ... just big enough so there's room for your cuppa and maybe some cookies on the side.  Plus, I really like the rectangular shape - if it's square it's just a coaster, right?! :]

So simple and actually I think accidentally stumbled upon a little shortcut ... it's easy to make one 10x10" block and then just chop it in two then bind them.  Plus I kind of like the idea of one for me, one for you when making mug rugs. :]   I can't wait to make more of these addictive little things.

 Isn't that Katie Jump Rope material just the best?  I'm really close to having the full collection of it - and that makes me so happy!  It's so cheerful.  I'm of the mindset though to actually USE (not just hoard) my favorite fabrics so you'll be seeing this line show up in a lot of my projects.

So do you want my spare one?  I think I'll run an unofficial little giveaway and draw a winner from the commenters here.  Nothing fancy, just say hello.  Just please only leave one comment to make it easier for me, and to keep it fair.  I'll leave it open until Sunday the 5th and then pop it in the mail to you next week. Everyone's welcome to enter!

 It's been a little chilly in the mornings here this past week and so my mug rug has actually been getting use with my mug of hot coffee in the morning!  Consider this a little "Welcome Autumn" giveaway. :]

I also am almost done with another project for the Urban Home goods swap that I love on Flickr.  This is the first hot pad that I've ever made!  Love it - it's just like a mini quilt that you pad with heat proof batting.  I hope my partner likes it.  They said they could use a new hotpad!

And also I'm working on this little mini quilt -- I'll tell you this - those geese do not like shifty linen!  But I'm happy with the way that the top turned out - now just to figure out how to quilt it and what to use for the binding.

Mug Rug: take 1

I am totally crediting my friend Amanda (mrsmcporkchop) for starting the Mug Rug craze that is spreading like wildfire all over Flickr and Twitter recently. She made these two adorable Mug Rugs recently that have since spawned tons of others making similar little rugs for their mugs (or bowls of soup, hot dip bowls, etc). Even a Flickr swap group popped up for swapping Mug Rugs.

They Ryan came up with this awesome orange and blue one and I was hooked ... I needed one.

This was my first attempt .... my favorite Katie Jump Rope fabrics in my favorite combination of blue and green. But .... I'm thinking it's a little too big.  It's 10x10" and while not huuuuugeee ... I really like the rectangleness of the couple pictured above.  Plus, if it's square, it's basically just a coaster, right?  ;]

I came up with a solution but you're just going to have to wait and see ... ha ha ha! I am so close to finishing it, just needs binding, but my iron just crapped out on me and won't heat up or even have the on light come on. I'm so mad. I'm in a sewing mood today and I can't sew anything without an iron!


ETA:  I finished my mug rug!  Want to see how it ended up and maybe win the spare one for yourself?!

String Art Tutorial

I love embroidery floss:  it's cheap, you can use it for tons of different things, and there are literally thousands of colors to choose from.  I have a problem throwing away even the tiniest pieces of floss from my different projects and keep them all bunched up in a little plastic container.

Mason loves to get it all out and sort through it - tying it to things, arranging it by color, flinging it at his brother .... one day last week he asked me if he could do a craft and this is what I thought of first.  We had just stocked up on Elmers glue (Gotta love those back-to-school art supply sales.  Crayons and glue for a quarter?!  Yes please!) and so I decided we'd try a little collage/paper-mache like/string art action.  It was really simple and pretty self explanatory, but here's what we did.

(I didn't start taking pictures until we had already started, so it kind of just jumps right in - but don't worry, it's super easy to do).

What you need:

embroidery floss (or other colored string)
white school glue
paper (we used cardstock so the paper wouldn't get too gooey and would hold up)
something to mix the gluey paste in
something to mix the gluey paste with (we used a wooden skewer)

Gather your embroidery floss scraps (or other string you might have) and look at how pretty it all is together - that stringy rainbow-y goodness is just so cool!

Make your glue mixture.  We used Elmers glue with a little water mixed in to make it a little more runny.  But not too runny.  Experiment to see what works best for you.

Figure out what kind of picture you want to make.  Look in coloring books for simple line-art ideas.  Or to funny internet-fuled pop-culture crazes like we did.  Maybe write out your name.  Or just go kind of crazy all messy and Jackson Pollock inspired.

Pick out your piece of string.

This is a very crucial step.  Measure it to see how long it is.  See if it's stretchy.  Think about the exact right color you're going for.  Cut it down if it's too long.

   

    

Now dip your string into the glue.  We used a plastic knife to get it down in there and good and gooey.

Figure out where on your paper you want to put the string.  This part will be messy and drippy, but it's OK, it's only glue.

Arrange your string just so.  It's easy to drag around and move.

If there are some parts of your string picture that need more glue, you can use a paintbrush to paint some more glue onto the drier spots.

Paint ... paint ... paint ...

Keep picking out strings and gluing and placing until your picture is done.  Then hang it up somewhere to dry.  The glue dries clear of course and then you're just left with your neat string art!

This kept Mason busy for quite awhile and he keeps asking when he's going to do it again.

Let me know if you try it!

(Not) Reading Mockingjay

I've been dying for this book to come out.  Unfortunately it came out on a week when I've got crazy deadlines to meet and a joint birthday party to plan and oh yeah, it's Marc's first week back to school, too, so things are EXTRA crazy around here.  Plus the boys have lingering coughs and stuffy noses and who knows what else so they're a little crabby.

Mockingjay is going to have to wait.  Despite me receiving it a day early (I ordered it Saturday evening, it shipped out and traveled on Sunday, and was on my doorstep Monday afternoon!) I'm not going to read it ... yet.  I even went so far as to lend it out to my friend so I wouldn't have it sitting in my house tempting me. ;]  Because I WOULD have started reading it.  And then I WOULDN'T have been able to put it down.  Two of my (adult, job-holding, responsible) friends are getting their copies and locking themselves into their houses and reading straight through in order to not be spoiled.

If you don't know why I'm so excited about this book -- you must go out and get Hunger Games and Catching Fire.  Mockingjay is the third in a trilogy and it's been anticipated for months!  Just search for #mockingjay on twitter to see how excited everyone is about this release (just be careful - you could stumble onto spoilers!)

Sidelined

The summer had been going great .... we were all settling down from the craziness that was June/early July ... enjoying summer with swimming lessons, playdates, baseball games ... until this week when everything came screeching to a halt because normally happy, energetic, smiley baby, as seen here:

Turned into this:

He's a sicky sobby needy crying teething boy now, with a high fever but no other symptoms (luckily). He's been like this for five days now and we've got no signs of new teeth popping through any time soon - even though the Dr. swears that's all it is. Poor guy. I need him to go back to this:

so we can get back to swimming, playing, base-balling, etc. Plus he turns ONE next week and he can't be sick on his birthday!

That sicky carseat picture taken on the way home from the Doctors office so reminded me of one I took of Mason when he was about the same age, also sick, also on the way home from the Doctors office. I don't think my boys look anything like each other, but don't they both just look so incredibly depressed and sad when they're sick?!

(barely) an update of summer 2010

Are you getting sick of these photo posts?  Summer is all about laziness if you ask me.  But what have we been up to?


carwashes



swimming lessons



getting birds out of the house



watching the rainstorms



excavating dinosaur eggs



and sleeping



does that sound fun or what? it is.