QUILTsocial | Issue 02 Winter 2014-15

Sewing a Snowflake
Mug Rug
As I sat in my studio the other day thinking about
my projects for this week, I kept looking at the winter
wonderland outside. So, I grabbed my camera
and went for a walk down my driveway. I live in the
forest which provides ample photo ops no matter
the season. Growing up on the prairies I saw many
snow storms, but nothing like the sudden squalls
of the eastern snow belt that leave everything
looking fresh and white. I decided that I should be
sewing a snowflake mug rug in a winter palette!
Winter hues
What is a mug rug?
It’s a small quilt ranging in size from 4" x 7" to 8" x
12" inches. It can be square or rectangle. The purpose
of a mug rug is to hold your cup of coffee/tea,
but also a plate with a little tasty treat.
Winter hues
To begin, I gathered up a few pieces of fabric that
coordinated – these hues are very cool looking –
the steel blues of winter. They also have a gray look
to them which means they have had a tone added.
Toning a fabric is when gray has been added to the
pure hue.
For the background, I chose a lighter valued fabric
so the appliqué will stand out. This fabric has had a
tint added to the pure hue, which means white has
been added to create a lighter value of the pure
hue.
The darkest fabric is a shade. A shade is when black
is added to the pure hue to create a darker valued
fabric.
Sewing the pieces together
The best way to build a checkerboard design is
to sew strips together. Then, cut those strips into
strips and then sew them into one piece of fabric.
From the 3 darker print fabrics, I cut 8 strips, each
1½" x 10". Then, I cut the same sized strips from the
other fabrics – 2 from the dark blue stripe, 2 from
the swirls and 4 from the fabric that looks like the
cracks in frozen ice.
I started sewing the strips into pairs on the Pfaff
Ambition 1.0. Then, I sewed the pairs into sets of
4. This is what is called a strip set, which speeds
up the piecing process when small squares are
needed. Not to mention it makes everything a lot
more accurate!
Once the strip sets were made, I cut them into 1½"
x 4½" rectangles. Eight are required in total for my
project as it is going to be 8" x 12" when finished.
Fabric strips sewn into pairs
Strip set cut into smaller pieces
Instruction photos by Jennifer Houlden
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