Mug rug!

Have you caught onto the Mug Rug craze? I'd never heard of these things a month ago. Then Mug Rug Madness, a blogging event put on by Two More Seconds began. I found my way to it clicking around from who knows where -- I follow and read so many blogs, I can't be expected to keep track, right? But somehow I landed on the page for this event, which is really great. Super talented sewers are sharing tutorials for making a mug rug -- which is basically a quilt that is bigger than a coaster but smaller than a place-mat, and used to hold a cup of something tasty and a treat of something even tastier. (FYI: you can win the featured mug rugs from the super talented sewers by entering the associated contest! You're welcome.)

I wasn't planning on joining in on the fun because, honestly, I was intimidated. All of the tutorials are so cute but they seemed of my league. What can I say, the words "quilting" and "piecing" scare me. Never done it before. Not a quilter. Also: bias tape. Love the look, never get the results I want.

But yesterday, I decided to stop being a wuss and just go ahead and try. I didn't follow any specific tutorial, but was inspired by the adorable mug rug done by Fussy Cut. She saves her selvages and turns them into adorableness. Who knew you could do that?! So, with her model in mind, I grabbed some fabric scraps, cut them into strips, sewed those together and got over my fear of piecing things together. It's just sewing in straight lines. I can do that.

I also revisited the bias tape tutorial at Prudent Baby. That helped. A lot. Corners turned out... no bad!

One problem... I am having a hard time imagining actually using it for my morning cup of coffee. Because, duh, I don't want coffee drips all over it!!

You can see many more mug rugs in the Flick pool. There are so many cute ones in there. I really love this one, this one and this one. I'm glad I didn't look there before I started, though, because I would have been so intimidated. But really, a simply-made mug rug is still sweet. I'm glad I gave it a try. And I have to say: this took me an hour tops. I love projects that are so quick and satisfying! A great idea for a gift, too. Am I in love with mug rugs or what. Thanks for the fun, Two More Seconds!