First Crush Coffee Cups - Mini Quilt

Do you know my sister Susie,

who blogs over at Susie's Sunroom?

She has a February birthday,

so I made a little mini quilt for her present!

I decided to make a mini quilt

that she could display in her kitchen,

on this sweet little quilt stand.

Susie likes coffee,

so I decided to make up 4 coffee mugs

using the Mug block from Quilty Fun,

by Lori Holt.

{Lori Holt calls them Cocoa Cups, and they're just super cute, no matter what is in them.}

Fabric selection for Susie's gift was really easy...

I chose First Crush by Sweetwater for Moda.

I have lots of fabric left from my layer cake

that I've been using for other projects,

like my Hugs and Kisses pillows.

I made up four mug blocks in no time...

which one is your favorite?

The first one is bold and dark, like a good cup of coffee!

Next we have a text print...

so cute to remind someone how special they are.

I think this one is my favorite...

it showed that this gift was made with lots of love.

A mug with hearts can't be beat for Valentine's Day,

or any other day of the year.

Our family name is Love, so red hearts are a "yes, please!"

for the Love girls!

 You can see from the photos that I got a lot of practice 

with free motion stippling.

The print designs are very forgiving.

The stitching shows up very clearly, though,

on the solid gray background and backing.

No pressure...

I used my own free tutorial for Machine Binding.

I must say it was a quick, neat finish.

My present was made in record time!

I nearly gave Susie a "heart" attack,

when my package arrived the day before her birthday!

Next time you need a gift for someone special,

think about a mini quilt!

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Quilty Fun - Flying Geese, Chubby Chevrons, and Cocoa Cups

Last time I posted,

I promised to show my latest blocks

in the Quilty Fun Sew Along.

Here they are...all finished up!

First I made a whole flock of little tiny

Flying Geese!

I'm happy that I used the same green for all of the backgrounds,

even though my little green spatula blocks blended in

a bit too much with the background.

I was kind of scared to try making this block

the Quilty Fun way...

I've read mixed reviews about this method,

and the finished blocks are sooooooo small!

I decided to try just one block

using the technique provided in the Quilty Fun book.

Admittedly, I had very little fabric to trim away,

but my little blocks came out really well!

I just kept going,

and they all seemed to work out right.

I think the secret to my success was that I used

a spool of 50-wt Aurafil thread for piecing,

and it was noticeably thinner than the thread I usually use.

{I think I LOVE Aurafil thread for piecing little blocks!}

Another trick I tried was to use a hot iron with NO STEAM...

to avoid any distortion of those little wee blocks.

After my success with the Flying Geese blocks,

I was feeling pretty cocky...

maybe even over-confident!

It was really fun to choose the fabric pairs for the x blocks.

{Oops...I can see a little mismatch of seams there on the right. 

Oh, well...no one likes a show-off!}

The Cocoa Cups block was the easiest so far...

nice big pieces to cut and sew,

and those handles were really slick to stitch!

I think that this mug

looks a lot like a Cath Kidston crush mug!

On to the next block...

come back again soon to see mine!

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