First Crush - Be My Valentine

Are you ready?

Valentine's Day is coming up soon!

If you're looking for a fun gift to stitch up,

consider making a "Be My Valentine" mug rug.

You can find my pattern here on Craftsy.

For this sample,

I used scraps from First Crush by Sweetwater

for Moda, in gray, red and black.

I love the text prints mixed in with hearts and arrows.

This modern line looks great with a bit of wavy quilting detail.

The finished mug rug is so sweet
for serving up a cuppa and a chocolate treat.

No matter which fabrics and ric rac you choose for the
Be My Valentine mug rug,
you're bound to fall in love with it.

The back is cleanly finished, so the mug rug is truly reversible.

Check out my original Be My Valentine post here...

The pattern launch post has more ideas, here.

Soon I'll be back with some shortcuts for this pattern,
in case you're really running out of sewing time.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a great day for a cuppa

and a little sweet treat!

For today's Be My Valentine Heart Mug Rug,

I used pink and gray prints

from Simply Colorful - the original line.

The wavy quilting was really easy and fun

to do, using my walking foot!

I was inspired by the gray ric rac...

so I chose a gray gingham backing,

using April Showers by Bonnie and Camille.

No matter where in the world you are,

 I hope you'll take time to celebrate

and tell your favorite person how much you love them.

And don't forget...

every day is a great day to say "I Love You!"

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A New Sponsor! Kimberly's Fabric Stash

Hello, Friends!

I hope everyone made it through the

Blizzard of 2016.

So many of us in the USA were affected!

Here at my house we had about 8" of new snow.

I kept busy throughout the storm by sewing,

as I'm sure many others did.

I made (yet) another Be My Valentine Heart Mug Rug

using my new pattern.

{For now, I'll give you just a glimpse...more photos in another post to follow.}

I also made this little snowman.

He's cute already, but he needs to be made up

into a finished project.

Some buttons and eyes would do wonders for him.

{Tutorial: by @beelori1 on Instagram #mrSNOWMANtutorial}

Check out the fabrics I've been using!

They are from a layer cake of First Crush,

Sweetwater's new line for Moda.

As I mention often, my maiden name was Love.

That makes me automatically a fan of all things

with hearts, love, romance, hugs and kisses.

That's one reason I love First Crush.

I also love the limited color palette

of red, black, and gray.

I got my First Crush and a couple of coordinating blenders

from my new blog sponsor,

Kimberly's Fabric Stash.

You'll always find her button on my blog,

over on the left-hand sidebar.

Just click the button to go there 

and see what Kimberly's got in her stash today!

You'll want to join Kimberly's Fabric Club,

where you'll get all kinds of perks,

including 20% off of your first order!

I've got more First Crush projects to share very soon...

be patient...it won't be long.

I'll leave you with a sneak peek for now.

{If you can't wait, follow me on Instagram as @eamylove.}

Be safe and warm, everyone!!!

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Fresh Valentines from Birch Farm Fabric

Hello, Friends!

Are you getting ready for Valentine's Day?

My maiden name was "Love"...

so naturally I really adore all kinds of hearts.

I've been stitching up lots of hearts lately,

using my new "Be My Valentine Heart Mug Rug" pattern.

For this particular set of hearts,

 I chose fabrics in the teal, taupe and black range,

from Birch Farm by Joel Dewberry.

I started with 5" squares,which are always in abundance, right?

Think "Charm Packs"...

I cut them into 2 1/2" squares to create patchwork pieces

for a set of 3 similar, but distinct hearts.

For the quilting step, I had fun trying out a few different designs.

I also used different colors of ric rac to make each one special.

For the first heart, I chose a dark taupe ric rac as the edging.

For the quilting, I did some stippling...

a little piece like this is a great opportunity

to practice free motion quilting!

I think the colors make these Hershey kisses

into an irresistible little pick-me-up snack.

For the next mug rug, I selected teal ric rac edging.

I quilted a casual, loopy design.

This was my first attempt, and I'll be practicing

this method more in the future.

Take my word for it...it's totally fun!!!

Want to see this one on the other side?

I used Elementary fabrics, by Sweetwater for Moda.

Yes, it's reversible!

For the last mug rug, I used some black ric rac.

I chose to cut out the heart shape, positioned to set the squares "on point".
I stitched about 1/8" from each side of the seams.

This one looks so smart and sophisticated.

Must be that little barn owl...

So, let's have a few glamour shots, shall we?

The little stack of ric rac is always impressive.

These little quilts are just too much fun to make!
They don't require a lot of time or materials,
and the finished mug rug is always adorable.

Spoiler alert...
there will be many more heart mug rugs in upcoming posts!

Do you have some charm squares or scraps,

just begging to be made into a sweet heart?

Stop by my Craftsy pattern store and pick up the how-to

for only $2.99.

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Pattern Launch: Be My Valentine Heart Mug Rug

Any Pinterest fans out there???

Me, too!

One of my most popular posts

has been spreading like wildfire on Pinterest.

Maybe you've seen this Be My Valentine Mug Rug.

I figured a lot of people would like to make their own

versions of these sweet hearts,

so I wrote a tutorial-style pattern with lots of photos and tips.

It's now available in my shop on Etsy called eamylove for only $3.00,

as an instant download.

Believe it or not, I first made these mug rugs in 2013.

Since then, I've created many more of these

adorable quilted hearts, edged in ric rac.

You can find them here...

and here...

and here...in my blog.

Oh, there will definitely be more in upcoming posts.

I have sew much fun creating these!!!

If you make them, too, I hope you will send me pictures!

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