Today I want to welcome Jodi from Pleasant home as a guest on whipup today. Jodi is sharing the sweetest valentine themed mug rug tutorial.
I am Jodi and I am thrilled to be guest posting on Whip Up today. I am the author of Pleasant Home. My tag line is All Things Home – and that is what I do. You will find a little of this and a little of that with a strong emphasis on sewing and quilting. When I’m not blogging you will find me out in my garden, taking a walk, baking, cooking, refurbishing just about anything, reading, researching my family history, and all with camera in hand. I have been blogging for almost 5 years. I have been a designer on Moda Bake Shop and Cutting Corners College at Riley Blake. My work has been published in several craft magazines through the years, most recently for Creating Keepsakes special publications. I have posted several tutorials on my blog and love sharing other quilting and sewing blogs that I find in my weekly Needle little Inspiration feature posts.
Mug Rugs have taken the quilting Blogosphere by storm! What is a Mug Rug you ask? A Mug Rug is a bit bigger than a coaster and smaller then a placemat. They’re ingenious if you ask me. Just the right size for a cup of coffee, tea or hot cocoa and a little stack of cookies or muffin. They’re a blast to make. They’re like little quilts. You can make one from start to finish within hours. You can make a mini version of your favorite quilt pattern, and practice your quilting techniques too. They are great for using your scraps and can be personalized in so many ways. A quick search on flickr will be sure to get your creative juices flowing. There is even a Mug Rug Swap Group with over 580 members and more then 2500 photos!
Download the pdf tutorial to make this adorable love heart Mug Rug.
I am very happy to welcome Laura Nelkin from Nelkin Designs, who is going to show us how to knit some cute wee hearts for Valentines day.
I love love LOVE to create and I split my work hours between my knit design venture – Nelkin Designs, and teaching knitting across the US, I am also the design director at Schaefer Yarn Company.
Oh my, how fun to knit up these wee Lil’ Hearts. Every year at Valentine’s Day I surprise my loved ones with tiny hand-made valentines, and this year they are getting these. The girl will get hers tucked into her lunch box, my honey will find his nestled among his tea bags when he goes to make his morning cuppa! You can make a slew of them and string them as a banner, or tie a ribbon through one and use it as a present topper or wine bottle accessory. Use your imagination on how to surprise your Valentine… It will take you less than an hour to make one of these, so sit down with a cup of hot tea and whip up some love with your needles.
Download the PDF pattern right here.
Wee Lil’ Hearts
These wee hearts are knit in the round with 3 double pointed needles. Each side of the heart is on one needle, and the third is used as the working needle. They are knit at a dense gauge to give the heart structure, and so the stuffing doesn’t show! Adding beads is optional… I do love that bit of bling, but it is not necessary!
There are video tutorials for some of the techniques used in the pattern, casting on in the round over a small number of sts and placing beads here.
Oh man – I have some treats in store for you! Starting tomorrow and going for 6 weeks I have a series of guest bloggers here at whipup who will be sharing their design philosophies and making experiments with you. Its going to be big, exciting and so much fun. There will be knitting patterns, refashioning ideas, sewing tutorials, mending advice, Valentines day projects, there will be kids crafts, games and whole lot more…
Also during the next 6 weeks I have some more surprises in store – I will be launching a new e-mag that I have been working on with my family, some sneak peaks of that next week! And I will be hosting Abby Glassenberg on her book blog tour, as well as reviewing some books and – a few more treats too…
So stay tuned – check in each day to see what is new. What am I doing I hear you ask – well I have some crazy deadlines – so I will be around – but I really thought it might be much more fun for you to have some fresh faces, rather than weary old me!
I know we’re all tired of bunting, bunting over it! So don’t throw something at your monitor when I suggest that these stars would make a sweet bunting… Link to pattern.
There’s a baby plague, oh I mean boom at the moment, well it seems there is to me. So I’m always on the lookout for useful baby gifts and this one is a corker! Link to tutorial.
Zipper purse pouch
This lined zipper pouch is really very easy to make – and perfect to use to stash your keys, phone and makeup.
Materials
1 x zip [the length of your purse]
Cut 2x pieces of material for lining (23x12cm / 9×4.5inches) (my second purse with rounded edges is 20x14cm / 7.5×5.5inches)
Cut 2x pieces of material for outside (same as above)
2x small squares of material for zip end covers (5x3cm / 2x1inches).
Iron
Pins and hand sewing needle
Thread to coordinate with fabric
Scissors
Step 1.
Cover the zip ends with the small pieces of material
Take your 5x3cm piece of material and press a crease 1/2cm hem on both sides and half way along the length. Place these two pieces over both ends of your zip and sew across. This gives your zip a pretty end and helps when sewing.
Step 2. Sew in the zip
(If you would like rounded edges on your purse – trim the corners on bottom edge of your lining and outer fabrics at this point.)
Place your outer fabric right side up and place your zip right side down onto the edge and line up your lining right sides down – pin to hold in place. Using your zipper foot on your sewing machine, and sew along this edge, making sure your zipper foot presses up alongside the zipper teeth but does not sew over them. Turn over fabrics so that your outer fabric and lining are wrong sides together. Attach the fabric to the other side of the zip the same way as before.
Step 3. Top stitching
Press the seams and then top-stitch the fabric on each side of the zip so that your fabric doesn’t catch in the zip teeth, you can do this by hand or machine.
Step 4.
Open your zip. Turn your fabric pieces around so that the rights sides of the outer fabric are facing and the right sides of the lining fabric are facing each other. Pin the outer fabric sides first, then the lining, ensure that the zip ends are pointing towards the lining side. Sew all around the entire square just leaving a 5cm /2inch gap in the bottom edge of the lining side to turn right side out.
Fold your corner seams of your lining and outer fabrics and poke your corners out. Then turn your fabric right side out through the 5cm gap in your lining. Before pushing your lining into the purse – hand or machine sew the gap. Then at this stage press the lining and outer fabrics to create a neat edges on the seams. Push your lining into the inside of the purse and ensure all the corners are pushed out. Press one more time and you are done.
Resources:
The fabric used for these purses is from Micheal Miller fabrics – it is Summer Soiree by Paula Prass – ask for it at your local quilt shop.
For the next three months, Laura is giving away handmade dress-up crowns to children who need one. You can submit the name of a child who has an extra need to feel special, at We Wilsons website.
That’s it. A silly, simple, dress-up crown, that they can put on and become a Princess or King, Victor or Olympiad, Superhero or Fairy, or whatever special person they imagine.
