Hey Everyone, welcome back to Mug Rug Monday.

We have had quite the deep freeze of temperatures lately and I am really wanting spring to get here. Being the last Monday in February this will be the last week for the pink theme.

So I thought why not bring spring to all of us a little bit early with a bright and cheery pink dahlia mug rug.

Repurpose Old Work

I had this great idea to repurpose an old piece into a mug rug. This piece I made many years ago and wrapped around frame. Over time the frame fell apart but the quilted piece is still A-OK.

Back of framed piece

Once I finally had it off the frame, pressed and then trimmed I realized that it was a bit too big for a mug rug. I guess it will have to get repurposed to something else. I have an idea.

Re-purposed work trimmed

I used the same flower but reduced the template by 75% so I could make a 7 inch square mug rug.

Building the Flower

After drawing out all the pieces on fusible web, fusing them to the fabric and cutting them out it was time to build the dahlia. I decided to build the flower as one whole unit on a Teflon sheet.

I placed the flower template under the Teflon appliqué sheet.

Template behind Teflon sheet

Then placed the outside ring of petals on the Teflon sheet using the template as a guide for placement of the pieces.

First set of petals in place

Next the middle round of petals were placed.

Second ring of petals added

Finally the centre piece was added.

Centre of flower added

After giving the whole thing a press with the iron I was able to peel it off the Teflon (because nothing sticks to Teflon) as one whole unit.

Whole flower

Stitching the Flower

After picking the background fabric and fusing the flower in place I sandwiched the layers together with pins in each corner.

For the stitching I used a variegated Sulky rayon thread several shades lighter than the flower fabrics. I wanted the stitching to stand out and shine.

Some stitching done

I did plain old straight stitching just in from the edge of each piece of the flower. The only draw back to this type of stitch is that the fabric can still fray as it hasn’t been stitched down right at the edge. I really like the simplicity on this design. This stitching is also the quilting.

Stitching complete

With the binding added the little mug rug is now complete and ready to add some spring to my studio.

Completed mug rug

Can you guess what colour I will be using next month?

Happy Quilting!