One of three finished - almost!

Some of us from the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild are doing a mug rug swap. Signups were before my sewing machine(s) went crazy. And before we moved. I signed up to swap three mug rugs not thinking about how much I've got to get done just now. No matter, I love making these things. Sure, I could take the easy way and sew up some simple ones (I think I have half a dozen that I've made already that I could send out.... but I'd rather have the challenge of making something specifically with my partner in mind. I also join swaps as a means to push myself creatively and to grow my quilting skills.

pretty quilting on the back...

With all that being said I have two mug rug tops finished and today I went from a basic sketch and color idea to an (almost) finished mug rug. I love love love how it turned out! The big challenge on this one was not only the bias binding (which I typically don't do, I usually use straight cut binding), but also the circular shape. Without showing you a whole picture you'll just have to imagine how cool that is for me. I'll share lots of pictures of it once It's been received (since this is not a blind swap). Until then, I'll be working on sewing down the binding and finishing those other two mug rugs!!

I can't resist keeping this... what use do I have for a circular scrap
of beautiful quilted goodness? This is the backing fabric.

PS - anyone trying to cut bias binding for a mini quilt and having trouble figuring out what size square to start with? Jay Bird Quilts has the equation and lots of info there, including an easy to use equation to figure it all out. :) I like math.