So after yesterday’s mess was photographed I went on to pull even more fabric. I really wanted the mug rug to be just right. After all, I was upgrading from this little gem:

In case you are blinded by it’s beauty, I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a piece of fabric torn out of a fabric swatch book. With the adhesive and paper still stuck to it. I’ve been using this (and a few of it’s cousins) for years. (please note as an aside that no coffee or tea or cocoa stains have ever appeared on it or the table below making it functionally quite a masterpiece!)

Need I say when this project came up it was not one I could skip.  I even made two. The second one will be posted Monday as a giveaway. Here is the first one:

Background fabric is 100% linen in the color Asphalt. The cloud was fused to Décor Bond and raw edged appliquéd. The wind was FMQ’d with King Tut variegated thread and DMC cotton hand stitched for the rain. I found the word “kim” on the script fabric (I think it is supposed to be “him”) Loved this little project and I can see making a few more of these!

The original rain cloud mug rug was designed by Christie Fowler of Pigeon Pair.

This week’s interpretation of the project was shared by John at  Quilt Dad.

Linking up to Lindsey at LR Stitched for this week

Next week is a big project. I am eager to make a quilt that uses linen and I have one designed and *gasp* have already chosen my fabric! I’m pretty sure I won’t be blogging about a finished quilt next weekend though, but maybe some progress photos. We’ll see.

Kim

It seems this week has shown some revealing evidence of  how my brain works during a creative project.

I’m good at: choosing a project (which is basically every project I see), buying fabric (I mean who’s not good at this), following instructions, cutting, piecing, layering, quilting, binding.

I’m not so good at: choosing fabric for a project. That’s not to say I am unhappy with the finished piece. It just takes forever to make a decision.

Here is what I mean.

This is the third time I have pulled fabric out for the Patchwork Prism QAL. The colors flow from purple through the spectrum to blue in 7 groups with 5 subgroups of lighter colors. I could not get my colors stacked right. Is that orange? Is is brown? It’s got pink in it, but I can’t put it in the pink pile! Total stressfest. Analyzing Anna Maria’s original, I could see yellow fabric in the green ring, and blue fabric in the purple ring and so on. It was throwing me off. Of course that is exactly the reason it all comes together so beautifully…there are no abrupt transitions from color to color, and some of those looser interpretations contribute to that. I have a growing appreciation for thinking that way. So when I set out the third time, I stopped over-thinking it and had it all done in an hour.

Here’s another example.

What’s going on here? King size quilt maybe? Nope. It’s a mug rug.

So, for a mug rug I have to audition like 80% of the fabric I own. And what happens? I end up using the second fabric I chose. And omg, this project has embroidery, so out comes every thread – spool, bobbin, & hank.

And look, even poor sock monkey has had enough. And he’s seen a lot being around since 1965.

This, and the fact I do clean up right after I make this mess  is why it takes forever to get anything done, but I’m going to work on that. And I have a feeling being impulsive will be a lot more fun.

Better photos tomorrow, I promise!

Kim

For Ed    ~  1946 – 2012  ~   We will miss you