Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Lets Get Acquainted Blog Hop


Wow, so it's my turn on Beth's fabulous Lets Get Acquainted Blog Hop. It has been a fab hop, with so many great tutorials and blogs and I am so excited about being involved.


I am Caroline and I live in Finland with my husband and two little girls. I started blogging in January and have been quilting for a few years. However, it has only really been in the last year that I have started trying new things and learning new techniques and have found the wonderful world of quilting blogs. Here are a few of the things I have made.



What is your favourite quilting tip?
Measure, measure and measure your fabric again before you cut it! The number of times I have been caught out because I thought I had measured something correctly but haven't.


What is your favourite blogging tip?
Don't feel pressured into making things specifically to blog about. When I started blogging in January I felt I needed to make new things every week just so I could blog about them. I soon realised I just can't do that. I don't have enough sewing time for a start and I want to enjoy the sewing and blogging time I do have.


Favourite fabric?
Well this is a really tough one, I think my all time favourite is Momo's Just Wing It. I loved it in aqua and in red. I don't have much left and will be a little bit sad when it is all gone.


Favourite book?
Many moons ago when I lived and worked in London I had a crazy hour and half commute on London Underground to and from work each day. Boy did I read a lot of books during that time (if only I had known about English Paper Piecing then). I read everything from classics to sci-fi, modern literature and anything I could get my hands on really. One of my favourite's is Peter Hoeg's 'The Woman and the Ape'. I have read it many times and still love it. The book I am reading at the moment is Andrew Kaufman's 'All My Friends are Superheroes'; it's funny, easy reading.


I thought I might also give you some random facts about me;
- I cook an amazing chicken saag curry.
- Although British I have not lived in the UK for 6 years and my children have never lived there.
- I used to work for Prince Charles.
- I know how many layers of clothing you need to stay warm at minus 5, minus 10 and minus 25 degrees celsius.


So, if you have got through all that, here is my tutorial for this hexie mugrug. 


You will need:
-  Fabric scraps to make your hexagons (the sides of mine each measure 1").
-  Hexagon papers. I created mine from here.
-  1  10" x 7 1/2" fabric piece for the front of the mug rug.
-  1 piece of fabric for backing 10 1/4 x 7 3/4" (I cut mine a little bigger and cut down when binding).
-  1 piece of batting 10" x 7 1/2".


1. First I made 11 hexies by cutting out my paper hexagon pieces from my printed template and then basting the fabric to them.


2. Lay out your front fabric and decide where you want to place your hexagons. I settled on the final picture below as the layout for my mugrug. Make sure you have at least a quarter inch margin between the edge of your hexies and the edge of the front fabric. You don't want to lose any of your hexagons when you attach the binding later.






3. Now sew your hexagons together. I sewed mine together in rows and then sewed the rows together.






4. Press the hexagons really really well and then carefully remove the basting stitches and take out the paper pieces.



It should now look like this.


5. Now sew your hexagon pattern to your front fabric. I sewed around the edge of the hexagon pattern using a scant 1/4" seam.



6.  Once you have attached your hexagon shape, baste your mugrug and decide on your quilting pattern. I quilted random straight lines from the corners of each individual hexagon.



7. Add your binding and then you are all done. Ready for a nice cuppa and a cake!!





Thank you everyone for getting this far and a big thank you to Beth for organising the blog hop. Don't forget to visit the other fabulous blogs that are hopping today.


 Kati at Kati's Quilting and Sewing
 Claire from Sewing Over Pins




Caroline 













45 comments:

  1. That is a really cute little mugrug!

    Enjoyed reading your post and love your mosaic - great colours! Love the random facts too :)

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  2. Love your hexies!

    Your random facts made me smile, especially the last one, which I can totally sympathise with :)

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  3. You make beautiful things, Caroline. Well done on your mug rug tute.

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  4. I wish I had known about EPP whilst commuting on the Tube too Caroline - although it was so rare for me to get a seat that perhaps it's just as well I just had a book. I am very impressed that you are living in Finland as it is such a hard language! I speak lots of languages (badly) and assumed that I could pick up a bit of Finnish too when my flatmate started seeing a Finnish girl - no. Soooo difficult. Never really got past "hello"!

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  5. Nice to meet you Caroline! I love your hexie mug rug. Thanks for the tutorial.
    Amanda

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  6. Hopping along the blog hop....nice hexie project and fun projects in your mosaic!

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  7. Very nice to meet you, your hexies are lovely!

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  8. I love your hexies! That mugrug is so cute! It's lovely to meet you! :)

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  9. Hi Caroline, nice to meet you. Great tutorial. Your mug rug is so lovely I love the colors.

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  10. I really like your hexies. I would love to finish a hexie project, but I somehow never make them a consistent size.

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  11. What cool facts about you! I'd like to know more on those layers! We get some super cold winters here.
    Great hexie mug rug! =D

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  12. This is so nice, great project. Hopefully one day I will get there

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  13. I really enjoyed this! Great post!

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  14. Hi Caroline, nice to meet you! So what did you do for Prince Charles?! Lovely project, thank you for sharing!

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  15. Nice to meet you Caroline - and I love your hexie mug-rug too!

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  16. Wow - the things we learn about each other in these posts! Love the mug rug - great tutorial. I also love your patchwork hexagons in your mosaic!

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  17. Caroline, awesome mug rug! I'd love to be in Finland right now since it's still over 30C and it's almost 9PM... Would love to have the chicken saag curry recipe, pretty please? Indian food is one of my favorites! :) Okay... Your project look gorgeous! I'm really in love with the crosses on the aqua background. Beautiful!

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  18. You have some really great advice about not making things just to fill up your blog. I am always tempted. :)

    I'm so impressed with your hexies and the curves you've sewn. Really nice work! It's great to meet you!

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  19. Great blog! I really need to try those hexies soon!

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  20. Love your little hexie mug rug! You make it look so easy!

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  21. Nice to meet you Caroline! Great hexies and just love that aqua background in your Modern Cross quilt in the mosaic!

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  22. Hi Caroline. Nice to meet you. I like your style and fabrics. The little hexie tutorial is inspiring me to give hexies a try. Especially after seeing your finished larger blocks.

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  23. Great post! Nice to get to know you!

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  24. A post full of gorgeous makes - love the mugrug tute :)

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  25. Lovely to meet you! Your mug rug is beautiful. I love the fabrics you've chosen :)

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  26. Hello, I've come to you via the blog hop, nice to meet you. I like your mug rug, it's going on my to do list, thank you!

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  27. Another Brit living and quilting abroad, good to meet you on the blog hop :) Fab tutorial, I really have no excuse now not to give hexies a go!

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  28. Awesome - I love mug rugs when they have cupcakes on them :) And you worked for Prince Charles - hello! You will have to expand on that!!!!

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  29. Stopping by from "Let's Get Acquainted." Loved your random facts about yourself. I'm learning how to cook Indian food so it was fun to see you were a whiz at chicken saag! Beautiful colors on your hexies!

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  30. First off, HOLY FREAKING COLD! I can't even imagine the number of layers it would take. It can get chilly in Iowa but nothing like that. I'll think of you when I want to whine next winter. I love your projects, especially the tutorial. I've never made/owned a mugrug but you make me want one.

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  31. Caroline, I love your mug rug project -- what a great use for hexies! Your mosaic of projects is lovely, and what great blogging tips you have. It's great to meet you!

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  32. Nice to meet you! Those hexies are adoorbs!

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  33. Nice to meet you Caroline! I love EPP, and your mug rug is gorgeous, I'm going to have to make some soon. They'd make great Xmas presents.
    PS - Lamb Saag is my specialty :)

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  34. Pretty mug rug! I need to try my hand at hexi's soon. They seem really fun and satisfying. I love Just Wing It! too... such a great line.

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  35. Hi There, lovely to meet you! I am interested to hear that you used to work for Prince Charles - I live in Jersey and he and Camilla visited Jersey yesterday as part of a tour of the Channel Islands for the Diamond Jubilee. I didn't get to see him as I have to look after our two small children, but my husband did on his lunch break, just by chance! Your quilts are gorgeous by the way, and your tutorial is spookily similar to mine...I put it together last week. Great minds think alike is all I can say! I was new to EEP and like you, I wish I discoverd it earlier! Lovely to meet you, Sarah

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  36. Nice to meet you Caroline. I am addicted to hexies right now and love your mug rug. I live in Canada and know what it's like to quilt in the cold. Love your work!

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  37. What a nice mugrug. I'm always impressed by ppl who do a lot of handsewing. Great post. Thanks for sharing. ;)

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  38. I'm a bit behind on the blog hop this week, but I'm catching up now! Nice to meet you, and lovely work! I'm really jealous of both your England and Finland experiences!

    Also, great words about not trying to make stuff for the blog every week. I'd like to be that productive, but like you, it's just not going to happen any time soon. But it is great to have the bit of accountability that blogging provides so I get *some* things done!

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  39. I love your cute hexie mug rug!!! I had the same struggle with trying to do a new project every week when I started blogging this past January! I had to relax on that a bit...I was stressing myself out for no reason! :D

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  40. Thanks for the tutorial - really cute!

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  41. Your mosaic is beautiful - it's so colourful! And I love your hexie mug rug. Nice to get to know more about you!

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  42. So nice to meet you, Caroline! I so know what you mean by appropriate layers for the cold weather. I had to buy another set of winter clothes and boots for those -30 temps when we moved to Ottawa. Thanks for the tutorial!

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  43. Catching up with the Blog Hop - nice to meet you! I enjoyed reading about you... and the hexie mug rug is very cute:). I keep reading about hexies..... and am itching to get started on a hexie project:).

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