Monday 17 June 2013

Spotlight on Melbourne

A couple of weeks ago my big sis in Oz asked if I had any spare mug rugs hanging about. She has gone off coffee big time and has reverted to using a teapot. So she fancied a teapot stand and mug rug.

I instantly knew which fabric I wanted to use - I bought it last year in Spotlight, in Cairns. It's a cotton / linen mix with images of Melbourne on it. Sis lived for many years there so I hoped the right project would show itself eventually.

I looked to Ayumi's book 
and decided to make the hexagonal trivet and two co-ordinating mug rugs, they are smaller than the trivet but don't look much smaller in my photos. I sized them at 110% of the pattern in the book.
Foundation pieced, I mixed the Melbourne fabric with some colours inspired by the drawings and added in some fine calico, it's a quilting quality, just lovely - think it would be described as muslin in the US whereas our muslin is so thin you could spit peas through it -(a favourite saying of my mum - never saw her try it on anything thankfully)

My only modification was to choose not to do a separate binding - I was a bit pressed for time and decided to "bag" it. When I do this I always split the backing, sew it back together leaving a gap in the centre of the backing for turning. This saves the tell tale bulge that usually happens (with me) when I leave a gap on the side.You can see where I have done this on this pic.


I used Insulbright for the trivet to make it heatproof. And for the mugrugs, Hobbs 80/20




 This has ended up being a wee early birthday pressie, so Happy Birthday, Auld Yin.x



9 comments:

  1. Gorgeous! Initially I thought the "reveal" was the first photo and couldn't believe there was no Blue Patch patched magic..but it was the back! ....and... wow... arent those rug fronts fabulous!

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  2. These are gorgeous! And a lovely book too! Jxo

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  3. These are lovely! It is so great if you can find fabrics with a place you love! Happy Birthday

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  4. They are lovely and a great advert for buying fabric that will be perfect for something one day !

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  5. Lovely gift! And I love the fabric! I was born in Melbourne so would love to get some of that fabric! Think I'll try and google it! thanks for sharing!

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  6. I love them. Your split backing idea is very clever. I have used insulbright and really disliked it -I have some left but am really avoiding using it. Juliex

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  7. Oh they look brilliant; lucky sis x

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  8. Well done Sheila though they look far too nice to use!

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