Rosy Mug Rug

 

This is this final picture of the project I started in the previous post.

Click on this link to view the prior steps: http://quiltedtimeposts.blogspot.com/2013/02/outlining-roses-in-free-motion.html

Once I was finished outlining the roses with the free motion quilting, I trimmed the piece into a square—11 1/2” on each side.

Then I cut a 13 1/2” square of backing fabric and lightly adhered the quilted piece in the middle of it with basting spray, wrong sides together. I tried to center it as much as possible but purposely cut the backing square a little larger so that it could ultimately be trimmed equal and square.

Using a clear gridded ruler, I trimmed the backing so that it was 3/4” larger than the quilted roses on all sides. Then I folded the 3/4” margin of backing fabric in half toward the top of the mug rug. That done, I pressed and slightly trimmed the corners.

Finally, I folded the margin of the backing fabric up again toward the top of the mug rug, creating a binding. Some quilters are adept at sewing the binding down by machine, but since this is going to be a gift, I decided to hand stitch it. Afterwards, I did stitch in the ditch just inside the binding to give the piece a little more stability since the backing is not actually quilted to the rose panel.

Hopefully, my sister will like this.