Snowflake Mug Rugs

In much of the country, it is going to be much colder than normal with lots of weather warnings.  Not a lot of snow in MN this year -- but we will get the sub-zero temperatures.  And that is without wind-chill factored it.  On days like that, I love to stay inside with a good quilt to work on and some nice warm liquid to ward off the chill that seems to penetrate even the inside of the house.

I thought it was the perfect opportunity for a new mug rug to use with a favorite cup of tea.

Snowflake Mug Rugs

The mug rugs I make are typically 9" x 6".  This is a nice size to do a bit of experimenting with a new design or a new concept. 

I have been presenting some snowflake ideas to my Masters group this month.  In the Masters class we incorporated text in our snowflakes.  I promise -- the EQ design presented in this blog post is much simpler than the design concept I shared with them.

There are some applique snowflakes in the EQ8 Library.  Check under Contemporary Applique - Season - Winter. 

I found four snowflakes (three at the beginning and one at the end).  However, they are designed as applique blocks -- and will need to be converted to motifs (without a a background).

Season - Winter Blocks under Contemporary Applique in the EQ8 Block Library

After converting the blocks to motifs, consider adding a circle to one of the motifs. 

​More on how we will use the circle shortly.

Modified Snowflake from the EQ Library

The only other block in the first mug rug is a checkerboard block drawn in EasyDraw. 

To keep it simple to piece, draw a 9 x 6 grid in the 9 x 6 block. 

​Each square will have a finished size of 1".

EasyDraw Checkerboard Block

In the quilt worktable, set up a horizontal quilt at 1 x 1 blocks and (you guessed it) a size of 9 x 6.

The only border will be a binding.

Mug Rug Quilt Layout in EQ8

On the Design tab, place the checkerboard block on Layer 1 and three snowflake blocks on Layer 2.

Resize and rotate the snowflakes.   

​A little bit of coloring and you are done.

Triple Snowflake Mug Rug

For an alternate design, delete the pieced block and replace with a single fabric.

On Layer 2 include two of the snowflakes with the circle center.

Use the text tool to add a monogram to each snowflake.  I used the font Mr. Rabbit that I obtained from Creative Fabrica a number of years ago. 

​Pick a bold font from the fonts on your computer.  ​If you need some new fonts, check out the free fonts currently available at Creative Fabrica.

Monogram Mug Rug created by Kari Schell using EQ8.

Learn how to draft these two Snowflake Mug Rug quilts in this weeks free video tutorial.

I would love to see your mug rugs.  Feel free to post in the Learning EQ Facebook post.  I have set up a post for sharing.

Snowflake Mug Rugs Learning EQ Facebook Post

I also decided to play with one of my blocks from the TKQ Masters class on Letters and Text.  (No instruction provided in this blog post).

Name Snowflake Designed for TKQ Masters Letters and Text Class

TKQ Masters Snowflake Name Designs

This week, Tech Know Quilter Masters members were working on snowflakes that incorporated names (or other text).  Check out some of their amazing designs as they created (for the most part) circular quilts.

Mary Groesbeck

Edith Craig

Zdenka Nemethova

Jane Perri

Wanda Hizer

Margo Reppert

Connie Bobcik

Kristy Soard

Elly da Silva

Elly Da Silva

Joyce Drenth

Roxanna Khoury

Debbi Treusch

Helen Hicks

Fran Heisey

Fran Heisey

If you have completed twelve or more months of Tech Know Quilters, you are eligible to join Tech Know Quilters Masters.  If this interests you, send me a note and I will provide you more information on the program.

---

Happy quilting.

​Kari

Join the On Point Quilter weekly newsletter and receive regular tips and inspiration on using Electric Quilt 8 along with the Free 12 Top Tips for EQ8 video guide.