Wish You Were Here

I joined a mug rug swap with the theme, Wish You Were Here.
 
(A mug rug is a mini quilt, which you can use to hold a coffee cup and a treat.  The size isn't set in stone, but generally it's larger than a coaster and smaller than a place mat.) 

The goal for this swap is to make a mug rug which shows something about where you live.  I got to swap with a quilter in California.  She made this reversible mug rug for me.

I hope to walk along that sidewalk with the stars one day.

A stroll along that bridge as the sun sets ... can't you just smell the ocean breeze and hear the birds?

Isn't it cute?

I decided to hang it in my studio, rather than drip coffee spills on it.

So I needed to come up with something which represents my area.  Rockets, cotton fields, camelia (our state flower), dogwood trees (we had a 100 yr old one at our botanical garden, which was stunning), and our mountains on the east side of town.

I'll refrain from a history lesson, but the Space & Rocket Museum here will give you a large dose of history if you're so inclined.   We pass cotton fields ... on the way to school, to work, to WalMart.  It's a part of our history and our current culture.  I love it when the cotton is harvested and brought to the gin.  Little fluffs which look like snow little the sides of the roads.

I made 2 of these - one to swap and one to keep.  So glad I did!  These photos are of the one I kept.  The lighting washed out the other when I tried to snap a couple of photos before sending it off.

I love our Saturn V Rocket!  It's a landmark my two young drivers use to navigate.

I think the colors look better in this one. 

At a recent retreat, we had a short demonstration using colored pencils on whole cloth quilts.   This was my attempt to try that technique.  I really like the effect, but wish the colors were more vibrant.  The book recommends using a double layer of batting and quilting first.  Then coloring the design with the pencils.  It's like drawing on a cloud.  Too much fluff and not enough support to really make those colors visible.  The reason for the double batting is to make sure the pencils didn't show on the back side of the quilt.   I sealed it with a fabric medium once the design was complete.

Back side of quilt - no colored pencils showed through

I used my domestic sewing machine to quilt these two, since it was so small.  Most of the time was spent swapping out thread colors.

This was a fun technique to try.  So glad I saw the demo and purchased the book by Irena Bluhm, Quilts of a Different Color.

 Enjoy your day ... for this is a day that the LORD has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad.
- SeeingStars