This month I had quite a few projects going. My favorite one was probably this Advent calendar.

The first time I heard of an Advent Calendar was back when I was in high school. I’ve read about the German tradition and thought it was a wonderful custom. Fast forward to today and almost every grocery store has some form of an Advent Calendar. It is a great way of helping little ones (and big ones, too) count down the days to Christmas.
 
My Advent Calendar consists of 25 little houses. Each house has a pocket for a small gift, a treat, a Bible verse or portion of the Nativity story.
 
For the top of the calendar I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona cotton in White, Dill, Eucalyptus, Pimento, Spa Blue and Iron for the houses.

For the roofs of each house I made Flying Geese blocks, using the white and gray fabric.

I alternated Flying Geese blocks and square blocks to form rows of houses.

Once I had all the rows in place I quilted the roofs with a simple triangle design and stitched the blocks in place to form pockets. The backing is Robert Kaufman’s Kona Iron.

I had trouble finding fabric for the binding. You get so many different shades of white and gray, that it was hard finding a match. My mind was kind of set on a white and gray binding and finally found a white fabric with gray/silver dots at my local fabric store.
 
I made numbered tags from white cardstock and added number stickers. Wooden clothespins and red and green baker’s twine completed the tags and added charm to the calendar.

Dimensions: 31 x 20 inches (79 x 51cm)

Another project was these festive looking coasters.

I had this Christmas fabric left from a few years ago. Unfortunately I didn’t have the name of the fabric line or designer anymore.

I strip-pieced the fabric, cut out circles of about 4¾ inches in diameter and layered the coasters. I used a gray fabric from my stash for the backing.

I quilted straight lines diagonally across forming eight “pie wedges”.

For the binding I chose a pretty red fabric with white dots, also from my stash.

I made six of these coasters, just in time for a special holiday drink!

The last project for this month isn’t a quilting project, but a simple and easy way on how to embellish tea/kitchen towels. I got these flour sack tea towels off Amazon and decided to add some pretty detail to take them from boring to beautiful. I used strips of fabric and embellished it with pom-pom trim and ribbon. Once I got going I couldn’t stop myself!
 
For a tutorial on how to embellish your own tea towel, take a look here.

Also, I wanted to introduce my talented sister, Fransa from Colourcode Designs. She’s the designer behind this website and the one that makes everything look pretty every month. She recently opened her own shop on etsy.com! Take a look at her beautiful designs here or here.

Finally,

It’s hard to believe, but Christmas is right around the corner! I love making gifts for those special people in my life and since handmade gifts take time to make, it is never too early to start sewing (or crafting).
 
I decided on making mug rugs, since it is a handy gift but also a fairly quick sew. You may think, well, what is a mug rug? Good question!  A mug rug is a little mini quilt, smaller than a placemat, but bigger than a coaster. It is just the perfect size for a cup of coffee (or tea) to rest on as well as a cookie.
 
It can vary in size, but I like my mug rugs to be around 6” x 8” (15cm x 20cm). Since it is small in size, it is an easy project for beginners. You can practice your piecing and quilting without the daunting task of finishing a large quilt. It also is a great way to use up some of your scrap fabrics. And as all seamstresses know, scrap fabric is a recurring theme in our lives!
 
Mug rugs can be little art works - some people quilt it, others appliqué it or use a combination of both. The possibilities are endless!
 
For the mug rugs in this post, I chose simple block designs. For each little quilt I picked fabric from my scrap bin for the top, back and binding. I did use 100% cotton and batting for all rugs.
 
For the first two I used a variation of the Log Cabin block, called Courthouse Steps. In both these quilts I used a patterned fabric for the center and solid fabrics for the side strips. I quilted a maze design on both.

The next block is called Sister’s choice. I used a solid color for the background which makes the design stand out. I used a combination of outline quilting and straight line quilting. The gray, red and white colors might very well become my favorite Christmas colors.

This one features the Four X Variation block. First I pieced fabric strips together, alternating light and dark fabric. Then I cut the pieced strips into quarter square triangles which give the design basically an hour glass design. I think it might have looked better if the greens and reds were opposite one another. I quilted a spiral design onto the quilt.

The Mosaic No 3 quilt block is set on point. I fussy cut the gingerbread houses and other designs on the right hand side of the block. If you’re not familiar with fussy cutting, it is simply cutting out specific designs from fabric, instead of cutting yardage into random pieces. I used a combination of outline quilting and straight line quilting.

The next block is called an Eight-pointed star. You get so many different star blocks, but I picked this one because of the very pointy triangles. I used a patterned fabric for the background and a solid for the star. I quilted straight lines all over the quilt.

For the last quilt I picked a Christmas tree design. I pieced different fabric strips together which I used for the tree design. I quilted straight lines all over.

There you have it! I hope this will inspire you to try your hand at a mug rug. Or if that’s not your thing, how about making a pincushion? Check out this new tutorial.