Merry Mug Rug TUTORIAL

Today I'm joining Jennifer from Ellison Lane on the Merry Mug Rugs blog hop! She's got a great line up of talented sewists full of fun holiday ideas. I'm generally not a huge mug rug person, but I've found A. People love them! B. Most mug rug tutorials can easily become potholder tutorials. C. They make fast, easy & fun gifts! If you need more holiday gift decoration and gift ideas, check out all my other tutorials!We are going to make this fun little mug rug with buttons! Let's get started!1. Supplies: You need two pieces that are about 10x10". I used leftover pieces from a layer cake. You'll also need a 12x12" piece of batting. And 30" of binding; I used a scrap!2. Prep the Sandwich: Make the quilt sandwich. I pressed the pieces to the batting in lieu of pinning.3. Quilting: Quilt the background. I did pebbles that looked like snowballs. You could also straightline quilt. Anything goes!4. Trimming: Trim the piece to 8x8".5. Binding: Bind the mug rug. This is a great opportunity to use a piece of scrap binding.6. Marking the Tree: Mark 1 1/4" in from the sides and 1 1/2" from the bottom on each side.Mark a dotted center line of the tree as well. Make sure you just do small marks that you can cover with buttons. Remember, these are just a guide.It should look something like this. I placed a button on the point so you can see them.7. Place the Buttons: Start placing the buttons. I glued them in place with plans to go back and sew them!I used as many greens as I had mixed with bright colors.Enjoy!xo LC