Elisabrat

thanks for clarifying for me Kiff. I did mean it has to be made by you. you cant just go buy one at the store is correct (yet to see who sells these lol). HAND MADE means to me you pulled the fabric, you cut the fabric with your own two hands lol and then you put the thing through your machine to piece it. some people make great mug rugs sewing the whole thing by hand but 99 percent of us like to use our machines to help. I love my machine so hope that helps you when you read that. I make lots of things, use glue guns glitter and all sorts of stuff but in the end I made it. its hand made. even though I used glue. for the record if anyone now asks can you glue this together NO. sew it please lol.

Next : if your partner asks for oh I love purple! then add a touch of purple to the mug rug they will love it and use it and heck isn't that what we all want? a valentine in theory is red white or pink or all of the above. but a touch of color in it is fine. if your partner wants that. So I will try to match the traditionalists with the same and the more modern choices with the same . I cant guarantee this however. I am thinking its ok to add kitties or motorcycles or whatever your partner has put as their favorite things in their emails to me. its a personal valentine at that point. if you have a red white pink one done already well maybe you can find a fat quarter or something with what they love on it to gift with your mug rug. or a card! a card with that item is ok too! it doesn't have to be incorporated in your mug rug but can be. hope that makes sense. I mean I know someone who loves purple. She truly loves it. if she wanted a purple mug rug with hearts on it well that would be fine. I know also she loves cute valentines and red white colors. so either would be good. I hope that clarifies things for you. I don't dictate these swaps you guys do. This is a partnered swap. Personal preferences can be worked out with your partner. its that easy! phew.

We have just one more day for sign ups so I hope that everyone who wants to join has. if you have not signed up yet please do! send me a PM and give me your name, address, phone number and likes and I can still add you to the swapper list! we are up to 46 swaps. I am hoping we end up with even numbers but we will find a partner for everyone!!!! I cant wait to see the cute and beautiful things that are done with this swap. remember even though we have partners don't you share with them what you have made til they receive it. that is half the fun. the surprise when you open that envelope or box. Let them post but if they can not post please share a picture of what you have made after its received. LET YOUR PARTNER KNOW you cant post a picture so they make sure they take one of what they are sending to share with us when you receive. I think we should have dozens and dozens of photos to share when this is done so TAKE THOSE PICTURES when you can. I have uploaded all the updates on my computer which is good. what it has done is change my photo album set up and does not allow me to pick a photo and move it anywhere. tis frustrating. wonderful updates ruined photo album. first I lost all pictures in my old album. wtheck? and now I cant share them. anyone have this trouble? love to hear from you if you have and found the solution. pm me!

Patchesnposies

Linda, you can match me with anyone. I like non-trad colors personally, but have fabric to suit anyone's preferences. I would love a traditional valentine's mug rug, too. Sometimes, it is easy to get stuck in a rut. This way I get pulled out and may find I am not as non-trad as I like to think I am. LOL

Also, a question for all of you who have made many mug rugs. For the last swap, which was my first attempt at MR making, I used insul-bright and no batting because I thought it would make for a more stable surface and also would protect furniture from heat. I was happy with the results.

This time I have made a slightly larger mug rug using the insul-bright and noticed that it is stiff and makes a crinkly noise. I am sure the others did too, I just wasn't thinking about it then. I was just happy to have something I wasn't too ashamed to send! lol

Does anyone else use insul-bright in their mug rugs? Am I over engineering mine?

lynnie

again, i'm happy with anything. they are showing a lot of black this year with the valentines. i'm happy with anything.

klaws

Just one more day to sign up for the January pincushion/needlecase swap. Everybody is welcome no matter whether you are a beginner or advanced.

berryberry

Does anyone else use insul-bright in their mug rugs? Am I over engineering mine?[/QUOTE]

I'm interested in the answer to this to. I've made 1 mug rug and I just used the batting like they use for the potato bags. What is the best batting to use?

rwquilts

I just pm'd you Linda...I'm in!
I love Valentine's Day and all the Red, white pink hearts and flowers that go with it! I like so many things that it would be hard to send me something I didn't like...well maybe orange hearts...LOL! I have waited to sign up to make sure I can get back to my sewing machine to make a mug rug. 3 weeks since my knee surgery and things are going well, but I haven't attempted to sew anything yet nor will I for a couple more weeks...want to make sure my partner gets a nice rug from me and not the "drugs" talking?

rwquilts

I have used both batting and insul-brite. I don't want my batting to be too thin so I like both. But I don't know that there's a hard and fast rule???

klaws

I use batting for mine. The only time I use insul-brite is when I make pot holders or mitts.

Patchesnposies

I think I will try just batting for my next mug rugs. Thanks for your input, Karen!

Patchesnposies

Ronda, do you find that using both makes your mug rugs (I am actually thinking about a table runner I made using both) too "poofy?" I used both on a TR once, but I think it was high loft batting and it made it too "over stuffed."