Happy Galentine’s Day Mug Rug Tutorial and more Fabric Baskets!

Do you enjoy making small quilted gifts? You’ll want to make at least one of the Happy Galentine’s Day Mini Strip mug rugs. I have a couple of fast and easy mug rug tutorials that are perfect for the holidays.

I bet some of you are thinking that I misspelled Valentine’s Day…..right? Nope, there is a new “holiday” called Galentine’s Day and all of the Island Batik ambassadors will be sharing cute little mug rug projects to celebrate it using the beautiful batiks from our new goodies box.

What I’m sharing today is this fast and easy tutorial to make a little Happy Galentine’s Day Mini Strip Mug Rug that goes perfectly with my fabric baskets.

I got a little carried away……..imagine that! I decided I wanted to make a couple of new fabric baskets using my tutorial and before you knew it I had several done and realized I had better get to work on my mug rugs before I ran out of fabric!

I forgot to explain Galentine’s Day! I’ll give you the Urban Dictionary definition.

February 13th, the other half of valentine’s day, when you celebrate your love for your lady friends! single or no.

It is also my best friend’s birthday! How perfect! It is also the 16th episode of Parks and Recreation which I haven’t watched.

Free Printable Cards

Download these FREE printable cards! They could be used for Galentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day.

I started out with this group of beautiful batiks. I also used the Fantastico thread from Superior Threads for my free motion quilting and the red Aurifil 50 weight thread for my piecing.

After I finished making the fabric baskets I cut some of the leftover batiks so I could make a mug rug or two.

Happy Galentine’s Day Mini Strip Mug Rug Tutorial

Directions

Size is 6 ½” x 9 ½”

Cutting:

• Cut strips of the pink/red batiks that are 3/4″ wide – I varied the length – anywhere from  4″ to 5″.
• Cut strips of a neutral batik 3/4″ wide – most of these I cut around 5″ to 6″ in length.

Sewing:

• Sew a neutral strip to each side of the pink/red strip.
• Press to the dark side.
• Lay the strips out and stagger the strips as shown below. (notice I have made this before – when I find that post I will put a link to it).

• Sew the strips together with a 1/4″ seam allowance or smaller.
• Carefully press the seam away from the edge that you will sew the next strip to (the next strip would be added to the right side).

• Your piece will be a lot narrower than you may expect. This is the size of mine after sewing all of the strips together.

• Add more strips to both sides until you have a piece approximately 6 ½” inches tall.
• I didn’t care about the width of the mug rug as a certain size. I just trimmed the piece to 9 ½” wide.

Assembling:

• Add a backing and batting.
• This is a great time to use up your batting scraps.
• I usually take my batting scraps and zig-zag them together into pieces that will work for mug rugs and other small quilt projects.

Quilting

This is a perfect time to do some straight stitch quilting.

I used my vintage 15-91 Singer sewing machine and didn’t use a walking foot…..just my regular foot.

Binding

• Cut your binding strips 2 ¼” instead of the normal 2 ½”.
• Fold the strips lengthwise and sew to the mug rug. One strip the width of the fabric should be enough for the binding.
• Finish your binding by machine using this tutorial.

Here is the finished strip pieced mug rug, isn’t the back beautiful!

Larger Strips Mug Rug

I had more leftover batiks after I finished the Valentine’s Day baskets so I made another little mug rug.

Directions

Larger Strips Mug Rug
7 ½” x 8 ½”

Here is how I made it – my design came about simply because of what fabric I had left.

• Start out with a 4″ x 7 ½” centerpiece.
• Add a 2″ x 7 ½” strip to each side of the centerpiece.
• Add a 1 ½” strip to each side.
• Add a backing and batting.
• Quilt as desired.

Binding

• Cut your binding strips 2 ¼” instead of the normal 2 ½”.
• Fold the strips lengthwise and sew to the mug rug. One strip the width of the fabric should be enough for the binding.
• Finish your binding by machine using this tutorial.

I did some easy free motion quilting on this mug rug. Hopefully, you can see what I did.

Crazy Heart Mug Rug

This is another little mug rug I made that I made using some teeny tiny little scraps.

I pieced some together and then cut out a heart applique shape. There are so many types of mug rugs you can make with scraps.

Directions

• Draw a small heart on paper.
• Start with a small piece in the center and then add a strip to one side.
• Continue adding strips to cover the heart shape.
• Cut out the pieced heart.
• Cut a 4″ x 6″ piece of cream batik
• Either use glue or Heat nBond Lite to keep the heart in place.
• Applique as desired.

I also added some half-square triangle corners to it. It was still a little small so I added 1″ strips as a border.

Binding

• Cut your binding strips 2 ¼” instead of the normal 2 ½”.
• Fold the strips lengthwise and sew to the mug rug. One strip the width of the fabric should be enough for the binding.
• Finish your binding by machine using this tutorial.

There are so many different ways you can make a mug rug! Do you like making them?

This post is getting a little long…..I’ll share the Valentine fabric baskets tomorrow including the size I made them.

I hope you have enjoyed the Happy Galentine’s Day Mini Mug Rugs.

Other quilt projects that are perfect for Valentine’s Day

• Wine String Pieced Mug Rug tutorial
• 10 Valentine Tutorials
• Twisting Heart tutorial
• Heart table runner tutorial