Hand Quilted Mug Rug - Kaffe Fabrics

For April’s Aurifil Artisan challenge, the task was to use a provided Kaffe Fassett fabric and coordinating Aurifil threads in our project. I’ll be the first to admit that Kaffe fabrics aren’t my usual go-to when quilting, but this big floral print caught my eye and the gears started turning. I turned my fabric into a hand quilted mug rug and I’m so pleased with the outcome.

First, I started by cutting a 7″ x 9″ rectangle of the floral fabric and basting it to batting. I didn’t add a backing, because I knew with a backstitch, the back wasn’t going to be pretty, so my plan was to add a backing after the stitching was complete to hide the back of the stitches.

hand quilting a mug rug with Aurifil thread

I pulled out all my coordinating Aurifil 12 weight threads and started stitching along the lines in the flowers, using the closest color thread I had. Instead of a running stitch, I used a backstitch to create the lines of stitching. A backstitch allowed me to completely cover up the lines in the fabric with my stitches, or as close as I possibly could.

I chose to add more stitches in certain areas than others to create depth and interest, adding more thread colors and stitching as I went along. This project evolved, and was so much fun to work on at night in front of the tv. Once I had finish hand quilting, I sewed the stitched piece to a second piece of fabric, right sides together, then turned it right side out. I decided not to bind this in the usual way because I didn’t want to detract from the flowers and the stitching. I stitched the small opening from turning it right side out closed with a ladder stitch.

This hand quilted mug rug finishes at 6.25″ x 8.25″, making it the perfect size for a mug of coffee and an accompanying treat! It is so bright and fun, and yet small enough to be a great statement piece on my living room coffee table. Overall, this hand quilted mug rug was a great challenge for me, since it pushed me to create something outside of my comfort zone, and I’m so pleased with the result.

New to hand quilting? I’ve got several resources to help you! Check out the beginner guides below, or click here to see all hand quilting resources on this site.