Monday, September 17, 2012

Do you have any of these?

Did you have one that you kept in your pocket when you were a little girl?


Did you have a whole shoe box full of them? 

I had a shoe box full and so did my daughter.  My Mom and my Grandmas gave them to us.  Sometimes I would sit for hours just touching the embroidery and feeling the smooth silky fabrics. Several years ago, I dreamt of making a quilt with all of them.



This summer when my daughter got married.  She asked if we could use them for the wedding.  We washed them and pressed them and neatly folded each one. We put them into an old picnic basket of my Grandma's.  We handed them out before the wedding ceremony, as a remembrance of the day and if some wanted to shed a tear of happiness for the bride and groom.



Before I put the remaining little hankies away, (back into the box for a Hankie Quilt that I will make some day), I decided I needed to make something out of them.

My first thought was to use the same fabrics from the wedding table runners, but they didn't seem to match any of the hankies.

Yellow fabrics would be pretty with this hankie.



I decided to make a little mug rug. First I needed to reinforce the back of the hankie to make it stronger.  I ironed on a lightweight interfacing like you put on the back of the T-shirts when making a T-shirt quilt.



Then I trimmed it.



All four sides.



Chose the yellow strips.


Then I started sewing on the strips and building around the hankie first.



I wanted the hankie to be in the corner of the mug rug, so I added the strips to form a rectangle.



It is ready to quilt.



Note that I quilted --- meandered right through the embroidery stitching on the hankie.



I stitched my name and the year as part of the quilting - of course!



I used a yellow daisy print on the back of the mug rug.




Trimmed it.



Bind it --- All machine Embroidery Stitched Binding.



Ready for a cup of coffee?













I am ready to make another one... and another one and another one...



How about you? 

Dig out those old hankies and make a little mug rug!

They would make a great gift for Grandma or anyone.

Take time to play!  Enjoy the moments in your life...

Marcia

31 comments:

Patricia said...

What a neat idea! I do have hankies but I don't drink coffee or hardly anything from a mug.

Jessica @ Plum Patchwork said...

Such a sweet project! I have a few vintage hankies that I wasn't sure what to do with - now I do!

Jessica @ Plum Patchwork said...

Such a sweet project! I have a few vintage hankies that I wasn't sure what to do with - now I do!

Debbie said...

Fabulous way to use these hankies....much better I think than anything else I have seen. And I have lots of old doily parts too....great inspiration you are. Thanks.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Oh how pretty. I do have some hankies, but I would love them in a quilt - hmmm, a New Year project for sure.

Maria said...

Love the way you used the vintage hankie.. the mug rug is so sweet...

mary mahoo said...

Love the way you used the hankie! I have a pile of them staring at me daily, gifted to me by my mother-in-law. I'm not sure I could make that first cut though!

Unknown said...

Beautiful ideas both for the wedding and for the mug rug. I have a suitcase of old hankies waiting for a rainy day. Today it is raining and I see your mug rug...hmmm...first I have to finish the bat covered vintage tablecloth and then we'll see. I do like the fact your mug rug is nice and flat when finished very usable. Thank you for the inspiration.

Belinda said...

Oh man!! I love this idea!!

Sheila said...

Oh my! I love this idea, too. I remember having a little handkerchief when I was a little girl. I have no idea where it is now.

Gwen said...

So lovely! My Grandma always had a pretty hankie in her purse.. When she passed away, that was one of the items that I wanted to keep from her... :-)

Julianne said...

What a great idea, I have a whole bag of these that I dont know what to do with...thanks for this post.

Katie M. said...

what a wonderful idea! I think we all have treasures that we tend to put away and 'save', it's nice to bring them out and use them 'someway'.

Needled Mom said...

That is such a great idea and is so beautiful too. Have you seen the baby bonnets done with the hankies?

Elisabetta said...

this idea is gorgeous!
I love your works, definitely much better ^_^

Lida said...

It looks great and indeed is lovely for a present! Greetings
Lida

Barb N said...

No hankies around here, but it does give me something to look for in antique shops, flea markets and yard sales.....

VickiT said...

What a beautiful mug rug and how cool you've used something you wanted to keep. I don't think I could have cut the pretty edging off myself. You are very brave.

Marsha said...

Once upon a time I thought I was going to make a vintage hankie quilt with all those I've been given. Not going to happen I've decided after carrying them around for 10 years! These mug rugs are precious and would be something people would be so happy to own--especially if their own grandma embroidered the hankie as is the case with some I own. Thanks for the lovely idea.

Sandy Panagos said...

What a great idea! Now I know what to do with all my mother's and mother-in-law's hankies!

Debbie said...

I love what you did with this hankie, Marcia! I have a hankie collection, but I'm not sure I would be brave enough to cut them up like you did!

Rhonda D. said...

Love this!! I will definitely have to try this! Thanks for
sharing!!

Kati from Kati's Quilting said...

I don't have any of these, but my Grandpa is still using them :) Your mug rug looks beautiful Marcia, I love the idea!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I love old hankies. I'm collecting some for a quilt one day. Love your mug rug. Good idea for the extra hankies. Haven't seen much blogging from you lately. Hope all is well.

LJ said...

Your yellow mug rug turned out so lovely - so sunny and happy. But...my heart went into spasms when I saw you cutting the hanky especially when you trimed the edges, too. I do have quite a few hankies and would be too scared to cut! Your idea of handing them out to people at the wedding was wonderful; you must have had an amazing number of hankies.

sew.darn.quilt said...

How hard was it to make that first cut? Your mugrug is lovely and the next will be just as beautiful. A wonderful idea.

Lesley said...

These are adorable! How creative and smart!

Vesuviusmama said...

Awesome idea, Marcia!

tealeafquilts said...

Great idea! I have a box of hankies that I thought I would make a table runner or wall hanging from. Belonged to my mother-in-law.

Rachel said...

This is a great idea. I have some old pillow covers that belong to my aunt, I can use them in the same way. Thanks for the post.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I took your basic idea, changed it all around, and made a mug rug this weekend with an old doily. I linked back to this post on my blog post, for where I got the idea from. Thanks.