This week's thing: appliqué on linen

My sewing machine has been busy since everybody else went back to school and work. On Monday, I cut up an old IKEA linen curtain that Miss Moss Stitch had given me over the summer (the gift wasn't as strange as the fact that I squealed with excitement when she gave it to me; her boyfriend gave mine a knowing and sympathetic look as I stroked the fabric).

With most of it I made another hallway mat. Inspired by the recent Scrap Buster Month at Sew Mama Sew, I quickly, and not too carefully, appliquéd a selection of pink and red scraps onto the linen, and then lined and backed it with flannel to make it stick to the carpet. I like the cheerful reds and pinks, and the easy going, not-too-neat, nature of the mat. Although I'm now thinking I should probably have given it a quick iron after I washed it. Certainly before I photographed it.

Then with two small pieces of the leftover linen, I made a drinks mat for my Mum. She has had her operation, and is walking again, but still in hospital. The recovery for hip replacements is long, and I am sure she will be drinking many cups of tea as she does plenty of knitting and takes things easy for the next couple of months.

This time I wanted a crisper, less rumpled look to the mat so I used bondaweb to fuse the appliqué onto the linen, and also the label onto the mug, before zigzagging around the edges. I like the way bondaweb appliqué ends up looking so well finished and just a little bit stiff. Which is exactly what you want for things like this.

I put leftover quilt batting in the middle and another piece of linen on the back. I made some bias tape to finish around the edge and did some outlining of the mug in running stitch. I'm still massively into embroidery and will embroider anything if it sits still for long enough.

The mat will be delivered in person tomorrow, when I go up to Oxford for the day to see how Mum and Dad are getting along. Rumour has it the hospital may even let her come home tomorrow. In which case, I shall make her a well deserved cup of tea.