An old friend recently asked me to participate in her “Snail Mail Initiative” for three weeks in August; each participant sends a little something in the mail to the others in their group. The project was more focused on calligraphy, writing, and paintings/artwork, but the theme was “Relaxation”. I had such a hard time coming up with something to send! In the end I decided to make a snail mail initiative mini quilt that the recipients could use as a “mug rug”.
Pretty much all the relaxing things I like to do are accompanied by a hot cup of tea or coffee and a little treat. A mug rug is basically a mini quilt that is big enough to serve as a coaster and a place to park a snack. A particularly darling example of this is Amy Sinibaldi’s “Snack Mat”; you can get her pattern for free here. I didn’t have a lot of time to source fabrics or order something special in, so I ended up using a bunch of 5″ charm squares I had left over and some Essex linen I keep in stash.
How to Make One
I embroidered the first initial of each recipient in chain stitch using two strands of Aurifil floss on 5″ linen squares. Another charm square was joined to this. A 10.5″ x 5″ block are composed of five halved charm squares. Match the middle of this block to the seam of the two 5″ square blocks, and trimmed to roughly 9.5″ square.
Make a quilt sandwich with the top right side up, the backing (9.5″ square linen), and then the batting square cut to the same size. I sewed this all the way around, leaving a small gap to turn. Trim the corners and any extra bulk before turning inside out. I then hand stitched the opening closed and quilted as desired. I stitched in-the-ditch and all the way around, but this would be great practice for free motion quilting!
Last Saturday was the mailing deadline, so I hope the lucky recipients have them by now. This was a pretty quick project! I had fun coming up with something a little bit outside of the box for them. This was my first swap and I enjoyed putting a little surprise in the mail for new friends! Have you participated in any swaps? Let me know if you end up making some mini quilts for your own snail mail initiatives!
