April Showers Blog Hop

This has already been such a fun blog hop and there have been so many creative and wonderful mug rugs that everyone has shared. I want to express appreciation to Madame Samm and Erin for bringing this blog hop to us and making it such a success (along with all the other many hops that M. Samm brings us!)

My daughter and her family live next door and for Easter the grandkids all got these cute umbrellas. Fortunately for the kids, it rained that day and they were able to try out their new umbrellas while their Mom took this picture of them. When she showed it to me, I got all excited and had her send it to me--I knew it would be perfect for this blog hop and I knew JUST what I would do with it!

I printed that photo onto fabric and made it into a mug rug! I found some bright umbrella fabric that really seemed to complement the photo.

There are 3 of us in our little family here at home and usually what I do for one, I do for all. So that meant that ONE mug rug was not enough. My next idea was to use Sunbonnet Sue:

That still left my husband, so I needed to come up with something a bit more masculine. I was wracking my brain and thought that maybe Sunbonnet Sue could use a companion. I had one those "light bulb" moments when I remembered the Wee Tots that Madame Samm drew for the Stitch Me Up Blog Hop. I thought there was a little boy in that collection and there WAS!

I printed this little boy out to his full page size, then reduced him by half. Finally, I added a rain jacket and some boots and made a little appliqued Wee Tot.

Once I had him made, all I had to do was place him into the appropriate background and then I had my husband's mug rug!

I thought I was done with mug rugs for this hop, until I began thinking (dangerous thing to do!) I enjoy sewing when it rains, but what I REALLY like to do is to curl up with a good book! And I have this chair where I like to sit and read (and enjoy the occasional snack) and it would be wonderful to have a mug rug to use on the table next to my chair.

My mind began whirling with ideas and I remembered that Melissa at Happy Quilting had created this wonderful storybook quilt. I wasn't interested in making a whole quilt using books, but this seemed like the perfect starting point for my reading mug rug.

So now I can sit and read and enjoy a nice cup of herb tea and maybe even a bowl of Ladyfinger popcorn!

The forsythia is so bright and beautiful--I thought it made the perfect backdrop for these mug rugs. Isn't it wonderful to have those April showers bringing us such a lovely display of color?!

Be sure to go and visit the other blogs today to see what they've created:

Kathy @ Kwilty Pleasures

Jill @ Apple Avenue Quilts

Cathy @ Cathy's Chatter

Quilter Kathy @ Kathy's Quilts

Marsha @ Quilter in Motion

Pat @ Life in the Scrapatch

Connie @ Shepody Mountain Crafter

Vickey @ Gingersnaps Quilts

Danielle @ A Geeky Crafty Life

Gwen @ Get More Done...Today--You are here!

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After!

And don't forget to visit Madame Samm's blog each day to find out what other blogs are also hopping with us--all the way through next week until April 18th!

Have a Happy Spring!