Easy Peasy Binding for a Mug Rug

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Because I'm crazy about you, I want to give you a little present........ 

It's called the gift of time.

 Admittedly, it's not a lot of time. But, a little here and a little there adds up, right!   

This is a little mug rug that I recently mailed to a good friend. I used a lone quilt block that I found in the drawer, some selvage and a scrap of batting. Here's where the "time" comes in....see the binding? Isn't it pretty? Now look at the back of the mug rug. 

See? It's not really traditional binding at all! But from the front, who can tell? 

So FAST and easy! It takes hardly any time at all! 

Let me show you how.

First, of course, you need to make a mug rug. A little quilt. 

I make mine 6 in. X 8 in. approximately. Layer the quilt, the batting and backing, which is one inch larger on all sides. 

 Quilt as desired. Then, trim the backing to 3/4 inch larger on all sides.

 Press the backing edge in half on all four sides.

 Open out the corners and trim across, leaving 3/8 inch beyond the corner of the quilt.

 Fold the backing corners in half and press.

 Fold the backing around to the front of the quilt and pin in place. At the corners, fold in at an angle to make a mitered corner. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture.) Machine stitch the "fake" binding down on all four sides, being sure to catch the corners. 

 Make a cup of tea, grab a heart cookie, relax and enjoy that extra time saved!

Who knows, you might even have time to make another mug rug in the time it would have taken to add real binding. And since you'll only be looking at the top side when you use your 

little mug rug...who will know?

Have a sweet day, friends.