She told me that she has owl nesting boxes at her home in South Africa, so I had to use an owl theme for one of the mug rugs. The other, I wanted to have a feel of an English autumn...so different from a desert island , where she lives.
I drew out a simple picture of an owl on a branch and used it as a template for the picture. I used monofilament to secure the fusible and then used gold, metallic thread to free motion quilt the veins in the leaves and for the stipple stitch. I hadn't used monafilament or metallic thread in my machine before.
I used a trapunto technique under the oak leaves for this mug mat. I used a gorgeous, had dyed silk thread for the leaf veins. I wanted to personalise it, so used fusible again, to add Zanna's name and buttonhole stitch to secure the letters. I added a fabric flower in autumn colours as a finishing touch.
I also included a coaster from the Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary of two of their residents.
I sent the mug rugs four weeks ago, International Signed For and they have finally arrived this morning. I am so relieved!
Zanna sent me the two most beautiful mug rugs, four exquisite lace coasters and a beautiful Arabic perfume bottle. I absolutely love them. The workmanship is exquisite! I will think of Zanna and Bahrain whenever I use them!
