Mug Rug Monday - Rail Fence (free mug rug pattern)

I started home schooling my daughter Sabra this week. It is something that I have thought about since she was born, but just never felt I had the patience to do. Well, because of some really crazy things (WOW, who knew the girl drama could be this intense in the 3rd grade - there are some really mean girls around already) that happened to her in her school this last week, I decided it was time to make a drastic change.  .....Today, our first official day at our home school went very - well obviously it is all still very new to both of us. However, I am just now getting around to my post. Believe it or not, I know how to schedule posts, I just can't force myself to wait, once I get something written. Something about the excitement of that "hot off the press" smell.

Without further ado, here is this week's free mug rug pattern. This week's mug rug pattern is based on a very traditional quilt square called Rail Fence. Here is the mug rug:

Since it is really easy for traditional piecing, I thought I would just give the "loose" instructions on making it.....

I have chosen two colors in my sample. We will refer to the blue as color A and the red as color B. You will need two 1 1/2" wide strips of Color A and one 1 1/2" wide strip of Color B. Strips should be approximately 25 inches long for wiggle room.....

1. Sew one strip of Color A and one strip of Color B together. 
2. Press seam toward Color B. 
3. Next, sew another strip of Color A to the other side of Color B. 
4. Press seam toward Color A this time - so that both seams are pressed in the same direction.
5. You should now have a 3-strip unit that measures 3 1/2" by 25 inches (or however long your strips were)
6. Cut this 3-strip unit into 3 1/2" length pieces, to make 3 1/2" squares. 
7. Arrange the blocks and join according to the sample image above. 
8. To quilt, I recommend stitch in the ditch (great tip here) for this one.
9. Bind according to your favorite (or not so favorite) method. ;-)

Here is a quilt I made a few years ago where I used a rail fence for my setting squares......

The rail fence blocks are stitched in the ditch. I did a quilt as you go method, that I made up as I went.....I actually pieced and quilted each row as a unit, and then I attached the rows together. The gorgeous embroidery patterns are ones that I got free off the internet 7 or 8 years ago, so I couldn't tell you where they were from....I have seen them out there recently, so maybe somebody else will comment and remind me from whence they came?

Here are some close-ups of some of the embroidered blocks:

The "shell" quilting around the outside of the embroidery blocks was done free motion, and is really a simple free motion pattern. I used regular old masking tape to mark my channel quilting surrounding the embroidery. Hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.. ;-)

This quilt was made for my daughter Sabra - I guess that means I have now come full circle in this post haven't I?  LOL Have a blessed week and I will see you next week!

Michele

P.s.

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