Coffee Cup Patchwork

My square coffee mug defied me for the longest time. It just would not tell me what it wanted to be decorated with, so into the back of the cabinet it went.
Recently, I've been buying squares of colorful cotton for a quilt that has been in my thoughts forever. It had to be very bright, along with functional, of course. Gleefully, I played with the squares until I had the color sequence just right. A denim curtain had been relegated to the material pile, so the 10" center square came about.
Geez, I'm rambling. The coffee mug. Yes.
I made another template, this time for small squares. Raw, these were 2" square pieces. Having already laid out the color sequence, all I had to do was cut the squares and line them up for sewing.
Here's the result-

Lucky for me, my printer will photocopy. Copying every direction, I had four sheets of paper copy of the fabric block. Before it made it to the FabCopy file, I used a little for my mug.
Laying out the paper, I stared at the mug, seeing but not really seeing.
I could have wrapped the strip around the mug, but with the upward angle of the glass, matching it would be tricky and I'm no expect on the Mod Podge front.

And I'm not a quilter, either. No matter how exact I measure and cut and sew, the little squares would not line up. So- out come the rulers.
Tracing lines on both sides of a 2" grid ruler, I had that positioned pretty good. Turning the paper, I traced on both sides of a 1" grid ruler so that I had pieces that measured 1" by 2". Mod Podging the back of the first piece, it magically turned and angled itself quite nicely to the glass.

Okay. I can go with that.

Continuing with the angling was the only way out after that. The staggering of the square copies seemed to match the square mug.

And it wasn't done yet.
Picking up one of my detail brushes and the pot of white acrylic paint, my hand made little hash marks, resembling a good old fashioned patch on a favorite pair of jeans.




Now, it was done, after a final of Mod Podge Gloss, of course.
And I needed a cup of coffee really bad, if only to celebrate!

Doing this mug has brought about many ideas, ones to further explore on the blank mugs I will get in the future. This first mug will sit prominently on my little brew 'n go for all to see.
Who knows what I'll come up with next?

Stay safe.

Toodles.