Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, its a secret

A few days ago the oldest grand asked me if I could make something for her teacher for Christmas and I asked her if she had anything in mind. Her answer came pretty swiftly, 'NOT anything from WalMart!'

It isn't that she is against WalMart, she is just old enough to realize we live in a small town and most of the gifts the teacher gets will be from WalMart and she likes doing something special.

Then she told me how her teacher is always having to mop up her desk because her tea or coffee cup makes such a mess. She decided I should make her 'one of those things that the cup sits on.'

Since I had been experimenting with sewing together selvages and not knowing exactly what I was going to do with them, I decided to add a few Christmas strips of fabric to them and then applique a coffee/tea mug in Christmas fabric on the front.

Some Warm Companies Insulbright in the middle, a neutral fall fabric on the back and for binding and voila! I then placed the letter 'L' on the mug to personalize it since her teachers name begins with L and made the following poem** to go along with it:

I like coffee, I like tea...
It's okay to set your cup down on me!

It can be old, it can be new
It doesn't matter what the brew....

I am made to keep the mess...
On top of me and not on your desk!**

I will have her make a custom card to go with it, attach the poem and trivit and it will be Christmas. It has only taken me 8 hours to do this as I have been doing most of it while sitting on the couch and it took a few takes to cut evenly!

***While I know the poem is hokey, please do not copy it without my permission as it is my work and not yours!*** Thank you!