Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Snowman Mug Rug




Before Christmas I ran across an awesome tutorial to make a snowman mug rug,
but the finished product ended up as a 9" square which was a little larger than I wanted.
The snowman mug rug shown above finishes out at 5 1/2" x 7 1/2".
Here is what I did to alter the pattern.
  • 1 - ivory fabric cut  4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
  • 4 - red dot fabric cut 2" x 2" for corners
  • 2 - red dot fabric cut 2" x 5" for the sides of the block
  • 2 - red dot fabric cut 1" x 9" for the top and bottom of the block
  • 1 - backing fabric cut 7 1/2" x 9"


I followed the basic sewing instructions from the original tutorial
but when I got to step 8 this is what I did.


After the carrot nose is applied using an iron-on bonding adhesive,
I laid a strip of tear away embroidery stabilizer  beneath my block before I began
to stitch the nose in place. 


I basically just laid the stabilizer on the back of the block,
then flipped the block 
over to begin outlining the nose.


The embroidery stabilizer has just enough body to 
stabilize the fabric as the carrot is attached.
I used a simple zig-zag stitch set to a very narrow width
for my outline. 


The stabilizer instructions indicated that it can be "torn away" from the fabric,
but I opted to cut it away with a sharp scissors.
If you decide to cut the stabilizer away at this point, 
pay careful attention that you do not cut into the snowman
or it will make him very sad and possibly nose-less!


The snowman face is machine quilted using a simple meandering stitch. 
The rest of the mug rug was straight-line quilted 
using the markings on a walking foot as a stitching guideline.



A few more hours of work and I'll have this stack of snowmen
completed and ready to store away for next Christmas:)

Linking up with:

May you always Sew in Peace!

18 comments:

  1. Cute mug rug, I love snowmen. Thanks for sharing the pattern. Congrats on the finish.

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  2. very cute and easy! thanks for the pattern

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  3. Very cute. I want one. Thank you for sharing.

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  4. Hi Sandra, Thanks for stopping by. I, too, made some snowmen mug rugs for Christmas. I also made an UFO table topper with nine blocks. You can see it next month when we show off our February goodies!

    Yours in quilting!

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  5. It is so cute and makes a great mug rug!

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  6. Very, very cute. Thank you so much for the quick tutorial and for playing along in the CTTY club. :-)

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  7. That is so cute!!!!! Would it be ok if I used your mug rug picture and link to you on the tutorial list this coming Monday for Christmas Through The Year? I know how much people would love to make this cute mug rug! So happy you were able to join us this month!

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  8. Very cute! I'm beginning to wonder if your snowman mug rugs will be the only snow that we see this year with all the warm weather we've been having. Thank you for the tutorial!

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  9. Great adaptation, I like smaller mug rugs too, I love how you did the nose. After all a noseless snowman is just a snowball isn't it?

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  10. These are cute...I am not thinking Christmas a bit though. Good for you to be getting ahead. It's been thawing in Iowa and I LOVE it (except for the fog that comes with it) WHOOP, WHOOP!!

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  11. Isn't that adorable? And you're already way ahead of the game for next Christmas!

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  12. Those are so cute! Thanks for sharing your adaptations to the pattern, too! Whoop whoop!!

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  13. So cute! Thanks for the tute too! Whoop Whoop!

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  14. Great stitch in the fabrics.Red marrun back ground look so beautiful in this pics,It really different looking.

    a boards uk

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