Spool Love Mug Rug

Come see me over on So Sew Easy this morning for a fun tutorial with a little paper-piecing! This cute little sewing-themed project is the perfect size to try out this technique, or it can be super quick if you have some experience.

EDIT April 2026 - Since the pattern is no longer available at the So Sew Easy website, I'm hosting the whole tutorial and pattern here!

I'm back with a tutorial to make this cute little Spool Love mug rug!  It's something a little different you might not have tried before – paper piecing.  This technique is used to piece odd shapes together with precision.

You can also use the paper-piecing pattern and tutorial to make multiple spools in a mini wall quilt or a table runner too! I'd love to see whatever you come up with.  Have your own sewing blog?  Please link back if you adapt it to create your own project.

Spool Love Mug Rug 

Download the paper-piecing spool pattern at this link.  (Be sure to print the pdf with no scaling)

Materials: You will need some scraps, as follows:

- background (gray), 1 about 4″ x 5″, 2 about 3″ x 1.5″, 4 about 1″ x 1.5″
- spool “thread” (pink or color of your choice), 2 about 3″ x 2″, 2 about 1″ x 3.5″
- spool top and base (faux bois), 2 about 3.5″ x 2″
- binding, about 25″ x 2.25″ wide
- batting (scrap about 6″ x 8″)
- backing (about 6″ x 8″)

You can roughly cut your scraps to the right sizes, or just hold them up on the back of the paper to make sure they will cover the area. So, starting with the spool centre piece, cut out the paper pattern piece (doesn't have to be exact). Hold your spool centre scrap up behind the paper to make sure it will cover the centre, labeled #1. It should be with the wrong side toward the paper back. Then take your next scrap, a background piece, and lay it right side facing the centre piece. You want to make sure it covers space #2 when it is stitched and folded out toward the side.

This next photo here shows pieces #1 and #2, right sides together, with the edges about 1/4″ over the line, ready for stitching. Now take the paper pattern piece with the two fabric scraps in position and, using a short stitch length, stitch down the line from the right side of the paper. Start a few stitches back from the end of the line, as you will need seam allowance at the top and bottom to stitch this unit to the next ones. Once stitched, press the background piece #2 away from the centre, and then repeat layering piece #3 on the other side of the centre.

Your middle unit is finished. Move on to either the top or bottom section. Take a scrap of whatever you're using for the spool ends (I used faux bois fabric for fun!) and make sure it will cover area #1. Take a scrap of the backing fabric and line it up to cover space #2 and #3, the corners. (Be sure it will cover the space once it's folded back – triangles can be tricky!) Stitch the two angled lines from the printed side, then trim the seam allowance to 1/4″ and press each corner open. With a scrap of your spool end fabric, piece section #4, trim the seam allowance, and press open. Repeat for the second spool end.

Now that all three units are pieced and pressed, trim each of them down to the dotted lines around the pattern piece. Then match the spool ends to the middle section. For precision, poke a pin through the spot where seams match. Stitch carefully along the line to join both spool sections to the middle. Then peel the paper off each section carefully. A shorter stitch length makes for more perforations, so it should be pretty easy to remove the paper. If needed, use tweezers to pull out any stubborn corner bits.

Press the whole spool block – your paper-piecing is done! Trim the unit to 3″x4″. Next, cut two strips of the backing fabric 1″x3″ and stitch to the top and bottom of the spool block. Press the strips away from the block. Cut one piece of the background fabric to 4″x5″ and stitch to the side of the completed spool unit. Press seam. Your mug rug top is finished! Trim to 5″x6.5″. Layer the mug rug top, scrap of batting, and the backing fabric and baste.

Now you get to have fun quilting your little mug rug! I chose to stitch in the ditch around the spool ends and then free motion some “thread” around the spool, leading into a word.

TIP – use an erasable marker to draw out your word or design so you can follow the writing as you sew and then erase it afterward.

The last step is to trim the excess batting and backing and bind the mug rug. If you're looking for a good tutorial on binding, the last part of my Wonky Stars Mug Rug tutorial has one.

Your sweet mug rug is finished and ready to keep your sewing table clean and your mug happy!

The Haven Acres Mini Collection is here!

Welcome to Day 3 of the blog tour for the Haven Acres Mini Collection! Jennifer from Jennuine Designs created this beautiful equestrian-inspired collection, consisting of a pretty blouse, well-fitting leggings, and a totally adorable cap.

Jennifer's design is unique, but I'm even more impressed with her pattern! It looks so professional - from the beautiful watercolour cover to the thorough and easy to understand directions and perfect pattern pieces! One of my favourite things about Jennifer's pdf patterns is that she uses layers for the different sizes, so you can just turn off the sizes you don't need and print just one size, or two if you need to grade between sizes!

Sweet Pea Cap

It's been a long haul, testing this collection over the last couple of months but Jennifer stuck to it and has this beautiful pattern collection to show for it.

The Dressage Leggings pattern has options for basic leggings or the equestrian-style paneled version, and each of those versions also has a regular rise or a high rise for the smaller sizes, to accommodate cloth diapers. The leggings fit great and the paneled pattern pieces are perfectly drafted to make them easy to put together, including an option for flat-felled seams for comfort. This first pair I made out of a tan ponte di roma - since then a few tweaks have been made to the pattern to perfect the fit.

The little red plaid blouse is the pre-test version of the Haven Acres Blouse - since then the length of sleeves and bodice have changed a bit and the front keyhole is a slightly different shape. I used a pretty soft cotton lawn plaid for a more country feel riding blouse, and she adores it. The blouse has the prettiest little peplum flounce with elastic casing at the waist, softly puffed sleeves in two lengths, and a bias-bound neckline with an elastic loop/button closure under a ribbon, or the option to add ties over the keyhole.

Here's the back of the Dressage Leggings for a better view of the riding-inspired panels:

And the last piece in the collection is the Sweet Pea Cap, the most adorable little riding-style cap because PONY EARS! (or so I am told by little miss.)

One of the testers also came up with a sweet design for kitten ears, which Jennifer kindly added to the pattern for even more options.  The cap is a super simple sew with several sizes based on head measurements (thankfully! My girlie has a huge head for a 3 year-old).

I did another pair of the Dressage Leggings and a blouse, all in colours to mix & match. For the leggings I used stretch denim with a red ponte di roma for the inner panels, and went up one size to account for the denim not being as stretchy. They fit like a dream on my skinny, no-butt girl!

Love the red topstitching. I had to use a regular needle in two passes instead of a twin needle because of the denim, and just regular thread to topstitch.

This version of the Haven Acres Blouse I used a soft jersey knit instead of a woven, just to try it out. I love the result!

Details of this blouse: I used her regular size, the size 3, just with a little added length to account for her long back. Instead of using binding at the neck, I drew a facing pattern based on the necklines combined with the keyhole facing.

I cut out the facing pieces from the same fabric and stitched them together at the shoulders. The I finished the outer edge with the serger (alternatively, this could be left raw, as jersey wouldn't fray).

Once I had sewn the shoulder seams of the blouse together as per the pattern, I pinned and sewed the neckline facing in place, and then stitched the keyhole opening as the pattern describes. From there it was simple to turn the facing inside and tack it down just at the shoulder seam. Alternatively it could be topstitched down all the way around, either very close to the neckline or close to the outer edge of the facing.

Thanks for the opportunity to test such a unique collection, Jennifer! I know there are more pairs of Dressage Leggings for sure and also another Haven Acres Blouse on the horizon for Abigail!

Check out the rest of the tour for more amazing versions of this collection!

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Quilt Retreat 2015 is coming up!

Last year's retreat was such a success we are super excited about this one! 2013's retreat, the very first one, was great and we're determined to top it once again.

We've secured the same amazing, light-filled, spacious venue we've used in other years - Immanuel church's foyer!

A few more photos from the last two retreats:

The charity quilt everyone contributed to: 

Such a fun event, perfect timing to break up the winter blues. This year's Quilty Pleasures retreat (haha! I still get a chuckle out of that name!) is scheduled for Saturday, February 28, 2015, from 9am till 9pm. A whole day of sewing, chatting and yummy food that I don't have to cook! I'm in, for one! :D

Rainbow Diamonds Quilt

Finally finished! I actually started this quilt at last February's quilt retreat, so this one has been a very long time coming. A couple of years ago I was gifted a set of rainbow charm squares by a lovely group of ladies who were doing a swap. That started this quilt - I think there were 8 each of 8 colours, no doubles.

Then I cut some more from my own (very small) cotton scrap bin, and Suzanne let me dig through her scraps for the rest, till I had 13 of each colour total. I added gray to make them into half-square triangles. Part of the reason this took so long to make was because I couldn't decide how to arrange the blocks. There are just too many options with half-square triangles! I debating doing a spiral, chevron, or random placement, but eventually came up with this off-centred diamond rainbow.

The quilting was easy enough - just straight-line echoes in the gray. For binding I debated several options, but anything with a colour in it made that colour in the rainbow jump out, and the same dark gray made the gray the focus. I settled on solid light gray and I think it's just perfect.

I love the awesome backing! I found this great cursive script numbers fabric at IKEA a while back and knew it had to be a quilt backing. Especially for $3.99/metre! If I recall correctly, it's called Nummer. Slightly thinner quality cotton, but just fine for a backing.

At about 52" x 64", it's a great length for one person (even a tall one!), or it's also good across two laps - just what we need for the couch.

Christmas Princess Dress

A Christmas dress for my little Abigail! This is the first Candy Castle pattern I've used, after eyeing them for several years! It's the Princess Dress.

(sorry for the quality of the photos - it's dark, I haven't learned my flash properly yet, and she was not patient for long!)
I made the size 3T slim, as she measured perfectly for that size. There is only just enough ease in the dress though, so wondering if I should have done the regular 3T.

I found this fabric a couple of months ago - bought it from a lady who owned a dress shop and was going out of business. It's an iridescent satin, sort of silvery-blue with a matte back, and she had this matching crinkle-textured satin, also with a matte back too. I think I paid about $12 for 4 yards? So I was able to mix up the textures and contrast a bit in the layers.

The only stitching on the outside of the dress is the ruffle hems and the buttonholes. I wanted a beautiful finish for the gorgeous fabric, so I was careful to understitch or just press where needed.

The sleeves are also hemmed by hand.

The neckline is very pretty. I think it I were to make this over I'd go with a slightly higher neckline though, as when she moves around much it slides a bit low for my taste. Also, the sleeves are a bit close to the body so the dress lifts up a lot when she raises her arms. I think this is probably due to the sleeve head shape, a touch steep, maybe.

I didn't do bows at the back, thinking they would just be crushed when she sits. Not sure if you can see (this shiny satin is incredibly hard to take a nice photo of!), but I spread the gathers smooth at the point of each swag to keep the ruffles flat there.

Sad little Missy - turns out the inside is uncomfortable, probably the serging at the waist seam. I thought that might happen and now I wish I had handstitched the lining of the bodice over the seam as I've done in other dresses. Guess she needs to wear something under it now, or maybe I can figure out a way to make it smoother inside.

Wonky Stars and Snowy Forests

Getting excited about the holidays yet? I'm featured on So Sew Easy with a tutorial to make this Wonky Star Mug Rug.    

                UPDATE: or jump to the tutorial hosted right here!

I've been working on a bit of abstract "art" the last couple of weeks, using the rest of the fabrics from that mug rug!

Years ago I pinned this gorgeous paper-pieced block by Trillium Designs, thinking it would make a beautiful full-sized quilt, if only I could find the right scale of prints. I printed the pattern for the block, enlarged to 175%, redrew all the seam allowances back to 1/4", and then just started piecing. I mixed and matched strips to get a long, narrow forest of birch trees.

The gray/white branch fabric and the binding are from the Holiday Cheer line by Jan Shade Beach, as is the pretty red print for the raw-edge appliquéd cardinal. The wood grain and "snow" (glitter polkadot) fabrics are just from Fabricland.

I found the cutest wall quilt hanger at a local quilt shop and made a simple sleeve for it, just a 2.5" strip with both raw edges sewn into the binding and then handstitched onto the backing.

Now for the Wonky Stars mug rug - wouldn't it make a perfect gift tucked into a stocking, or mailed in place of a Christmas card??

Obviously this one is a Christmas-themed one, but you could use another colour palette for another occasion. The Wonky Star block was the first quilt block I was really interested in two years ago – I made a quilt with 6″ and 12″ wonky stars as one of my first quilted projects.

Materials:

- Scraps of coordinating fabrics – I used a few prints from the Holiday Cheer line by Jan Shade Beach
- Coordinating fabric strip for binding
- White or other solid background
- Small scrap of batting
- Backing fabric
- Embroidery floss in coordinating colours

The finished dimensions of this little mug rug are 4.5″ x 6.5″. It's based on a 1″x1″ grid (finished squares), so if you want to scale up you can figure out the math. For instance, you could add 1/4″ to each piece and end up with a mug rug that was 5.5″ x 8″. So first, we're going to cut out 16 white squares at 1.5″ x 1.5″. Then cut 5 squares, one for the centre and four for the star points, at 1.5″ x 1.5″ of both feature fabrics (the red and gray). (If you want a little more room to play with the wonkiness of each star, cut 4 of the squares at 2″ x 2″)

Now cut all but one of each set of coloured squares in half, from corner to corner, to make triangles. The remaining two full squares will be the centre of each star.

Lay out 8 of the white or background squares, and lay 4 triangles of each colour over them, right sides together. You will be sewing the long edge of the triangle to the white square to make one point of the star. Be sure before you sew that the triangle will cover the square below once you flip it open. To get the wonky effect, try to make sure the angles are different for each.

Now trim the white square below and press the triangle open.

Now for the second star points. Place the remaining triangles on each unit in the same way, stitch, trim, and press open.

Use your quilting ruler to square up each set of star points. They should measure 1.5″ x 1.5″ inches. Ideally, there should be 1/4″ seam allowance at the base of each unit where the star points join, so when you stitch them to the centre square you don't have a gap between the points. So you can actually trim a little more off the white edge than the star edge to help achieve this.

Arrange the star point blocks around the centre square likes this:

Then sew each row of squares together. Press the two outside rows with the seams toward the outer edge, and the centre row with the seams toward the middle block. This way the seams will nest when you sew the rows together.

Now sew the three rows together, and press the seams. Your wonky star block is complete! Repeat steps for the second block. Each block should measure 3.5″ x 3.5″.

Now to complete your mug rug top, cut two 1.5″ x 3.5″ strips of white and lay the blocks out like this:

Sew one star block to one strip and press the seam toward the strip. Repeat for the second block and strip.

Sew the two halves of the mug rug together and press the seam. Your mug rug top is complete. It should measure 4.5″ x 6.5″.

Layer the mug rug top with the batting and backing and pin or baste the three layers together. Now you're ready to quilt!

I chose to do a simple running stitch around my stars with embroidery floss. You could also machine quilt this. Once you're finished, remove any basting stitches and trim the batting and backing.

To bind the mug rug, cut a strip 2″ wide by about 24″. Fold the strip in half, wrong sides together and press. Fold one end of the binding strip 1/4″ under and press. Begin stitching the binding strip, raw edges matching the mug rug, leaving the folded end free, with 1/4″ seam allowance.

When you get to the first corner, stop stitching at the 1/4″ mark, pivot, and sew down to the corner.

Cut your thread and flip the binding up at right angles away from the mug rug, like this:

Then fold it back down with the raw edges matching again. You'll have a nice square corner.

Start stitching 1/4″ in from the end, so you don't catch the fold in your stitching. Repeat for all the corners.

When you get the end, trim the binding strip and slip it inside the beginning of the binding. Finish sewing the binding down.

Now fold the binding to the back and slipstitch it down. Fold the corners to mitre at the back the same way as they are on front.

And you're done! 

Brew yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy your pretty Christmas mug rug – or send it to a friend in the mail instead of a Christmas card!