Tutorial : Sending a Little Sunshine Mug Rug

Happy Monday!  It's time to share the Sending a Little Sunshine Mug Rug Mini Quilt tutorial.  Ready?

Supplies Needed:

• Three aqua 5-inch charm squares
• Four yellow/gold 5-inch charm squares
• One white 5-inch charm square (this won't be seen, so it can really be whatever color/print)
• One 6-inch orange square
• One 6-inch square of lightweight interfacing
• 2 x 12 inch square batting
• 12 x 12 inch square backing fabric
• One 2.5 x WOF strip for binding (I used a turquoise print)
• Dresden ruler or template (I will link up a template file shortly.)
• Basic sewing supplies (machine, thread, pins, scissors, etc)

Kits are still available here while supplies last.  :-)

Note: if you purchased a kit, please trim your yellow, aqua and white fabric squares to the appropriate size - we cut our squares a little wide. :-)

First step ... make a four patch.  

Then, cut and stitch your dresden blades.  Cut two blades from each of the four yellow 5-inch charm squares.  I am using the 5-1/2 inch line at the top of my blade. 

Then chain stitch the blades as shown.  Fold in half right sides together and stitch along the top edge. 

The clip the corner - don't cut the seam!  Press and then turn right sides out and re-press.  (Photo shows progression of this step.)

Then arrange them in the order you would like and start stitching them together.  (Line them up right sides together and stitch - backstitching at the top.)

Once you have all 8 pieced together, its time to pin to the background four patch unit.  Follow my placement - points of blades are about 3/8 off the edge and about 1-1/2 inches from sides.

Pin the dresden unit down.

And stitch about 1/8 inch from the edge.

Next, grab your interfacing and place it on top of the white corner.  Use a marking pen to rough out your sun shape.  I changed my mind a little - you see I have a lot of lines!  :-)  Draw the curve how you like it.

The fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of your orange square.  (I rotated mine a little to get the pattern of the print going in the direction I wanted.)  I do Fraycheck the edges of my appliques.  This is optional.

Pin your sun center in place.

Next, put your machine on zig zag and make the stitch length shorter and narrower.  Here's my settings on my Bernina. 

Using a coordinating thread, stitch the orange center down.  

A few tips .... (1) Keep the needle in the down position.  (2) Use a clear foot if you have one so you can see where you're going a little easier.  (3) You want the needle to come down just on the outside of the piece you are appliqueing. (4) When you need to turn or pivot, stop with the needle down on the outside of the piece, lift the presser foot and turn your fabric a little.

It should look like this when you finished.

Looking good!  Now, its time to trim away some of the background.  Carefully cut away the bottom layer to reduce some of the bulk. 

It should look like this (below).  (I also trimmed away the white, but forgot to take a picture.

Layer your top, batting, and backing and pin.

Quilt as desired and then trim to 9.5 in x 9.5 in.

You can see my quilting a little better here. 

Fold your binding strip in half right sides together along the long edge to make the binding. 

Start in the middle of one of the sides, leaving a tail, and attach the binding. 

When you get back to the beginning, fold one edge under and tuck the other inside. 

Pin and then finish stitching it all down. 

Note:  I wouldn't normally finish the ends of my binding this way.  But for a mini/mug rug its quick and easy.  :-)  More detailed info on binding here.

Press the binding open and hand stitch to the back.   If you prefer to attach your binding completely by machine - go for it!

Here's the finished project. 

How about another color way?

Since I went scraptastic on this, I used a solid backgound piece instead of a 4-patch. 

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!  If you have any questions, please ask in the comments or send me an email.  If you make one, please link up - I'd love to see it!

Happy Sewing!  :-)