Welcome to Day One of the Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop
This blog hop is hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. Thanks, Carol, for including me. Your hops are always so fun.
You’ll find the list of talented makers to visit at the end of this post.
The Mission
Our mission is to create something that is small, smaller, or even smallest. Sounds challenging. It is! Let me know if I succeeded.
The Problem
Tu-Na Helper and I are still using the mug rugs that I made for Valentines Day. You can read more about them here and here. It’s March already!
The coffee cup pattern (Mug o’ Love) designed by Sewhooked can be found here. The rose pattern designed by Jitka Designs can be found here.
The Solution
This hop is a perfect opportunity to satisfy that problem. Even though Tu-Na Helper and I are not of Irish heritage, I think some new St. Patrick’s Day mug rugs would be perfect. After checking my Craftsy pattern library (no affiliation) and finding a couple of interesting patterns that I had previously downloaded, I decided to print out the pattern pieces. Janeen at Quilt Art Designs designed both of these patterns. The Shamrock pattern is still available here. However, I was not able to find the exact Leprechaun Hat pattern listed on Craftsy anymore. I emailed Janeen and if she has it listed somewhere else, I’ll come on back and update this post with the info. Just in case you want to challenge yourself. (Update: Janeen has a similar (but larger) hat pattern listed for sale here. It looks easier).
Both of these mug rugs are 5 .5″ square.
The Implementation
Size Matters
Our Valentine’s Day mug rugs are 5.5″ counting the binding and I want the new ones to be the same size. The Leprechaun Hat pattern is the right size to match the others. However, the Shamrock pattern was too small; it was only 4″ unfinished. No problem; I just sized it to print at 125% and it was perfect. This quilt math problem was easy.
Putting It All Together
After looking at both of these patterns, I decided to tackle the shamrock first. After all, if I got stuck on making the hat one, I’d still have something to show you. It sewed together rather easily.
I’m always impressed by the backs.
After sandwiching with some leftover Warm and Natural, I quilted a diagonal crosshatch in both directions using green thread. A 1 1/8″ single binding finished the edge.
Now Things Got Interesting
After printing and then cutting out the Leprechaun hat pattern, I found the pieces were indeed small. And there were a lot of them.
12 Pieces to be exact. I used color pencils to color in the fabric colors so I wouldn’t get confused. I finished the buckle part first. Not as bad as I thought it might be.
So I chose three of the hardest ones to do first. This way if I couldn’t figure them out, I wouldn’t have wasted my time doing all the easy ones first. In other words, I could still walk away and no one would know I tried.
My magnifying glass came in handy. These pieces were too small to color code with color pencils.
I haven’t done a lot of paper piecing but enough to know the basics and to have lost count of how many blocks I’ve actually paper pieced.
I stapled swatches of the fabric to the color sheet so I would be able to pick the right one. It got quite confusing with those small pieces.
I’ve learned a few tips along the way. I use a piece of card stock (it was an advertising postcard that came in the mail) in the fold line and the add-a-quarter ruler to cut the seam allowance.
Another tip is not to press on the paper side but only on the fabric side. This is to prevent the ink from transferring onto your fabric. I also use a dry iron (no steam) and wait to spray with Best Press (no affiliation) until after I’ve removed the papers).
I also use a tweezers to help remove the papers after I’ve sewn a seam. Once the seam is sewn, I remove the paper from behind it leaving the rest of it intact. This way it doesn’t get sewn into the next seam and become impossible to remove.
I still make a fair amount of mistakes, usually in my first couple of pieces. But then I develop a rhythm and can’t stop.
The back is amazing. This pattern sewed together very well. Hats off to Janeen!
Doesn’t it look fantastic! Tu-Na Helper likes his new mug rug.
The back is “Lucky Me!” by Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass & Co.
The Celebration
Join these talented makers this week as we celebrate Small, Smaller, and Smallest:
March 5
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats Thanks for stopping by.
Meanderings Along Lizard Creek
March 6
- I do love a challenge.
- This challenge almost got the best of me. But I succeeded.
- I must now be an intermediate paper-piecer. The Leprechaun Hat pattern stated it was on an intermediate level.
- Tu-Na Helper thinks I’m making new mug rugs for each season and holiday. Hmmm. I guess it’s beginning to look a little like I am. No promises, though.
- Life’s too short not to celebrate something everyday.
If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read and would like to receive notifications when I publish more posts, follow me using email, WordPress, or Bloglovin. You can read more about me here and about my first quilt and the whopping amount I sold it for here.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quiltfabrication
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 
Your new mug rugs are adorable! I like the way you stapled the fabric swatches to your pattern…brilliant solution! I’ll have to try that with my next confusing paper piecing project.
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What cute new mug rugs you have made. Paper piecing intimidates so many, but I love the very preciseness it can give to a pattern.
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That leprechaun hat mug rug is insane! I love it! 🙂
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Wow, that is tiny and you mastered it so well! Thanks for inspiration with showing your progress and tips! Very sweet, love it!
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Yay you. Loving both these blocks, Green is always my go to Color, but especially happy to see it in March.
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I love the mug rugs you have made. I do find that once I get started with making them it’s very hard to stop. Then I have gifts for the next year stockpiled.
Since St Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday this year, a nearby town is taking advantage and turning it into a fireworks display. For the first time a reason to go out as a family and watch the fireworks.
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Great little mug rugs! Thanks for sharing.
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Oh wow, your mug rugs are fabulous! I have made Janeen’s larger version of that hat, now you have inspired me to try the little one!
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You got the ‘small’ part perfectly! 🙂 I’m gonna have to try a smaller single fold binding sometime; it looks like it worked great on your mug rugs. Yay for you for tackling that hat!
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Really cute! Thanks for sharing!
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Fabulous and adorable! I love St. Patricks Day… I usually go to a live music event, paint my hair green, and enjoy being Irish for a day!
Happy Small Blog Hopping!
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Oh my gosh, you really took this small thing seriously…wow! I love to paper piece but those tiny pieces might have thrown me over to printing them bigger. These are amazing and beautiful! The little bit of Irish in me is dancing a jig over both of them. The hat is beyond words. Love it! Thanks for sharing your tiny little projects and joining in the hop. I read your first quilt story and having it sell for a whole dollar made me laugh, though I’m sure it was worth a whole lot more.
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Good work shrinking 🙂 Your mug rugs are beauties!
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Those are adorable. I love Janeen’s patterns, but they do have tiny pieces. You will enjoy those mug rugs for years. You did a great job on your blog assignment.
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Great mug rugs. I don’t usually do much for St Patrick’s Day except wear green.
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Hi Karen,
Both mug rugs are just great for the season! I haven’t done any paper piecing for quite a while, but that Leprechaun Hat looks quite hard to me. Your back looks almost as good as the front – well, not really but admirably so for sure. ~smile~ Roseanne
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Cute mug rugs! Amazing job on the hat!
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if you print your paper piece pattern onto the dull side of freezer paper, you can iron it onto the pieces and fold it back to the seam line (using your cardboard) and sew right next to it and then you don’t have to pick out the paper. you can reuse these several times, too, if making more than one of an item.
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Lovely, Karen, and there are some very small pieces there to work with for sure!
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Cute mug rugs! I’m sure you can find an egg and a chicken for April. 😉
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So cute! That had is fantastic but I would have to at least double it–I don’t do super tiny pieces. Makes me crazy! Lovely mug rugs!
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As usual Karen, your gift to make me laugh came into play today… The mugrugs tho are faaaaaabulous!!! I love the tips along the way, why didn’t I ever think about tweezers, I like that one. When you have those complicated patterns even if they are a large block, taping a sample onto paper for the fabric guide is a good idea so am glad to know I wasn’t the only one doing that.
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1st, I am of Irish heritage and these mug rugs are fabulous. I am not a paper piecer but I am very impressed with your tiny pieces. wow. Oh, 2nd we’ve got the red, white and blue holiday coming up and a “Star” blog hop coming up, I’m just saying “mug rug” for the helper.
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How adorable! I’d be tempted to update your “intermediate” paper-piecing status as “advanced” as I looked at those tiny pieces! Hats off to you! Yes, I think you should make fun mug rugs for every holiday, as Tuna Helper suggests. Why not? Not very Irish here, but I do wear some green and try to kick my heels together! (Gone are the days where I’d drink green beer until the cows came home.)
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Karen, this is a terrific small, smaller, Smallest. I don’t love doing things that small and doing 2 is commendable. You did find a way to make it work and they look terrific. Enjoy your March mug rugs.
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ahhhhh…you put on a bit of the Irish, you say!! LOL I do love your little cuties and I’ve been in your shoes with paper piecing. I still have nightmares of Harry Potter eyes! 🙂
My youngest birthday is St Pattys Day, so it’s always special to us! Keep on paper piecing. It does become addicting.
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I do love the way you challenge yourself. I’m not sure I would have taken on the hat challenge but it did come out beautiful. Maybe I would rank you higher than an intermediate….an intermediate ++. Enjoy reading how you and the hubby tackle these projects.
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These are so cute! You certainly nailed the small category – such tiny pieces!
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Super cute Karen! And wow, GREAT (see what I did there) job on super-tiny paper-piecing.
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Wow, you sure DO love a challenge. Both look great, but the hat, wow! Well done.
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Oh my Oh my….I’d never be able to create something so very tiny….and yet you did it perfectly!! Hoping you wouldn’t mind if I used yours to highlight at my Tuesday Archives linky tomorrow?? As our theme is CLOVERS! I invite you and your readers to stop by and join us every Tuesday as we rejuvinate old postss according to a weekly theme. https://myplvl.blogspot.com/
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these are brilliant Karen. You have excelled yourself in these, both the Valentine’s mug rugs and the St Patrick’s Day mug rugs. All those tiny pieces!
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I’m sure somebody out there could get it smaller than that but it wouldn’t be me! I am very impressed with your very tiny pieces in that leprechaun hat. Both minis are really lovely.
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These are great. I love St. Patrick’s Day. My husband used to always fix corn beef and cabbage for me. I miss that! I’m not a great cook.
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Wowza! What a challenge with the L’s hat. It sure turned out well. I did laugh when I saw that you needed the magnifier and the tweezers; now that’s SMALL! St. Patty’s Day is pretty mellow around here; when I was younger a glass of green beer was special.
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Oh those are tiny tiny! Cute. We don’t do much for St. Patty’s Day here. Try to have everyone wear green, that’s about it. Maybe we’ll kick it up this year. Thanks for the reminder.
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Oh, you have me wanting to sew green. Love your mug rugs and your paper piecing tips. Thank you!!
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What ambitious and beautiful little projects!! I love paper piecing and thus,I truly appreciate the tiny piecing and tweezer image that you showed. It takes a great deal of patience and fine motor skill to work those little scraps. What great additions these will be to your growing mug rug collection. Well done!!!
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These are just charming! You did a wonderful job with the paper piecing. I know what you mean about it taking a little while to get into the rhythm of the technique and then being able to continue smoothly. Looks like you’ve started something!
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Wow well done. That looks really tiny and hard.
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Love your mug rug. Oh my the tiny pieces though. But turned out fabulous.
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Oh My! I get a headache just looking at those small pieces. Your mug rugs are adorable.
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Amazing paper piecing, I would never have gotten through that hat! Have fun making more holiday mug rugs. 🙂
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That s some tiny paper piecing. Good job, I used to be a Murphy…I stay off the roads in St Patty’s Day…
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What great mug rugs. Love the buckle on the hat.
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These are just darling!
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Oh, my, such adorable coasters! Teeny, tiny pieces, but worth the effort!
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Those St Patty Day mug rug are so cute! I love to do paper piecing! I do agree small pieces can get confusing!
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Your mug rugs are adorable — I love paper piecing but have never tried anything so small – kudos to you!
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Your mug rugs are so pretty! I love how festive they are.
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Oh my goodness, I absolutely love them. I need to make the little top hat.
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