moss and lotus | Night Quilter

Today I’m joining in on another sew along hosted by Kerry Goulder of Kid Giddy and her twin sister Sue of Moss and Lotus. The Mug Club Sew Along is a year long event hosted on Instagram in which participants sew up any one of the 12+ mug paper pieced patterns in the Mug Club and share on social media. Check the hashtags #TheMugClub or #TheMugClubSAL to see the most eclectic and amazing collection of fabric mugs you’ve ever seen.

There’s something particularly inviting about these mug patterns, since anything can go on a mug. A person’s collection of coffee mugs can tell you so much about them–places they’ve gone, their sense of humor, their family (do they have a “I love Grandma” mug? Most likely, they have doting grandchildren!) Maybe it’s just me who reads into coffee mugs, but either way, I feel like these patterns allow SO much room for creativity, expression, and sometimes just straight quirkiness (always a good thing!).

As soon as Kerry asked me to play along, I knew exactly what fabric I was going to use. A few years ago, while stopping in at Clementine Fabrics in Rockland, Maine, after a family day at the beach, I spotted this amazing Alexander Henry fabric with a geometric sketched ocean, sailing ships, anchors, a buxom mermaid figurehead, and (the part that caught my attention) a large face that looks exactly like my brother. The fabric is called Lost at Sea and although my brother is not a salty sailor, it was one of those fabrics that I knew I had to buy even though I had no idea what to make with it, since the face looked so uncannily like Steven. As a little backstory, my brother is an extremely talented artist who spent much of his high school years painting portraits, nearly always using his own reflection as his reference. He already has countless creations sporting his likeness, so what’s one more to the pile, right?

I used the 10″ Paper Love Mug since it was *just* large enough to fit the full face, and simple enough not to seem busy with the wavy background. Whether my brother will love the mug rug I make with this mug block or just get a good hearty laugh over it, I don’t care. It’s just one of those gifts that must be given.

I visited my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply and got some perfect Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in Navy as the background, and used stashed Kona Navy Blue as the handle. I stitched the block with Aurifil 50wt 2600-Dove, but plan to use a dark navy for quilting. I’m still trying to decide whether to quilt the face, or whether I should leave it as is. I might *try* to stitch some hand quilting with 50wt dark navy thread so that I’m sure to get it exactly on the drawn lines.

I also might add some embroidered detail to that anchor tattoo. We’ll see how brave I get. That’s the one thing with using my brother’s Doppelganger fabric–I daren’t mess up the face! Either way, I think he’ll get a kick out of the gift, and I have finally found a way to gift a piece of this stashed fabric to him!

The Paper Love Mug (top center) is part of the Mug Club Part 1, designed by Kerry at Kid Giddy.

The Mug Club Part 2 has another fun selection of 6 mugs, designed by Sue of Moss and Lotus. Aren’t they all so fun! Do you see your favorite mug? If you don’t follow Kerry and Sue yet, I recommend it–they are always having some creative sisterly fun together!

Go ahead and have some fun perusing some of the other mugs at #TheMugClub or #TheMugClubSAL since there is SUCH a fun variety.

What would you put on your mug?

It’s been quiet here lately, but I have been doing a tiny bit of sewing. Literally, only 2″ finished square little! With the hustle and bustle of life, my sewing progress has slowed a bit. I’m still sewing, and trying to create daily, but progress is slowwww. When I saw that Sue from Moss & Lotus was having a Tomte Sew Along on Instagram, I knew I wanted in. I had been admiring the cute little gnome-like Tomtes popping up in my feed, and resisting the urge to add yet another project to my unfinished projects pile. Then Sue asked me if I would make a block or two, and honestly, how could I say no? These guys (and gals) are adorable! Plus, the bigger Tomtes will make wonderful coaster or mug rug gifts. I love having an end use in mind before beginning a new project!

Before stitching up a Peder or Halvor Tomte (my two favs at the moment), I had to sew one of the adorable Tiny Tomtes! This Tiny Tomte is a free addition when you buy the Tomte Bundle and is the size of a mini charm square. I’m going to try to resist the urge to make sweet little Tiny Tomte ornaments for everyone I know, but no promises! This particular little guy will happily live on our tree this year, once I give him a little French knot nose and finish him up with some hand quilting and binding.

I used a Henry Glass print for the background, since the mushroom and snail seemed right at home with this Tiny Tomte. This print actually also happens to be the very first fabric I ever bought, years and years ago before I began quilting. The red fabric is from my scrap bin, some gorgeous Oakshott Lipari from my Vesuvius quilt. The white is a tiny scrap of Robert Kaufman Kona white. These blocks would actually be really fun uses for any tiny scraps. I used 50wt Aurifil 2600-Dove thread since that lives in my machine and works for everything.

After sewing up this Tiny Tomte, I had to take him out on an adventure in the woods so that he would feel at home. During my youngest’s nap, I ventured out behind our house and Tiny Tomte had a fun photo shoot! We found a gorgeous shelf fungus on a tree stump, so Tiny Tomte played beneath it.

And on top of it!

He climbed some trees and gathered some souvenirs.

A pinecone three times his size and an evergreen bough will have to hold him over until we cut our Christmas tree this year. I think they will do just fine.