Tutorial - St. Patrick's Day Mug Rug

Are you in the mood for a fun, Irish-themed sewing project?  Then you've come to the right place!  I'm serving up a tutorial for a St. Patrick's Day mug rug that will go well with whatever your drink of choice this week, be it Irish coffee, Guinness, or something else.

Here's what you will need:

From GREEN fabric:
Cut 3 - 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips
Cut 1 - .75 x 3.5 inch strip
Cut 3 - 2 inch squares
Cut 1 - 1.5 inch square

From ORANGE fabric:

Cut 1 - 1.5 x 3.5 inch strip

From WHITE fabric:
Cut 2 - 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips
Cut 3 - 1 inch squares
Cut 1 - 2.5 inch square
Cut 2 - 1.5 inch squares

From BLACK fabric:
Cut 2 - 7/8 inch x 3.5 strips
Cut 2 - 1.5 x 10.5 inch strips
Cut 2 - 1.5 x 5.5 inch strips

BACKING fabric:
Cut 1 - 13.5 x 6.5 rectangle

BATTING:
Cut 1 - 13.5 x 6.5 piece

BINDING:
Cut 1 - 2.25 x WOF (width of fabric) strip; press in half lengthwise.

Irish Flag Block:  Sew together one each of the green, white, and orange 1.5 x 3.5 strips (1/4 inch seams throughout).

Shamrock Block:  Put one 1-inch white square into the corner of each of the three 2-inch green squares.  Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner; stitch along line.  Trim and press outward.

Make stem of shamrock by cutting white 2.5 inch square on diagonal.  Sew white triangles to either side of .75 x 3.5 inch green strip.  Press and trim to 2 inches square.

Sew together the four squares to make shamrock.  Press and trim block to 3.5 square.

Nine-Patch Block:  Sew together two 1.5 x 3.5 inch green strips with one 1.5 x 3.5 inch white strip in center.  Sew the two  white 1.5 inch squares together with one green 1.5 inch square in center.  Sub-cut the green-white-green strata into two 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips.  Assemble 9-patch.

Sew a 7/8 x 3.5 inch strip between blocks.

Sew black border strips to top and bottom, then to each side.

Layer backing (wrong side up), batting, and top.  Pin baste.  I like to use straight pins for small projects like this, as they're easier to remove without shifting layers.

Quilt as desired.  I went with straight line, vertical stitching in the ditch.  You will want to switch to your walking foot at this point if you're doing straight line quilting.  I also find it helpful to use painter's tape as a guide.

After quilting, trim away excess batting and backing.  Press binding strip in half lengthwise and bind.

And you're done!  Admire your mug rug from both sides!

Then pour yourself a cold one (or hot), and celebrate!

Oh, how I wish this were Bailey's Irish Cream, but being dairy intolerant, I had to settle for chocolate soy milk (and dream on).  Anyway, cheers!