A Lucky Gnome

 I just realized that St. Patty's day is tomorrow and I have no decorations except for a tinsel shamrock that I have on my front door. So I spent the afternoon in my sewing room creating a sweet gnome that's a little bit Irish. It's a fun fusible applique design and I really enjoyed making it. I bet if you dig thru your fabric you can find some green.... leprechaun green fabric. I made my leprechaun with a white beard, but a red/orange beard would be very cute too! I used fabrics from my Marcus Fabrics stash. (Scrap Heap and Shadings, both by Laura Berringer) 

Following the pattern directions, I traced out the design onto the paper side of my fusible web and then ironed it onto the back side of my fabric that I choose for the applique design. After I had it press on, I then cut the pieces out. Following the placement page in the pattern I then peeled off the paper and positioned the design onto my rectangle piece of background fabric. I then pressed everything into place. I traced two sets of the gnome/leprechaun. 

The second set I ironed onto a fun green towel from Dunroven House.

I worked on both projects at the same time to reduce the number of times I would be changing thread color for the applique. When I make an applique mug rug, I like to layer the top, batting and batting all together before I do the stitching around the design. I like that when I'm doing the buttonhole stitch around my design, I'm also quilting my mug rug at the same time. You can do additional quilting if you'd like besides outlining the design. I just find it to be a great time saver. Like I said before, I'm really pleased with how my St. Patty's Day gnomes turned out. They will add a festive touch to my kitchen for the month of March. (Or what's left of March...)

I hope that you have a fun St. Patrick's Day, even if you're not Irish. Shhhhhh.... I'm not one bit, but I was once told that everyone's a little bit of Irish on St. Patty's Day. I'm not sure if I'll drink any green beer but I might go all out and drop some green food color in a glass of white wine.....

Happy St. Patty's Day,

Cindy and Belvedere

Lucky Gnome pdf pattern can be found on my website and also in my Etsy Shop.