Snowman Mug Rug Tutorial and AccuQuilt GO! Baby Giveaway

FaveQuilts.com is giving away an AccuQuilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter, and you could be the lucky winner! I’m so excited to be hosting this giveaway on the FaveQuilts Facebook page, and I can’t wait to see which of our readers wins. I’ve just begun playing with my own brand new AccuQuilt GO! Baby and dreaming of all the possibilities! When I first opened the box, I cut a few half-square triangles from some leftover fabric, just for practice. I took some pictures along the way, so you can see how to use it too. If you want to find out more about the AccuQuilt GO! Baby giveaway, scroll to the bottom of the post for more details.

How to Use the AccuQuilt GO! Baby:

1. Set up the GO! Baby by folding out the trays on each side:
   
2. Choose the appropriate die, and lay it across one of the trays with the foam side facing up:
   
3. Fold or cut your fabric to fit the width of the die, and lay it across the die so that it covers the edges of the shapes:
4. Lay a cutting mat on top of the fabric so that it lies flush with the die:
   
5. This part can be a bit tricky, so pay attention. Push the die up to the roller, and make sure it is quite snug:
   
6. Holding the back end of the die with one hand, begin turning the handle with your other hand. If the die does not begin to move, you may need to gently push with your back hand at first. I even tilted the die downward a bit until I could feel that it had caught between the rollers:  
7. Crank the handle until the entire die has passed through the rollers:
     
8. Remove the cutting mat to reveal perfectly cut fabric pieces!
   

Snowman Mug Rug Tutorial:

After I cut 8 half-square triangles for which I had absolutely no use, I decided to try out my circle die. As soon as I saw the die, with 3 circles stacked smallest to largest, I had to make a snowman. Using some old fabric and binding scraps, I put together a quick mini snowman quilt, perfectly sized for either a mug rug or a small wall hanging. Here’s how you can make one too!

Materials:

• Scrap of white fabric, at least 6” x 12”
• Fabric scraps for mittens or other embellishments
• Background fabric, at least 8” x 12”
• Embroidery thread in charcoal, orange, and brown
• All-purpose thread in red and white
• Scrap of batting, at least 9” x 13”
• Backing fabric, at least 9” x 13”
• Red double-fold bias binding OR fabric to make your own binding.

1. Cut 1 each of a 5” circle, a 3” circle, and a 2” circle from the white fabric using the AccuQuilt GO! circle die (Because I was “upcycling” an old pillowcase instead of using regular quilting cotton, I cut 2 circles of each size and layered them together so that the background wouldn’t show through):        
2. Cut the background fabric to a width of at least 8 inches. Lay out the white circles in the shape of a snowman on the background fabric, overlapping the smaller circles over the larger circles and adjusting until you find an arrangement that you like. Trim the top and bottom of the background fabric so that you have an inch or two of fabric above and below the snowman.
   
3. Fold each circle into quarters and mark the corner of the fold to indicate the center of the circle. You can mark the circle with a pin or a light pencil.
4. Using the marks to center your circles on the background fabric, pin the snowman to the background.
5. At this point you should add any embroidered embellishments. I embroidered a carrot nose, charcoal eyes and buttons using french knots, and stick arms using a back-stitch. I also pinned on mitten appliques:
   
6. Applique the circles, mittens, and any other embellishments to the background fabric using a zigzag stitch with the stitch length on your sewing machine set to 0. You can also use this stitch to create a few snowflakes in the background. As you can see, I appliqued onto the full quilt sandwich (background, batting, and backing) because it was more efficient and I wasn’t concerned about how the back of the quilt looked. However, if you would like a neater look on the back, you should applique the snowman to the background fabric first and then quilt the sandwich together later with a straight stitch.
   
7. If you have not yet layered the quilt top with the batting and backing, you should do so now. Quilt a straight stitch around the perimeter of the background fabric to secure the quilt sandwich. Trim the excess batting and backing.
   
8. Bind the quilt using your favorite method.
   

So now that you’ve humored me with my little snowman tutorial, we’ll get to the part you really want to hear about: the giveaway! FaveQuilts is giving away one AccuQuilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter and 3 dies of choice to one lucky winner! Visit the sweepstakes section on the FaveQuilts Facebook page to find out how to enter. The contest ends January 27th, so make sure enter soon!

Enter to win an AccuQuilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter here!

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FaveQuilts

Editor at FaveQuilts at FaveQuils.com

Whether you're just learning to quilt or you're a seasoned veteran, FaveQuilts has the free quilting patterns and charts you need! Create Jelly Roll quilts, tote bags, baby bibs, even quilted jewelry.We have a bustling community of quilters just waiting to share their ideas with you and welcome you into the family.

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