popsicles mug rug

 When I first started sewing I made mug rugs all the time. They were my favorite thing to sew since they were small, relatively quick and easy to make, and I was able to try out new techniques and patterns without committing to anything large or long term.

So, when I came across Ayumi's adorable paper pieced popsicles pattern while digging through my stack of my will have to give it another try for sure patterns the other day, I decided a new mug rug was exactly what I needed :)

As you can see, paper piecing is a messy business, for me at least. I never seem to have as many supplies and fabrics out as when I paper piece. Pure craziness! And fun too!

This was definitely not the easiest pattern to tackle, but the cuteness of this penguin totally makes up for the headache trying to figure out which tiny parts go where.

In case you're tempted to think you need some special talent to be able to paper piece, I wanted to show my two previous attempts at this pattern from a few months ago. First time I made one popsicle and I was done. My second try resulted in two very strangely colored ones, I think the purple one was the grape flavor, I have no idea what blue/ yellow one was supposed to be :)

See, practice does make perfect???  Well, I would not go as far as calling my paper piecing perfect, but definitely improved. I think I will have to give this pattern a try one more time soon. I might even attempt to make all four popsicles included in a pattern and turn them into a pillow.

How about you? Do you like coming back to the same pattern or are you try it once and done kind of person? I'd love to know. Svetlana