8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland: Day 4 with Tilkunviilaaja

Welcome to Day 4 of our challenge “8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland”! The maker of today’s minimalist mug rug is Tilkunviilaaja.

The Mug Rug

Tilkunviilaaja used a pattern of her own design featuring minimalist hexies quilted on top of a starry background. The result is a beautifully soothing little fabric plate onto which you prop a hot beverage and delicious treat. She calls it Joulurauha, Christmas Peace.

Notice the variegated thread with its shifting colour effect. A project of this size is perfect for showcasing it as the surface is just large enough to cut through a few waves of colour before an edge arrives yet again.

She writes on her blog about the difficulty of finding the best binding for this project, until she stumbled upon this squared one resembling tiny gifts in a grid. It’s a balance for sure to build a good stash of fabrics, considering its size in relation to the financial investment made. Apparently this one’s been sitting there until now, when it turns out the perfect fit. Our tip is to pick basics in various colours to allow a certain level of improvisation made when combined with larger and/or prints that stand out more in comparison. We love the balance of Joulurauha!

The final size of the mug rug is 7 1/8” x 5 1/4”.

Who is Tilkunviilaaja?

Tilkunviilaaja keeps a blog in Finnish at Tilkunviilaaja. The name can be interpreted as a tongue-in-cheek twist on “pilkunviilaaja”, a person very particular about something and rather insisting in bringing attention to its correctness, or it’s literally one, who files/cuts patches. It cracked me up the first time I stumbled upon her blog back in the day. Clever! But I digress.

Read Tilkunviilaaja’s own post Joulun tunnelmaa (Christmas feelings) about this project on her blog, alternatively try Google Translate. There’s another mug rug using this same design but different fabrics, so check it out for ideas!

You can find her on Instagram at tilkunviilaaja. Be sure to follow her if you don’t already!

Thank you so much, Tilkunviilaaja, for this contribution to our challenge!

The Fabric

Please find the fabric Star Bright in Dark Red by Andover Fabrics in our webshop!

It’s on sale this week because we’re moving later in November to a new location, so grab some for your own winter sewing if you like 🙂 It’s a limited-edition print by Andover and won’t come back.

The Challenge

The blog posts of this “8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland” challenge:

• Introduction to “8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland”
• Day 1 with Leena
• Day 2 with Tiina K
• Day 3 with Auli
• Day 4 with Tilkunviilaaja (you’re here!)
• Day 5 with Teija
• Day 6 with Anu
• Day 7
• Day 8

Find our posts on Instagram at hashtag #SenttiJaTuumaChristmasMugRug.

We continue tomorrow with the Day 5 contribution, so be sure to check back both here and on Instagram!