This post was supposed to hit the blog a few weeks ago so you’d have enough time to make a St. Patrick’s cat gnome before the 17^th but we at McKay Manor Musers put the “pro” in “procrastinate.” Well, that and we greatly overestimated what we would be able to get done between the Puyallup Sew Expo and Pinners in Ontario, CA. Between Kira having a baby and attending two big shows on consecutive weekends we’ve definitely been keeping busy. Have no fear though, there is still a little time before St. Patrick’s Day and these little gnomes only take a couple hours to complete, so you can still add to your decorations if you so desire.

You may recall that we just introduced the Curiously Cute Cat Gnome pattern. I designed it to have a little heart on the top of the hat for Valentine’s day. However, there’s no reason something this cute should be limited to just one holiday.

With that idea in mind, I whipped up a cute little 4-leaf clover that you can place at the tip of the hat instead. Hop on over to our shop, or just click the “buy now” button below, to get the free St. Patrick’s Day add on.

Do you want to know the best part of this add on? You only have to make the cat gnome body once. Then, just make a second hat for the cat with some festively green fabrics. Change out the hats and your cat gnome is ready to celebrate in style!

I ended up making two cat gnome bodies because I wanted to display both hats on a cat at our show in Puyallup, WA. Since we like to have kits available for all the samples in our booth I whipped up a few kits before the sew expo. We didn’t sell out of all of them so if you don’t want to source all the fabrics on your own or you just particularly love the fabrics I used when making my samples, you are in luck! You can pick up one of the kits on our website.

The kits include all the fabrics and batting you need for the cat gnome and the hat. The craft fluff for the beard and the bead for the nose (the color of the bead may vary) are also included. You will need to supply: coordinating thread, stiff black thread for the whiskers, rice or poly-pellets (optional), and stuffing (like poly fill). We have two versions of the Cat gnome kit: the pink gingham version,

and the green polka dot version.

Don’t feel like you have to add the heart or the four-leaf clover to the top of the hat (although, if you do buy the green polka-dot kit the free add on is printed for you and added to your kit). There is no reason these little guys need to be specific to a holiday; they’d be cute on display all year. Just pick the fabrics you like best! Also, if you love the fabrics but cat’s aren’t your thing, you can leave off the tail and ears and you have an incredibly cute “normal” gnome. Get creative and have fun with the pattern! We love inspiring creativity in others and we hope that we can help you find your artistic side.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Sewing!