Merry Merry Snow Days Block Two, part one

I took more pictures of this block than any other.  It has the most “parts,” and I thought if I could get you through this block, you’d be home free!  Here’s the beautiful photo that was taken by my photographer Gregory Case.

See the snowmen on the right?  He’s so busy listening to rap music with his headphones, he dropped his skis!  Don’t worry, they do NOT hit the baby llama on the bottom. They hit the ground behind the little llama and just scare him a bit.

So let’s get started on block two, part one!  I’m going to break this post into two parts.  Part one is today, and part two will be on Friday.  The good news is I’ve given you extra time to complete this block before we move onto block three.

Carefully cut your background fabrics following the directions.  Note:  In the measurements, I always give the width of the block first, and then the height.  There are some directional fabrics, so make sure you have them facing the right way before you cut.

Here’s a tip:  Draw a straight line across the top two lift lines, and again on the left two lift lines using a ruler. This will help you line-up the seam allowance on the background. The lift lines should end at the finished seam allowances.

Once you’ve assembled your background and pressed the seams, place the pattern onto a table, and put a piece of tape at the top to prevent shifting.  Now, place your background over the drawing and trace the lift lines onto the background.  Use a ruler so your lines will be straight.   (See how mine go right into the seam allowance on the left and again at the top?

Let’s start the applique!  Tip:  All the cups, cup handles, snowmen, and noses are the same drawings.  You only need to trace one of each drawing onto freezer paper.  You can re-use the template if you’d like to.

The cup handles and noses are all the same fabric so make 3 handles and noses at the same time.

Trace all the snowmen’s eyes, mouths, buttons, and arms onto the snowman bodies.

Here’s how my snowmen look as I’m preparing them.  Notice the pleats and clips on the lower snowman.  If you use your stylus to gently pull the fabric around the head, you will form a few tiny pleats giving you a smooth, rounded head.

And here’s my cup handle as I prepared it.  Notice the clips around the inner curves.  No clips on the outer curves.

Block Two is coming together!

And it’s finally ready to stitch!  On Friday I’ll show you how to use Perfect Circles to get those headphones nicely rounded.

Please ask me questions if you have any in the comment section.  I’ll answer them as best as I can.  And, please check your pattern on pages 5 through 7.  One of our customers had pages that look like they may have jammed during printing and copied over each other.  If yours are like this I want to know right away!

Anne