Merry Merry Snow Days Block Six

Are you ready for Merry Merry Snow Days, Block Six?  You don’t think I’d forget about your sweet tooth, do you?. I’ve got a sweet tooth that never quits, so get on board the sweet train with me! It’s filled with candy and marshmallows for your hot chocolate.  Of course, Mr. llama is ready to deliver the treats.

The background has two fabrics that need to be fussy cut.  When you cut the red and green snow flower fabric make sure it’s straight or your applique will look tilted.

Sew those fussy cut backgrounds together and let’s prep our applique.

We’re using the 1/4″ bias again for the llama legs, and Perfect Circles to make the wheels.  There are lots of parts to this treat train and once you have them all prepped, assemble as many pieces as you can, directly on top of the pattern (trace the wording before you assemble).

As I worked on this block, I used a piece of drafting tape to hold my pattern and background in place over my lightbox. Drafting tape isn’t as sticky as regular masking tape and I keep a roll of it handy for just this purpose.  The drafting tape won’t hurt your lightbox or your pattern.

If you don’t have a lightbox, and you love doing applique, it’s smart to invest in one.  Purchase the largest one you can find (a 12″ x  18″ is perfect).  The new lightboxes are now very thin, and most have LED lights.

Use a ruler to make sure the llama legs and train wheels are straight on your background and 1″ up from the seamline.

Once you have the llama and train in place, go ahead and trace the rope lines that connect the llama and train together.

Center the stars on the background using a ruler to guide you.  Place top of stars 1/4″ from seamline.  The left star point is 3 1/4″ from the raw edge of the block and the right star point is 3″ from the seamline.  Fussy cut the tree fabric so you have a tree centered in the star.

Applique everything in place and finish the embroidery!  You’ve got a long weekend coming up so hopefully, you’ll find some time for sewing.

We’re ready for block seven on September 10th!  Can you beleive it’s almost September?

Anne