12 Days of Christmas, Day 11

Day 11

It finally snowed a little here in Minnesota, really just a dusting, but it snowed! It helped brighten my Christmas spirit as I wrapped some gifts today. Our Christmas tree isn't as bare underneath now. It's starting to feel a little bit like Christmas. Hubby and I delivered gift bags with gnomes to all our neighbors. Belvedere enjoyed the walk and made sure to bellow, 'happy holidays' in only a way that a basset hound could. I then popped into my sewing room and worked on today's project. A sweet snowman. It's appliqued using fusible web. There's still time to make some sweet tea towels to give as gifts or to decorate your kitchen with.

To begin, print off the PDF pattern and then trace the snowman shapes onto your fusible web.

Then roughly cut out the shapes and pair them up with your fabric that you are going to use. Green for the holly leaves, white for the snowman etc. Then iron the fusible web to the backside of the fabric.

Then cut all the shapes out. I was planning on using this red and black buffalo plaid towel for the design.

But, when I laid the design out on it, I decided I would use this cream and white check towel instead. Since I used red for the hat and scarf, it shows up better on this towel. Iron the shapes into place using a hot iron following the manufacturer's directions for the fusible web that you choose.

I am using white thread to sew around the snowman and on the brim of the hat. I am then using a brown thread for the rest. 

I used a pencil to lightly mark where the snowman's face and buttons are.

Using a black embroidery thread I sew the snowman's eyes and smile using French knots. I also used French knots to stitch the buttons on the snowman's body. I used a green thread. To make the snowman's stick arms, I stitched them using a back stitch and black thread.

I was going to use a carrot button for the nose instead of appliqueing it, but I didn't have the right size carrot nose! There are times there isn't time to order more noses, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I decided to play around with my sewing machine and stitch a nose using orange thread. I practiced on a piece of scrap fabric. Practicing also helped me figure out placement for when I stitched it onto my snowman's face.

I think his nose turned out quite cute!

~Holly Berry Snowman ~

I'm pretty happy with how my little snowman turned out. I used 3 red 1/4" buttons for the holly berries. You can also sew a white button or a snowflake button onto the top of the snowman's hat for the pom-pom. I left mine plain. I may add a pom-pom later. I haven't decided yet.

This sweet snowman would also be cute made into a small decorative pillow, or put on an apron. It would also be cute made into a mug rug or table runner. I hope that you enjoy today's design, it can be found on my website and also in my Etsy shop.

Hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to quilt and do some stitching,

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere