Thursday, July 18, 2013

Hooked on Christmas in July!

I usually only want to sew for the season and when the season's over have to put away all the unfinished stuff and start on the current season.  Luckily, Julie, the Crafty Quilter has got me in the holiday mood!  I adapted this little snowman wall hanging from a picture from the Connecting Threads catalog.  I used some fabrics I got in a charm pack called "In from the Cold" by Kate Spain for Moda.  Still need to get some little black buttons for the mouth and bind it.
Here's a mini tutorial for this little snowman wall hanging:

1.  The snowman head starts as 3 1/2 inches square, the body 6 1/2  x 3 1/2 inches, the border squares start as 1 1/2 inches square.  

2.  "Snowball" the corners of the head and body (use 1 1/2" squares)

3.  Cut off 1/2 inch from the top of the head block and sew on a 1x 3 1/2 inch strip of black to make the brim of the hat.

4.  Cut 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch black rectangle (for the top of the hat) and sew 1 x 1 1/2" rectangles on each side.

5.  Connect the body, head, and hat

6.  Sew the borders (10 of the 1 1/2" squares for each side) and 5 across the top and bottom. (Note:  since the squares are so small, it's easier to sew five 1 1/2" x 5" strips together and then slice into the border pieces.  Also-- sew long side borders on first)

7.  Quilt it (since it's small, hand quilting would be very nice)  I did a free motion swirl.
8.  Bind it  (don't forget the little triangle hanging sleeves-- see previous tutorial-- use 2" squares)
9.  Decorate with cute buttons, felt for the nose, maybe a scarf?
   And there you'll have a pretty quick and precious gift!  Finished size is 5 x 12 inches





7 comments:

Joyce Carter said...

Your snowman is so adorable! You could add some more patchwork to one side and make placemats. They would look awesome on the table.

Eva said...

Oh my, my favorite Christmas item, a snowman. I love how the the buttons gives it that extra touch. What a quick and adorable project for that, I need a little gift for that forgotten someone. Thanks for sharing this with us as well Sheri.

Unknown said...

I just love him...Snowmen are my favorite so thank you....I will enjoy trying this one too....

VickiT said...

Very cute snowman. Thank you

Vicki H said...

Snowmen are my favorite, you can keep them up thru the end of February.

Linda said...

Too cute! A perfect wall hanging!!

Material Girl said...

Such a cute little snowman, thank-you for the tut on how to make him.. I love snowmen!!

X O X O

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