Snowmen A to Zzzz

I’m leading a hand embroidery block party this year using the pattern Snowmen A to Zzzz… from Crabapple Hill.  I’ve promised my group I’d post here after we meet.  So if you miss a meeting or forget something you can catch up here.  Also if time constraints or distance prohibit you from joining us each month, feel free to follow along here.

My quilt top is finished and hanging in the store.  I didn’t get pictures before it went, so what you will be seeing is what I can get standing on a step stool.

Some general information before we start on the first block.

I used four different 7/8 yard cuts of white on white prints for the background.  I did not cut background pieces as big as the pattern called for and was still able to work with them easily.  I cut fifteen of the blocks at about 10-1/2″ by 10-1/2″,  the background for the A block about 10-1/2″ by 27″ and the remaining five blocks about 10-1/2″ by 19″.  I say about, because I wasn’t worried about whether the edges were perfectly straight at this point.  If you would like to do the border as I did, DO NOT trim your blocks down to the size listed in the pattern after stitching.  I will discuss what sizes to trim to later.

I do not back my embroidery.  I am careful to keep the back neat.  I feel I get nicer stitches without the added bulk of a backing.  However, if you want to back your embroidery I would suggest a woven fusible interfacing such as Form Flex or Shape Flex rather than muslin as the pattern calls for.

For marking, I used a Frixion pen.  I reviewed these pens here.  The marks will come back in freezing temperatures, but I’m not really worried about that since they are covered with embroidery.  I figure a permanent pen is always there and if I make a mistake when tracing the pattern I either have to cover it or leave it to show.  With the Frixion pens, when I press my finished blocks the marks disappear.

For all the blocks, I changed the floss color for lettering.  I outlined all lettering with DMC 3808 and filled the centers of the capital letters with Weeks Dye Works Oceans.  I believe I used 4 skeins of DMC 3808 and one of the Weeks Dye works.  If you do the lettering as instructed in the pattern it will be the almost black used in the snowmen’s eyes.  I think red lettering could be very nice as well, in that case I would change the color of the feather stitch.

In January we started with the A block.

Other than the lettering the only change I made to this block was to add 1 strand of Krenik Blending Filament 002V to the floss when stitching the wings and halo.  It added just a little bit of sparkle.

The stitches used in this block are the backstitch, French knots, chain stitch, and cross stitch.

–February 8  This month’s assignment is the “B” and “C” blocks.

Other than the letter color, which I changed for the whole quilt, the only change I made was adding Krenik blending filament 002V to the two strands of floss on the bells.

The “C” block was embroidered exactly as the pattern directed (with the exception of the lettering color).

March 14, 2012

This month’s assignment is the “D” and the “E/F” block.

Other than the lettering which I have mention in previous months, the only change I made was to add Krenik Blending Filament 002V to the screws/rivets on the drum.  You should really be able to the sparkle it adds in this close up.

“E/F” Block

Again I added the Krenik Blending Filament 002V for the buttons and bells on the toes of the elf.

This is the first block that has used the fly stitch and you can find my video here.  The pattern directions called for using 4 different colors for the fir boughs.  I did use those four colors, but went just one small step further.  I used one strand of two different colors of floss in my needle each time.  Which gave a slightly more blended effect.  I tried to use the lighter colors on the tips of the fir boughs and go darker closer to the stems.

April 11, 2012

The blocks for this month are G and H.

I made a couple of minor changes to this block.  The pattern did not have cheeks on the snowmen, so I added them.  I also added one strand of Krenik blending filament 032 to the two strands of floss in the bow/ribbon on the gift to add a little sparkle.  This this is the first block in which I used that color of filament and is the final color I included in the quilt.

The only change I made to the “H” block was to satin stitch the berries.  In the photo of the quilt on the pattern it appeared the berries were satin stitched, but the instructions didn’t specify.  I jumped forward to the “W” block instructions which said to loosely satin stitch the berries.  This is exactly what the pattern said for filling in the capital letters, but I didn’t want the berries quite that loose.  I first outlined the berries and that did (for me) a loose satin stitch.  Here is a video for the satin stitch http://atbquilting.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/satin-stitch/ just space it out a little.  I did show the blanket stitch in class and the berries could be made with blanket stitch circles. http://atbquilting.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/blanket-stitch/