Merry Merry Snowmen - Block #2

It took about three days...but, I'm finished with the second block of the Merry Merry Snowmen quilt. The pattern is from Bunny Hill, and a photo of the entire pattern was blogged here last week.   

 I had a little trouble with the reindeer...got him backwards...and had to start him over. All is well now that the block is finished. Well, I see that I did forget the star button that goes on Santa Snowman's hat...but, that's an easy fix.   

A lot of the pieces in this quilt are small...requiring me to baste through the fabric and freezer paper when preparing my pieces for stitching down. My first attempt with hand-applique was back in the 80's, when freezer paper was the "new way". Now, it's out of favor by a lot of folks...but, I seem to be more comfortable with that method of "piece preparation" when the items are small than any other.   

 Plus, I really enjoy the peace of preparing all of my applique pieces before I begin to stitch anything down. It helps me to envision the end result, and let's me change my mind about fabrics before going final. It also helps to make the actual stitching-down process go faster because I'm not "fiddling" as much with the pieces.  

Sometimes, I use other preparation methods like starch or glue basting, baste and needle-turn, or stabilization...but freezer paper is my most often choice.   What type of preparation do you like to do before appliquing by hand?