Merry Merry Snowmen Continues...

Thought I'd share my "design" trick for creating quilts with fabric stash...instead of purchasing what the pattern calls for. This is my thought process for scrappy style quilts like the Merry Merry Snowmen one. First task is to photocopy the color photo of the quilt provided in the pattern. Then, I use different colored markers to start "coding" the different areas while considering fabrics I pull from my stash. It is often necessary to use 2-3 fabrics where the pattern calls for just one...because there might not be enough yardage. The basic color family...brown, red, etc...must stay the same...and the value of the color (medium, dark, etc) should also stay the same. Balance the fabrics by placing them in a triangle (see blue markings) or equally balanced throughout the quilt (see yellow markings). Just as in crazy quilt embellishing...your goal is to get the eye of the viewer to travel around the quilt...and not stay in just one place.

Progress has been made...and the backgrounds for all of the remaining pattern blocks are complete.  Now, to prepare all of those applique pieces for sewing on to these blocks! First, the snowmen! I have traced all of the snowmen shapes on to a fusible interfacing (not fusible web). The interfacing is thin enough so that I can trace on the reverse side...with a soft lead pencil (a colored pencil). 

  Here, you see that they have then been ironed down to the reverse side of my white fabric. Next, they will be trimmed around, leaving about 1/4 inch of fabric for turning under. Because these pieces are white, and will allow the darker background colors to "bleed through"...I'm going to use a piece of white fleece in the center of each one as I applique. That will also give each snowman a little "fluff", and you now that snowmen are fluffy!