The Snowman Post

Last year I threatened to do a snowman post one day, and it looks like this is it. The weather is appropriate (several days of snow in our forecast). All but one of the chilly guys are wool.


Four years ago this month I took my first wool class. Lisa Bongean taught wool applique at the little shop over the mountain. We used one of the snowman blocks from her Warm Winter Blessings pattern. Not only was this my first wool experience, it was my first snowman as well. I was hooked (but I still haven't done anything with this particular block--I can't even find it).


 





Using the same snowman pattern, and a table runner pattern from Primitive Gatherings, I cobbled together this little snowman wall hanging.




Eventually I did make the whole Warm Winter Blessings, in the mini size, of course.

I had made one other block in the full size before switching to the mini. As you can see here, I turned that one into a pillow.


Other Primitive Gatherings snowman projects include this little candle mat, from an issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects a few years ago, which  can now be found on the Primitive Gatherings website as  Snowy Gathering.













And there is this larger candle mat, Winter Cabin, that I made in a class with Lisa at our state guild Quiltfest in 2015.




















With Karen's help, I began making the 2015 Attic Heirloom ornaments of the month a couple of years ago. The first one was a snowman. I loved the little designs, but didn't like making them into the ornaments after stitching the design. So I gifted this one, and then started over again.







I made them into little quilt blocks, and after making 9 of them (3 snowmen) I decided I liked it as it was.


 Snowball, from HeartToHand was finished up last year at this time.

Looks about the same outside right now as it did then, but I think we have more snow this year.

This jolly fellow was an adaptation of a  patterned offered by Stacy at Buttermilk Basin a year or two ago. I used him to replace her last block in her free BOM last year. All of the blocks are finished, but I haven't decided if I will set them all together, or make small holiday banners with the holiday themed ones and put the others together into a smaller wall hanging.

The only snowman left is NOT wool. He is paper pieced from a free Carol Doak pattern. I reduced it a little (of course).
I made the nose on this little guy a bit too big. Maybe I should name him Jimmy Durante. : )


 





Have you built any snowmen lately? If you'd like to make these snowmen, say so in a comment and I will choose a name by my next post.
Until next time,
Janet O.

 

Do you have this pattern?

I am binding this quilt for a dear friend who passed away a couple of weeks ago.  What an emotional journey. To be finishing her quilt is an honor.

She asked if I would get it bound and send it back to her husband so that he could hang it in their home. I would like to give credit to the designer on the label I am making. I found the quilt on Pinterest labeled as a Jo Morton design from American Patchwork and Quilting. The link does go to the magazine's website, and identifies the pattern as Midnight Garden from their April 2009 issue, but does not give the designer. If you have that issue and could clarify for me whether or not Jo M. is the designer I would greatly appreciate it. It looks like a Jo Morton design, but Pinterest has been wrong a time or two, so I would prefer to get confirmation from someone.

The August blocks for the Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM and the Attic Heirlooms Ornament of the Month are now stitched. It feels good to be caught up, even if it is only for a couple of days.

I don't think I have shown the finishes on the past two "ornament" blocks, but let's look at the last one first.

This is a close up of the current one. Those were supposed to be red berries on the bow, but it seemed rather colorless, so I made bells instead of berries.Kind of tricky to get the stitching to look like I wanted it to on a circle that small.

I couldn't find red beads the size I wanted for this one. I have some much larger than these, but I wanted something somewhere between these tiny ones and the big ones. The little ones looked best, of the two.

Then we have a happy little snow angel with a garland (or maybe it is a strand of lights).











This is all of them, so far.

You may as well see all of the BB Mystery blocks so far, too.

I got a couple of "pillowcase" dresses made to send to Lori (Humble Quilts blog). She is taking them to Bolivia. Mine look more like aprons here, because I opted not to use the pattern with elastic across the top. But they will be gathered there when they are tied at the shoulders.

That sweet Cyndi at Busy Thimble quilt shop saw me petting a new line of fabric when I was in her shop, but I didn't purchase anything from it. She was cutting kits from the fabric later, and she sent me a package of the trimmings. This photo doesn't do justice to the colors, and there is more variety in the line than this, but these are the ones I chose to make a mini Thimble quilt to remember my visit to the Busy Thimble. (I used the Primitive Gatherings Tiny Tumbler template.) As I get sewing them together and gauge the shrinkage on this quilt (mini quilts shrink something fierce), I may adjust the length and/or width.








Been purging in the sewing room. It will never all fit nicely, but at least now there aren't piles all over on the floor and chairs. Still a little bit on the table, for which I cannot find homes (Denise and Mom--that sentence structure was for the two of you)), but it feels good to walk into a relatively clean room for some stitching. Think I'll step in there again.
Enjoy your day.
Until next time,
Janet O.