Raw Edge Appliqué Snow People Quilt Blocks

I’ve been working on making raw edge appliqué quilt blocks of snow people over the past several weeks. I started off with just a plain, everyday hardworking snowman. My friends suggested a hat or scarf was needed. I couldn’t add anything to my first snow person because I’d already trimmed the block to the finished size 10.5 inches that I wanted. So Number 1 is staying basic.

Since then I’ve made 2 more. One with a hat and one with a scarf. Hopefully my friends will be happier now! Frankly, I like them all!

I cut the background block 11 inches square. Then I used a dog bowl to trace the circle for the head. (My compass wasn’t big enough to draw a circle large enough).

I used both Steam-a-Seam 2 and Lite Steam-a-Steam 2 to fuse the pieces onto the background. I found the regular product easier to work with. It was difficult to get the second sheet of paper off a circle when I used the Lite version.

I really like this fusible product. Both sides are sticky so it’s possible to put the piece of fabric down and it will stay in place. But it’s also still possible to pick it up and move it around. Once the piece has been ironed, it’s permanent. The only downside was that it does leave a bit of gummy stuff on the sewing machine’s needle. But that wipes off easily, so it’s something to look for, but I didn’t find it to be much of a problem.

Check my last post to read about how I did the machine appliqué stitching.

This project needs to be done in layers. Here’s a sequence of how I made the snow person with a scarf.

1. Three tips for sewing. Use your needle down option with the needle in the down position if your machine has that feature. That way the block can’t slip and slide away from you.

2. Use an open toe foot so you can actually see where you are stitching.

3. And finally, take your time. If you stitch slowly and adjust the fabric incrementally as you sew around the curves, you will get a great result!

I think I’m done making these blocks with just these three. But they were a fun little project!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

More Blocks for the Treasure Map Quilt

I’ve taken off on a bit of an adventure of my own in the Quilters Playcation Adventure Sew Along hosted by Cheryl Arkison.

I’ve been worried for months that Cheryl might add a compass block. Makes sense to have a compass if you are hunting for buried treasure on an island. I’m thinking circles and tricky triangles placed around it. Doable? Yes, indeed. But I was dreading it. So, while Cheryl is taking August off from designing this monthly project, I decided to design a compass on my own. I chose a raw edge appliqué technique used by Carolyn Friedlander for her “Dino Patch” quilt that is in Cheryl Arkison’s book, You Inspire Me to Quilt.

I had used Caroline’s technique in 2015 to make patches of dog friends & family for one of my all-time favorite quilt projects! So I knew I could use it to design a compass block. And while I was doing that, I decided to also add a block with message-in-a-bottle…just in case a misadventure occurred while searching for the pirate’s treasure. At least maybe someone would find the bottle and get my side of the story about the treasure hunt!

Message in the bottle block

These two blocks were so much fun to make. And now have a third block in this online project that is my own creation. (The other one is the booby trap. The block design is my own but it is based on Cheryl’s prompt for that month).

Check out the hashtag #qpadventuresewalong2023 on Instagram if you want to see what other quilters have been doing!

Raw-Edge Dog Applique Pillow Cover

One of my friends has an adorable English Springer Spaniel. I've been squirreling away patterned brown fabrics for a long time with the plan to make some sort of Springer project some day.  That day arrived recently! 

Here's the drawing I made from a photo of my friend's dog.

Springer drawing, folded in 4 quadrants to aid placement of the components on the pillow cover

I scanned this to my computer and then flipped the drawing horizontally.  For fused applique, pattern pieces need to be a mirror image of the original drawing.  I made 3 copies of the inverted drawing so I could cut up the pictures to make patterns to cut pieces to make a raw-edge applique. It's important to have multiple copies as it's not possible to cut out all the parts from one copy. 

Here's a list of the patterns pieces I cut from the drawing: separate ears, muzzle with the white forehead blaze, tongue, nose, eyes, freckles, both halves of the face and a triangular neck piece. With raw-edge applique, the pattern pieces don't need any seam allowance.

I used Thermoweb Heat'n Bond Medium Weight to fuse the components.  I had the medium weight on hand, but Lightweight would have also been fine for this project.

First fuse the Heat-n-Bond to the BACK side of each fabric. (This product includes excellent directions for its use). Then using a pencil, trace around each pattern piece on the paper side of the fused Heat'n Bond. Cut out each component of the applique.  Remove the paper and fuse to the pillow cover. Stitch around each piece using either a narrow width zig-zag stitch with a very short stitch length or use a blanket stitch if your machine has one.  Before you start sewing:  Practice the stitching on some scraps of the fused fabric to see what works best on your sewing machine and which type of stitching you prefer. I used a zig-zag on this piece.

The sparkle in each eye is an embroidered French knot, and the lips were also embroidered using a back stitch. 

I added a border to my appliqued square. The back of the pillow is the same fabric as the border. I chose to use an envelope closure, but lots of other pillow finishes would work too.

Back of the pillow with an envelope closure

Book Review: You Inspire Me to Quilt by Cheryl Arkison

Cheryl Arkison's newest book, You Inspire Me to Quilt,  was released this week.  This book is a collection of quilts designed by 8 modern designers plus 2 quilts that Cheryl designed.  All the quilts are inspired by "Everyday Life."   And they are!

Cheryl has made a quilt of with the colored dancing bars seen on a music equalizer.  My brother, who spent his teens and early 20s in recording booths, would love this one!  

Blair Stocker made a quilt of up-cycled ski parkas! And on the theme of cold weather sports, Andrea Harris designed a "Canadian Hockey Quilt".  

Cheryl's long-time collaborator, Amanda Jean Nyberg, has created a "Time Stamp Quilt" inspired by a digital clock radio.  I think it would be cool re-interpreted as a baseball score board for a significant win for a kid's team, or maybe a World Series Win for a grown-up's home team.

Those are just a few of the fun quilts in this book. 

The quilt design that immediately inspired me make it my own, is a quilt called "Dino Patch" designed by Carolyn Friedlander, based on a conversation with her nephew. Her quilt has raw edge appliqué dinosaurs. You can see several of them on the book cover above. I looked at those dinosaurs and thought, "Dogs! Cats! Fish!"  Critters that usually require serious paper piecing or mind-bogling appliqué.  This gets the critter's shape and motion, and takes about 10 minutes to stitch out.

I'm working on a quilt of Dog Pals. As the say, "Draw what you know!"  Here are the blocks I've completed. The first dog is Jake, a Black German Shepherd.  Then Maisie, a big red dog, and Hazel my black Lab mix, great pals from dog walking through Hounds About Town!  There's Hagrid, the bichon from Canine Nosework class, Taffy my English Springer Spaniel, chasing a ball (of course!!), and Magnolia, the best ever mystery-black-dog mix from Mississippi!!  More dog blocks are in progress.  When it's done, I'll post the finished quilt.

Check out Cheryl Arkison's new book!  There's even a BACON quilt pattern if you want one!  Really!!