Christmas Carol Row A Long

Frosty the Snowman.  .  .

I always think of the animated cartoon film of Frosty and the two children when I hear this song.  So when I designed my row based on this Christmas song, I wanted Frosty and lots of snow, but opted to leave the cartoon kids out.

I hope you have been enjoying this incredible Christmas Carol Row A Long for the past several weeks.  Each day you have been able to download a FREE row pattern and enter some fabulous give-a-ways.

Here is my original design for my Frosty row.

You can download the free pattern HERE for one week.  The PDF file is large so give it a minute to download before freaking out.  Save it to your computer first, then open and print the file.

I made a few changes as I built my row, mostly some fabric choices trying to draw from my stash as much as possible.  My finished row is 10 x 30" (10.5" x 30.5").  Here is how I put it together.

I auditioned a variety of fabrics from my stash and decided on the background fabric first, and then chose the applique fabrics which would contrast well with the background.

I traced all of my applique templates onto the back of my fusible web.  I use Steam-A-Seam Lite 2.  I prefer it because it is very light weight, and has a slight sticky surface which adheres to the fabric while you are positioning pieces.

When drawing large applique shapes I cut the fusible web out of most of the middle of the shape before fusing it to the fabric.  This is called "windowing" and keeps your applique from getting stiff when you are working with overlapping layers.

For the snowman body and head you can see how I cut out most of the inside of the fusible web leaving about 1/4" around the inside of the traced line.  On smaller pieces, like the arm in the bottom of the picture, i don't bother cutting out the middle.

You can see how I cut out the fusible web from the middle of the tree shape in this picture.

Once I have traced all my templates I cut them apart and separate them by color and fabric.  Then I press each fabric and fuse the templates onto the BACK side of the fabric.  Since there is paper on both sides of the fusible web, be sure you are tracing on the side with the web attached.  

Then remove the loose paper before fusing but leave the paper on the web intact.  This paper will be removed after the template is fused and trimmed and ready to position on your row.

My tree was the first element to put on my background.  I sectioned off my background into equal segments and marked the segments on my block drawing.  That allowed me to position pieces on the background more easily.

Since I cut my background slightly larger than my finished size (11" x 31") I positioned my tree just a bit in from the edge of the background.  When all the applique is applied and stitched down I will trim the finished row to 10-1/2" x 30-1/2".

I only needed half a star for the top of the tree so I assembled the pieces on an applique pressing sheet (parchment paper also works) on top of my fabric so I could see the tree through the pressing sheet.  I pinned the pressing sheet to the fabric so I could position the star parts right on the edge of the row.

I like to use bent nose tweezers to position the applique on the pressing sheet.  Then I iron it to the pressing sheet using a hot steam iron.  Allow the motif to cool before peeling it off the pressing sheet.

After it is removed I place the pressing sheet UNDER the background fabric.  That way when I fuse the star to the top of the tree and the background fabric, the parts that hang over the edge won't get fused to my ironing board!

After the star is fused I want to trim off the excess.  I move to the cutting table to trim this with a ruler and my rotary cutter.

You can see that I have left enough to get caught in the seam allowance when I join rows or add sashing.

Next I assemble the snowman on the applique pressing sheet.

Can you see him?  He sort of blends in to the applique pressing sheet!  But I wanted all his parts to fit together before I positioned him on the background fabric.

Once Frosty was altogether I placed him on the background fabric and started to add his hat, hatband, and flower.  I fused all of this in place at this point because all the rest of the details sat on top of Frosty.

Here I added his face.

I kept my template reference and picture nearby so I could check my placement.  The last step in assembling Frosty was the greenery I used to decorate his bottom.  You could leave this off if you prefer him sitting in the snow.

I had "help" from my Siamese cat "Buster" who was determined to assist with the placement of the buttons on Frosty's front.  He insisted on overseeing most of the assembly, although I strongly urged him to oversee from the floor instead of from my ironing board!!

Next were the snowflake stars.  I love the way they turned out, but I have to admit they were a booger to cut out. That being the case I opted for three snowflake stars instead of the four I had originally designs.  Small sharp embroidery scissors really made the cutting out much easier.  I fused the white diamonds to the blue center first, then tucked the ends of the 8 branches under the edge.

Once the whole snowflake star was positioned on the background fabric I fused it in place.  I started with the largest snowflake star and then did the two smaller ones.

Here is my final finished row.

The last thing I will do to complete my project is to layer my batting and backing, and edge stitch all of the applique pieces in place through all the layers.  This will quilt and applique in one step.   When all the quilting and edge stitching is done I will bind the row to make a door hanging for my front door this winter!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have fun making this row!

Here is the whole list of bloggers and free rows:

Christmas Carol Row Along Participants!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Quilt Affection
Any Pattern
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilt In Piece
Kissed Quilts

Thursday, September 7, 2017
Daydreams of Quilts 
Seams To Be Sew
Be A Quilter
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Fun Threads

Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Sew Incredibly Crazy
Masterpiece Quilting
Sugarlane Designs
Happy Sewing Room

Thursday, September 14, 2017
bdieges designs
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
The Quilted Snail
Ms. P. Designs USA  (sponsored by Just Let Me Quilt)

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Jaded Spade Creations
Adventurous Applique and Quilting
UlaSewing / SzycieUli
From Blank Pages

Thursday, September 21, 2017
Martina Latimer
Quilt Fabrication
Patchwork Breeze
Patti’s Patchwork
Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Cheryl LaPlante  (sponsored by Quilt In Piece)
Morning Glory Designs
Pampered Pettit
Fun Threads

Thursday, September 28, 2017
Mountain Meadow Designs
Quilt Art
Made By Marney
Renee’s Quilting Addiction

Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Mary Mack’s Blog
Kathys Kwilts and More
Pamela Quilts
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Heleen Pinkster

Thursday, October 5, 2017
Seams To Be Sew
A Dream and A Stitch
Upstairs Hobby Room
Words & Stitches

Now the Giveaway

Hoffman 15 Fat Quarters Bundle From The 1895 Bali Watercolors line

Shipping Is Anywhere / Shipping Cost must be paid by winner.

Value $45.00

Starts September 26, 2017 / Ends October 03, 2017

Sponsor URL: http://www.hoffmanfabrics.com/

To enter the giveaway click on this link:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

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