SEASONAL MYSTERY SAMPLER BLOCK #1

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  You'll be cozy warm sitting at your sewing machine making this cute little snowman that won't melt anything but your heart.

Here's what you'll need to cut:
Background
A - 2 - 3" x 4 1/2" rectangles
B - 2 - 2" x 1" rectangles
C - 2 - 2 1/2" x 9" rectangles
D - 4 - 2 1/2" squares

White (for snowman face)

E - 2 - 3" x 9" rectangles

F - 2 - 1 1/2" x 2" rectangles

G - 2 - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles

H - 2 - 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles

J - 2 - 1 1/2" x 9" rectangles

K - 1 - 1 1/2" squares

M - 1 - 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" 

N - 1 - 1 1/2" x 3"

Black

P - 1 - 9 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle

Q - 1 - 2" x 13 1/2" rectangle

R - 5 - 1 1/2" squares

Red

S - 1 - 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" rectangle

Orange

T - 1 - 1 1/2" square

Checkerboard border

Print #1 - 1 - 2 1/2" strip wide x width of fabric (WOF)

Print #2 - 1 - 2 1/2" strip wide x WOF

Now, let's build a snowman.
(Note:  all seams are 1/4")
Sew piece P (black) and piece S (red) together.

 

Sew piece A to each side of that.

 Sew Pieced B to each side of piece Q to make brim of hat.

 Ta da! Your snowman has a hat!  Set it aside.  Now we're making a snowball face.

 I'm starting with the nose pieces first.  Draw a diagonal line across the orange piece T.

 Place it on top of the white piece M right sides together and sew on the drawn diagonal line.  Cut off the excess.

Set this aside.  You'll need it in a few minutes.  Let's move on to the next unit to make.  Draw a diagonal line across the four background pieces D.

Have you ever used this awesome frixion pin.  It has a really fine tip on it and can be earased with friction from the rubber tipped end or a hot iron.  It's my favorite.

Lay them on top of each end of the white Piece E as pictured below.

Notice the placement of the diagonal line.  Sew on the diagonal line and trim off the excess.

Now lay out the snowman's face as follows.


















Row one will have Piece E/D unit made above.
Row two will have Piece F, R, G, R, H like this one below.  This row is the same as row six.

Row three will have one solid strip, Piece J
Row four will have piece M/T Unit (that you just made above), Piece K, R, N
Row five will have one solid strip, Piece J again
Row six will have Piece F, R, G, R, H (just like row two)
Row seven will have Piece E/D unit made above (just like row one).

Sew all the rows together and you just made a snowman's face.

Now sew his hat you made to his face.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step. You're ready to construct the checkerboard border that goes around the snowman.

Before you begin cut 2 - 2 1/2" squares from the strip of print #2 and cut 2 - 2 1/2" squares from the strip of print #2.  Set the 2 1/2" squares aside for now.  Sew one  2 1/2" strip of print #1 to one 2 1/2" strip of print #2 right sides together.

 Subcut the strip set into 2 1/2" segments.  You will need a total of 14 sub sets.

 Sew 3 of the sub sets end to end to make the side checkerboard unit.  You will need two sets of these.

 Then add a 2 1/2" square of print #1 to the end of the checkerboard set.

Make another strip set with 4 subsets sewn end to end and add a 2 1/2" square of print #2.  This set will be sewn to the sides of the snowman block.  You will need to of these sets also.

 They will look like this.

 Sew the shorter unit to the sides and sew the longer unit to the top and bottom.

The block below is my first snowman block.  I made 2 for 2 reasons.  First, I need to test the pattern again to make sure I had it right. and second I wasn't 100% happy with the colors.  It looked okay but I thought it would look better with more color.  Which one do you like best?  What does your snowman look like?  I need to add a link button so you can show me your snowman.  However my technical help is in Missouri and I won't be going to visit him until later this month.  I'll have the linky button working then.  Until then, if you want to email me a picture of your block, I'll post it on here for you.  Or you can post a comment with a link to your block too.  Have fun and check back next month on February 9th for Block #2 of the Mystery Seasonal Sampler.