Think Christmas!

Hello...or should I say HO, HO, HO! It's time for Think Christmas! I'm ready to show you what I've been working on and I'm excited that you're here. This has been alot of fun and I've enjoyed getting things ready to show you. I love Christmas, so I decided to participate in the hop. I enjoyed the last Red, White and Blue Hop through Madame Sam but I didn't participate. I just enjoyed. I saw alot of blocks I want to make and those will be forthcoming. This hop is red, white and green and focuses on all things Christmas, my favorite holiday. I am not the only one showing blocks off today, there are several others and at the end of this post, you will see a list of the other bloggers participating. Of course, you can hop on over to Madame Sam's blog and she will be posting all of them to Pinterest so you can see them all over there. But, to see the tutorials and participate in the drawings, I think you need to go to them individually and leave your comments. I will be having a drawing and I welcome your comments. Thank you, Madame Samm for being our cheerleader and for Lesley, the Cuddle Quilter for hosting this and motivating us and keeping us in line along the way. I'm glad you have come to my blog and I hope you enjoy seeing what I've done. Ok, I've rambled enough, now I'll show you what you've come to see...enjoy the hop!

Here's my Christmas corner!

I finished this Santa wallhanging for this blog hop. It's been a UFO since 2003...at least that's the date on the handout that I had!  I should be ashamed, right?  Well, I am kinda.  I'm so excited it's finished and I  love it and wish I had finished it a long time ago but my grandkids will love seeing it this Chrismas!

I love the little hangers that you can display your blocks with.  I fell in love with those after seeing all the previous hops, so I went out and bought me two of them...I love them.  I was going to have another block to display with Santa but I didn't plan well enough, I ran out of time....
So, here's my Santa Face block.  I got this block from Marcia Hohn's amazing site, The Quilter's Cache. Click here for the instructions to the Santa Face block. I used her pattern and loved it.  I made a few modifications to it to make it easier for me and I'll show you those in my little tutorial...

If you'll look close to the right under the tree, I have a present for you.  I'll show you a close up further down. 

Pick your fabric and print your pattern

I picked two different white on white colors. One for his hair and one for the cap cuff.

This pattern is easy and once you print it out, you can follow along.  Due to copyright issues, I cannot put it on here but you can follow the link above to print it out.  I'm not going to show you all of the steps because they are so basic. I'm going to show you the steps I took that helped me with this pattern. 

The biggest problem I had with this pattern was the cuff of the hat, the hat itself and the background.  Her instructions are on page 2.  I cut the 3 7/8" squares as indicated. Her instructions said to take one of the Color 4 triangles (white cuff) and measue it up one right angle side from the bottom and mark at the 2" line. I did that.  Then take one of the color 2 (red) triangle, lay it facing in the same direction, measure this one from the top and cut off 2". Sew the red top on the white bottom. This is the piece you may have to finagle a bit.  Her words not mine...I never could get this part to work so this is what I did....

I took a white triangle and measured up 2" from the bottom and cut it off. I took a red square of fabric with a straight edge and sewed it to where my cut off piece was.  I did this for both sides. 

Then I laid my background triangle on the red and white piece I just made and used it to cut my triangle to match....(This was a 3 7/8" square cut on the diagonal.)

Yeah, I know you should get accurate measurements and use the ruler and give you a certain measurement to go by, but this is what works for me....

I pressed toward the blue background and attached to the each side.

That is the hardest piece in this block.  By doing this, mine matched up perfectly. 

The next thing I did was make his mustache. I didn't want to just use Steam A Seam or Wonder Under, I wanted his mustache to have some dimension. So, I drew a mustache like I wanted.

I put two pieces of white fabric together, right sides together and sewed all the way around.

I took off the paper, then made a small cross slit  (don't make it too big) in the back of one. 

I used a bodkin and straw to turn it out. I found this tip out from Eleanor Burns years ago when I took a class from her on her dimensional applique.

It's hard to tell what I'm doing but you insert the straw into the slit of your fabric, put your bodkin in the fabric on the outside and push into the straw.  It will help you turn your fabric inside out easier.  

Do both ends of the mustache and straighten out the curves and press it.  Then get some left over batting and cut it the same shape as your mustache and use your forceps to insert the batting into the slit.

Work with it a little bit to straighten the batting out.  There is no need to sew the slit up as it will be on the back. 

Then, I decided to do a yo yo for the nose. Use your large yo yo maker or just make a yo yo or use a large button for the nose. I put a little bit of stuffing in his nose to give it a little more dimesion.

I closed up the nose and sewed both the nose and mustache on at the same time.  Then, I sewed my buttons on. I put my backing and batting on and quilted it.  If I make this block again, I will quilt it first, then sew on my buttons, nose and mustache.  I was in a hurry and thought this would save time.

Anyway, here's the Santa Face block and I hope you like it and make one for your little ones to enjoy...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you could follow this little tutorial and make one.  I am having a drawing so please leave me a comment to be entered in the drawing. 

I'm giving away 6 Christmas fat quarters and a wonderful Christmas book from Janet Kime.  This book is for all you dog and cat lovers and is a great book.  The drawing is open until August 5th.

Now, as I said earlier, there are several other bloggers showing blocks today too, and here is a list for you to visit them too.  I hope you enjoy the Think Christmas blog hop and come back and see me soon.  Merry Christmas!

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