To make this cheer-inducing winter scene, you will need:
Stretch your background fabric (I've used this polka-dotted robin's egg blue cotton for a clever snow effect, but you can use whatever you like!) on your hoop, tightening and pulling gently until you achieve a nice, tight, drum-like effect.
Print and cut the templates and pin to appropriate felt colors (or trace around the template for teensy bits). Cut all your pieces, and arrange tree, house, roof, and snow bank without pinning in order to determine the appropriate position for tree and house.
Pin the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.
Pin the snow bank in place, overlapping the bottom of the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.
Attach the roof top with a running stitch. Use a small whipstitch to attach the rooftop snow at the top left corner.
Attach the window in the center of the house with a whipstitch. Position the wreath base at the bottom of the roof, slightly overlapping the house, and attach with a small whipstitch at the outer edge only.
Using two small stitches for each, attach the leaves to the wreath base, lining up the inner edge of each leaf with the inner edge of the base. You can tuck each successive leaf between the wreath-base edge and the previous leaf's edge.
Attach the tree snow to the left branch of the tree with a small whipstitch.
Position all three pieces of the snowman's body to the left of the tree, getting them just how you like them. Pin and attach each segment with a running stitch. (I also attached each segment to the other with a couple of whipstitches, to ensure a tight connection.)
Insert the side piece of the scarf into the space between the snowman's head and his middle, and attach with a few stitches. Then position the neck piece and attach with a running stitch all around the edge.
Attach the eyes and buttons with a small "x" of black thread in the middle of each. (Though I've used felt, tiny black buttons would work very nicely here, too!)
Using brown embroidery floss (all strands), make arms with two side-by-side rows of backstitches. The position of the arms is totally up to you!
At the end of each arm, attach a mitten, using a running stitch.
Use a sharp pencil to mark "let it snow" (or any winter greeting you like) on the banner, and trace the letters with a small, neat backstitch in turquoise floss (two or three strands).
Use a running stitch to attach the banner to the snow bank.
Use a doubled strand of black thread or floss and a backstitch to outline the window and create a t-shaped crosspiece inside the window.
The hard part is over! Now to neaten the back, trim away some of the excess fabric, and run a bead of glue (almost any kind you have will do) around the inner hoop. Now fold the fabric down all the way around the hoop, pressing with your thumbs and fingers until the glue takes hold of the fabric. Let the glue dry, and trim around the hoop, using your pinking shears, until you end up with a neat, close edge. (I haven't photographed this step, but you can see it in the "Pink House" tutorial if you want to.)
Tah Dah! Let this little man welcome your holiday guests this year!
I start, of course, with photos provided by the client--usually several, just to make sure I really understand the structure.
Then I make a sketch--this helps me decide on the composition of the piece--the final, front view I will try to create on the hoop, and it's how I break the house into its composite shapes. I put the fabric on the hoop, sometimes doing a little patchwork on the machine first if I want more than one color in the background. Here I've just used a nice, pale-blue cotton.
It's time to choose felt colors, and this can be a real challenge. Wool felt actually comes in lots of shades, but the world comes in infinitely more, so often there's no exact match--or even anything close enough for total comfort. I try to select colors that look good together and recreate the spirit of the subject. I've never had anyone say, "Hey, my house isn't ochre! It's Cinnamon!" I think I worry about it more than the clients do. If I'm really nervous, I send images of the color options, but mostly I just trust my instincts.
Now I'm ready to cut the basic foundation shapes. Looks a bit like a castle at this point, huh? Let's hope that comes out in the wash. (This "wash" is metaphoric, you understand. I'm not washing these babies.) See my scissors? Ginghers. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Oh, yes. I got mine for 40% off with a Joann's coupon, cuz that's how I roll.
I cut the tiny bits and pieces next, and sometimes they can be truly tiny. I use those little embroidery scissors for the really tortuous cutting. I construct the whole scene as I go, only to dismantle it in order to...
...sew the pieces on, layer by layer, bit by bit, mainly with a simple (hopefully even) running stitch.
This is the basic foundation with all the yellow bits sewn on.
Then I sew on the upper layers of felt and begin the embroidery. I use embroidery for details too small for felt cutouts or sometimes just for a particular texture. Here, I've started with a chain stitch and then covered it, satin style, to create the church's trim.
Once I've finished all but the pickiest stitched detail, I usually do the foliage--the piece really comes to life, I find, when I add trees, bushes, or flowers (or as Annabelle puts it, they're boring up till this point--kid really doesn't pull any punches).
This loose, running stitch in white helps create the feeling of brick, and I've had a lot of fun with the stained glass in pretty sky blue.
The next thing I do is the add the text if there is any.
Then it's time to affix the fabric to the hoop, and for this I just use plain old Tacky glue, running a bead around the hoop, folding the fabric down tight, and smoothing it with my fingers.
When it's dry, I pink the edges of the fabric to prevent its unraveling.
And that's it. When my camera battery is charged, I'm going to try to take a couple of better photos, but you get the idea. 