Holiday Tutorial: Let it Snow!

To make this cheer-inducing winter scene, you will need:

1. 1 9-inch wooden embroidery hoop

2. a piece of cotton or linen about 12" square

3. wool felt (or craft felt) in white, pink, brown, red, yellow, green, and turquoise (or the colors of your choice)

4. coordinating thread colors

5. embroidery floss in brown and turquoise

6. sharp scissors

7. pinking sheers

8. glue

9. a few straight pins

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!