I know, I know

Christmas is over, but I have started for the one coming up.  I've joined the gift of the month club on my quilting forum and I'm doing my gifts one at a time, once a month. 

I have the greatest plans to make 7 embellished tea towels for the girls in the doctor's office.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find cotton tea towels?  I checked Bed, Bath and Beyond (B, B & B in my house) and all they had were those micro fibre things.  I hate micro fibres.  I finally found some at Home Outfitters at the far end of town.  I bought a 3 pack to get started and start I did.
  This is one of them.  I can use two from the package.  100% cotton.  I love the feel of these.

I decided to do a snowman embellishment as that can be left out for the entire winter.  I have this one Nancy Halvorsen book that has the best snowman for this job.  It is actually suppose to be the "O" in Noel, but I'm dropping the n, e and l. 

I washed the towel, then pressed it.  Cotton tends to crease, so I spritzed it with water, then with spray starch and steam press.  The wrinkles were gone.  It works like a charm every time.   I laid the cut out fusible web on to the tea towel to make sure it fit before I proceeded with pressing the web onto the appropriate fabric. It fits.



Then I auditioned fabrics having problems with what I thought would work.  They didn't.  They faded away as if they weren't even there.  I choose these.............golds and greens and I know they will work because they "pop" off the fabric.
    I fused all the pieces together on a pressing sheet (1st photo) and then applied the whole thing directly to the towel.  After that was done I sat

at the sewing machine and did the blanket stitch around the whole thing.  When that was finished I added the embellishments................the snowflake, the holly, the eyes and the nose.  I glue everything on.  I take the hook off the back of the buttons with a pair of side cutters so it will sit flat.  I glue on the eyes............they are mini buttons I found at Michaels and the nose is a wooden heart painted orange.
I intend to wrap the girls gifts in these.  Two butter tarts for sure and whatever else comes to mind in December.  Only a few to go, but I have the towels in stock now..............not the same ones, but close enough.