Working on a round project

Today may be a non-sewing day as I have an orthopedic appointment, and 2 football games going on. Good thing I got some things done yesterday.

You all know the old saying of measure twice and cut once, but this project caused me to measure about 5 times before cutting into the fabric.

It's critical to have well organized and well written instructions for new projects and especially when the project is more complicated than usual. That is very true for cutting the ROUND background for Kisses From Heaven.  Even though I'm a very experienced quilter (almost 50 years) I'm outside my comfort zone here.

Thankfully the designer, Joann Hoffman, has awesome instructions, with pictures. The first step was folding the background into quarters, pressing to make sure it's square, and pinning into place.  She suggested a string tied to a pencil and pinned securely into the corner that would represent the center.  I used my white marking pencil because this background is dark blue - although it looks grey in this photo.

Hmmmm . . . Notice there is more than 1 line here?  I'm not sure I was holding that pencil straight and vertical.  So I got out the yardstick to double check that I had 21" before cutting along the mark for my circle.  Finally I was brave enough to cut my circle, but must admit I was nervous about taking out those pins and opening it up.  Will it actually be round?

The circle came out fine, so the applique placement process could begin.  More measuring  happened as the big snowmen were centered along those fold lines.  Then the small ones went in between them.  There are laser cut snowflakes too but those will be the last appliques added.  Yesterday afternoon I got all 8 snowman heads ironed on and blanket stitched.  The scarves on the small heads are also done. 

I will say that the background is beautiful, but I wish it wasn't gradient.  I think all dark blue would be prettier, but I'm using what was in the kit.  I definitely feel like I'm taking baby steps on this project.  But it has been on my UFO list for years, so I need to do it justice.