Saturday, January 31, 2015

Wallowing in Wool


Since returning from Winter Retreat with Miss Stacy of Buttermilk Basin earlier in January, I have done little besides wool projects. This wool heart that was the project for our final day with Miss Stacy is ready to be stitched into a pillow. The pattern for this can be purchased here.

The picnic basket topper (which I will be making into a wall hanging), just needs the feather stitch around the scallops and it will be ready for finishing. Link for ordering this pattern here.
I had never done the feather stitch until these two projects and I am very insecure with it. You can see my cheat sheet above. I'm not sure I am ready to go around the scallops. The bird's wings were shaky enough.

Miss Stacy is sponsoring a free BOM mystery quilt (you know, those things I am NOT doing this year?) on her blog. I have January's block ready to blanket stitch. I don't consider this a "true" mystery because you can see what the block looks like before you start--and I love it. I have no excuses for the fact that it is a BOM SAL.
Find this block pattern here.

 My Warm Winter Blessings mini is all ready to be basted and quilted, except I am not ready to quilt it. After seeing how Linda Hrcka quilted Lisa's original, it is hard to want to tackle it.
I made my borders on this a little narrower so that it will fit in the only place I have in which it can hang. I worded that very carefully in case my mother ever reads it. She was an English major. : )



This photo on the left shows you the difference in block size between the mini quilt and the full size quilt. I've got the single full sized block ready now to make into a pillow.









 The blanket stitching and decorative stitching are completed on my snowlamb. I will quilt it the same way I have all of the other "Lamb for All Seasons" quilts I have made.
As always, this free pattern can be found here. I just adapt it for each holiday or season.

And the last little bit of wool is this cute snowman ornament from Attic Heirlooms January Ornament of the Month. I have just fused it all together and started stitching on the face. (It looks like I stabbed him near the heart with my needle, but that was not my intention. :)

Like I said, I have been wallowing in wool!
Maybe in February I will actually get some piecing and quilting done--maybe.
Until next time,
Janet O.

29 comments:

  1. You are up late on a Saturday night to post again! Cute woolies. LOL on the BOM SAL! She got you good.
    I am recuperating tonight from a day trip to see grandchildren. I had to deliver 4 Birthday gifts and a card. Busy end of January first week of February in our family. Have a restful SuperBowl Sunday. We will be watching to see how many of the members from the later meetings come to ours so they can go home and watch the game, hahaha Goodnight!

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  2. Very cute woolies to keep you company! Baa-baa!! Your English-major Mom will be proud. ;)

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  3. You've really gotten into working with wool, haven't you? ;-)

    I just LOVE your Warm Winter Blessings mini ... I'm quite confident that you'll do an especially fine job quilting it, my friend.

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  4. Lucky you playing with all that wool! I love the little snowmen! :0)

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  5. all your wool projects are wonderful! The feather stitch is really an easy stitch....you will get the hang of it after a few minutes. I did crazy quilting many years ago when my fingers could hold the needle for hours....and it was my favorite stitch to use. I taught the stitch by telling students to imagine two arms and a belly button.....come up at one arm, down at the second arm and back up at the belly button to catch the thread to create the arms. Repeat! Believe me the actual demo of this was funny as I held my arms out and pointed to my belly button.....but they remembered the stitch. Do what you love as you excel at it!

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  6. Oh, I love all your wooliness! And I, too, very much appreciate that you didn't end your sentence in a preposition. Sometimes that can be a very tough exercise. LOL! Your winter lamb is my favorite!!! :)

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  7. Wallowing in wool - sounds like a good thing to do in January. I think I've fallen in love with that heart pillow!

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  8. All your wool projects are adorable, but my favorite is the picnic basket topper you're making into a wall hanging. The expression on your sheep's face is priceless, and I am a sucker for crows. Feather stitch isn't the easiest, but you'll get into the groove.

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  9. Janet all your wool projects are so beautiful!!! And Warm Winter Blessings is just gorgeous...as will the quilting!! I love how you made the mini...such a great idea. You always have the best ones. I need to prep some wool again. Then the stitching is the fun part. :-)

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  10. All of these beautiful wool projects from she who did not want to work with wool! (Let your mom dissect that sentence!). I printed out Stacy's 1st block instructions, but am refraining for now. But I am trying to keep up with the ornament of the month - which means that January is finished!

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  11. I caved on the Buttermilk Basin sew along too--so much for resolutions! Love all your cute woolie projects--esp. the PG snowmen--adorable!

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  12. You've given me my chuckle for the day with your grammar angst. Trying to avoid that dreaded ending a sentence with a preposition is making us all sound like we're in the cast of Downton Abbey. Good grammar - just one more thing that we've gotten lazy about. (Did that on purpose - don't tell your mom) LOL I think I'm going to succumb to the BB BOM too. Don't worry about the feather stitch, it's an easy one.
    Love all your projects. I haven't started on the WWB yet. I just got the pattern and realized that it was a mistake not to have gotten the kit. Now I have to find the wools that I don't have. Hopefully, I won't just have boring white snowmen. Thanks for the links to the different projects.

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  13. Your wool wallowing has been pretty productive. I've added the SAL from Buttermilk Basin to my list too. It's all about having fun, right. And it looks like your are.

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  14. Nothing wrong with wallowing in wool!

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  15. I don't blame you for doing the pineapple. I was sorely tempted too and I don't do wool. Nice job!

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  16. Winter is a great time for wool work! You've got many great projexts going!

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  17. You are putting your newly acquired wool skills into practice. Loveyyr snow man mini--your quilting will be amazing!

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  18. Love your wool projects! I have never tried working with wool, but I love the look of it. Your snowmen are adorable.
    Kristie

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  19. The wool heart is very nice. It would be good for Valentine's Day display. You are on a wool roll. I am stitching the January banner from the patterns I won.

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  20. Your heart pillow is so pretty. I just love the black and white - great contrast. I always love houses in prim pieces and the picnic basket top /wall hanging is great.
    the snowmen are adorable. Wool projects are perfect for January.

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  21. Great projects for cold weather - too bad its not very cold out here!! I LOVE the little knit cap on your sheep!! :-))

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  22. I'm impressed Mom...as always.
    One of these days I would like to wallow in wool :)

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  23. HI Janet - Yep, lots of wooly love going on at your house..... I cut out all the pieces for Staci's new SAL with the pineapple & sheep, but for some reason I was not in love with it so have tossed it aside. Maybe the pieces are too small for me - I don't know... anyway, I love your heart - do you have a favorite needle that you use for wool applique?

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  24. Such wooly shenanigans! But, what could be more appropriate than wool in this frigid winter? I absolutely love your wool heart! And the BOM is going to be cute - I'm going to share that with some of my friends who love primitives and wool :) I wouldn't be too concerned about having decided not to do a SAL - I don't think it counts if it is cute enough, does it?

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  25. Oh such wooly goodness!! I love them all!! :)

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  26. Awesome work as usual. Your wool projects are so loving. and the right kind of weather to be working on wool. Just love, love the snow men. The borders are fine left off. Only you would know the difference. Beautiful work. The feather stitch will become a easy stitch for you, you will have no problems. Stay warm....



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  27. We used to raise sheep so I wallowed in wool A LOT. None of it as pretty as yours though. So So sweet!!

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  28. Wool is so much fun to work with! Esp in winter!

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