A to Z Quilt Challenge: W = Wool and Felt Applique

 For the month of April, I have taken up Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork and Applique challenge to blog daily (except Sundays) on a quilt topic related to a letter of the alphabet.  

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I was definitely attracted to Wool and Felt applique projects for their ease of execution.  Unlike doing applique with regular quilting cottons, wool and felt applique don't require you to turn under the motif edges or apply them with fusible.  You just cut them out and stitch them down!  

While many people view their wool applique projects as another opportunity to experience the joys of hand work, at least initially, I liked the fact that if your machine could perform a blanket stitch, it was just as easy to execute it by machine.

Some of the wool and felt projects I have done over the years are:

"Warm Heart" (also discussed in yesterday's post on quilts for Valentine's Day).

A Christmas table mat design by Debbie Busby of Wooden Spool Designs.....

....turned into a pillow cover.

One of the rare times I have actually enlarged a design to work with it!

One year, I purchased this Primitive Gatherings table mat kit that also included backing and binding.  

Although this one is technically still not finished, it has already been in service for years as a cover for this basket display.  It may not ever get finished now!  

I've also always wanted to make an Easter display using that same basket and the bunny below.  To complete it, I'll need to buy some pretty wool in Spring colors and pastels and make some embroidered wool eggs to display with it.  

At the end of last year, I finally finished all the sets of felt ornaments I have made from Rachel Pellman kits:

These were all done by machine.

This set and the three above it were done by hand.

Another finish last year was the long desired "All In A Days Work":  

This one was also done by hand while recuperating from surgery.

This is a pattern for a table mat that I reduced and made into a header for a wall hanging to hold note pads in my kitchen.

The very first and the biggest wool project I embarked on is the "Heart & Home" wall hanging  designed by Kathi Campbell of Heart To Hand.   It was offered as a Block of the Month by Primitive Gatherings back in 2012.

I didn't finish this top until 2015.   I was really attracted to this BOM because it not only introduced me to working with wool but it also was a chance to work with woven Japanese Taupe fabrics.  It is yet another UFO that really needs to be quilted, completed and displayed.  Maybe this is the year I'll finally get it done!

Wool can be expensive to purchase but you can also source it from old clothing.  Just remember that for applique, you will need to "felt" the wool by washing it in hot water and drying it.  For some tips on choosing garments and processing the wool, check out this Quilting Daily article.  

Have you made any quilts using Wool or Felt?  Are there any on your "To Do" list?

Linking up with Frédérique and the other Challengers at Quilting Patchwork and Applique.  Bonne journée!

The Seven Days of New Year's 2020: Day 1

I hope you had a wonderful and joyous Christmas!  For me, it's time to.....

Last year I spent the period between the Day after Christmas and New Year's Day doing a little project cleanup and creative recharging to put myself in good spirits for the start of the New Year.  Just like last year I am fortunate not to have many scheduled activities (just one doctor's appointment) or any pressing deadlines.  Which is not to say that I wouldn't love to finish off a few things before the year ends though, Lol!  

So once again I'm going to spend this period of time indulging in an extended daily Quilt-A-Thon session.  A lot of it will also be a bit of a look back at the quilt ambitions and obsessions of this year (here's to you Edyta Sitar!).  I don't know about you but I already have a pretty long list of "Want To Dos" for 2021.  The more 2020 projects I can bring closer to completion or finish, the more likely the new list will actually happen!

One of the biggest ambitions for 2020 was to tackle a new Christmas decorating color scheme of Blue and White.  I already had ornaments in those colors that I had purchased years ago.  

So I started the year by compiling a scrappy stash  of a lot of blue and white fabrics for making coordinating accessories for the season.  My plans included making a tree skirt, quilts for the back of our couch and the chair in our living room and for the wall next to where the tree would go.  The first idea for the wall quilt was to make this year's annual AQS Christmas Countdown BOM.  Its color scheme of teal, dark blue and white I felt could easily be expanded to utilize scrappy blues. 

The binder holding all the finished blocks.

As noted in a previous post, after making the blocks, I'm now rethinking whether scrappy was the way to go after all.  So that project is moving onto 2021.  

Unfortunately while a lot of the other desired projects got started, the center piece for the whole decorating project -- the Christmas Tree -- was never found!  We usually decorate with a small 3 to 4 foot tree but was not able to find any this late in the season this year.  So our "decorations" truly suited this year's holiday season:  this was all we did for this year's "COVID Christmas" decorating!

The one thing I did manage to get done for holiday decorating was the blue felt "Merry Mugs" fabric ornament kit I picked up after deciding on the Blue & White theme.  I was lucky enough to catch them on sale from Quilt In A Day back in the summer. 

I've made ornaments from these Rachel of Greenfield's kits before.  I did the stocking ones a few years ago and had half of the set of Mitten ones completed.

Having made these by machine before, I was really surprised at how quick they made up by hand!  Because of that, after finishing the last of the mugs earlier this week, I decided to also finish up the last of the mittens too.

I worked on the skate yesterday and finished up the Bell and Santa this afternoon.  The Bell is not actually from the original kit.  The kit had a Christmas tree for one mitten but since I had already made a Christmas tree as part of the Stocking set, I found a bell design in a Penny rug and Ornaments pattern by Pat Sloan from McCall's Quick Quilts and used that instead.

The chair quilt project was going to be my version of "Snow Day".  

It is also part of this year's Laundry Basket Quilts obsession.  As soon as I saw Edyta Sitar's design on her website, I knew it HAD TO go into the B&W project queue!  I knew I'd have enough scraps for the nine patches.  Then I saw the perfect fabric for the sashing in my AQS BOM stash.  Unfortunately, I only had a half yard of it.  When I went back to the store I was able to find the same print although the background of it was a pale blue rather than white.   

Still works though and I found a good fabric for the setting triangles.  So I worked on the nine patches as leader/enders along with other projects.  For some reason I had it in my mind that I only needed seven rows of blocks (fifteen in each row).  By the time I left for my trip at the start of December, I had five rows of blocks made so shipped the block sets for the remaining rows and the sashing and setting triangle fabrics down to work on them while at my MIL's.  I did get them done while there and also found backing fabric for the quilt.  I needed four inch finished quarter squares for the setting triangles and was able to cut those with my MIL's Accuquilt Ohio Star die which made very quick work of the cutting!  I got the top done....

...except I then realized that no, I needed nine rows of blocks!   So the task for this evening is to finish making more nine patches and then maybe tomorrow, I'll get those last two rows on.  

And the bonus for today?  Because Christmas was on Friday, TODAY is the day to pick up the latest installment of Bonnie Hunter's current "Grassy Creek Mystery"!  Woo hoo!  Hope you had a quilty day planned for today too!

Slow Sunday Stitching and Ornament Talk Today

Good news!  I did go get my return-from-a-trip COVID test on Friday and it was negative!  Woo Hoo!  Freed from Quarantine!  And good too:  we currently have a city council special election going on in my district to fill a recently vacated seat.  I was able to leave the testing place and go right to the polling location to cast my early vote (the official election day is this coming Tuesday).  That accomplished, I also took care of some errands in the neighborhood and then yesterday ran errands that needed the car. 

 As the last week of the holiday package peak season begins, my DH had to go in to work today (UPS) so will have the car which means today I can settle in for some more stitching at home.  In my last post, I noted I was working on this:

Now I have these all done:

The last one I took with me to the COVID testing place and started the stitching on it while waiting for the results of the rapid test.  I am truly surprised at how easy these are to make up by hand and am really enjoying working on them!  Today I am going to work on this one:

This set of Rachel Pellman felt ornament kits (also available as patterns if you already have a felt stash) are all part of the Blue and White Christmas decorating I had planned to do this year.  However right now I'm not sure if that decorating will even happen!  While out yesterday I went searching for a small tree for us but didn't find any in the places I went to.  With our kids grown (but not out of the house) we usually buy a little three or four foot tree that can be put on a table we have at the top of the entry stair case landing.  This was the tree from a few years ago:

I had put the other ornaments I've made from the stocking and mittens Pellman kits on that tree.  It should be noted that those were all done completely by machine, utilizing decorative stitch patterns.  However, the blue mugs I'm doing this year are all being done by hand.  I've completed all the ones from the earlier stocking set but still have three more from the mitten set to finish up.  I plan to do them by hand this time while finishing up the mugs.

Another project I had taken on the trip with me but didn't get to work on while there were for some fabric "Cathedral Windows Ornaments".  They are offered as a pattern or kit by Shabby Fabrics and demonstrated in Jen's videos here and here.

I made one during the return quarantine and have fabric sets ready for two more.  The fabrics for these came from the blue and white fabric stash for my AQS "Twilight Flurries" BOM project.  The only hand stitching on these though is to whipstitch the opening closed after you stuff them!  

Unfortunately, I only realized when I had to pick a ribbon for the hanging loop that I really didn't have anything right for the color or the season.  Good thing one of my errands yesterday was a Joann's run and they had holiday ribbons on sale so now I can replace that blue twill tape! 

Speaking of felt ornaments, Aurifil did a post on them Friday and offered links to some great patterns.  I really want to try this one!

Doubt I'll get to it today but since I'll still be tree shopping this week, there's still time to try it out!.  

There's more hand work fun to see over at Kathy's for her weekly "Slow Sunday Stitching" link up.  Go see what inspiration you can discover there!

Snowed in Quarantine!!

 I came back Sunday night after spending two weeks in North Carolina with my MIL.  Per New York state's current return quarantine regulations, I had been tested last Thursday while there and received the results Monday that the test was negative.  A blessing considering that during the second week I was there, the governor of that state only now had instituted a "semi-mandated" mask requirement and early closing of restaurants and liquor sales in response to skyrocketing transmission and hospitalization rates in their state.  

For NY, the new reduced return-from-travel restrictions instituted about a week before my trip by our Governor,  required me to quarantine for three days once I returned and then get tested again here.  If the second test is also negative, then I would be immediately freed from quarantine and free to move about --- still with a mask while out in public of course!

Well, today would have been the day to go get tested but Mother Nature decided otherwise......

Fortunately I had a project on my design wall when I left that needs assembly and worked on enough projects while away that can also be moved forward should this "snow in" last more than a day or two.  For instance, this ornament started on the train ride back....

A little mobile Slow Sunday Stitching!

....can now get finished up with more to go!

More on the trip in the next few posts!

September Wrap up: The End of National Sewing Month and Mini Madness

September was National Sewing Month and for me it was a month for a bunch of mini quilt finishes!

"Lidia"

First up is a project in my continuing obsession with Edyta Sitar's Laundry Basket Quilts designs!  I learned about her mini log cabin quilt design when I saw one of her "Quilting Window" videos on You Tube.  She also offers it as a stand alone pattern and in her book "Little Handfuls of Scraps".   

I started piecing the blocks for it at the end of  July and the fabric for the block "logs" came straight out of the crumb bins.  The blocks were only two inches finished and the logs started out at 3/4".  I probably needed to block the quilt top when I finished it so the borders are a little wonky.  It didn't help that in order for it to fit the space I want to hang it, I had to make my borders smaller than patterned.  I fussy cut them from the stripe fabric pictured.  Making it with larger borders might have helped me square it up a bit more.  

What was cool was that I found a quilting motif for it in an unusual place. 

 A couple of weeks ago, I read a post by Rebecca on her Cheeky Cognoscenti blog about how she had received a bunch of old Quilters Newsletter Magazine issues from a guild member cleaning out her studio.  She had even found a solution to a piecing problem she was having in one of them.  I commented that I still love my QNM issues even though the magazine ceased publication back in 2016.  I have an almost complete collection of them and often find new things of interest or education when I thumb through them.  

It just so happens that the same week I finished the top for this project, I had received an old QNM back issue that I didn't have and found for sale on eBay.  It was a case of perfect timing since the issue from July 1976 (!) had the perfect quilt design for this little mini quilt!  Even better, all the gentle curves in the design meant it could be executed with a walking foot.  The only issue was how to mark it?  I took the "Golden Threads" paper template route although I used regular wrapping tissue paper to make my templates.

This project was another fun little Laundry Basket Quilts diversion and I look forward to getting it hung up and displayed. 

"Gertie"

 Next up is my micro-mini version of one of Carrie Nelson's Schnibble quilt designs. 

The original quilt is lap-sized and made from charm squares.  Mine is another mini pieced from the crumb bin starting at the end of  July.  This time I used 1" starting strips and scrap triangles (save those cut offs!).  Working so small, it was a bit of a challenge to sew together and I had to press the seams of the triangle squares and all the rows open.  That allowed it all to lay flatter given the tight confines of the seam allowances after the blocks and rows were stitched together. 

Ironically it was only after I had finished the top that I happened to read a blog post by Janet of the Rogue Quilter blog who is a phenomenal mini quilt maker.  Back in 2016 she made a mini quilt by using 1/2" finished gridded fusible interfacing.  If I had thought of that, it would have saved me a ton of effort!  And wouldn't you know it, I already have some here.  Hmmm, guess that means I have to do another one of these, you know for scientific testing purposes, you understand!  

This one was also quilted with a walking foot, this time using the freezer paper template techniques from Mary Mashuta's "Foolproof Walking Foot Quilting Designs" book.  I used the same technique last year on a baby quilt I made for a relative. 

The "binding" on this one was the backing turned to the front using a tool:  

"All In A Days Work"

Back in June, I had set up some hand work projects to work on while recovering from surgery.  I had started a wool piece that's been a "Hussy" (HSY = Haven't Started Yet) project for years.  

Well now it is finished:   The original penny rug pattern by Wooden Spool Designs was designed to finish about 16 inches in diameter.  For my project, I reduced that to 9 inches so it could be used as the header for a holder for my shopping list pads.  

Back in 2015 (which lets you know just how long this HSY has been hanging around!), I saw a similar penny rug design by Bonnie Sullivan called "Sunflower and Chickens".  I loved her idea to have some of the eggs on the tongues have "yolks" and decided to do that with mine as well.  And don't you just love when a plan comes together:  I had the absolutely perfect fabric in my stash to back it with:

I had always planned to make this penny rug design to hang in my kitchen because I have a few other chicken themed pieces in there and have long wanted to add more.  I have an old dry erase board for the grocery lists that has seen better days and I've been trying for a while to figure out a way to replace it.  Now I have it!  I'm thrilled to get this one done and put to use!

"The Purple Pineapple Mug Rug"

Ok, last but not least:  my best friend from high school is a grandma and faced with taking on the duties of homeschooling her kindergarten grandson.  He and her daughter live with her and her daughter works two jobs.  My friend works from home so it was easier for her to take on that task. 

 As have so many other parents during the pandemic, she is forced to learn how to manage her grandson's school days while juggling her own work.  It's an adjustment for everyone, particularly since it's the first structured school experience for her grandson.  From what she tells me, what they study in Kindergarten these days is way more advanced than it was in our day! 

Since she's working so hard to meet the challenges of teaching from home, I wanted to send her a little "pick me up".  I saw these at our local supermarket and just knew she'd love it!

Well, as a quilter if you send a mug, 'ya gotta send a mug rug right?  In a recent Skype chat with another friend of ours, she mentioned she liked purple so I rummaged through the stash and pulled as many purple fabrics as I could.  But what to make?  I've made a few mug rugs featuring inspirational panels from a June Tailor kit I have and still had some left so I started there.  

The kit has patterns to use with the panels but none would allow me to use as many fabrics as I wanted to, Lol!!  So I went looking for another design that could accommodate the panel AND a generous fabric pull.  As I was reading blogs,  I read about someone making a Pineapple quilt and I thought, that just might be the ticket!  Particularly since I knew I had this:  

Very early in my quilting journey, I wanted to make a Pineapple quilt.  Back then, most were patterned to be made by paper piecing the blocks.  I did start one using that method and quickly found that to be very tedious and that project is still a UFO (but will have its day in the sun again one day).

BTW, This pattern is in the June 2000 issue of QNM.

Eventually, I found out about the Pineapple Rule by the Possibilities/Great American Quilt Factory ladies Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith.  The sales pitch was that you could make Pineapple blocks without having to paper piece them.  When I got the ruler, I immediately made a test block.  That "orphan block" eventually became a journal cover.

Unfortunately, I haven't used that tool since -- that is until now!  Their method uses 1-1/2" strips.  Normally the block would start with a 2-1/2" square but the June Tailor panel I was using is 4-1/2" square.  No matter, that just meant less rounds of strips to sew to get to the 12" finished size!  

I kept this one simple: I only had four light fabrics so used one in each of those rounds.  I placed the medium and dark fabrics scrappy throughout the block.  Then it was a simple pillow turn finish (no binding!)  and some simple stitch in the ditch and stitching down the center of the logs and it was ready to be mailed out!

I  still have two AQS BOM blocks to finish up for September and I had another BOM project I had hoped to work on.  I guess they will instead be early October projects!