Wool RR ready to mail

This RR will be a new experience as I've never worked with a wool CQ project.  Of course if I'm making wool blocks you know where my heart is....   I have sooooooooooooo many pictures of my sheep that it was hard to choose.

I was inspired to join in this RR because I fell in love with this CQ sheep quilt..  I'm hoping my images will return home festoon and framed with flowers also.

Sometimes I do something REALLY right!!!

Even though I adore my "Treasury of Quilt Stitches" , the real treasure is Miss Carole Samples herself.  I am ever so grateful that she has documented all this needlework... I used it on so many seams on my suffrage quilt... There was a certain "rightness" using seams documented from quilts of that era on my quilt about the women of that era.

I love sitting down with my graph notebook (a gift from Susie Wolfe) and my Miss Carole "Treasury"  and working out seams.. I had a sheet Carole sent in yesterday's mail and before I went to bed I had worked the seam circled (1885). Every time I work one of these vintage seams I feel a kinship with the women of that long ago time...  In my graph notebook I break the seam down into steps and make a note of where and when I used it.


And what I did that was REALLY right was my organization of Carole's templates.  It has make them a dream to use.  Having all the shapes on one sheet was inspired and the color coding has worked beautifully for quickly finding the appropriate template.
Since this was in 2011 and you might have missed or forgotten this, here are the links to that project.  If you have the templates you will love this...

http://olderrose.blogspot.com/2011/11/scissor-holders-and-miss-caroles.html
http://olderrose.blogspot.com/2011/11/taming-templatesattention-miss-carole.html

Sometimes events happen in your life and you don't realize until later how pivotal they were and the effect they had.  Taking the class from Carole Samples several years ago was just such an pivotal event for me. Besides being an unparalleled resource on crazy-quilt history and seam history, she was sharing, gracious and witty.. and I loved her!! She talked almost nonstop for 6 hours both days and never digressed from what she wanted us to learn about her book and templates. 




 

Remember the beaded fans?

Whether it is a large or small project it brings a cohesive quality to a design if it has repeated (echoed) elements......whether it is shape, color, image etc.  On the suffrage quilt I used a variety of beaded fans  along with lace and metal fans... 

On this jacket repeated elements will be insects..... ants, bees, dragonflies, spiders, and especially butterflies.   Hopefully the birds will be the big drama but the bugs will fill in
the awkward spots.

I did this "flower" butterfly as a test and I like it...

So I sketched a bunch on a piece of muslin backed with fusible tricot interfacing trying to get as many different shapes as I can...

When I'm at a thread shop I fall in love with every skein of variegated thread and have bought a lot ... But I seldom use it as  most times the length of the color change is so long that it is ineffective... But all those unused skeins will be perfect for these butterflies.  AND by having them all on one hoop I will not have to change thread so often...


And the new sweatshirt dog bed is a big hit... The stuffed sleeves make a great pillow for Morris to rest his head... He thinks it is only civilized to have a pillow and takes mine every chance he gets...  I throw a treat to the foot of the bed and while he is fetching it, I claim my pillows.  This bed is right by my computer and he is patiently waiting for me to finish so we can take a proper nap (with cuddle)......!!!!!

Motif cutouts and sweatshirt dog bed.

All the motifs are birds, critters, bugs and flowers in my garden and I wanted them to be in harmony with the size of the patches.  Motifs too large would overwhelm the piece and motifs too small would get lost...  Since I am doing these "off-piece"  I figured I couldn't go wrong using a 4" hoop.  I traced the 4" on my foundations and sketched a few motifs.  Just to double check
 I traced them onto paper, cut them out and tested them on the patches.

I know this is a repeat because those who follow know I use paper cutouts a lot to test for size and placement... I prepared 20 little foundations from cotton hankerchiefs backed with fusible knit tricot interfacing...    I may change my mind about using beads because I find I want to add them to every seam..... heard it said it is great to be flexible...  LOL

Also I had seen dog/cat beds made from XXL sweatshirt and since we could use a couple more I decided to try it...

I found a super large men's sweatshirt at the thrift store and it only took a couple seams.

Mine is not as neat and I just pinned the bottom hem so I could pull out the batting and wash the sweatshirt ...  Molly does not adjust easily to changes in her environment  so I put in a piece of her "blankie" folded neatly.  That was her  cue to completely rearrange it and she settled in.

Since I need an extra bed in the barn I will make another one and maybe one to take to travel...quick and easy

Jacket Progress

I'm about half done with the seams on the right front of the jacket.  Imagine the seams done and it covered with embroidered birds, bugs, flowers and maybe a sheep, rabbit and/or chicken... On the jacket body I am using NO lace, beads, trims, rickrack etc.  This is definitely a personal homage to embroidery alone.

(Please note Janet....the "blurred seam" by the red stripe.  Thanks)

BUT I have a spectacular vision for the facing.

This antique quilt has been my inspiration and, like it, my motifs will not be bounded or constrained by the shape of the patch.. but mine will be more animal than floral and they will all be done off block...

I'm waiting for the next block in the RR so have some extra time plus had some minor surgery on left foot and needing to baby it. ..all boils down to more stitching time.