WOOL APPLIQUE

I have decided it is time to use some of those wool applique patterns I purchased. One pattern has been in my collection for at least three years. When I purchased it, I did not intend to use wool for the applique. In fact, I don't think I owned any at the time. After all, I live in Florida. Who has wool in Florida? Now I have it and want more. It is so easy to do the wool applique. I have a number of pieces that have come from recycled wool garments. When people move to Florida, I guess they bring those wool clothes with them and they end up in the thrift shops. Since I like the primitive/country style of quilts, this is one way to come up with some of the plaids and tweeds. I do like the hand dyed wool. I have not purchased a lot of it but plan on doing that more than searching thrift shops for used wool.

I have two finished projects to show you. The first is called "House on the Hill" It is a Buttermilk Basin pattern. I quilted this one and added a striped binding. The quilting was an experiment. I think I would have liked it better unquilted with backing and binding. Or maybe a thinner batting. But it is done and done is good.

The second project I finished is a wool pillow. "Wait ,"you say. "She already showed that before." Well, this is a twin to the first one. The first one was a gift for a friend who likes primitive very much. Some of you may have seen a photo of the first one pop up on another blog. The recipient seems to be very happy with her gift. But I wanted one for myself. It is a one day project. Again, the pattern is by Buttermilk Basin. I just enlarged the design to make it a more suitable size for a pillow.

I have started a new quilt. I like the Fig Tree fabrics. They aren't my usual darks that I like but there is something about the aged look to the fabric design that appeals to me. I do like quilt patterns that involve circles so I picked this Fig Tree pattern called "Prairie Sweets". I thought it was going to be a more difficult block to do with the circular pinwheels with another circle of a contrasting fabric around them. I purchased the pattern online so I had not looked at the directions before purchase. How pleasantly surprised I was to find out the neat trick that is used to create the blocks. You start by making the pinwheel. Then you add four strips of the same background fabric used in the pinwheel. That's easy enough. Then you applique a circle around the pinwheel. Neat way to get the circular pinwheel without piecing curves! I have since purchased two or three more of the Fig Tree patterns. The designer likes to come up with easier piecing directions for what would usually be a more complicated block. I like easier!

I have pieced all the pinwheel blocks. I appliqued one ring around the pinwheel just to get an idea of what the block will actually look like finished. I am going to set the project aside for a bit as I am working on finishing the "Patchwork Garden" quilt I have shown you in two previous posts. Also, I have another wool applique piece almost finished. I want to get it out of the way. I need to make the big tree block for my Winter quilt and get it sewn together. Too many projects going at one time!

That's all for today! Thanks for stopping by!

Karen