Saturday, November 22, 2014

Free sew along part 13!

Happy Saturday!

I meant to get this up early this morning, but I actually slept in for the first time in I don't know how long! I'm an early riser.....ever since I was a kid. I loved getting to school as early as the early bus kids to socialize with my pals who rode the bus! Mom and Dad always got us up early on weekends to do chores, and for church. It was a good thing, because when I joined the Navy, I had to get up EARLY!!!! My husband is also a very early bird too, probably for all the same reasons. Even after I was out of the service, I liked getting up early to make my husbands lunch for work, and have coffee with him before he left. I was a stay at home Mom until our youngest was about 13. That was when we opened the Quilt shop. That early morning time was really nice for me, because it was a time for me to have some quiet before the short order cook took over once the kids woke up for school! It was a great time for sewing, or reading. I love my mornings, but today......that sleeping in really felt good. I must have needed the extra rest from all I have been up to lately!

Enough of that!.....here are some shots of last weeks block all appliquéd, and then the new one!

 

Chester is sooooo glad there is a small bed in my sewing room! It's very tiring watching my fabric fly around!

 

The background is cut 7" x 13", to be trimmed down to 6 1/2" x 12 1/2" after applique is complete. It really makes for nice square blocks!

I used cotton brown print for the spool, green cotton for the 1/4" wide (finished) stems, and a red print cotton for the flowers. I have wools in different colors for the leaves, and green wool centers for the flowers. The template is on my website...www.woolenwillowdesigns.com, and you'll notice there will be embroidery on the spool! I plan to use a Valdani perle cotton with a back stitch on mine. I'll post another picture when it's done. I like needle turn applique for the cotton, so that is why my pieces are larger than the template, for my seam allowance!

I almost forgot! Make another row of flying geese! Instructions are in the Aug 26 post!!!

Have a great weekend, and most likely I won't get another block up until after Thanksgiving!

I'm loving all the pictures you are sending through email and my Woolen Willow Designs Facebook page! If you happen to be on my personal Facebook page, I don't ever post anything there. I'm sorry! Go to my Woolen Willow page by finding the link on my website!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jeni

 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Part 12 sew along is here!

Happy Friday!!!

I have no idea, again, how the week flew by! I didn't even finish stitching part 11 yet!

Here is part 12, unstitched of course!

 

The templates will be on the website soon, so in the meantime, gather your cottons, wools and velvet!

The background should be cut 9"x 13", and will be trimmed down after applique to 8 1/2" x 12 1/2."

I used cotton for the vase, flowers and stems. The stems were made with the clover bias maker, that makes a finished 3/8" wide stem. You will need about 22" of bias stem, if you are using that method. If not, you can just use the template, and do either needle turn, fusible, or wool applique! I used blue wool for the flower centers, a drab green wool for the leaves, and velvet for the heart. I plan on using needle turn applique for the vase and flowers.

Thank you so much for joining along with me!!

Have a great weekend,

Jeni

 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Part 11, where did the week run away to?

Does anyone know where this whole week went? The crazy thing is that, I'm pretty sure that I didn't accomplish much! Maybe a time warp happened? Well, here it is, Friday, and I plan on accomplishing a lot! Here is part 11 for the sew along! Cut your background 9"x9", center the applique pieces, using the template on www.woolenwillowdesigns.com sew along tab. After all the stitching is complete, trim the block to 8 1/2" square! I used all hand dyed wool, and wool thread from the collections of wool thread we sell on www.primitivequiltsandprojects.com. If you go there to order a set, make sure you sign in as a guest, even if you have an account, because there seems to be a sign in problem on the website.

 

I have some stitching to do, but here below you can see I've started on it this morning!

 

What else will I do today? I'm glad you asked! I'm going to work on my book! Here is a sneak peak of one of the projects!

Try to be patient, though, because it will be a year from now before the book is ready for sale. My part is to be done for Martingale by January though, so it's crunch time for me! So I plan on writing two more patterns today, and start a new quilt for it also!

I hope you all have a great weekend and get lots of sewing in!

Oh! And for all you fellow Veterans, I hope you have an awesome Veterans Day on Tuesday! Here are a couple of young looking people 32 years ago!

This is my boot camp picture! I was 18!

 

This is me, with my Grandma. I was headed to my first duty station.

And this is my honey!

Again, have a good one!

Jeni