Category: wool applique

School Days

One of my projects completed in 2020 was this School Days quilt made of wool and entirely hand stitched.

I had a delicious length of wool in a subtle plaid (thank you, Mary, for this glorious gift) that I wanted to use for the background.  I love the schoolhouse block, but it’s traditionally a pieced block.  I didn’t want to cut up this wool and sew it back together, I wanted to appliqué.  So I refashioned the traditional pieced block into an appliqué pattern.

The lines in the plaid meant I wouldn’t have to mark anything if I made the schoolhouses the right size to fit within the repeat of the plaids.  So a little measuring and planning, and I was ready.

I selected 20 different wools from my collection and ironed freezer paper templates on to the squares.  From that point on, I had a perfectly portable project needing only needle, thread, and thimble to work anywhere.  

I even laid the houses out on the background to get a pleasing distribution of color and pinned a swatch of fabric in each house’s position so I would know what went where.

I stitched each house to the wool using a whip stitch and thread (usually perle cotton #12) to match the house.  

When that was done, I layered it with a piece of hand-dyed linen on the back, pinned it in place, and began quilting.  I didn’t use batting – I thought the bulk of the wool-on-wool quilt was enough with a lightweight back.  I used 12 wt Aurifil thread for the quilting and found it a delight to pull though the  buttery wool fabric.

Again, I had nothing to mark, just stitched along threads in the plaid. It was sheer delight to have one spool of thread, a pair of scissors, a needle and thimble, and pick up and sew.  Relax, relax, relax.

Having no batting meant no where to hide the knot, and “popping” wasn’t easy either.  So, in another connection to past methods, I left the tails loose as if the quilt were “tied”.  But my ties are on the back, not the front.

When it came time to add a binding, I didn’t.  Add one, that is.  I cut the backing 1” wider than the top, folded over, folded over, stitched down.  That’s the way our grandmothers did it, and now I know why.  It’s lots easier than cutting, pressing, stitching by machine with mitered corners, then hand stitching down.  I will continue the latter process on most quilts, but bringing the back to the front on this one was a pleasure.

This was one of the quilts I carried on our photo trip to Indian Springs.  Some of these photos were made there, some in our front yard.  The finished size is 36” x 48”.

Miss Nellie’s Country Garden

On a recent Saturday ride-about, we took a big wool quilt in case we saw a spot for photos.  We found a spot at Starr’s Mill, and gave Miss Nellie’s Country Garden some places to pose.

The quilt is my version of a pattern from Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  The wool appliqué is stitched by hand onto cotton background fabrics.  The piecing together of the blocks and the quilting are done by machine.  

As I worked on all aspects of this quilt, I thought of my Aunt Nellie.  The wool appliqué – informal and free – and the garden theme led me to know the quilt had to be named for her.

She was known as Miss Nellie to most everyone in the community.  I was lucky enough to know her as Aunt Nellie.  She was a teacher, and so there are some people who knew her as Miss Hobby, too.  She lived next door for my entire childhood, and serves to inspire me every day of my life. 

She lived to the age of 91, and only in her 91st year was she unable to tend her garden.  She grew vegetables to eat, to share, to can, and to freeze.  She grew flowers for the joy of the bloom.

Aunt Nellie’s vegetable garden was neat and orderly, but her flowers were a riot of stems and leaves and blooms.  Weeds were kept at bay in both places, but the separation she maintained in her butterbeans and squash was not valued in her flowerbeds.  The snapdragons and pansies, the petunias and lilies and gladiolas all mingled about, with her snipping a cutting here and poking it in an empty spot there to take root and fill a space.  And, take root they did.  Her green thumb was legendary, possibly due in part by the load of fresh cow manure a local farmer delivered to her every spring.

She grew geraniums in pots, dahlias in a  separate bed all their own.  She had a bit of yard art, too.  I remember a whimsical bird bath, tiers of porcelain basins given to her by a friend.  Once it developed leaks, it was repurposed as a planter for succulents.


So the whimsical nature of some of these quilt blocks is a perfect tribute to a woman from the country.  The label is a block I had made because Miss Jump, one of Linda Brannock’s creations, reminds me of Aunt Nellie.

More quilt details:  The quilt finished at 60” x 75”.  I used a whipstitch to secure the wool to the cotton, usually with perle cotton thread, but sometimes with embroidery floss or even fine sewing thread.  The quilting is all hand-guided freemotion stitching on my home machine.  I used Dream Cotton Request batting and a cotton fabric for the background.  And it was all fun!  Just as Aunt Nellie would have wanted it to be.

Oh, and another detail.  Because the wool is so visually heavy, I made a wider binding than I usually do.  The “standard” 1/4” binding seems so wimpy on a large wool quilt, so I cut the binding 3 1/2”, then folded in half and stitched it to the front of the quilt with a hearty 3/8” seam allowance (or scant 1/2”).  The binding then finishes (with these fabrics) at 1/2”. I used a woven plaid (easy to stitch down by hand) and cut it on the bias.

More about Aunt Nellie:  I’ve written a lot about Aunt Nellie already, if you type “Nellie” in the search box, you’ll find several references to her.  But, she is the older of the two “Spinster Sisters” in this post, where I shared more details of her: https://sandygilreath.com/spinster-sisters/

Floozies

When I shared photos of quilts at Step Back, I promised details on the quilts I took on the visit.  So, for those who are wondering about the Floozies quilt, here is its story.

On my first visit to Step Back, I mentally named this cabin “Waiting for Chinking,” since that’s the stage it’s in.  I think there’s an art quilt with that title in my future, featuring this cabin.

When I later learned that this cabin is where the “floozies” hang out during the annual Christmas celebration, I knew I wanted my Floozies quilt to be photographed there.

One of the volunteers was kind enough to pose as a floozie with the Floozies! These fine upstanding women of the community act as hostesses at Step Back.  They dress in vintage clothing and pose for photos and provide history lessons for visitors.

In other settings, Floozies is a brightly colored quilt.  I love how the weathered gray of the buildings provides low contrast with the background fabrics; subduing things, making the birds seem right at home.

The title I used, A Flock of Feathered Floozies, came to me after a year of working on these birds to stitch them in place, then embellish them with beads and elaborate stitching using all kinds of rich threads.

The pattern, hand-dyed wool, and accessorizing threads and baubles came from Sue Spargo in her block-of-the-month pattern a few years ago.  I had taken a class with Sue in the past and knew there was a lot more to learn from her.  And learn I did.

In each month’s  packet there were actually materials for three blocks.  Wool background, wool for the birds, instructions, and embellishing threads of cotton or silk, of all sizes and twists.  There is a lot of detail in each block, so click on the photo to enlarge to see things more closely.

The project was time consuming for sure.  These birds were my companions virtually every evening for a year.  As we watch tv, I’m usually doing hand sewing.  Sometimes it’s a binding, sometimes it’s appliqué, but for that year, it was these birds.  Every bit of appliqué and embroidery was done by hand.  The sewing machine was used only when it was time to assemble the blocks and then quilt the layers together.

I kept up with the schedule, finishing each month’s three blocks just in time for the delivery of the next.  I would get an email from Sue’s son when the next month’s block had shipped.  If I wasn’t done, I would stitch faster!  My self-imposed rule was not to open a package until the previous blocks were completed.  Since I was anxious to see what Sue had planned for the next birds, I made sure I was ready when the mailman came.

With Sue’s companion book Creative Stitches beside me, I learned all kinds of embroidery stitches I had not known before.  The wool appliqué was done with a whipstitch with matching wool thread, so it’s virtually invisible.  Then each piece was backstitched with a Valdani #12 perle cotton thread.  Sometimes other threads were used for embellishing stitches, sometimes the Valdani.  

The background pieces were often embellished with ribbon or linen or cotton fabric, as are the birds.  Just look at the French knots on the linen portion of this block.


Of all the new stitches I learned, I think I was most fascinated with the drizzle stitches.  See them here?  They make a loose fringe-like decoration on the tail of the bird above, but if left longer, they can be couched down to hold them in place.

Once the blocks were completed, assembled, and a border (with a lot of wool circles appliquéd, surrounded by embellishing stitches) added, it was time to quilt.  I used a thin cotton batting (Dream Cotton Request) and a free motion stitch to secure the layers.  I love how the stitching shows up on the wool.

Obviously, many of these techniques are now part of my stitching repertoire. The quilt hangs in my sewing room, providing me with constant exposure to the idea to “do more, more, more.”  And I do.

Sue’s title for this quilt (and a pattern is available now) was Bird Dance.  But every southern girl knows that if a woman is overdressed; has too many accessories, she is in danger of being considered a floozie.  I love to see people smile when they look at my work, and this piece has generated a lot of giggles when people see the title, A Flock of Feathered Floozies.

And, there is a still at Step Back.  So Floozies collapsed there for a rest.

In case you missed them, earlier posts about Step Back are here (Christmas at Step Back) and here (my quilts visit Step Back).  And this earlier post has details about wool appliqué.

 

Blue and White and Red

Quick, answer this question:  “What is Sandy’s favorite color?” 

That line brought a big chuckle when I recently asked it at a presentation I was giving.

It’s a little obvious when my work is collected together.

 

 

 

But sometimes I like to add a bit of red and white to the blue, as I did in this piece that’s next on my list of “ready to quilt.”  

I’ve mentioned before that I like to work seasonally.  So a small project I made this year as July 4 approached was this one called Stars in Bloom.  The pattern came from Blackbird Designs, and I interpreted it in cotton and wool. 

The rich red flower petals are various reds from my wool stash, the most prominent being from that red cashmere coat I bought a few years ago.  The vines and leaves and blue stars are cotton fabrics.

 

 

I certainly want the quilt label to be unique.  It’s important to include a label identifying the quilt title, the maker, the date.  A simple rectangular piece of cloth containing this information is better than nothing, but since I began quiltmaking, I’ve enjoyed including elements of the quilt’s design in the label.

Ollie Jane’s Flower Garden has a lily similar to the one on the front of the quilt as its label.  Walker’s Pasture has a miniature photo of the front of the quilt on the label.  Mom and Apple Pie’s label features a flag (an appliqué element from the front – and the label you see at the right).

That said, I may have gone a bit overboard in this small piece.  The combination of hearts and stars on the front led me to include a heart and a star.  It took a big star (well, big relevant to the size of the quilt) to contain the title and my name.  Then an even bigger heart was needed to surround the star. Above, the view of the backside.  Do you think the label is visible?

As has become my custom, I embraced the raw edge on this label.  The star was machine stitched to the heart, then the heart was attached using the “glue stitch” I learned from Jude Hill, hand stitching the label through the quilt back and batting.  As time goes on, the raw edges will fray more, adding to the charm of the back.  Or to the tattered look, depending on your perspective.

More about Stars in Bloom:  This piece finishes at 12” x 17”.  The appliqué is a combination of wool and cotton.  The cotton pieces are hand stitched needle-turn appliqué.  Some hearts are made of felted wool and stitched down with a whip stitch, again by hand.  The quilting is free-motion machine stitching (incorporating some hearts in the design) using silk thread on top and cotton thread in the bobbin.

Wool felt – Felted wool – what?

beauty & beesIn my quilts, anything goes.  I love quilting cottons, silk, linen, denim, and wool.  All together or separately, depending on the project.

I’ve worked with felted wool in many ways.  Wool as the background with cotton appliquéd on top.  Wool as the fabric to be appliquéd on a cotton, or linen, or wool background.  Because the wool doesn’t ravel, you don’t have to turn under the edges, and appliqué is fast.  Because the wool is plush, stitches can hide easily, so if your stitches aren’t perfect, and you use a matching thread, no one notices.  If you want your stitches to show, a contrasting or heavier thread or a blanket stitch will do the trick to add another element to your project.

Wool stitched on wool is like sewing through butter.  Both layers are soft and easy to needle.  Stitching goes quickly.  The result is bulky, though.  That’s something to consider if you are making a large quilt.

Wool stitched on cotton is fun.  You get a firm background which layers easily with batting and backing to get a traditional kind of quilt with dimensional wool applique.

Linen, or a 50/50 blend of linen and cotton, is widely available now in quilt shops.  It has a rougher texture that supports the weight of the wool beautifully.  And, I was surprised to see that quilting stitches show up nicely on the linen.

My preference for wool appliqué is to use felted wool, not wool felt.  There is a difference.  Felted wool is woven wool which has been washed and shrunk to tighten the weave.  The holes between the threads are still there. Wool felt has a flatter appearance and is harder to needle. Wool felt is made from fibers tightly pressed together and has no holes.  It’s a personal preference.  Some people like the wool felt.  I’m all about the process, and I like the feel of felted wool.

Note:  wool felt is not woven, it’s smushed.  It may have glue in it.  It lies flatter and ravels less, they say.  But it has a hard hand and a flat appearance to me.  My blog, my opinion.  Only my opinion.  Play with it and draw your own conclusions.

You can buy some absolutely delicious hand dyed felted wool now.  It’s sold in quilt shops, at shows, and online.  But, there is adventure in felting your own wool from recycled garments.  I recently bought a beautiful red cashmere coat for $10.  The store owner was surprised I didn’t need to try it on for size.  I brought it home, disassembled it, then washed it in hot water and threw it in the dryer.  It is the most luscious wool in my stash.  The linings, interlinings, and interfacings are interesting, too.

To felt your own wool, look for a tag that says 100% wool (blends can work, but the higher the wool content, the nicer the finished product).  I don’t bring it in the house until I’ve prepared it for washing.  I didn’t intentionally buy someone else’s bug problem.  I remove buttons, zippers, linings and interfacings.  I also cut away shoulder and sleeve seams before washing.  It’s hard to cut through all the layers after it’s felted.  I might leave some seams in a skirt or the back of a jacket, though, to have a bigger piece of wool.

Put it in the washing machine with detergent and your hottest water for the longest cyle.  Then put it in the dryer, again on hot.  Do check the lint trap frequently as you may have a lot of fibers in there.

Interesting things can happen if you wash red wool with white.  I sometimes am careful about color separation, but usually not.  I like surprises.

Details of photo:  Beauty and the Bees, 31″ x 24″, based on pattern by Maggie Bonanomi.  Felted wool from recycled clothing along with a few purchased hand-dyed wool pieces.  Tendrils and berries are free-motion couched by machine.  Quilting is all free-motion machine stitching.

Geraniums


I planted some geraniums today.  That’s a sign that I think it’s springtime!

I love geraniums.  Especially red geraniums.  They are so perky and straightforward, “I AM A BIG SHOWY FLOWER.  LOOK AT ME!”.

Even my brown thumbs can keep them producing blooms through the summer.

Maybe because Aunt Nellie always had them, I find their presence comforting in the yard.  I put them in terra cotta pots because she said “their roots like to breathe.”

So I found myself thinking of this little quit in the photo.  I made it for our guild’s challenge in 2011.  The challenge that year was to make a “two-block quilt”.  Further details in the rules said you must include two different pieced blocks.

Since I like to try to find an unexpected way to follow the rules, I pieced several sawtooth star blocks; not all the same size, from red and white fabrics in the top section of this quilt.  For the lower section, I pieced square-in-a-square blocks using some of my precious indigo collection.  These fabrics were printed in Africa using copper plates that are several hundred years old.  I bought them from a vendor in Paducah one year and treasure them in a special basket.  But I thought a geranium themed quilt was worthy of putting these treasures under the knife.

Atop the pieced background, I appliquéd the flower pot, stems, leaves, and geraniums using felted wool.  There is minimal quilting on this piece, a simple vine and leaf design that is one of my favorite hand-guided, free-motion quilting motifs.  It finished at 14” x 20”.

I confess that this was likely done at the last minute.  No label is attached as yet and the imaginative title of “Geraniums” is another clue that the deadline was nigh.  The geranium in the pot was inspired by one of Maggie Bonanomi’s designs,  I added a big satin bow to give dimension.

The geraniums in the watering can are a colored pencil Version 3drawing I made last week from a photo taken in our backyard.  I love old, well-worn watering cans almost as much as I love geraniums.  Anything in blue is beautiful  So, the three working together make my soul sing.

Deadlines are Good

I’m easily distracted.  I love to start projects, but sometimes other obligations (or newer projects) call, and this gets put aside for that.  Sometimes the “this” languishes.

buttonwood farm pruningButtonwood Farm is a wool appliqué project (adapted from Maggie Bonanomi’s book by the same name) which I was anxious to have hanging in my dining room.  To help ensure it was finished in a timely manner, I entered it into our local quilt show.

I finished the applique (some cotton and some felted wool on linen) weeks ago, knowing it “wouldn’t take much time” to quilt a project 43” square. As the show approached, I checked other things off the to-do list:  help with layout of the show floor, format and type booklet for the show, add sleeves to several other projects entered in the show.  Buttonwood Farm’s quilting kept getting postponed.

On Saturday, March 12, before the show was to be hung on Thursday, March 17, I pinbasted the quilt top to the batting and backing.  A few hours home alone that day meant I got the interior section of the quilt outlined and some filler designs done immediately.  In the next few days, sitting down to quilt gave me focus for a few hours, distracting me from the anxiety of the upcoming show.  Stitching soothes me.

On Wednesday, March 16, I added a binding, sleeve, and label.  Whew!  But after a ribbon was attached, I saw stray threads hanging.  One of our vendors loaned me some scissors to do a little pruning.

Oh, and I was “busted” during the awards ceremony.  The project was so fresh that I had forgotten its name and thought they meant the ribbon was going to a friend’s project with a similar title.  But now the quilt is finished and can hang in my dining room.

Details of quilt:  Cotton and felted wool appliqué on linen.  Quilted with Aurafil 50 wt cotton thread.  Dream wool batting.  The name “Buttonwood Farm” is Maggie’s.  I stuck with it when I investigated and found that buttonwood and sycamore were both common names for Platens occidentals.  My hometown of Sycamore was founded in 1891, so I changed the date on my rendition.