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Friday, March 16, 2012

Quilting with Wool

 I like to relax in the evenings and my hands have always got to have something in them to do. I go crazy if I am not doing something with them. Call it a curse or whatever but I find using this time to relax and busy my hands also relaxes my mind. I love to work with wool. It is soooo forgiving and takes embellishment well. I like using all the different threads that are available and learning the different stitches that bring out the beauty of  the project that I am working on. This project that I am working on is a combination of patterns by Sue Spargo. Sue is a wonderful designer who works mostly in wool and is a very inspiring teacher. Check out her blog at suespargo.blogspot.com and you will see what I am talking about.

I have been working on this piece for some time. I pick it up in the evenings and do a little each night. It is coming together nicely and I can't wait for it to be done.





Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Making of a Pattern Cover

I am relatively new to all this pattern stuff although I have been designing for years and years. With creating a new pattern comes the  painful part of writing it all down in a way that someone besides myself can read and make heads or tails of and come up with what I created myself without the pattern. This is probably my least favorite part of all in the design process followed closely by in second to photographing the quilt in a way that makes it appear all the more beautiful for the pattern cover.I do all this myself as I do not have a huge budget to pay someone else.






Yesterday I was grumbling to one of my very good girlfriends about how I could not take a picture to save my life and I have no place to photograph my quilts so I can't come up with a pattern cover and on and on. Well she listened for awhile and then said to me in a very calm and gentle manner " How about we go down to my Dads farm and take pictures?" Well, let me tell you I was there in an instant. Why did I not think of this. Usually I am full of great ideas like that. Anyway, suffice to say the farm is a great place not to mention the wonderful house that goes with it. There is a great big barn with lots of stuff sitting around and lots of architecture as I like to call it. So I gathered up the quilt I was working on and off we went. Once home I was happy to say we had a lot of great shots and I was able to come up with a cover that I liked. I have attached some photos of the quilt in various shots. The pattern is now available for purchase if you are interested. Just shoot me an email and I will give you the details.