Showing posts with label Crazy About Wool blog hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crazy About Wool blog hop. Show all posts

Friday, September 27, 2013

CRAZY ABOUT WOOL Blog Hop !!

My Turn is today for the Crazy About Wool Blog Hop!  This hop has been lots of fun!  So many cute ideas and giveaways !!  I'm excited to share a bit about wool today because it is soooo easy to love working with wool!

How many of you have NOT done wool applique?  If not, you've just got to try it!  It is such a rewarding method of stitching.  You can do wool applique by hand using the blanket stitch or the whip stitch or even a simple running stitch.  You can do wool applique by machine also, using any decorative stitch you like, or as you see in the project I've designed for today, you can simply drop your feed dogs and use a freehand straight stitch to sew the applique on very easily. 

 
Working with wool is so relaxing...and quick...and it doesn't make me itch like wearing wool does...
It doesn't make my fingers dry like I thought it would...and it isn't difficult to work with. 
 
 
 
Working with wool is so fast because you don't have to turn under any raw edges.  There's no need to hide your stitches because usually we wool applique lovers like the stitches to show! 
 

It's also forgiving...you can stretch it just a bit here and there to make it fit just right.  Unless you use fusible webbing to attach the pieces in place...then it's not quite so forgiving.  I love to use glue sticks to hold my pieces in place and some ladies use pins or even more interesting things which I'll tell you about soon!

I love to use wools and cottons together as you've seen in past posts.  That makes me the happiest!
What about you?  All wool?  Or a mixture of wool and cotton?  I'd love to hear about what you like.

The best part about working with wool is that it is so very beautiful.  The colors are rich and deeply textured when you find some wonderfully hand dyed wools. 

For all of you blog hoppers, I've created a PDF pattern called Punkin Mug Rug that you can download free! 
Just click HERE to go to my website, Traditional Primitives (formerly Hallbrook Designs).  You will find the free file on my Blog Page of the site.  Just click on the file and print!  Please send me a picture of the Mug Rug you make.  I'd love to see how you put your touch on this easy little pattern.
 
For my regular followers, you did read my website name above correctly!  I am changing my little business name back to it's original name as of now.  A few years ago I had someone tell me they would never look at my patterns in a store based on the name of my company.  After a few years of repeating "Hallbrook" so folks can understand me, spelling it for people, and explaining where the name came from, I've decided it just isn't working and I'll go with what my "gut" originally told me to name my pattern design business.  Traditional Primitives from Missie Carpenter explains my style so well...Traditional with a touch of Primitive.  I hope you like it too!   From now on, I'll be posting from my NEW BLOG...TRADITIONAL PRIMITIVES.  Click on the name and you will be redirected.  Please take a moment to become a follower of the new site so you don't miss out on any new posts!  I'd love to keep in touch of course!!
 
I bid you farewell from Hallbrook Designs and welcome you to join me at
Traditional Primitives from Missie Carpenter, my new website.  For a little while longer you will be directed to the old website for shopping, but you'll see the transition complete in just a few weeks!  Please make changes if you've saved my website and update my email address as we correspond with each other by email.  
 
 
Take care,
Missie

PS!!  Don't forget to head on over to my new blog, Traditional Primitives and become a follower!  :-D
 

Monday, September 23, 2013

I Quilted All Day Yesterday...

 

Yesterday was spent focusing on quilting and I got the entire center quilted on my new quilt! Yippee!! This morning I am clipping threads on my lap. To make this task manageable, usually I fold the quilt into quarters so it fits over my lap easily. I focus on threads on the quarter that lands on top, clip them all nice and orderly, covering the entire section easily because the size is small. Once that top quarter is clipped, I flip it over to the quarter that was on the bottom. After that side is neatly clipped, I will unfold the quarter fold and and refold so I can do the same with the two quarters that were folded inside. Sounds a little confusing, but it works wonderful and eliminates confusion about finding the threads that need to be clipped easily.

On this quilt, there are two- three threads on each layered circle that I need to find because I did not do continuous stitches between each layered circle.

Can you see those two threads on the penny above? That's what I'm clipping this morning. I'll be done before I know it and will flip it to the backside of the quilt and clip those as well. Today I plan to quilt the outer side of the border and get the binding on! Yippee Again!! You can see that my quilting is not perfect, but it's good enough for me. I enjoy doing the work of finishing the quilts I make, even though my quilting is not perfect. I dread coming up with the quilting designs because I am still new at freehand quilting, but each time I finish one, it gets a little easier and I get a little more confidant!

It's so exciting to get to the end of a new quilt! This one seems like it's taken a long time, but it really hasn't. Much of my time this summer has been spent on other things, like teaching, traveling, working on other projects, etc., and this quilt has been so easy to have to work on when I have snippets of time here and there. I know I've said it before, but I can't wait to introduce you to the whole quilt!

The next few weeks will be super busy for me. Today is the start of the Blog Hop, Crazy About Wool! My post will be on Friday the 27th, so be sure to come back and see what I have to offer for the hop!

 

This coming Saturday, Sept 28th, I'll be teaching my class, 5 Ways To Do English Paper Piecing, in Hills, IA at the wonderful quilt store, Inspirations. I'm so excited to share my techniques and strive for each student to walk away having found a few ways to baste EPP in a way they enjoy.

Next week, I'll be helping to set up the Des Moines Quilt Show which is the show within the show AQS Quilt Week. The show runs Wednesday, Oct. 2-5 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll have a few hundred vendors and close to 1000 quilts between both shows! It will be great fun! If you plan to come, please let me know...I'd love to meet up!! This is where the raffle quilt I mentioned HERE will be shown and raffled off!

The following weekend, Oct 11-13, I'll be headed to South Dakota for a weekend retreat with the Stately Stitchers Quilt Guild to teach English Paper Piecing at their retreat. This is especially exciting because this will be happening in Pierre, SD! We lived there for 9 years and this is where I learned to appliqué and the women I stitched with weekly were so inspiring, supportive and fun. I am so flattered that they want me to come teach. It will be so wonderful to see these ladies again as well as to meet new members of the guild since I left in 1998.

Have a great day!

Take care,

Missie