A Hundred Pennies is Worth a Dollar...

As you know I've been working on my new wool quilt this summer! I am happy to report that it has progressed from this...

 

To this...

 

To this...

And finally this...

 

I think I have a hundred pennies at least! Worth a dollar? Haha! Worth much more to me! I'll be starting on the borders this weekend...can't wait to get it going for the final stretch of relaxing stitching!

Many have asked if there is cotton in this top. Yes, there is! I love to mix cotton prints and wools...makes for wonderful textures for sure! I've also put these pennies on a cotton fabric. It has the appearance of a wool hooked rug. That was my goal with this one since the inspiration came from an old rug. I wish I had a bolt of that background fabric! It's wonderful.

Usually I do needleturn when using cotton fabrics. But for this quilt I decided to use a good fusible web and stick with the buttonhole stitch to sew on the pieces. It won't be a quilt that is washed, so it should be fine to have those raw edges covered by heavy yarn. Makes for a quicker project also!

I hope to send out that wool scrap freebie early next week! Spread the word of the little freebie pattern and hopefully everyone interested will get their name on the list! To get the pattern, go to my store link in the top left sidebar of my blog. Click on the picture and then find the contact page on my website to write me. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it that way. I am getting the email addresses on a different computer when you register that way. I can only send this pattern from that computer at this time.

I am excited for the Des Moines Area Quilter's Guild gathering today. August is the month for the Charity Auction! Different small groups make quilts and fill baskets with lots of goodies each year to auction off for three good causes. We also have what we call a Mall in the Hall where we can purchase quilting goodies that have been donated by our members. In the past we've collected a good amount of money for the causes. The ladies in DMAQG are generous for sure! Here's a pic of one of the quilts made by one of my small groups. I must admit, I did not help to sew this one, but donated the quilting. I quilted by checkbook on this one because my free time has been taken lately by my design business. This is a Kaffee design and it's made in batiks. They did a great job and we hope it brings lots of money for the charity of choice of the auction winner!

Have a great day!

Take care,

Missie

 

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English Paper Piecing

Recently, my time has been spent preparing and fine tuning a workshop on English Paper Piecing. I will teach 5 different ways to experiment in English Paper Piecing. The goal of the class is to do my best to make sure the students leave with at least one method of enjoying EPP!

Most people think of Hexies when you say English Paper Piecing. I have moved past just the traditional shapes and use the technique for any block I wouldn't enjoy making by machine. If you have read my blog long, you know I'd rather sew by hand than machine so I use this technique often!

The class is in Rogers, AK at The Rabbit's Lair. I'll be doing a casual trunk show and visiting with customers in the morning and teaching the English Paper Piecing class in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to it very much. If anyone lives near Rogers, I'd love to meet you there at the store. The Rabbit's Lair is a wonderful store! They have a great selection of fabrics, wools, threads and yarns! Swing by and see me on September 7th... :-}. Check out the store web sight for info, The Rabbit's Lair. If you don't live nearby and want to give English Paper Piecing a try, I have several patterns on my website on the Quilt Pattern page.
For those of you waiting for the wool scrap freebie, I have been collecting email addresses to send the pattern in one try. Thanks for being patient and waiting! I'll be sending it out as soon as I feel like most of the hits on that post have stopped. Thanks again and it will be soon! We will have a great time working together on this little project. I hope to post lots of pictures about what everyone makes with it.
Have a great week and take care,
Missie

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What To Do? What To Do?

Do you save every last bit of your wool scraps like I do? I have pieces as small as 1/4"x1/2" and as large as an inch or so. What do you do with all of your luscious wool scraps? Sometimes I use them to stuff pincushions. It gives the pincushion a very hard finish...very antique like if you ask me. Sometimes I try to use them up for smaller projects and that works well too. But for the rest, I have something in mind...if you want to join in, send me an email and I'll send you a free download for a pattern to try to use up those lovely wool scraps! If you don't send me an email I won't send the pattern, so be sure to send the email to me to let me know you are interested!! See the left side bar for my store gadget to get to my contact link! :-}

It could be a very small project for you...

Or a bit larger project...

 

But if you have some wool scraps just waiting around...you will want to do this simple project with me! Email me and I will add your email to a list. When I have it ready, you'll get an email with the info! It will be a surprise for a little while longer, then I'll show a picture and we can get started together.

Save those wool scraps! You'll be glad you did!!

I've been stitching away on those pennies and flowers...I'm almost ready to start sewing it all together! Can't wait to show you all!!

Speaking of wool, I have added my latest design for Blackberry Primitives, Josie's Petals, onto my website, www.hallbrookdesigns.com. It is made of hand dyed wools and velvets and has the nicest feel to it. It's an easy stitching piece that's done a bit differently than the traditional way of the antique block, Joseph's Coat. Included with the quilt pattern is two sizes of patterns for a smaller quilt or a larger quilt, and directions for making an antique ball also! You'll never believe how easy it is! If you are interested in ordering a kit for this, email me and I'll get the info to you. I need to begin working on my own model of this quilt because Blackberry Primitive owns the original. My kit just came in the mail and it's all so pretty. There is not enough time for me to do all I want to do!! Again, I can't wait to get started!!

 

Take care,

Missie

 

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