Friday, January 24, 2014

Sheep of the Month

I worked on machine quilting my Sheep of the Month quilt today.  I bought this kit from Laura's Home.  It is wool appliqué on a cotton backing that I stabilized with Presto Sheer (Sue Spargo).

I had planned on quilting a different design in each block that coordinated with the month, i.e. snowflakes for January, hearts for February etc.  However the background quilting doesn't show up that well anyway and the blocks were a little puckery, so to be safe I just quilted a swirly design in all of them. I felt I had more control and could take care of the puckers easier.


I did some quilting in the wool pieces so I had to change thread color quite a bit.  Thank heavens for my supply of DMC 50 weight thread which I have in oodles of colors!  I bought these at the Denver Quilt Show a few years ago.  It was an investment because thread is not cheap, but I use it ALL the time in many ways, not just machine quilting.  It's great for hand appliqué and piecing too, and machine appliqué if you're into that.


August's block.  The teeny birds are buttons!

September's block.  I had to use some of my Ireland wool in this quilt just for fun.  The umbrella is made from wool I bought in Ireland.


July's block.


May's block.


And of course I had to use Irish wool in the shamrock for March's block!

I also spent some time cleaning up my sewing room today, which included sorting through my supply of machine quilting books.  I had them in three different places and decided I wanted them all together.  I also had several pages of quilting ideas from magazines that I had torn out.  I sorted through them, got rid of those that don't inspire me anymore and put the rest all together in a folder.  It was great to see all of these ideas again.  I should sit down and look through them every time I begin a quilt!

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