Lucy Boston

Thursday, February 4, 2010

wool craziness - round two and Farmer's Wife

Progress.
All different kinds of wool - most of it re-purposed - old camp blankets, jackets, skirts, a sweater or two.  A little of it is new wool from Week's Dye Works.
Some of my stitching:  chain stitching, flower bases with lazy-daisy leaves, blanket stitch, a chevron variation and even a little cretan stitching.  I think I will use old buttons for the flower heads in the long orangy-pink panel here top-left.  There's some feather-stitching also called the fly stitch if it's in a straight line.  I haven't pulled out any of the basting yet.  I like to leave it in until most of the applique is on, I think it helps keep the foundation a little more smooth and free of wrinkles.  The white area I will spray with "Distress It" regular spray. 
Distress It is an antiquing or tea dye spray that is used in making primitives: quilts, wool hooking, doll making.  I found this picture online at ColonialCrafts.com. It is an antiquing solution for punchneedle and other fibers available in Slightly, Regular and Extreme concentrations. I purchased mine at the local quilt shop.  She was more that happy to order it in for me.


Lastly, this old, tin Pic-a-nic Basket is my work basket for this project.  It  holds a good amount of thread, wool scraps and do-dads for ornamentation, along with the project, needles, applique scissors and thread snips.  The great thing about this Pic-a-nic Basket is that it has little "breath holes" in the back so that the wool can breath!  The needles I am using are Piecemakers Chenille #22.  They are sharp and have a large eye.   Not my most favorite needle for this type of project, but they do the job, and that's what was in my bag I grabbed to go on vacation.
The last pic shows a few of the blocks from my "Farmers Wife".  I hope to do about 6 to 10 blocks a month.  Four down, and I didn't bring all the template patterns with me, so I need to do some math and do some figuring before I do a few more blocks.

4 comments:

  1. very nice. I like your block so far. Are you having any problem holding that large block? Also did you put the muslin or batting next to the wool?

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  2. Awesome, Debra. It's really starting to take shape. I think you'll probably add more embellishing as you get more done. It's going to be amazing.

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  3. Wow!! Debra, your work is just gorgeous!! This will be a heirloom someday! I have to practice my stitches before I can get stitching!! Thanks for sharing!! I am inspired to get back at it!!
    Take care!
    Paulette

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  4. Things look terrific. What kind of thread did you use for the embroidery on the edges of the wool? I haven't had enough free time to start my project just yet. I am hoping to find some time in the next week.

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