I'm A Cover Girl!

Well, okay, not me... but my design is on the cover

of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine - Volume 10.

I just received my advance copy today and I was 

so thrilled!

I can't show the design yet but you can be sure I 

will once the magazine hits the newsstands.

If you look inside you will also find a quilt I made

using the applique block I designed.

Stay tuned!

Working With Wool/Felt: Changing Colors

I've been working on making new samples

for my wool applique lecture that I give at

Guilds and Quilt Shops.  This is my Grand

Isle pattern made from felted wool.

Here is the same pattern made with wool

felt.  Wool felt is the easiest way to applique.

And here is another one made with wool

felt.  I love that changing the colors can 

make it look like a completely different 

piece!

I'm using this one in my studio this week

for Halloween.

THE HUNT FOR RED (...and yellow, and orange, and maybe some purple) OCTOBER

We are having a glorious Autumn here in 

the American Midwest.  We live in an area

known for beautiful leaf color in the Fall but

this year seems to be particularly beautiful.

I have heard that it is a combination of 

temperature, sunlight and soil temperature

that makes the leaves so vivid.

In this area, people who go out to see the

Autumnal color are called "leaf peepers".

For the past two weeks we have been trying to

figure out when the "peak" of the color will be.

On our days off we would make plans to go

out for a drive to see the foliage but each time

it was very overcast or raining and that doesn't

make for good photos.

I hike in these woods every day and for the 

past week I have forgotten to bring my camera

on my hikes.

Today we were off and the sun was out finally.

It was a perfect Indian Summer day, the temperature

reached 75 F!

But sadly, we missed the peak time, many of 

the leaves are off the trees already.

So no sweeping vistas of trees of many colors...

And with the breezy weather we had today,

the leaves will all be down soon.  They were

falling like snow today.

So enjoy these photos of the color I could find 

on my hike today.

The sky was so blue.  As my old friend

Lucie Anne from England used to say,

"that beautiful American blue sky".

From our American Homestead to wherever you

may call home, I hope you enjoy the show from

Mother Nature.

Enjoy Autumn, Winter is coming soon enough.

Wonderful Woolens

The photo above shows the cabinet where I store

my felted wool.  

I have been collecting 100% wool clothing 

throughout the summer.  I cut it up and wash 

and dry it as shown here. This box was filled 

to the brim, I find it is better to save up my 

purchases and felt it all at once, that way I can

separate into different colors and still have a

good amount of wool in each wash load.

This is what it looks like after I separate the

wool after felting.  That's two large tables

filled with wool.

And this is what it looks like after trimming,

pressing and rolling.  I like to roll as much as 

I can so there are less folds to press out when

I want to work with it.  I have now started adding

a paper band around the roll to try to keep it in

place.  In the past, I would just store the rolls side

by side but I found they could unroll and get

messy.  I'll see how this goes...

This is a bin of wool with interfacing still 

attached.  If it is fused strongly to the wool,

I keep it on and use this for backings or

pincushions.

Here is a lucky mistake.  The wool on top is

the original.  A stray piece got mixed in with

the red and pink wool in the wash and look at

the wonderful result on the bottom.  I plan to 

add some tweeds to the red washes in the future

since I liked this so much.  This is a good reminder

of how important it is to separate colors, especially

red!

And now I'm ready to get stitchin' in 

front of the fireplace.

So I have a few questions for you:

How do you store your wool?

How to you keep your wool together (like the paper band)?

Do you do anything differently as far as felting?

This Little Piggie

This is Ruppert, he is one of my toys from when I

was a child.  I was using this today as a prop in a 

photo shoot and as I looked at it I realized it 

reminded me another thing from my childhood.

A person I vaguely knew from my early days found me 

on facebook and presented himself as a nice, funny 

person.  Sadly, he turned out to be, well... a pig. 

 What a way to ruin a toy I used to liked.

Hanging with the Sorority Sisters

Last weekend was the annual Halloween Donor's

Party at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  

Things have been pretty quiet around here for  the

past few weeks and I confess an hour before we 

were supposed to leave, I was still in my jammies.

I was thinking maybe I could just stay home, but 

the Sorority Girls were coming down from Purdue

to meet us and I wanted to see them.

I got myself together and we all met up for a

nice meal and a stroll through the museum.

When our kids were young, we always had a 

membership here and visited often.  It is now

so funny to go when the kids are all grown up.

The best part of the evening was hanging out

with these beautiful young ladies.  They are 

all so sweet and nice and smart!  They are 

studying aeronautical engineering, actuarial 

science, business and education.

We toured all the exhibits including the Haunted

House and ended the visit as we always do with a

ride on the carousel.

This is my favorite horse and I always

try to ride her.  She is decorated with 

my European Folk Art colors.

Thanks Purdue Girls for a delightful evening!