Woolie - Fun

I am home for a bit and taking advantage of some studio time and general home time. Feels great to have all my stuff close at hand so when an idea strikes -- the magic begins. Over the last week I've been working on a new project and incorporating some of the fun new products that I found at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. One of the these was Soft & Stable (wonderful stuff -just right density for bag construction and other fun things, too!).

The project came together quickly so I when I got to one of my favorite steps (making a closure) I had a grand time pulling out a woolie from my stash jar and stitching & beading it up. Here's a few snaps that show the way.

(want to make these little woolie's yourself? wool and kits are available on my website)

The Youngest Woolie Maker!

As most of you know one of the techniques I shared in my latest book was how to make small wool objects to embellish up and put on quilts. I have been using these myself for several years and affectionately call them woolies...

Well, while I have been busy this week working on drawings for some new work... and missing fabric just a bit I received this wonderful email from Pam GB-- (I'm just going to copy it here!)

This is miss Sophie who is 6. She will be in first grade. She came to my bee with her Grandmother when I was showing the others how to make woolies. She loved them! She got the process very quickly..except she put lots and lots of roving into each one...not wisps. This is how they came out! We all loved them! She is not sure what she will do with them, but was very happy with the process...except for the fact that they had to be washed and she had to wait to see them. I am sending you her other photo too. Is she the youngest person to make them or are you doing this with lots of kids? Pam GB

The picture was so much fun that I had to ask if I could share it-- Mom said yes, so here is a picture of Sophie.... The Youngest Woolie Maker!


They certainly look GREAT!
Thanks for sharing these with me, Pam & Sophie!

Wooly Gems

I'm off this day to be one of the demonstrators at the Gallery in Whittier where Quilts on the Wall has a wonderful exhibit of work hanging. There will be a gallery walk followed by several of us demonstrating various 'techniques'. I will be showing the process I have been using to create my 'wooly gems', and generally using this as a semi-excuse to make more. They are a lot of fun to make and even more fun to include on my quilts. Hope if you're around, you'll stop by. See yesterdays post below for details and links regarding the exhibit.

Happily Laboring

It's Labor Day, and a beautiful Monday morning it is! Looks like the temp around here today will be slightly cooler making it only to a high of 77. We'll take it... especially after a week of hot & humid.

The weekend so far has been a lot of fun and there has been plenty of time to visit with family and friends mixed in with just enough time for me to 'play' in the fabric. I have been longing for some time to just play and I finally got a chance (and am planning this to continue), so I thought I would share some a bit of what I have going at the moment. The photos here show the piece as it has been progressing.
First, is the pile of fabrics.... then the base quilt stitched up....
with just an idea of the stitching details starting to come into place...
then there is the pile of woolie gem bases that I had a lot of fun felting yesterday...
lastly is a picture that shows a bit of the placement that the woolies will take,


BUT there is a lot more stitching and beading that has to happen first. I'll be getting to the beads somewhere between coffee this morning and the potluck party this afternoon.

Hope you all are having a great, fun holiday weekend as well!
Very Happily Stitchin, ~Rose