Squash Squad Wool Embroidery: On the Road to a Finish

In Early December 2020, I finished the embroidery for the Squash Squad nine week challenge with Sue Spargo.  Now, I'm on the road to finishing it. I have all the blocks on a black wool background with a three inch border around them. My first step is to stitch them onto the black background. Then a narrow braid / ribbon might be stitched along the seams to hide the edges. 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! The blocks were cut at 5 1/2 inches. If I was doing this again, the blocks would have been at least six - six 1/2 inches square, to give enough for trimming them all to the same size. I didn't think about the fact that stitching sometimes distorts the shape just enough to skew some of the blocks. At least that's what happened to mine. In any case, there isn't enough fabric to stitch them together with a seam.

Have a look. I'm using what I have on hand. Which one to use . . .

The first one has silver lines on the ribbon so has a bit of sparkle.

This one has white dots on black.

Maybe I'll even do something else as I haven't considered a final binding yet. (I just thought about the binding).

Decisions!!!!!!

Stay Safe

Enjoy!!

Squash Squad Stitch Along is Finished!!

Nine weeks of stitching with Sue Spargo is over! I have enjoyed this project immensely. For one thing, I got to practise stitches, that under normal circumstances, I would probably not bother with! So thanks Sue!! 

These blocks are not yet stitched together. That will happen after I finish several Christmas presents. I am planning some more wool applique with vines and leaves, for the border. Stay tuned! It will be in the new year.

The squash used in this project are:

Spaghetti Squash           Long Island Cheese Pumpkin                           Queensland Blue Pumpkin

Baby Boo Pumpkin       Blue Hubbard Squash                                        Knuckle Head Pumpkin

Big Moon Pumpk          Mellow Yellow & Painted Purple Pumpkin      Porcelain Princess Pumpkin

 

Squash Squad Update

I've been making some progress on the 5 1/2 " wool applique, Squash Squad squares, by Sue Spargo. Monday, we start block 8 of 9. My seven blocks are in various stages of finishing. Here's six and seven:

Block 7 - Big Moon Pumpkin

Working on the vine.  Small buttons have to be added.

Block 6 - Knuckle Head Pumpkin

Couching the background woody vines. Small Detached Chains are to be randomly added for the base of the Bittersweet blossom. A small orange seed bead will be added to the base of each detached chain stitch. I also need to add more Raised Cup Stitches to the rest of the triangles.

• Blocks 1 - 4 
• Wool Applique patterns on Pinterest HERE, HERE, and HERE. 
• Using repurposed wool for applique    
• Wool Applique Tutorial    
• Tips and Tricks for Wool Applique
• Wool Applique   

Enjoy!!

90 Stitched Circles - Instastitchwithsue

The 90 Day Stitch Sampler, with Sue Spargo, is finished! It was a delightful experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Each appliqued wool circle had its own unique design that was stitched with a variety of threads. Over 40 stitches were used in the sampler. 

The sampler ended with this little Bluebird:
Love the variegated thread. Note the Drizzle Stitch tail. This stitch gives a lovely dimensional look to the piece. This little bird can be positioned in a variety of ways. I flipped this one to face inward toward the other designs as it was too close to the edge to stitch the way Sue presented it.

The finished sampler. If you click on it, it should get a bit bigger.

Below, is the sampler before it was stitched. You can see the colours of felt I used. In hindsight, the softer colours that Sue Spargo used, would have been easier to work with especially for choosing thread colours. I worked with what I had on hand, the bright wool circles on a black background. 

 

Which is your favorite design?
My granddaughter selected the fox 'because he is cute'. I have several that catch my eye.
Check out my Instagram @jctextileart for lots more photos of the circles. You don't have to be an Instagram user to view the various posts.
Enjoy

My new web site is coming soon with a new blog design that will be linked back to this one.

Hand Embroidered Circles - Instastitchwithsue

Blogger has decided to introduce a change on how we post to the internet. This change in method, is very similar to Word Press, which I am learning how to do. A new web site design, for my work, is coming soon. There will be a new blog on that site which will focus on the work I do in my studio. I will still use this blogger and link it back to the new site. Thanks to my husband for taking on this task.

Below is # 62 from the free stitching with Sue Spargo's, instastitchwithsue from Instagram. This is a Red-Spotted Guard Crab. Since a purple circle was the next one to use, it fitted in with the actual colour of this species of crab.

Stitches for this design include: chain stitch, trellis stitch, bullion knots and French knots.

Here's a few other embroidered little critters. They aren't perfect, far from it. I decided early on that I wouldn't pull out any stitching unless it was absolutely wonky on the eye! Variegated thread often brings its own colour scheme - sometimes when you don't want that to happen. For example, the little green owl has odd colours from the thread used and the lamb has two different leg colours.

Enjoy!!

More Wool Applique

Some eye candy from Saturday's Wool Applique Workshop. Linda Naugler.  I have permission to show them. Sue Spargo designs were used for inspiration.

Needle Case

Needle Case

• Free patterns from Primitive Wool Applique 
• More HERE , HERE,     
• Wool Applique Winter Mat Tutorial  

Wool Applique Workshop

Saturday, I attended a Wool Applique Workshop with teacher Linda Naugler and quilters from the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild. It was a relaxing day with no expectations of finishing a project. It was experimenting with stitches, chatting and seeing what everyone was working on. Here's the projects worked on:

The first bird is part of the teacher handout. We could do this pattern or choose one of our own.  The finished project is a needle case.

This fish is mine. I took the photo early on in the day and I didn't get a chance to take another one.

Tree of Life

January is going out with sunny skies and above freezing temperatures! It's a lovely day outside with no wind here in Pine Grove, NS.

On another note:

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm the librarian for the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild. As a perk of this job, I get to see the newest magazines before anyone else. The latest issue of Quilt Mania, The Quilt Magazine # 135, (which will be at guild on Monday), has a small applique felted wall hanging of a Tree of Life  This one is geared to Valentine's Day. To view a thumbnail sketch of the pattern, go to their site HERE. Scroll down and click on the picture to make it bigger. When I glanced at this particular pattern, I immediately thought that it could be adapted for various occasions such as Easter, Christmas, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Birthdays etc by adding pieces of Velcro to the background and to the small shapes to be used. It can be as simple or as complicated as you wish!The skies the limit!

 

See a few other trees of life HERE, HERE and HERE (this link has printables)

Enjoy!!

Mug Rugs

A Mug Rug is an oversized coaster, perfect for a cup of tea / coffee and a snack, or a glass of wine and some crackers. What a great way to use up scraps or maybe an orphan block that didn't get used in the last quilt! Not only that, these 'rugs' are perfect to practise various quilting techniques without spending mega time on a larger project. You can practise free motion stitching, paper piecing, hand quilting, putting on a binding, exploration with colour . . . You get the idea. And - what great gifts!

There are several tutorials and patterns online just follow the links:

1. The Curious Quilter has a basic quilted mug rug tutorial
2. Tutorial from Ryan Walsh Quilts
3. A stitched one from Hugs From Helen
4. Inspiration mug rug photos from Poppy Print (scroll down)
5. Quilted mat with pockets from the Sewing Web
6. Wool Applique autumn mug mats from DMC threads
7. Oval Mug Mat from Crafty Staci
8. Mug Mat Ideas using paper piecing but I think applique would work too.
9. Tea for Two from Sew Mama Sew

I tried to get a sample of the various types of mug mats / rugs. However I didn't include knitted or crocheted ones. You are on your own for those types.
Enjoy!

This Mug Rug is the logo for Post Espresso Coffee Shop, 168 Water Stree, St. John's. I made this for my nephew, the owner. Check out the new opening hours. The other small mats were made for Christmas presents.