JudithA wrote:
That is how I was planning to construct my houses—doing as much as possible before attaching to the background. Do you plan to extend the house body up to the top of the roof? By doing this, I figure I can add ‘roof shingles’ ahead of time and make it all one unit. Then again, I could do the embellishing on just the triangular roof and attach to the background when the house is done. Less weight and bulk. Today I drew out some ideas for windows, doors and roofs including doing some reverse appliqué on the windows and doors.

Carole

I am going to wait to decide on the background for my wool applique houses until after I have made some of the wool applique houses.
i read in Wendy's book that she likes to construct her wool applique objects as much as possible as a unit. She builds them in layers with embroidery stitches. When the applique is constructed, she likes to audition them on different backgrounds as she works to see which background works best with them. In her book, some of her projects have wool applique on linen and some on cotton print backgrounds, and some are on wool. I like the idea of constructing the wool applique houses first and then auditioning the background.

One advantage to wool felt is that you can do reverse applique for the windows and doors. Just cut it and stitch it down. No seam allowances to fool with. I am still needle-turning my Afternoon Delight. I am ready for something more casual.

Thank you for telling about the Valdani.

Stay safe. Happy stitching. Judy

Just bit the bullet and ordered my 100% merino wool felt! Once I have that in hand, I’ll order my linen background. Freezer paper sheets are in the mail from TQS, so I’ll be busy printing and cutting out templates when that arrives. I’m going to copy each piece separately (house body, roof, windows and doors) so I can print multiples on a sheet. Fingers crossed that my vision works out!

JudithA wrote:
Judy, Thanks for those sources for linen. I’ll check them out. I’ve ordered some samples from a shop I found on Etsy that is in the next state from me. Are you going with a solid color?

My most local shop that carries Valdani is Camp Wool in Kennebunk, Maine. They don’t have an online store, however, I would guess they would ship to you if you called. Their price was $5 per ball. Good luck!

Carole, You asked about linen.
I ordered a few swatches of linen from fabric.com and from fabricwholesaledirect.com. It is 54" wide and would not have to be pieced to make a whole-cloth quilt the size of Wendy's Round The Garden. She said she trimmed the center background to 53.5",


If anyone knows of a good source for Valdani perle cotton, please let me know. I want colorfast thread.

Happy stitching!

Judy

JudithA wrote:
Hi Judy, I'm going with wool felt that I'm ordering off a store on Etsy. In fact, I just figured out what I need. Yikes! My Valdani thread inventory is small, so I'll be making a trip to a store about an hour away once I get the felt in hand so I can match up colors. They sell their Valdani for less then what I've seen online. Road trip! Haven't attempted to dye wool myself. Need to go with baby steps for my hubby's sake.

Where did you get your linen? That's another thing I need to find. I think I've decided on adjusting the pattern to 65% or ~45" square. That might change depending on what I can find for linen.

So glad I found this community! So much for cleaning the house!

Best,
Carole

Nhbaskets,
I really like your wool houses. Your blanket stitching is perfect! I have a small set of Valdani perle cotton. Valdani is gorgeous!
I have made a few flannel quilts. Flannel quilts with cotton batting are very heavy. If you decide to go with flannel, I recommend wool batting; it is lighter and will show more definition. I would always preshrink flannel, because even the best quality quilt-shop flannel I have purchased usually shrinks. Flannel sometimes pills with handling.
I am planning to go with a linen whole-cloth background. I have never done that before. I want to see what appliquing on linen is like.
The Wendy Williams wool applique pattern I bought calls for size 8 perle cotton or size 12 perle cotton, and size 5 perle cotton for a few exceptions.

I am collecting threads also. A few years ago I bought some size 12 Sew Sassy thread from Superior. . It has a wide variety of colors. I am going to try that also. Will see.

I have a few more colors of wool felt to dye. I need more lights. In looking over my dyed wool pieces yesterday, I noticed that they are nearly all deep darker colors, except for just a few lighter ones. The yellow wool sticks out like a sore thumb!

Happy quilting everyone!!!
Judy

HelenW wrote:
I was thinking about cutting into the inside road to add lawns with green wools, then embellish with flowers and such. So much fun!

nhbaskets wrote:
NHbaskets, That is really interesting that you mention a yellow brick road. I mentioned that idea to a quilter about a month ago, when they introduced the pattern that would
be this year's BOM. At that time I was debating on batiks or flannel with a folk art look. The flannel I went with instead of batik is making me think my road will become a front yard lawn for my
houses. What is a black section with the white stripe would become a variety of greens flannel rectangles. Then maybe some flowers like Wendy Williams did in her ring of flowers in Round The Garden pattern. I bought that one, just to see how she did a whole cloth. You mentioned you might go smaller to 65 or 60%. I am doing 60%. It would
make the wall hanging around 41 inches. Another option to reduce size is modify the 5 inch border that goes around the main body of the quilt. Smaller or leave it out. HelenW

HelenW wrote:
So kind of you! Yes, I figured I would get the small houses cut and stitch windows and doors. Once the compass and inside road is released, I can attach the small houses. Thank you Barbara for providing the monthly schedule! Planning on doing everything in wool appliqué except for background and maybe roads. Will have to see what pattern looks like for those. Maybe I could do a yellow brick road!

For planning purposes:

February Mariners Compass
March Small Houses 3 + 4
April Trees
May Roads
June-September Tall Buildings 1-4
October Little Houses in the City
November 2 skyscrapers
December 2 skyscrapers and assembly. NOTE: December releases November 1 so those who joined 11/1/2020 will be able to get ALL the patterns without renewing— though surely they will want to renew.

No, I won’t be giving out any measurements in advance.

Nhbaskets. I thought you did the blanket stitch by machine. It is so perfect. If you go with whole cloth does that mean your center Mariners Compass will be applique too , like Wendy Williams did her flying geese in Round The Garden. Since the progression of months do not go from center out you would need to wait for Feb for the compass and what ever month will be the inside road. You could cut out all 32 small house 1 and2 parts as a trade off for staying on time line. HelenW

HelenW wrote:
Thanks, Helen for the encouragement! I used Valdani 8 and 12 pearl. I think I read that Wendy prefers 8 so the stitching shows up, but on smaller pieces I think 12 might work better. At this point, I’m leaning towards whole cloth. I reduced pattern to 75%, but might go down to 65 or 60% to cut down on weight and fabric. As I’ve said before, I’m not a quilter, and truth be told, my sewing machine is 40 years old and hasn’t been used in at least 30 years.

nhbaskets wrote:
NHbaskets, Your houses look perfect. Love the embellishment stitching on the windows. What size blanket stitch did you use? Looks great. Are you doing it as a whole
cloth quilt or doing a section of like 8 on a background and then cutting the background by making a paper template that would be the right size for a quarter of a circle?
You are off to a great start!!! HelenW