I love Wool Felt!

I am almost at the point where I could be happy just working with wool felt. The colors are pretty, stitches looks great whether they are machine embroidered, machine stitched, or hand stitched. No ravely raw edges. Maybe it is a throw back to childhood craft projects. Years ago I ordered some 100% wool felt from Martha Stewart's web store. I remember it came with some patterns for Christmas stockings. For the longest time I couldn't bring myself to cut into it - it was that beautiful. Well, I got over just looking at it and then started to look around because my stash was dwindling. I found the Wool Felt Central web site and they carry all the colors, and I also discovered that Sew Complete in Eau Claire also carry quite a few of the best colors. I was back in business! Even though the felt I am buying now is part wool, part rayon, it is still very fun to work with. The above little quilt I made for a quilt challenge. The theme was "Baby It's Cold Outside". It is made with appliqued squares sewn on with the blanket stitch in black thread. The snowflakes were embroidered on my embroidery machine. Big red rick rack is tucked between the two backgrounds (rick rack is also a favorite of mine - so cute!). It was a charity fund raiser and the little quilt went for a good amount of money! I was pleased and also pleased that I won viewer's choice. I guess maybe there are others out there that like felt and rick rack. I am working on a new wool felt project, and it is turning out great. I can't really show you a picture yet, because it may become published and I don't want to ruin the surprise! Just know that I am having fun with my big pile-o-felt and lots of colors of King Tut Superior Thread. I promise you will get to see the results soon. Jerilynn

I Predict a New Studio in My Future!

Yeppers, today we learned our cabin expansion is a go! This means more bedrooms/bathrooms for all of our kids and grandkids and family and friends and also a big studio for me! (Oh, of course it can be a big bunking room for bedroom overflow, but I prefer to think that it is just for me!) Anyhoo, it will be a fun project for us and Carl is very much looking forward to getting busy. Once the addition is all buttoned-up, he will take over doing the rest. Once it is all done I will really need to be productive...ideas and patterns for sale!!!

So, here are the promised addresses for the things I mentioned in yesterday's post. The new quilt shop owned by the sisters in Nebraska: ilovesewingonline.com Love their darling name in print. Cath's address is onewildernessroad.com. She is the Pfaff lady and the EQ7 lady. Drop her a line. The new stuff I bought for handbags can be found on byannie.com and it is called Soft and Stable. I think that is all I needed to tell you. Let me know if I forgot something.

Today's photo is a handbag that is the same shape as the one from yesterday, but it is made using embroidered squares that I designed on the Bernina V6 software. I have done other color combinations and all are well-received.

Thanks for the visit. Jerilynn

PhD in Threadology !!

Day Three at the School of Threadology was fabulous! Gush, gush. Seriously, what a great experience this has been. I learned so much, not only from the wonderful teachers, but from the other students. One lady, Cath, is a Pfaff educator and had a ton of Creative Vision hints that she shared with me. She also has a EQ7 club on her website, so as soon as I find her card I will let you know her address and you can go visit her site. I sold a few of my patterns to other students, and a newish store from Nebraska gave me an order for some to fill when I get home. I will also check to see if they have a website you can visit. Two sister, Marchia and Deanice. They were having so much fun, enjoying each other and all the information. I hope their quilt shop is a huge success. I think the name is I (heart - imagine a cute heart shape here) Quilts. I will find out for sure. This afternoon we played with some new stuff that Patterns by Annie is carrying. It is a fabric covered foam type stuff that is great for handbags and other items that needs some padding and some stability. We made a quick notebook cover that we could stitch all over using the fun Superior Threads. Of course, I still don't have a camera, so that picture will have to come later. We were also shown a good applique method with their fusible thread. A student demonstrated a binding method by a lady at Quilter's Touch. I must hop over to her site to check out her book on it. It uses yarn and wash-a-way thread and a edge stitch foot. Very cool. At the end of the day we had "graduation" and my name was called first! Maybe that means I am the Valedectorian! (Or maybe they knew that Carl was waiting for me). Anyway, I got a wonderful certificate, name spelled correctly (thank you to the fabulous Ricci!) I am now prepared to tell the world about threads and needles! Oh, funny thing this morning at the hotel in St. George, Utah. When I went to get breakfast the room was PACKED with people wearing nametags! I glanced at one and it said "Homespun Tours"....from CHIPPEWA FALLS! What a small world. Okay, another non-thread class related picture today. This is the bag version of the Penny Rug Tablerunner. No pattern for it yet, but I probably should work on one. Thanks for stopping by! Jerilynn