Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Christmas houses


It's been awhile since I've woken up in the morning itching to get back to a quilt project before I've even had coffee, but this little wool project almost has me doing that. I still get the coffee first, but then I go directly to my stitching.

It's a pattern called "Welcome to Christmas Town" by Chris Malone. I found it in this current magazine:



The pattern calls for fusing cotton appliqués and then machine embroidering them, but I'm hand-stitching wool appliqué on a cotton background and then I'll hand embroider and maybe add some beads.


I love auditioning different colors! I finally decided on red and pinkish-purple houses with a variety of roof and chimney colors.

Freezer paper patterns are ironed onto the wool.

Usually I pin the pieces down with short appliqué pins, but I used dabs of glue on the skinny tree trunks.


I use one strand of cotton embroidery floss to whipstitch the pieces down, unless I have the right color of Genziana wool thread, then I use that. Sue Spargo uses Genziana in her projects, but it's pretty expensive and I can't buy it locally.


This is where I'm at this morning. (That's a spool of Genziaza.) Now the challenge is to take enough breaks from stitching so I don't get a stiff neck!


Have a colorful day


6 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Nothing quite like a burst of enthusiasm!

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

I love that you're using a snowflake background... perfect! Glad you have a fun project to get you going each day, and I look forward to seeing the finished piece!

Lynda said...

Sweet!

Angela said...

Looks great!

Robbie said...

Adorable!!!

JudyC said...

Love your project and your posts. This looks like fun! Anyway you'd share your Pumpkin Bread recipe? I need a hostess gift for Thanksgiving and it was so delicious.