madewithmartingale – Snuggles Quilts

Hi! Welcome to Snuggles Quilts for my stop on the Text it! blog hop. If you’ve never been to my web site, feel free to poke around. I am a scrap quilter that loves to use fabric and wool applique in many of my designs. You can view them here in my shop. I blog weekly about quilting sharing tips and tricks I use while making my creations. You can sign up for my blog feed and also my monthly newsletter on my home page. And, most importantly, you will become very familiar with my studio companion, Addie the cat, if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Sherri Noel’s book, Text it! has so many fun projects, I had a hard time choosing the one I wanted to make. Then I saw the 1 Sheep quilt and I knew immediately that I wanted to make it. I love applique and I also like doing wool applique on fabric so I thought this would be a great project for me.

Here’s my finished quilt:

In Sherri’s book, the sheep is created using fabric applique, which I love to do as well, but I thought I would make my quilt with wool pieces, for the sheep’s body, appliqued to fabric to make him extra fuzzy!

I hunted through my drawers of wool and pulled out a variety to use as the sheep’s body, head and legs. I think I found some that works well with the background.

On to the creation….. I use fusible web in my wool applique so the next step was to trace my templates on the fusible web and then fuse them to the selected pieces of wool. If you want to learn more about my wool applique process, I have a blog post here that gives you some tips. Also, I have two stitching tutorials here and here.

Next up was to use my design wall to layout the sheep body. This was the fun part. Shifting around the wool circles to get the color distribution I wanted. I used small pins to anchor things in place so it was easy to move them around. Once I had the layout I liked, I followed the manufacturers instructions for the fusible web and fused my design to the fabric.

Now it was time to stitch! For wool applique, I use chenille needles, size 22 or 24, Valdani Perle Cotton, size 8 (usually neutral colors) and I always have some Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it on hand in case the pieces I have fused to the background fabric by ironing lift a bit during stitching.

Ahhhh… this is where the fun starts ….. dealing with my studio friend while trying to stitch….

Once I managed to get the design stitched to the background, I pieced and attached the checkerboard border and machine quilted the quilt. I used an overall loops and stars meandering design in the center portion of the quilt and then a leaf design in the border. Here’s a blog post I did on machine quilting tips.

Here’s close up of the quilting:

So now it’s time to tell you about the prizes in the giveaway! One lucky blog reader will win a copy of Sherri’s book, Text it! to make these fun projects! Unfortunately, this prize is only available to participants in the US (laws beyond our control). However, there is also a chance to win 2 large spools of Aurifil thread that can be shipped anywhere in the world! I am also drawing a winner to receive a pack of my most recent pattern releases. To be entered in the drawing, leave me a comment on whether you have a special sewing companion or, if you don’t have a pet, your favorite quilting technique. Be sure to mention in the comment if you are a US resident so it will be easier to determine who is eligible for the book drawing.

I wish to thank Sherri for letting me take part in this blog hop. It’s been so much fun and I enjoyed making this project so much, I’m going to make others from the book too! You can order the book from Amazon, Martingale or get a signed copy of Text it! directly from Sherri.

Below is the blog hop schedule for the whole hop. Feel free to go back and visit the blogs you’ve missed because the drawings will not take place until after the hop is over! *** We Have our winners! Congrats Joyce, Jen and Jennifer! You’ll be getting an email from me with details.****

Happy Quilting & Hopping!
Deanne

MONDAY MARCH 4 –

BEE HAPPY PAMELA JANE MORGAN – WWW.MYSWEETLITTLESTITCHES.COM

SHARON LILABELLE LANE – WWW.LILABELLELANECREATIONS.COM

TUESDAY MARCH 5 – INFINITY Quilt

LAURA PILAND – WWW.SLICEOFPIQUILTS.COM

LEANNE PARSONS – WWW.DEVOTEDQUILTER.COM

KATIE MUTER STARCHER – WWW.KATIEMAEQUILTS.COM

WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 – PILLOW TALK

KATE COLLERAN – WWW.SEAMSLIKEADREAM.COM

CHERYL DAINES BROWN – WWW.QUILTERCHIC.COM

DORIE HRUSKA – WWW.FOREVER-QUILTING.COM