Applique is my Passion

Crazy Sheep just won the Best in Innovative Quilts at the Road to CA show. Already I am working on a new Crazy Sheep quilt with the addition of trees and shrubs. I am pushing the techniques even further.

Today, I shipped my Crazy Sheep quilt off to Road to California. It is a scary thing to trust that the quilt will arrive in good condition and on time. Since I am writing instructions for a pattern on the crazy quilt stitches and all the embroidered flowers in the borders, I held onto the quilt as long as I could. I had the quilt appraised as the first step. I found my appraiser at The Professional Association of Appraisers. Before I shipped the quilt in a new box, with a plastic bag around it for added protection, I Googled shipping a quilt. I found this article at Mark Lipinski's site. I hope you find it helpful too.

That is what I am all about: details. In my quilts, I want you to spend time looking at the details. Most of you will never see this quilt in person, so it is hard to give a feeling of scale here in this blog. This quilt is not huge, only 52" x 49 1/2" Here are on the some photos of the embroidery stitching in the Crazy Sheep quilt. All the fabrics used are suiting weight wools. When you look closely, there are only about six basic stitches throughout the whole quilt. What's your favorite? Daisy chain? That makes sunflowers, French knots in the centers. Stem stitch? That is useful for stems, of course. Or feather stitch? I used that for stems and leaves, and ferns. Straight stitch? I used that for the petals of the dandelions (lower left). Blanket stitch? I used that for the grass at the bottom of the photo. Satin stitch? I filled in some of the l eaves with that one. The chunks of felted wool behind the flowers make up my stone fence that goes around the she...

Are you ha ving fun yet? It really feels good! My Crazy Sheep quilt got accepted to be in the Road2CA show, and I had i t appraised last week so I can ship it off worry-free. The fun part is finally being finished. I haven’t wanted to add anything to th e quilt since it was appraised. From the time I photographed it for jurying into the show, I must admit, I was still adding some more details. This is new experience for me, since I don’t normally enter shows. I usually don’t have time to work on something as intricate as this quilt. Where did the time come from? The quilt was always calling to me to be working on it; I couldn’t put it down. If you have seen me at any of the shows we did this year, the quilt was with me and usually I was working on it or showing it or explaining it and how it grew from the Woolly Sheep pattern which I designed in 1998 to Crazy Sheep today. Passion has a lot to do with getting quilts finished. It sure beats the alternative: clea...