Wool and Winter

We're in the middle of a winter snow storm and it is welcome and beautiful.  Yes, that's me out on the lake in front of our home.

What is it about winter and wool?  I have always loved wool - wool sweaters, socks, blankets and of course working with wool fiber.  There is nothing like the feel and look of hand dyed wool felt and I dye my own wool for applique. 

While the recent holidays took time away from working on my book and doing applique, I didn't let it go completely;  I can accomplish a lot in short time periods. 

I started my 9" x 12" little quilt for the Alzheimer's Quilt Project and have most of the hand applique finished.  I will add embellishments and an appliqued leaf border maybe, but I haven't decided on that yet.  It's nice to have a small project to work on.

When I first started doing wool applique, I used DMC Perle Cotton to hand stitch my appliques.  Now I use  DMC Broder Medicis. It's wonderful to work with.   DMC had discontinued making this thread, but a substitute is now available.

 This is a traditional blanket stitch, but you can also just do an overcast stitch when working on wool felt as the edges will not fray.  I have also stitched wool applique by machine.

A pillow I designed and appliqued using hand dyed wool and medici wool thread.