In 2008, I discovered felting needles and wool rovings. I took our Woolly Sheep pattern and developed it into a wool Crazy Quilt with some of the sheep felted and some just machine appliqued. The quilt is made of suiting weight wool fabric. I was wondering what sheep would look like in pin stripes. That is what started me working on this quilt. Then I started embroidering the daisy chains around the necks of some of the sheep, like hippies wore in the 70's. All the hand embroidery was done with pearl cotton thread in size 8 or 12. This quilt was at least two years in the making. Most of that time was spent thinking about what would be the next step. The quilt was completed in December 2009 because I had the goal of entering it into the 2010 Road to California show. My quilt is about 52" square. Yours could be any size you desire.
This quilt just won "Best Innovative Quilt - Other" award at the Road to CA show, 1/13/2010. The category "Other" is where crazy quilt quilts were to be judged. It also won Best Hand Workmansip, and Viewers Choice awards at the Tri-State (NJ, NY and PA) Quilt Show in Somerset, NJ, on March 6, 2010.
This PDF pattern documents, with many photographs, how the crazy quilt backgrounds are made for this quilt and the Sheep Wannabees, how to stitch all the variations of hand embroidery stitches for the crazy quilting and the embroidered flowers, and includes the instructions you need to make felted portraits for the cornerstones. Each of the 34 numbered pages has photos in overview and close up detail. You can print the whole pattern, or just the pages with the stitch instructions. Of course you may decide to use a different Critter Pattern Works pattern and adapt it for use with these techniques. I love breaking rules!
The Woolly Sheep are the drawings I used for critters in this quilt. These drawings are not duplicated in the Crazy Sheep PDF. I also included two sheep in the PDF which are additions to the sheep in the Woolly Sheep pattern. If the idea of a crazy quilt and sheep appeals to you you will also need the Woolly Sheep pattern, but other patterns come to mind that you might want to try in wool and crazy quilting: Carousel Critters, Long Haired Cats, Crustaceans, Llamas, Goats...Cat Faces....
In December 2009, I started making the next quilt with the leftover wool fabrics. It is called Sheep Wannabees, since there will also be other animals, not just sheep. In the month and a half of working on this quilt I added some of these details to this PDF: trees and bushes and the techniques for them are included as well, and I changed the seams that go from side to side. They are not regular seams, but raw edged overlapped fabrics, created an undulating effect of hills. This is an original idea, undulating seams in a crazy quilt. I love pushing the envelope. You can watch the Sheep Wannabees as it progresses by hitting the link. There will be a new PDF for that pattern when I finish the quilt.
It is now May 2010 and I have done additional trees and animals (that are included in other patterns). I have collected more different rovings (search for stores that feature spinning supplies) and colors of pearl cotton. The quilt is brighter than the Crazy Sheep which now looks like a more traditional crazy quilt to me, and the Sheep Wannabees looks more contemporary. The additional drawings for the animals other than sheep will be included in the Sheep Wannabees quilt. My goal is to have this quilt finished by the end of September 2010 (and I have no idea what the border will look like!)
