Wooly Sheep

Here is a picture of my completed "Wooly Sheep" top. The design is by Rachel Pellman. It is a small wall hanging (approximately 13" x 15" finished). The applique is wool. I used matching thread and the applique stitch for all of the applique. If you look you can see the stitching, but it isn't real obvious like it would have been if I would have used a blanket stitch instead. The piece is sandwiched and ready for quilting. I'm going to hand quilt it. Not quite sure if I will do big stitch quilting on it or not....although I think it would really add to it.

Finally got the penguin in the wash and felted. Didn't have quite enough stuffing though. Had just enough to shape it. It's now drying. It is defnitely one of the larger felted critters I have done so far. And also a wonderful example of how the different wools felt. The white used was a merino/silk blend yarn. Felted very nicely. No stitch definition whatsoever. The yellow/orange was a polypay-cross wool yarn. This, too, felted rather nicely....although there is a touch of stitch definition if you look closely. Now the black that was used was Shetland (knitted with a strand of eyelash yarn). This felted with some stitch definition. It could have used a second run through the machine in order to have little to no stitch definition. There won't be a second run through the machine though. The other wool yarns felted so nicely the first time that I don't want to take the chance on them felting too much. Besides with the Shetland yarn having felted like it did, the finished penguin feels so incredibly soft and huggable. And since there is no polyfil wanting to peek out anywhere......why mess with it any further.

I did start on a second penguin. This one is being done using a blue mohair/jacob blend yarn (with a matching eyelash yarn). The white I'm using is a Columbia/Dorset blend....while the yellow/orange is a polypay-cross wool yarn. It will be interesting to see how the different yarns felt up.....once I get to that point, that is. Why did I start on another penguin? Well, my yarn basket is over-flowing and the first one was so much fun to do. So I figured "why not!"