A Rainbow Garden

Block of the Month through Primitive Gatherings

Beginning September 2013 – October 2014

64″ x 74″ cotton quilt with wool qpplique.

Blocks finish at 12 1/2″ x 12 1/2″.

I’ve been looking for a block of the month of a wool project and found it at Primitive Gatherings. This is my first time working on a BOM or even a BOM through the mail so I’m excited to see how it goes.

The BOM fee is $17/month.

Update as of 9/18/2013

(from WIP Wednesday – 9/18/2013 post) The ladies that work at Primitive Garden are very nice and helpful. After a bit of a snafu with my order they shipped the pattern and block pieces on Friday, 9/13/13. I wasn’t expecting it until well – today. But I received it on Monday, 9/16! I do not know who they paid at the post office but that was FAST! For anyone who is considering doing a mail order BOM – try to select something that you have experience in. I realized when I got my package that I have no experience with wool and I had no idea what I needed to do. I realized that with a mail order BOM I just wouldn’t – couldn’t really – get the same help that I expect with an in person – local quilt shop BOM. Well – lesson learned. I should have known that but with the excitement I had with BOM in July and August I wasn’t really thinking about that – I was just excited to have a BOM delivered to me in the mail! But now I have to figure out how to applique wool! I did what any person does in this day and age when confronted with something they do not know how to do – I Googled it. And found out that I probably need a different needle and I need particular thread (or in this case threads). So I emailed the ladies at Primitive Garden and ordered the thread that I would need for this month’s block. Once I have that package, I can start working on this block. I’m a little disappointed that I can’t tear into it now and start working on it but c’est la vie.

A Snippet from my post “WIP Wednesday – 10/30/13“

I’ve slowly been working on this BOM. It was a really slow start. I got my first block in September only to discover that I didn’t have the right thread. I’d never worked with wool before so I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know what kind of thread I needed. So I asked the shop doing the BOM to send me my thread and they sent it to me with my October block. So right off the bat I was a month behind. When I received the thread I enjoyed looking at it and the pieces of wool but I was afraid to cut into it. Again, I had no idea what I was doing. I went online and googled how to applique wool. The method I found and I tried was the following:

Trace patterns (without a 1/4 inch seam allowance) onto freezer paper – I used a lightbox
cut around the patterns – not on the line but just to separate them from each other
Iron them onto the correct color of wool – I had to look at the picture and figure out which piece matched which fabric
cut the pattern and wool on the line to get the exact wool piece
place the pieces onto the background material – I matched the picture to figure out where things go where
use a lot of needles to pin it down

This BOM listed the order of the tread in the instructions they sent for the September packet. I haven’t looked at the October packet so I do not know if this was just done for the first one or will be the case each time. It helps that they list it in order. At first I wasn’t sure what kind of stitch to use. When I applique normally, I’m needle-turning for an invisible stitch. That isn’t something I can do with wool. One, because it’s to thick. Second, because I didn’t cut a seam allowance. Well – even if I did – it would still be too thick to needle-turn wool. 🙂 The instructions said to whipstitch. I’ve always understood whipstitch to be the simplest stitch in stitching two fabrics together but I still thought that the stitch was practically invisible – at least I tried to make it so. I whipstitch when I do my hexies. But nobody taught me this and all my research has been online so it may not necessarily be correct. I tried to applique the wool with the whipstitch being “invisible” but it didn’t come out so well so I made the stitch visible and I think it looks better.

: Rainbow Garden BOM
Block #2 (September 2013)
Unfinished

: Rainbow Garden BOM
Block #2 (September 2013)
Unfinished
Close Up

This process has been a real enlightenment for me working with something new. I’m almost done stitching it. I’ve got the large leaves and the stem left to do and the last step is to embroider. I’m not sure yet what that entails as the only embroidery I’ve done is the bit I have to do with Raining Cats and Dogs. But while I’m stitching I realize that this is an art that doesn’t need to be precise and maybe that’s why there isn’t specific instructions on how to do it. You pretty much have to look at it and do whatever looks right to you. This is so different than appliqueing with cotton fabric which has to be very precise. I have to consciously let go of wanting to be precise and just do what I think looks right.