A penny short!

Last spring, I showed you a couple of projects that I was working on (click here to see post) and it took me awhile but I got them finished. Last week I showed you the patchwork table runner and I can cross it off my list with a big check mark. The other item I had started then was this bunny penny rug (pattern available here at Better Homes and Gardens quilt site) you see below. I actually finished it over Memorial Day weekend but didn't post it because......I'll get to why in a minute. Some of you may remember that I recently entered it in the County Fair and mentioned that while it got a blue ribbon, I had a mistake in it. This is a post about "see what I did and then you won't make the same mistake"!!!

My first mistake came when I cut all the pieces. I was careful when I cut them.........or so I thought. There were 18 pennies that were to go around the oval with the bunny in it. Count those pennies.............yep, I'm one short! You see, when I got them all stitched and laid them out around the oval, I realized that I must have cut each one just a little too big and so they didn't fit together well at all. My solution? ....... just take one out and so I did! But you can see that I was stitching every other one in blue or pink Perle cotton. My carefully laid out penny rug was not coming together at all! I finally came up with a pattern that pleased me and I pinned all the pennies in place with safety pins and sewed them all in place.........just like you see here.........

and then I looked at it and realized the oval was at the wrong angle and it may not show too much in this photo but it was obvious in person. Soooooooooooooooo.............I unstitched all the pennies and pinned them all again and within a few days, I had finished it again. :-)

Here's the penny rug with all the pennies placed right (still missing that 18th one). Anyone judging the penny rug might not notice there were an uneven number of pennies and might assume I just meant it to be that way! I like things even and orderly so it sort of bugs me. I really like the little thing, though, because I love the color of the wool. It started as a really nice piece of off-white wool that I painted with SetaColor fabric paints (I bought the product at Michael's). You can use it on cotton, wool and/or woolfelt and you can get some great fabric colors all of your own design.
So, don't do as I did...........count your pennies and carefully cut them. Then pin them even more carefully before you stitch them!
My next post will be a little bit about color and woolfelt. I'm working my way up to dyeing that gorgeous cream white wool I bought last winter.
All for now.........
Sandi

A Wooly Welcome!

I finished up a baby quilt this afternoon and I would love to show you but can't right now. I took pictures but can't post them until the gift is given on Sunday. Then I'll post pictures and some how-to instructions, too. :-)
With my bookshelves organized, I wanted to hang this penny rug above the shelves. I cut a piece of foam core board in a half circle, added a hanger to the back, pinned the rug carefully to the foam core, and I love looking up and seeing this piece.

I made it a few years ago (all wool and used wool floss, too) and it was a shop sample for Eagle Creek Quilt Shop. The pattern appeared in Better Homes and Gardens Century of Quilts publication and is based on a vintage penny rug pattern from 1929. The words "Welcome" were not in the original penny rug nor were they there when I first made the piece. I added the "Welcome" a couple of weeks ago. It always bothered me that I had placed the floral design just a bit too high. No one else seemed to notice but I knew it was not placed right. In addition to being a shop sample, I also entered the penny rug in the local Scott County Fair. That was before they had a penny rug category so it was placed in a class with actual floor rugs. It managed to win a red ribbon and after that year, a penny rug category was added.

On the cover of the Century of Quilts pulication there is a copy of a vintage BH & G magazine. The other day while looking through some things my mother had given me, I found the one in the photo and it is dated 1928! I loved looking through the magazine! I also found a couple other magazines and catalogs and will share those another time.

That's about all for now. I really enjoyed making this baby quilt that I finished today. Good thing as I didn't enjoy learning how to mow the lawn with the riding mower. I am just not mechanically inclined and yet we've been here a year and my husband has been meaning to teach me how to run the thing, so today was the day. Give me a sewing machine and I can make it hum and I am so comfortable with it. The riding lawnmower, not so fine, but at least the lesson is done and I can cross that off my "to do" list!

The winners have been drawn for my One Year Blog Anniversary gifties and the names will be announced on Sunday, the 14th. I'll also be posting about the quilt for Emma's Hope.

Busy day ahead with errands to run and a quick trip to the grocery store. Then I must get to baking a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for something really special that is happening on Saturday. My lips are zipped now, but I'll tell you all about it on Saturday. I love to build suspense and create surprises. :-)

Sandi

Spring Tulips are growing in my sewing room!

I must have a gazillion projects in progress but the comforting part is that I am never bored. This is a good thing because in this land of “winter that won’t end”, I always have something to do!! LOL!! Like today when I started a new project from a pattern I did a few years ago - the tulip penny rug in the picture. I wanted to test my directions so I was working through the project for my Wooly Buddies group.............and so............. I gathered up my supplies………

and after some serious indecision on what wool color to use for the scalloped background ...................... I finally ended up with the piece you see in the picture and it's all ready to stitch. :-) I am liking the colors I chose and will be using some new threads from TheGentleArt to do the embroidery on the penny rugs. I learned of their threads from Jacquelynne at theNobleWife and had to check them out. Their colors are gorgeous and I look forward to getting more colors for a lot more penny rugs that are on the drawing board.
Tulips will also show up in the Seasons of the Heart block for April and the Snowman block, too. As noted last night, I hope to have those available for you by the end of the week. I am a bit behind which is often the case for me because I get involved in so many things. But it's also because sometimes life things go on that don't need to be blogged about but are part of life. So sometimes the road is not always smooth but it makes the journey interesting. I am just glad to be blogging, to be able to stitch both projects and stitch together new friendships. My kids are doing well and so is my mom and I get to see my grandson more since we moved here. I am blessed. Thanks to all of you who seem to enjoy reading my blog.

It's that time......light's out!

See you tomorrow.
Sandi

"Connecting Hearts"

I'm here! Took a couple days off to just focus on family things, cleaning, laundry - you know all the stuff that just repeats, and then some fun stuff - Valentines!! Can't really show you anything at the moment as it will spoil the surprise for some of my stitching friends.
Hearts have been on my mind all weekend. The local paper was full of ads for restaurants that are hosting special Valentines Day dinners. And get this - we are going out to dinner on Saturday night for Valentines Day, there is even a reservation and in 40 years that has never happened!!!! I mean, we've gone out to dinner but to know a week ahead of time that we're going is unheard of in our household. I hope we don't get a blizzard next Saturday.
With hearts on my mind, I thought I would share one of my favorite penny rug designs. I designed this one in 2004 and it's called "Connecting Hearts" (© 2004-2009 Sandra E. Andersen) and that's because all our hearts "connect", from family to friends to mom to dad to kids, etc. etc. :-)
I love hearts. After I drew my design, the first penny rug I made was in red and blue for Valentine's Day.

Then I wanted one for my pink bedroom so I chose mauve and teal colors. Both of these penny rugs are made with woolfelt.

I found some lovely wool and created this one which actually looks better in my pink bedroom. I embellished each of the little heart "pennies" with embroidered flowers.

I still wasn't tired of hearts and when I saw this wool plaid, I knew I had to make another one. This is my favorite. It earned a Blue ribbon and a Reserve Grand Champion ribbon at the Scott County Fair. :-)

My daughter, Collette, wanted one and she likes hearts, too, so I had this gorgeous plaid and she got this one for Christmas in 2007. It's reversible. When you flip it over the backside oval is green with plaid hearts all around.

And since I made one for Collette in Christmas colors, I made another one for me that is just a bit different. It's actually finished now, but I had taken a picture of it just prior to stitching the hearts in place so thought you might like to see how I attach the "pennies". Whether it's traditional penny shapes, hearts, or whatever shape that surrounds the main piece, I like to really secure them with pins so that I get them sewn on evenly. You can see in the picture that I pin at the top and then connect each of the hearts with a pin, too. I take needle and thread and stitch in and out between the layers and secure with a couple of stitches at each connecting point. If you'd like to know more about penny rugs or wool applique, check out my Wooly Buddies group. It's a Yahoo group and so if you click here you can find out how to join.

It's a late one tonight so I best get off to bed.

Sandi