I’ve Gone Wool Crazy!

Wool Crazy is sweeping the nation! JoAnn Mullaly’s book, Wool Crazy has inspired many mild-mannered people to start cutting up their wool skirts in order to get material for their crazy quilt blocks!

I saw this book a few months ago, and was really impressed with the color and chaos of this quilt. When Sharon of Liberty Rose decided to teach this as a class, I signed up without a second thought. The bonus part of taking a class with Sharon is that you get to go through her wool stash – so I knew I would be able to create the perfect background for my crazy block:

You start off with a 25″ square piece of batting and muslin for a foundation, and then start adding pieces of wool, working from the center out.  First, the pieces are pinned onto the foundation, and when all the pieces are laid out, each one is stitched down with a tack stitch (in a neutral thread).  This makes it a lot easier when you add the appliques and finish it up with crazy quilt stitches, so you end up with something that will look like this (photo is from JoAnn’s original quilt):

The theme for my first block is going to be holidays, which is one reason why I selected so many different types of colors.  The background needed to compliment holidays of all seasons (not just fall and winter).  It took about 4 hours for me to place the wool pieces (this includes the time I spent digging through Sharon’s stash), and then another 4 hours to stitch the pieces down.  Now that the hard part is over, the fun will begin.  There are already have plans to make at least one more block (and possibly 3 more so I can have a quilt).  Pictures will be posted each month of my project – so be sure to check back!