Felice Quilt Designs

         Colorful threads neatly lined up, draw me in as if I were headed for a butter pecan sundae. I'm sure that if you are reading this newsletter you too are drawn in by colorful thre ads. This obsession goes back to my big box of crayons and packages of construction paper I cherished as a kid and still keep around for the grand kids!       Colorful thread  and need les are usually a topic people bring up when they see my quilts. So, let's discuss this.        Recently I visited with a group of ladies for a class of the Vase of Beauties pattern. Some created it in the colors I used, but the majority used wools of their color choice. I love seeing the personalities the quilts take on through the backgrounds and colors the maker uses. We started talking about stitches and they all mentioned that they were in need of size 8 threads for the stitches we were about to do.    ...

      October was the month for lots of quilt shows, but the one that has been on my bucket list is the Houston International Quilt Festiva l. This show really got my mind rocking and my heart beating! The quilts were beautiful. The vendors had the latest fabrics and it made you feel like you need to run to your sewing room and start something immediately.      Welcome to Texas!       The shopping opportunities were huge. I picked up a wool and cotton palette for the quilt I will start when Tuscany is complete. I'm on the last block, but the biggest one. AND lots more!!!!  (If you are interested in seeing parts of Tuscany you can do that on Instagram or Facebook for Felice Quilt Designs.)      If you have not had the opportunity to go to Houston for this show I recommend it for whatever style of quilt you create. You will see photos of all styles. There was even a wool on cotton quilt with lots of embr...

One More Stitch? That is the question! I love creating detail and texture with embroidery stitches on my wool appliqué quilts. Sometimes the problem is that I get to a point and ask myself, "Is that enough?" If I do not add enough stitches the shape is flat, and if I add too many stitches I may end up with a big blur and an unclear image. Right now I am at that point with the Sunflowers block for my Tuscany Quilt. Perhaps you can help me out. I recently went on a family vacation to the beach with my kids and grandkids and kept pretty busy. It was a wonderful time seeing the grandkids go in the ocean for the first time. Within a few minutes they were boogie boarding with smiles on their faces.  Those smiles were great.  Even baby Mazie and I had a good time watching the birds.  However, there wasn't much time for stitching. I did however contemplate what I would do once I did start stitching. On the trip home I was able to be passenger for a while and s...

It's been a good start to the week. I have been happily creating Poppies.       My quilts as of now have been Seasons, Coral Reef, Yummy Fruits and Eat Your Veggies. I started designing about a year ago. It was time to jump to another subject. This time I'm revisiting our trip to Italy. Any of you who have been there are probably longing to go back and wander the Tuscan hills as I am. Perhaps there's a Tuscany Getaway in the future! Anyone interested?   So, where do I begin? I wander through my hundreds of photos and then work up a folder with what are my favorites. I must pick through those to see which really show a good variety of subject matter and of course COLOR to put into a wool quilt. After deciding on the photos I gather my materials....meaning beautiful colors of hand dyed felted wool and fabrics that go with the theme I have chosen. The cotton fabrics I have picked are by Silvia Vassileva for P&B Textiles. It is called Silvia'...

Hello! I imagine many of you have been outside the past few weeks watching as the landscape changes. I have.  Things are blooming everywhere and I love to take closeup photos of the flowers around me. I am amazed at how detailed each flower is and the translation to wool appliqué and embroidery seems like an easy thing. Here are some recent photos from my garden. Can you think of stitches you would use to reproduce some of the details you see? In my last post I showed you how I use photos to gain ideas and also details. Today I will show you "Yummy Fruit", the final wall quilt. I had taken some time off from stitching to write up the pattern for this and also "Eat Your Veggies". Both are on my website if you are interested in a pattern. www.felicequiltdesigns.com   Yummy Fruit Eat Your Veggies Tuscany corner block I have designed a new piece and it will be a larger one than what I have created before. It includes many of the photo...

     Good Afternoon! It's Tuesday and we had a beautiful sunny, high of 50 degree day yesterday, however today is very gray. Our new weatherman on the local TV station mentioned rain for today. So far, there's no rain but I'm not rushing out the door as I did yesterday to get out in the sun and get things done around town.       How's the weather where you are? Any signs of flowers coming up? I can't wait. Love my flowers!      Flowers and living things are on my mind recently, but the focus is on Italy. I travelled there a few years ago and would love to return sometime, especially to Tuscany. Memories of winding hills, vineyards, flower boxes in windows, hillside towns with amazing doors and stone work are images I think of. You all know the colors that shout Tuscany. Burnt orange, deep and light greens, blue Tuscan skies, sunflower yellow. I could go on.      Since there isn't a trip planned in the near future I decide...