A Little Happy Sew Along ~ Home Sweet Home Mini Quilt ~ Introduction

I'm so excited to today to finally reveal my next 'A Little Happy Sew Along ~ Home Sweet Home'! Thank you so much for baring with me, I know I've been sharing sneaky peeks of this on social media for what seems like months!

Just like I did for the Christmas Sew Along, I'll be sharing the FREE pattern along with step by step instructions on how to make it,in weekly blog posts starting on Friday 3rd March....... how does that sound?

For my version I have used a gorgeous combination of Essex Linen, Mochi Dots, Frou Frou Cotton Lawns, Chambray and Woven Wool......PLUS I've added some pretty lace, velvet ribbon and a shell button.....so it has lots of interesting textures and the colours are so lovely and rich.......perfect for some winter stitches!

The finished quilt measures 15" square.

I know many of you have already pre-ordered a kit, which, with the exception of the threads, contains all the fabric, trims, wadding and backing fabric required to make your own version, just like mine.  If you contacted me to reserve one of these, expect an email from me later today.   Don't worry if you haven't pre-ordered, we will have a some additional kits available to order HERE.  These will all be posted later this week.

Obviously this project would also be an excellent opportunity to do some scrap busting, so go and gather!  Cutting instructions will follow in the first Sew Along post on the 3rd.

All of the hand stitches on mine were made using Aurifil Lana Wool, which if you haven't used before is a dream to sew with.  I use it for all my wool felt projects too.

I have put together a Thread Pack which contains the 11 colours I used and I'll also list all the individual thread colours in the Scrummy Supplies list at the bottom of this post, so if you already have some in your stash, you can add them separately.  I do appreciate they are an investment, but rest assured, once you've tried them there is no looking back.  Embroidery floss, would be a great alternative.

For those of you who have followed me for a while, will remember some of these appliques from my Little Kitten Homemade days.  The little toadstool house was one my best sellers and I really enjoyed recreating this version in woven wool rather than in wool felt.  (If you're stash busting and don't have any woven wool....don't worry, wool felt would look fab!)

So what's woven wool? I hear you ask.......... it's best described as a piece of fabric, with a weft and warp, just like normal cotton fabrics, but rather than cotton is made from 100% wool thread.  When it arrives at the shop it is gorgeously soft and would be lovely to use for many sewing projects......but to make it suitable for applique as in this project, it needs washing and drying to turn it into felted wool.  For all the kits that we're selling, I have carefully washed and dried the wool it at home so it's soft and plump and good to go!   The biggest difference for me between woolfelt and woven wool and what makes it aesthetically pleasing, is that it retains the woven texture and whilst it has been felted, there is still a teeny weeny bit of fraying caused by the threads, but for me this just adds to the charm!

So here's the schedule........

Week 1 ~ Friday 3rd March ~ Cutting Instructions and Piecing the Background

Week 2 ~ Friday  10th March ~ Appliques and Embroidery

Week 3 ~ Friday 17th March ~ Finishing Touches

Obviously the aim of the Sew Along as always is to have fun and whilst there is a schedule by all means sew along at your own pace!  Don't worry, this will be a FREE project in the sew along section on the Blog HERE so you can return to it at any time.

As promised, here's a list of the SCRUMMY SUPPLIES I used:

'Home Sweet Home' kit (excluding threads) 

I used Aurifil 50wt thread in #2311 to piece my background

Individual Lana Wool Threads: I used the following colours: #8328 #8083 #8730 #8762 #8950 #8965 #8240 #8225 #8442 #8552 #8551

I hope you fancy stitching along with me!