Rolling in the New Year with New Fall Designs!

I know it seems strange to work on autumn designs when we just celebrated the new year, but for those of you starting early on summer craft shows or getting a jump on holiday crafting, it's never too early to get stitchin'!  I'm working on several new fall designs for the May 2012 Quilt Market in Kansas City, Missouri, and I'm sharing a few sneak-peeks at a yummy Halloween candle mat I'm designing just in time for that show.  It's approximately 15" across and soooo easy and fun to make. Problem is, I tend to be a little piggy and can't keep my worktable clean (the mess gets worse as you work down through the pictures). Does your worktable ever look like this?!?

Here's another shot as I began to pick colors for the mat.  So many decisions!  I cut and re-cut and let my coffee get icky and cold . . .

. . . and then the design began to come together . . .

. . . until finally, I made some true progress (and a horrible mess!).  All the little pieces are only temporarily resting in place and haven't been finally positioned or tacked down, but I think you can begin to see how the finished design might look.  I took this photo indoors at about 5:30am, so the colors are a bit wonky (the cat's ears and smile are actually purple!), but you can see it's coming along fine!

The model you see in the pictures is made from hand-dyed wool (mmmmm, wool), but the pattern will work perfectly with wool felt you can find in many colors on rolls at the fabric store (much cheaper!).  I have nothing against working with wool felt and have a handy supply of it in my studio in almost every color imaginable.  However, my true love lies with hand-dyed wools and I use them whenever possible because of the beautiful mottling that results from hand-dyeing the animal fibers.

Gotta close now, as I'm off to stitching the jack-o-lanterns and I can't wait to get to the fun part where I add embellishments to their faces and smiles.  I hope to have the pattern ready in a few days as long as my needle and my camera cooperate!  I'll post more pictures as I move along through this project, and if you decide you are interested in being an early bird and getting the pattern before it's released at Quilt Market, just drop me an email at melanie@americanpiedesigns.com and I'll let you know when it's ready.  In the meantime, have a great weekend and a beautiful start on your new year!  --Melanie