SHEEP WITH A BEAUTIFUL WOOL PENNY BLANKET

BAA, BAA, White sheep have you any wool?  Yes sir, Yes sir, 4 blanks of wool.  Penny, Penny how colorful you are, making my blanket so beautiful and full.  These beautiful ewes are free standing and are weighted to stand up right.  The ears and tails are made from velveteen, they have button eyes and carry a velvet heart that says,"I love ewe".

7 WAYS TO HOW TEXTURE CAN ADD DEPTH AND INTEREST TO YOUR NEEDLE PUNCH PROJECT

1. The beginning technique for texture is the wool applique.  The angel body, sheep, and tree trunks are all wool applique.
2. The second technique is the use of the dark wool on the trees to frame the angel and sheep and the use of dark blue to make them seem lost in the woods.  The dark colors make the angel and sheep reseed behind the trees.
3. The third technique is the needle punch.  The wings have 2 different lengths punched to create depth.  The back of the wings are punched at Level #1 and the feathers are punched at Level #2.  The leaves are punched at level 2 to make them stand out more.  The background is punched at level 1 to make the sky reseed. 
4. The forth technique is the use of varigated thread in the background that is punched in a circular pattern to help create the effect of motion.
5. The fifth technique is the multi media painted board that the piece is mounted on.  It has many layers of paint and paper to create texture.  
6. The sixth technique is a braid around the needle work to separate the piece from the board.
7. The seventh technique is the metal piece on top to give it style.

The pattern for this piece is in the Needle Punch and Primitive Stitch magazine.  

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WOOL PROJECTS

WOOL IS SUCH A WONDERFUL FABRIC TO WORK WITH BECAUSE it doesn't ravel if it has been felted, it has body to it that enables it to except all kinds of torture from the needle allowing you to embellish it to your hearts content, and when you applique it on top of lets say cotton it stands out as a picture of it's own.

The idea for this piece came from the scriptures that talk about the lamb of God.  Capturing the image of Christ praying and looking toward the sky is why the rams head is stretched upward and his body stands stretched upward.  To give added color and interest to the piece there are wool pennies surrounding the ram.  To give depth to the piece and to finish out the piece there is a antique red needle punch frame surrounding the wool applique.  The piece really looks nice framed on a wood plate that came from Hawaii.

This is the finished appliqued ram.  It looks great with the pennies surrounding the ram.  They give color and interest to the ram.  To add a little more interest and to frame out the image, the ram has been sew down to weavers cloth for needle punching.

Turn the piece to the back of the weavers cloth.  This will be the guide line for where to punch needle close to the wool piece. Measure out 1/2 inch from these lines all the way around.  That will be your frame measurements.

This picture is the first round of needle punch outlining the wool appliqued ram.  From here I have marked 1/2 inch out from the red line to punch out the frame.