The name for the quilt came to me because I wanted to add some other critters which all have sheep envy.    Since I never make the same quilt twice,  I added hand embroidered trees and bushes, and I also changed the seams that go from east and west. They are not regular seams, but raw edged overlapped seams, creating an undulating effect of hills. This is an original idea, undulating seams in a crazy type quilt.  I love pushing the envelope.  Over the raw edge seams I added felting which increased the number of colors in the quilt.  Look how much brighter this quilt is, compared to the Crazy Sheep, which is more subdued. 

Needle felting is not hard to do, with fused appliques it is easy to see where the felting needs to be. If you are allergic to wool, this quilt could be made with cotton fabrics and embroidery.  Just make regular appliques instead of felted appliques. 

Because some time had passed since I worked on the Crazy Sheep quilt, I had the opportunity to increase the number of colors and textures of the rovings (wool fibers) I have purchased and used on the Sheep Wannabees.  Be daring with your color choices.  Animals don't need to be in their natural colors.  It seems that everyone who has seen my Sheep Wannabees likes the blue ram the best.  The more textures you can collect and use, the better.  Some roving colors and textures can be used in either the backgrounds or on the animals.  You might want to consider using wool yarn as yet another texture.  It can be easily felted. I used needlepoint yarn for the dreadlock looking black sheep in the Crazy Sheep quilt, and the white/brown sheep above the Border collie in this quilt.

I didn't know how hard it was to find reasonably priced 100% wool fabric.  Some quilt shops are carrying recycled wool which has been hand dyed.  The weight is very heavy (suitable for coats).  For a larger quilt you will want to collect suiting weight wools, which are not so physically heavy, and also not so dense that the seams make ridges..  I am beginning to offer them, but most people feel more comfortable scrouging around in the back of their closets or in thrift shops and buying up suit jackets and skirts made of wool.  I recommend washing these items in the washing machine to felt them a bit and make sure thery have no moth eggs in them.

What's in the pattern?  You will learn how to felt the 17 sheep (which are the same sheep in the Woolly Sheep pattern) and 39 other critters along with trees and flowers in hand embroidery, in the center of the quilt.  In the border, there at three hummingbirds and you wil learn how to make the five 3-D butterflies, many flowers and leaves. All the 56 critters are felted appliques.  There are many photographs showing all the realistic details. There are 105 pages, if you print in it all out.  I arranged the drawings on their own pages so you only need to print out black and white pages (and never loose a pattern...yeah, the gremlins take stuff around my house too).  The photographs of the individual animals have their own pages to save colored ink.  You don't need to print these.  You can refer to them on your computer. As with all of Critter Pattern Works patterns, you can pick and choose which animal you want to include and make your quilt as large or small as you want.  I chose to make my quilt large as a challenge to myself, just to see if I could do it.  It measures 69" x 69".  I  used Warm & Natural cotton batting and a cotton backing.  I added the batting because it is not a crazy quilt like the Crazy Sheep, and I wanted to be able to enter this quilt in shows. One judge's comment blew me away.  She wished that I had done more quilting on this quilt.  It weighs 6 pounds and I quilted it on my home sewing machine, supported by my dining room table.  Quilting this quilt was a bear.  My suggestion would be to leave out the batting (and some weight) or quilt it on a long arm.

Some of you readers may not know how easy it is to download a pattern.  It is no more complicated than copy and paste.  Once your credit card is approved, you will get an email with a link to pick up the pattern.  Hit the link and you are there.  Hit the download button, and the file gets sent to your computer.  The Sheep Wannabees pattern will be delivered in a zip folder.  Open that and your patterns are ready for you to read or print out. 

I have added another version if you have a slow internet connection: the pattern is now available on a CD to be snail mailed.

Within 24 hours of placing your order for this PDF  pattern, you will receive an email with a link directing you to the download location.

In December 2009, I started making this quilt with the leftover wool fabrics from the Crazy Sheep quilt.  It took me ten months to complete the Sheep Wannabees quilt and it was a labor of love.  My goal was to enter it in the 2011 Road to California show.  I entered it in the "Art Quilt" category and it was rejected! Apparently, it should have been entered in the Innovative Other category like the Crazy Sheep. I entered it in shows in Oklahoma Winter Quilt Show in Oklahoma City OK, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton VA, and World Quilt Festival in Manchester NH and it won blue ribbons at all three. It won a 2nd place ribbon at the 2012 Dallas Quilt Celebration. At the 2012 AQS Paducah quilt show,  it won a Judge's Choice ribbon and cash award, and a hand blown vase made from volcanic ash (it is iridescent). In July 2012, it won a Vewers Choice and a 2nd place ribbon at Maine Quilts.

To make your own kit, choose from the pattern choices,and one of the accesories and put in cart. Then come back from the ordering page and choose "no pattern" and then another accessory from the pull down menu.  This shopping cart missed a day in school when it came to ordering several options.  I will choose the colors from my selections to make you a pretty quilt kit.  Everybodys kit will be different.  Please send me a note if you have a preference like no yellow or pink...The fabrics and rovings change all the time.  there is no reason to buy everything all at once, so it isn't likely that you will have duplicates if you buy 6 months later.