Jennie's Threads

I know, I know - stop swearing! But I just couldn't resist the Sew-a-long from SewHappy.Me . Over the next seven weeks there will be seven Christmassy designs we can make up into Christmas bunting - one pattern a week for one week only. The first pattern is Santa. Here he is: Check out the rest of the project with the links above!

Those of you who look at my post on a semi-regular basis will know that I am stitching a lot of Calendar Girlies. These are tiny redwork stitcheries designed by Debbie Johnson from Letters Tied with Blue and surrounded by a pretty fabric, making a 6" quilt. For Christmas last year I am stitching a Calendar Girlie a month for the whole year for a select group of people: Linda (my mother-in-law), Aunty Barbara (my Aunty-in-law), Aunty Mary and Aunty Margaret (my great Aunties-in-law), Granny and Sheila. Miss January arrived on Christmas Day complete with small hanger, and the idea was that Miss February would arrive in time for 1st February and so on. So far, I've only missed a few deadlines! This month I have been stitching the October Calendar Girlies: it's the first month where the Girls for different people have had different fabrics. Back in November last year, Aunty Barbara picked out the Halloween fabric that she wanted for her Girlie (she's the one...

I am now up to date with 34 Farmer's Wife blocks: #7 Birds in the Air was really fiddly, but I'm pleased with the end result (only a couple of blunt points). #5 Batwing: Not my favourite block - like Buzzards Roost it feels like the shapes don't flow, but I do like the fabric I've used: it's only with the large pieces that you can see the variety of colours in this fabric. The rest of my weekend so far has been spent on the October Calendar Girls - I'll post them once they are finished, and the Nikki Tinkler Essential Sampler quilt: I've decided on my layout (with some help from Picasa because I don't have anywhere large enough to lay out all the blocks where the dogs wouldn't help me!), and I'm working on hand quilting the central nine blocks, so I can join them all together and have something to show for our next workshop. It's a 25 block quilt in total, so still a long way to go.

I had a half day today! The luxury! After a quick trip to The Fat Quarters to pick up some supplies, I spent the afternoon with the Farmer. I have done two for week 17. On the basis of two blocks a week, I should have 34; I now have 32.I am so nearly caught up. Maybe by the end of the weekend I will have another two to share and will be able to declare that I am up to date. In the meantime, here is block #19 Checkerboard. I love this block because I get to use 5 different fabrics as well as the black background. I may do this block another couple of times to show off some other fabrics, as I don't like the two blocks with appliqued handles. And here is block #15 Buzzards Roost. This is not one of my favourites - the shapes seem harsh, as if they jar against each other. But it will take it's place with all the others. I've spent a lot of time this week doing some hand quilting for the Nikki Tinkler Sampler Quilt. I'm really pleased with the prog...

So - As if I didn't have enough to do I'm joining up to a Christmas sew-a-long on Sew Happy Me 's blog. Seven really cute designs to make up bunting ready for Christmas! Check out the blog for more information. Just as soon as I am technically able, I'll be adding the button to my blog. Tomorrow I have a half day off - I can't wait to spend a slightly extended weekend stitching!

All of blogs I've been reading posted by Australians are takling about spring being in the air. Here in the UK Autumn has been in the air for months (possible because we missed summer!), but over the last few days it has started to be properly autumnal and quite chilly. I've been working on two separate sampler quilts this week. The first one is the Nikki Tinkler Sampler Quilt. I'm working on this as part of a group at our local patchwork shop and this weeks class was looking at different ways of setting the blocks and final construction. The book is 25 blocks and everyone has done a different number. I'm determined to complete the full 25. After this week's push I only have three left to do - I need to finish one called Tobacco Leaf. This block isn't in the book, but I really didn't like the Hawaiian Hearts block, so this is my replacement. It's started, but not finished. I then need to repiece Mowhawk Trail. I have already done this very early on the p...

Although we spent last week in Guernsey (see my previous Blog post) I have managed to get some stitching done! And the focus has, of course, been on the Farmer's Wife quilt-a-long. I have done 6 blocks: #81 Snowball: I decided to go for rather un-snowy colours and picked this lovely green fabric that I got at Harrogate. This was very very quick. #66 Periwinkle: Finally I have got some much needed yellow into my quilt. And I love the jigsaw effect on the green fabric. This was another really quick block. #58 Mother's Dream: I'm really pleased with the colour combination I used on this block. The burnt orange match was chance rather than planning, as the fabrics came from different stands at Harrogate and I didn't realise how good a match they were until I got them home. This block was also really easy. #39 Friendship: more fabrics from Harrogate. I love this block because I get to use lots of different fabrics together. In reality, the pink is much brighter than the p...

We spent last week on Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Linda, Michael and I flew from Newcastle to Gatwick and then on to Guernsey on Monday (it was only after we'd booked the tickets that Linda said she hadn't flown for 30 years!). The purpose of the trip was to attend the APHA (Association of Port Health Authorities) annual conference, where the organisation was awarding the very first John Craigs Memorial Prize to a promising studnet. John was my father-in-law who was a member of the organisation and who passed away just over two years ago. Linda went to present the award and we tagged along to keep her company. On the Tuesday we must have the caught the back end of a hurricane - the rain was monsoon-like and the wind very strong - it made for some good waves, but we got rather soggy. On the Wednesday the weather had cleared so we took a boat to Sark. No cars are allowed on the island, so everyone has tractors, and we took a tractor bus up from the harbour to the village. W...

It's been a while, but I've been busy - and not busy doing sewing! Just over a week ago, my Mum and Aunty Catherine came to visit. On the Friday we visited Howick - a garden and Arboretum in rural Northumberland. I'm not really into flowers and trees, but here are some photos of things that caught my eye. Although it is only the beginning of September (it was 2nd September when we visited) the garden's felt very autumnal. The yellow rose above had the most gorgeous scent. We went on from Howick to Craster. The harbour at Craster is beautiful, but our visit was about walking to the beautiful ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, perched on the edge of the sea. The Saturday was our trip to the quilt show at Harrogate! I had really been looking forard to it: I got loads of fabric for a number of quilt projects that are in the pipeline, including meters and meters of batik fabric for a quilt for my sister-in-law Steph and for my Farmer's Wife quilt - I finally found the missin...