Jennie's Threads

I should have gone to bed about two hours ago, but I am addicted. To tiny little 4.5" patchwork blocks. In the last four days I have made 11 Dear Jane blocks and finished an eighth. I just can't stop. For those of you who missed my last post, I have a plan to use the quilt as you go technique on this quilt to make it more manageable - I hate sashing, so this breaks down that task into small pieces, and I want to hand quilt this project, which would simply not happen if I was working on the full quilt. I've decided to work on 9 blocks at a time and today I've been working on the first of these. B-3: Mirror Image. The fabric is one of my all time favourites and is from Art Gallery. I used curved piecing on this block. B-2: Sweet Tater Pie. This fabric is one of my more recent favourites, Architextures and was a challenge for me. After my not quite so successful attempt at applique at the weekend I changed the technique this time round. I ironed the freezer paper to...

Another day off. I could get use to this! And today marks another finish on my Quarter 1 Finish Along goals. The Pac Mania Jelly Roll quilt is finished. I started this quilt as part of a class back in July last year. The pattern is from Jelly Roll Dreams by Pam and Nicky Lintott and I used a Jelly Roll of Ruby which I had got as a Christmas present. The background is Kona Snow. I signed up for the class because I wanted to work on my curved piecing, and it was really good practice of shallower curves before I tackled my Mod Pop quilt. However, in my eagerness to learn to stitch curves I overlooked the practical aspect of a quilt that was mostly white in a house with two dogs (not to mention my husband). And once I had realised this I I fell out of love with the quilt. I picked it up again over Christmas when I was going through what I had done in 2012 and decided to get it finished and a home would present itself. So I put it on the Finish Along list, pieced what was...

Today was a good day! My sewing machine disagrees. I wanted to spend some time this week free motion quilting. I wanted to finish my Pac Mania Jelly Roll quilt, because someone I know needs it. Two hours of quilting and I had finished a medium sized free motion stipple in all of the background, leaving the Dresden sections unquilted. The binding is ready so this may be a finish tomorrow! I also wanted to quilt the first two blocks in the Skill Builder BOM . I made a good start... then my sewing machine decided it was done with free motion quilting for the day and was only going to tangle up. So I turned it off and walked the dogs. I won't show you till it's done, but for now, these are the threads I'm using - I think I need to reconsider the pink... When I turned the disgraced machine back on after sausage and mash for dinner I decided not to fight it, and to piece instead of quilt. A few weeks back I made a block for my project for the Emerald Challenge - it...

It has been a fantastic weekend! Yesterday we went to Edinburgh. I haven't been back since I finished my degree and it was so good to be back - I called this city home for four years, it's where I met my husband and it is full of wonderful memories. But we weren't there for a trip down memory lane - six of us headed to the Edinburgh Quilt Show. It's not the biggest show, but there was plenty of choice and there was no danger that I wouldn't spend any money! Here's my haul: I picked up mostly fat quarters to add to my stash: I love the feeling of wanting to start a project and being able to pull some fabric immediately. I'm also becoming more confident in putting together fabric from different ranges to create a truly unique look, and I get the variety by buying fat quarters. There's some Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill, Denise Schmidt's Chicopee and FMF, and Natalie Lymer's Folk Tale and some Essex Linen - it was great to finally see these f...

Tonight was Friday Night Sew In and I stayed in a sewed! First up the February blocks in the Skill Builder BOM. I cut these out on Wednesday before I was distracted by Color Me Retro and I did a few seams last night, but got them finished tonight.  This is the Em Dash Block... I can't tell you what to two fabrics at the top are, but on the bottom is a purple from Rock and Romance from Art Gallery and a pink from Noetworthy by Sweetwater. And secondly the Mood Block The pink is Lace Elements from Art Gallery, the green at the top is Wild Garden for Westminster Fibres, the yellow postmark fabric is Free Spirit (I think) and the green in the bottom right is a Nancy Halvorsen fabric... These two blocks aren't my favourites in the quilt, but they are growing on me each time I look at them! And they are great for showing off some of the bigger print fabrics. The background for both blocks is Kona Coal. I then did a few more blocks of Steph's Hot Cross Buns...

This week's question: What is one regular thing you do for yourself to keep up your creative mind? Do you go to a guild, out for coffee with a friend? Are there people / activities you do regularly or as needed?   Quilting can be a very lonely hobby - just you and a machine. And sometimes that is exactly what I need. A quiet house, a cup of tea, two puppies and lots of fabric - that was what happened yesterday afternoon and I loved it. Free Motion Quilting is one of those tasks best done when "lonely" - hubby can't hear the telly over my machine! Patchwork can also be a really sociable event! At our local quilt shop we can end up in hysterics - I'm talking about you, Sue and Suzy! Photo from Kim: Me (on the far left and mostly not in shot), Margaret, who had spent most of the day trying to convince them that  the doll they were making didn't really want bright pink bloomers, and Suzy and Sue very proud of the dresses and bloomers the...

Look what I got my hands on today! Colour Me Retro from Art Gallery fabrics!!! I didn't think it was available in the UK just yet, but Kim at the Fat Quarters has it in! And will have some fat quarters at the Edinburgh Quilt Show this weekend! I hadn't intended to buy this today... but we ended up at the shop, and it just had to be bought. I took a while to decide between this colour way and the green one - I'm pretty sure I'll be back to get the green one!  And of course once I had it, I just had to use it. I've been looking at all the plus quilts online for a while now, and I have a jelly roll pattern for a plus quilt but I've never got round to making myself one. Today was the day. A day off of work and I have a cushion cover pieced. Archie decided that he liked it too. I had planned to make the next two blocks in the Skill Builder BOM and the fabric was cut before I went shopping. Maybe I piece them tomorrow :) I'm linking up with WI...

I've been playing catch up again tonight and making the February blocks for the Gen X Sister BOM.   This month's block is called Susannah and was beautifully easy - I do like fiddly, but sometimes straightforward is nice too! I've made both blocks in a couple of hours including distractions. The fabric is Paparazzi from Red Rooster - it's a ten fat quarter pack I won in a giveaway over a year ago and I'm really like how the fabrics are working for this quilt. I've also been playing at putting some fabrics together: I had some of the aqua blues out for another project and the pink Flea Market Fancy ended up on top of them in the pile on my table - once I'd seen it I couldn't get it out of my head, so I pulled a few more fabrics from my stash (and possibly bought a few too) and now I have a beautiful pile of fabrics and nothing to do with them - so watch out - I'm looking for a new project. And last Saturday I ordered some Art ...