Jennie's Threads

Yep - you read it right - another finish. And I'm sitting with it right now as I type this! Earlier this week I quilted up my cross cushion. This has sat around for a while, firstly because I didn't know how to quilt it, and then because my machine broke. Once the machine was back, this was the first thing I did last Wednesday. The quilting is straight-ish free motion lines approximately 1/4" apart in the background fabrics. I've left the crosses unquilted so they pop. This morning I pieced the cushion back. A recent reorganization of my sewing space meant it took a while to find the green fabric. I hadn't really planned on piecing it, but felt that on the sofa next to my Tula City Sampler cushion , which had a pieced back out of necessity, it would look a bit sad if it was plain. I used the curry leaves from Botanics (with a little pop of metallic) and one of the text prints I'd used on the front to make it a bit more interesting, and I continued my...

Over a year ago a group of UK quilters started a bee to make quilts for the Siblings Together Charity. When we started I wasn't pregnant and I picked February to be my month. Quite fortuitous really given Mia's arrival! So whilst I was in labour the postman was busy delivering completed bee blocks. I'd picked the Love in the Mist block made scrappy and bright. Inevitably it took me a while to get round to putting the blocks together. Initially I had intended not to use sashing. But it hurt my eyes. And it looks so much better with that little bit of white. Not so much that it shows every mark and has to be washed by foster mums every five minutes, but enough to brighten and lighten the quilt. I wanted easy and quick quilting for this quilt. Unfortunately the week I had planned to quilt it was the week my machine died. And my Husqvarna just isn't up to fmq at the moment. So I plumped for a cross hatch, spaced at 4" using the Husqvarna walking foot (which I...

Yesterday we took a trip to Harrogate for the annual Quilt Show. As well as making a few purchases.... there were some beautiful quilts on display. Lots were very traditional, including the first place bed quilt By Liz Villalobos, quilted by Kay Bell But a few more modern quilts (modern in my opinion) got in too Colour Wheel by Liz Merckel (ribbons for piecing and Judges Choice) Simply Red Stars by Chris Day Line Dancing by Maureen Crawford (ribbons for sampler and Judges Choice) And it was great to see another Tula Pink City Sampler - I loved the colouring Tula Pink for Cara by Elizabeth Cutts And I love the quilting on this one - inspirational Nebula by Christine Marriage Maybe I'll enter one of my quilts next year... [If your quilt is featured here and you would like me to remove the photograph, please just let me know.]

Last Autumn I picked up the Aspen Frost quilt pattern from Cora's Quilts and some Downton Abbey fabric to make it for an impatient relative (in the best sense)! Life got in the way and although I did all the cutting and pieced the first few sets of units, this is a project that has been gathering dust for a while. A few moths back Shelley announced a quilt along - this is the kick in the bum I need! So I'm definitely joining in - this is a quilt which will be finished by Christmas! Note to self: take some better photos in natural light!

I got my machine back yesterday. Luckily all that was required was a needle realignment. So I'm sewing again! First up was to finish a quilt. But as today is WIP Wednesday, you'll have to pop back later this week to see that. Sat on the back of the chair on my neon stained quilt  waiting patiently for a photo shoot! Second priority was a cushion cover. As soon as the machine broke, all I wanted to do was quilt this cushion. Typical. I started this morning, and what with naps and the new bedtime routine, I've just finished the quilting. I love love love the texture of the quilting - I did free motion matchstick quilting in the background, alternating between horizontal and vertical lines, and I left the crosses themselves unquilted, so they really pop. I'd love to say the free motion quilting went smoothly. It did for most of the cushion. I didn't change a thing. And then suddenly it started skipping stitches. So I cleaned it out and changed the needle....

It's the end of a long weekend here and it's been a good'un! A brief break from quilting (I haven't touched a needle all weekend) for a family interlude! On Friday my husband's cousin, Vicky, was married to Karl. We had a fantastic day! The service was lovely, the reception venue, Alnwick Gardens, was perfect, the bride was beautiful, the groom scrubbed up well, there were a lot of laughs and spoons was played. We finally managed to get a photo of my mother-in-law, her three children, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren - she's been wanting this photo for years! Ellie-Jo, Phil, Jane, Steph, Linda, James, Michael, Me and Mia We have then spent the rest of the weekend rearranging our house. Ever since Mia arrived, we've known that we need more space for her, but we were at a loss at how to achieve it. Mum had a brainwave while we were on holiday and this weekend we went through with it. The compromise is that my sewing space is now a fa...

I have broken my sewing machine. I hit a pin, the needle bent and now I get a nasty metallic scraping noise when the bobbin case is in. She is going to the sewing machine doctor tomorrow :( For the time being I am back to sewing on my Husqvarna. One of the reasons I got the Brother was because of the issues I was having when free motion quilting - the machine was skipping stitches, regardless of the speed I was working. And now of course, since the Brother broke, all I want to do is free motion quilting. And that has meant that WIP for this week is minimal, as I'm too busy sulking. I've picked up some hand quilting on a very very old WIP - I'm planning to post about it in more detail soon: for now, it's just phone pictures - sorry! I've also made a few more mix tape blocks. I think I know what I'm doing with these blocks now - at least I have a couple of ideas. I've also cut another few blocks to get me up to 15 blocks in total - so much for only do ...

I finished off the Wild Flowers quilt top that I was working on whilst on holiday with the borders. This is the part I find hardest about EPP - trimming the edges off the shapes and then trying to find seam allowances to sew together, which I've accidentally sewn down already. But it's done. I needed a back for it. Whilst on holiday I searched every charity shop in Sidmouth for vintage textiles and came up with the most poorly made (homemade), faded pillow case. It was, however, only faded on one side. But it did have a fastening made of dark green velcro. The best part, was that it cost just 50p! I decided it would be the basis for the backing of my holiday quilt. I forgot to photograph it before I pulled it apart... When I do EPP I cut large square/rectangular pieces of fabric which I then trim roughly to the right shape with scissors as I baste them. This leads to quite a bit of waste, which I saved with the intention of doing some improv piecing. The pillow case b...

Although our holiday was absolutely wonderful, sleeping was not. Mia refused to sleep in her travel cot, so I ended up sleeping on the floor with her on the travel cot mattress next to me... when we got back, we put her into the co-sleeper we've been using and had the night from hell - in the week and a half we were away she started rolling in bed and wanting to sleep on her side/front, and the co-sleeper just wasn't big enough. At this point I will say that the co-sleeper, which is a cot with three sides which can be height adjusted to match your own mattress, was the best thing we bought, especially as I have breast-fed at night. So Monday night we read up all the websites and decided that there was no way Daddy would cope with any of the cry-it-out methods of sleep training. I slept all night in my own bed! In the end we went for a method where every time baby cries, you pick them up until they stop, then put them down again. If they cry, pick them up again. If they li...

I wasn't really planning on hand quilting this week. But then we also weren't planning on sleep training our daughter this week. Yet that is what we are doing... an once I've picked her up and put her down a fair few times, I want to sit in a comfy seat with some hand work. Look, Mummy! I slept the whole night in my own room! (I put her down on her back!) Except I only realised this once she was asleep, and the hand sewing I wanted was in a cupboard. Upstairs. So I pulled out a project which hasn't seen the light of day in over a year. When I started my Dear Jane Quilt 18 months ago, I knew I wanted to hand quilt it, but also that to hand quilt the whole thing would be way too much. I decided to use a quilt as you go technique and very quickly created the first section and quilted the first block. And equally quickly put it in a box and forgot about it. But this is my current WIP whilst I'm stalled on a few other projects and I'm really enjoying it! ...