Jennie's Threads

Whilst a lot happened away from the sewing machine (I've written a separate post all about it  full of pictures of Mia), in sewing terms, 2014 has been a very different year for me: At the start of the year I posted about my 2014 plans and wrote "I expect finishes will be fewer and further between". Not so much! It turns out that Mia is pretty cooperative when it comes to Mummy's sewing, and that I needed sewing to get me through some days. And being on maternity leave I actually had more time to sew, even with baby. Our first couple of months together was slower, but once we hit a routine... there was no stopping me. So here's what I got up to: Big quilt finishes Purple Bee Quilt ; Siblings Together Bee Quilt ; Floating Flowers ; Neon Stained ; Three Peaks ; Joy Jelly Roll Quilt ; Mix Tapes; Nested Churn Dash; Vice Versa; Thread Along . Baby Quilts Two buggy quilts ; Baby Butterflies ; Baby Boats ; two more buggy quilts ; Arabella Hexagon ...

Ok - I think this will be my final finish for 2014: This was the second quilt I pulled out to stipple whilst Michael was out the other night. It's a very old WIP and for many years, UFO. I started it in May 2011 at a class led by Jennie Rayment. Going to another Jennie Rayment class this past November, I dug out this quilt again, thinking that I really should finish it before starting some more. I didn't quite meet that deadline, but it is now finished. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now as it's bigger than I expected at 22" x 45" This was on my Q4 Finish Along list  too

Loads of projects are suddenly coming together after a few months of a couple of stitches every now and then. This is a project that has been three years in the making. It started as a kit of a block that was one of twelve. Quilt Aid was a project raising money for women injured in childbirth and for each block bought a donation would be made. As I understand it, the scheme ran for a few years and in 2011 was introduced to Europe for the first time - 6 shops each had two blocks. But there was no way of paying over a period, or having the blocks saved. So unless you bought all 12 blocks within about 4 months of the launch, you weren't guaranteed a kit. At about 20eur / £18 a block, I simply couldn't commit to that. I ended up with four kits of the full twelve. I'd started the first block really excited, but once I realised I would never be able to finish the quilt (and that the four blocks I had bought were not among my real favourites) I put the block I had started i...

Of course 2014 was definitely not all about sewing! ***warning - lots of baby photos**** On 24th February, baby Amelia Lily arrived, weighing 9lb 1oz and it's been a whirlwind ever since: I've tried to narrow down the photos to just my favourites.... 4 days old with Granny 1 month old Christening: 25 May One of my absolute favourites: 3 months old 4 months old 4 months old (taken by Aunty Michaela) With Grandad at Sidmouth: August - matching hats!!! 9 months old There have also been two family weddings: Michael's cousin Vicky married Karl in August Vicky and Karl Hubby's family in all their finery! And my brother Robin married Michaela in September Rob and Michaela Mia and Daddy And we've just celebrated Mia's first Christmas Mia did not like her pudding outfit from Aunty Steph! Thanks for sticking with the baby photos! I'll follow up with a quilty review of...

I love this time between Christmas and New Year: once Christmas day is over, with all the family visiting and food to eat, we have very few commitments - boxing day leftovers with Michael's Aunt and Uncle, then the pantomime (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves this year!). Mum and Dad went home yesterday and Michael spent a few hours visiting friends, so I sat down at my sewing machine and did the most anti-social part of making a quilt - free motion quilting. Especially when you're doing an all-over stipple. I pulled out two ready-basted quilt tops, and first up was the butterfly baby quilt, which I've been piecing for the last few months. Baby Evie was born on 23rd December, so this needs to get finished now. I decided to go with a stipple: all over large-ish scale in the highly patterned fabric, then much smaller scale in the background of the butterfly blocks. I also outlined the butterflies (much more neatly than the boat blocks from the other day). I made a cri...

There are so many things I want to sew along with next year, and so many quilts I've seen in 2014 that I want to make in 2015... I need to manage these projects so I'm using as much stash fabric as possible #sewmystash2015 and keep the cost down... these projects need to budget friendly... just as well I got s fabulous bundle of fat quarters for Christmas! Technicolour Galaxy  - the new BOM from Pile O Fabric - I am so excited about this quilt - lots of more advanced techniques, quilt as you go and rainbows. What more could I want?! Of course I followed along with her 2013 Skill Builder BOM. Well - I started following along. Another dream for this year is to finish the 2013 quilt. I have some blocks pieced and quilted, some blocks pieced and not quilted and some blocks not started. I'm going to need to buy some solids (quite carefully) but I'm hoping to use a lot of stash fabric. Moccassin BOM - this is the new BOM from Gen X Quilters and her third. I started h...

My blog looks like I do nothing by finish projects at the moment - but really I'm just sharing a lot of finishes from before Christmas. But this one is a post-Christmas finish. A friend of my husband's moved to Moldova to teach English, met a girl and fell in love, got married and back in September they had a baby boy. Moldova is landlocked, but our friend comes from the North-East of England just a couple of miles from the sea, so I decided to make a seaside quilt. I hunted about for foundation pieced boat blocks. And couldn't find anything I liked. So I decided to design my own foundation pieced patterns - my first attempt. It was all done by hand with pencil and paper (and an eraser). It took ages and there was always the chance it wouldn't work, right up until I started sewing the sections together. First a fishing boat. And then a sailing boat. I also tried designing a lighthouse block...but there's a limit. To make the quilt up to size I decid...