Jennie's Threads

Having spent a lot of last year making blocks for various Fancy Forest quilts, I've found that I've lost momentum. I still really want a full size Fancy Forest quilt, but I'm accepting a slightly slower pace. I've already completed the foxes, and now I've got bunnies. Next up are the Hedgehogs - they are cut and ready, and then the owls - fabric is selected. But also, Awesome Ocean starts soon - do I stick with the slow-moving Fancy Forest or do I make a start on the Awesome Ocean - this is a totally new pattern for me and may be more inspiring. #elizabethhartmanalltheanimalssal

Well thank goodness.... after week 4's Aves block, Week 5 was a dream! This is Wild Goose Chase. Admittedly, some of the pieces are quite tiny. But definitely not the smallest we played with in the 365 quilt. The biggest challenge for me was finding a purple print I could fussy-cut to go in the "large" centre square (3" finished). I dug this piece of Tula out of the back of my stash and I'm quite pleased with it... note to self - more purple fussy-cuttable fabrics are required!

Back at our February meet up of the North East Modern Quilt Guild, we decided to make  up Stitchy-Pies as a group - it was a pattern a few of our members had expressed an interest in, and a couple of people had the wherewithall for adding kam-snaps, so we all bought the pattern from the lovely @charmaboutyou and set a date. I am quite lazy, I'm not going to lie. So I generally take hand-sewing to guild so I don't have to lug my machine and associated stuff. As such, I decided to make up my Stitchy-Pie the night before: that way I had a finished one to show anyone who was interested, and for reference to see how it folded up. And also to warn against any errors.... by which I mean my errors, not errors in the pattern, because there aren't any! The pattern is so easy to follow. I skipped the embroidery because I had a funky pineapple fabric I was desperate to use, and within an hour I had a Stitchy-Pie in need of some hand-sewing - another hour later and it was finished...

Just after Christmas, the #stitchedsewingorganizerssal kicked off again and the first project back was the two-in-one pouch. Whilst I haven't taken part every week, this was one of the projects I wanted to make since the start, but I decided it would make a great gift for my Mother-in-law - we bought her a subscription to the Mandolin quilt for her birthday, so this is a fitting gift to go with it. This little pouch called for vinyl, double-fold binding, and a magnetic snap. I'm getting the hang of the vinyl. I have developed a deep hatred for double-fold binding, and it was my first time using a magnetic snap. The problem with double fold binding, especially on vinyl, is keeping my seam allowance consistent on the slippy vinyl, which means my corners aren't great... And with this partiucular project, I'd like you all to ignore the fact that the lining fabric is upside down... speaking of fabric, the outside of the pouch is a peacock feather print from Palais J...

So I mentioned something about week 3 being back in the comfort zone.... well week 4 blew that comfort zone out of the water! I have to confess when I first looked at it, it scared me, and it's not often a patchwork block does that. But this innocent looking 6" block came complete with templates, y seams and curves! That's a lot to fit into a small block! I spent all week wondering how to do it. Do I sew it by machine, or do I make myself some EPP templates, or do I sew it by hand (without papers). Or do I do what some have done and just applique those leaves? On Sunday afternoon I put on my big-girl panties and just got on with it. By machine. And whilst it took me a couple of hours, and a few seams did spend time with the seam ripper, overall I'm quite pleased with it. I'm certainly pleased that it is done. And even more pleased that week 5 looks straightforward! This block is part of the Aves Quilt - a block of the week pattern designed by Kathy Kerr of ...

I'm on a bit of an EPP kick this year so far. I've started the Mandolin Quilt and the Tula Nova quilt, I'm still working on Ice Cream Soda and Round We go, and I'm also paper piecing some of my Farmers Wife blocks... but this new EPP project is a bit different.... it's curved EPP. Doesn't it look smart in its box! This is the Curve Motion Medallion https://www.sewmotion.com/sewmotion_shop/prod_6260787-Curve-Motion-Medallion-BOM-Quilt.html designed by Louisa at Sew Motion . Every month she sends templates for curved EPP, some lovely Alison Glass fabric, and for this first month we got a glue pen too. Next month's installment and then ongoing also comes with the background fabric you need and it's perfect for quilt as you go! In 16 months time I'll have a quilt. In theory. The first month is the centre of the quilt and is made up of two rings: a smaller pinky-purple one... And a much larger blue one. This is the first time th...

Did you know that it's been nearly three years since I last touched this quilt? Dreadful isn't it. I made ten blocks in June 2015 and then put it away and didn't touch it again. In my defence, we had just moved into a new house, and I fell pregnant with Jessica not long after. However, it is still quite embarrassing that I managed to finish the remaining eight required blocks in just one day. And at least part of that was spent trying to find the rulers that went with it! Time just goes so fast and I have so many yummy projects to work on that all of a sudden a year has passed and I haven't touched something! This is not the only quilt I'm guilty of ignoring for a lengthy period (I'm sure @Archiewonderdog can provide you with a list!)... But here are the new blocks, 2 each of four different blocks. I've also cut up all the background fabric and I'm ready to piece a quilt top! This is optimistically on my Finish Along list for this quarter , and ...

The paper pieces arrived for month 1 of the Mandolin quilt and I confess, they were prepped ready for sewing within the day! I love everything about this quilt - the fabrics are so much fun, and feel beautiful to work with - the needle just slides through them and the design of the block means you can do long seams without have to stop and start your thread! The ultimate relaxing English Paper Piecing. So here they are - Block 2: And block 3: I think you are going to need sunglasses when this quilt is finished! I also started on the filler blocks: I picked the new Alison Glass print Diatom in seasalt, which is a lovely white with a delicate pale grey accent, along with Kona silver - the coordinating grey. There's so much colour in the blocks, that I really didn't need to add anything more to the fillers! I'm all ready for that next little package from Australia to land on my door mat!

I've been joining in with the #stitchedsewingorganizerssal on Instagram - sewing the projects from Aneela Hooey's Stitched Sewing Organizers book - if you only buy one book this year, buy this one - it's so good! We're coming to the end of the sew-along and the penultimate project was the Needlebook Plus - an who doesn't needs a new needle book? I used some of my new giraffe fabric on the front and on the pincushion, and my favourite - bright pink for the lining. The leather strap is a trimming from the leather I harvested from our old sofas before they went to the tip!

It was my birthday last week! My daughters bought me two books: Fantastic Beasts - illustrated version and Angie Wilson's Fussy Cutters Club - which I've been after for a while!  I was given it on Tuesday evening, on Thursday evening I made two improv panels and before bedtime on Friday I had a finished bag! Improv piecing is not my comfort zone, and fussy cutting is all new to me. The fabrics I picked were not all fussy-cuttable, but some had nice motifs I was able to include and others were directional and I managed to cut them straight. I picked a selection of navy and coral fabrics. This wasn't my first choice but there's a good reason for it: the pattern calls for a heavier-weight fabric to be used on the base of the bag - vinyl or denim or upholstery weight... I don't have much fabric that isn't quilting cotton, so I raided my wardrobe and picked a paid of jeans. I picked the pair that fit worst, but there's no denying that I could have c...

Week 3 of the Aves quilt was a step back into our comfort zone - a 6" rotary cut block. This one is called Birds Nest. Of course, it still wasn't totally straightforward - some of the pieces were cut at eleven sixteenths of an inch!

Yesterday was absolutely the BEST DAY EVER! And I warn you, this post has a lot of photos! I spent it down at Simply Solids in Slaithewaite who were hosting a day with Tula Pink! Yes - Tula Pink. Now, I am not a fan girl - I like some of her fabric, not others. I love her books, but don't own them all - although the City Sampler is possibly my favourite quilt book of them all. In fact, I hadn't booked a ticket for the event - it wasn't until last week, when a cancellation came up, that I decided to go - but boy was that a good call. To start with, I don't live near Huddersfield... I got up at 4am, and I am not a 4am type person. I did a couple of pick ups, we dodged the traffic on the M62 and made it to Slaithewaite in time for breakfast. This quilt may have to be added to the list... I love it! The morning was a lecture with Tula Pink in the local hall. It was amazing. She is an excellent public speaker, talking about the realities of designing fab...

I have my first big quilt finish of the year to share with you today - it's my Gypsy Wife quilt. I started this as part of the quilt-along hosted by @GnomeAngel back in the summer and decided to go totally scrappy for the blocks and low volume for the background.This was the recipe I had used for my Long Time Gone quilt and I love it. After a few blocks, I decided I didn't like it this time. We had to take Mia into A&E one Sunday (nothing serious) and while we sat in the waiting room, she played on her tablet, and I coloured in a print-out of the quilt - can't go wrong with a rainbow. And I started again. Of course, I was well behind, and I stayed that way unfortunately. Even in the week after Christmas, I still believed I could make it  - a finished quilt top by the 2nd January. I spent a few hours cutting all the background strips (what a job... not just the cutting, but keeping them organised)! But I had to give in. There was just too much to do and def...

The Aves Quilt started with a bang last week with the central medallion, and it didn't change for week two. This week we added a ring of flying geese to that centre medallion. The ring itself was foundation pieced in 6 parts, and then we had the option of appliquing it to the centre, or piecing it. I decided to piece it, and despite thinking it would be difficult, it actually went very smoothly - I had a couple of gaps that needed a couple of hand stitches, where the points of the compass don't meet the ring of geese - this is a design feature (not an error on my part), but because the centre was foundation pieced, and I didn't sew into the seam allowance, there were just a few gaps. Ten minutes hand sewing remedied that! And I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

It turns out that Aneela Hoey makes the best zippy pouch patterns. I've made quite a few over the last few months from her Stitched Sewing Organizers book, but this one is a standalone pattern. I picked it up in her November sale and it's sat waiting for the perfect fabric, which arrived in December in the shape of Disco Kitty from Tula Pink. I added bright pink and aqua to the bright orange and then went for my sunglasses! I had a couple of days off work this week to celebrate my birthday and I spent them both sewing! Heaven! I don't really know why I picked this up, perhaps I caught the colours out of the corner of my eye, but it wasn't in the original plan for the two days! On the Monday evening, I cut the fabric attached the interfacing and prepped the binding.  I picked it up again on Tuesday morning, and by 10am I had a finished pouch. I love how great the instructions are and how quickly these pouches come together! I do not love double fold ...