Jennie's Threads

Sometimes you see a quilt and you just know that it's one you're going to make! That's what happened when I first saw the Hocus Pocus quilt by Corinne Sovey. There was something about the simple images and fun colours that I just loved. Having bought the pattern, I then realised that those "simple" bold designs were actually created using a number of different, and at times challenging, techniques. The witches boots are foundation pieced. Not a problem. The eyeball is made of concentric inset circles. I've perhaps done this technique once before... but I tried it, and overall I'm pretty pleased with it! But those stars. Templates and Y-seams. Two of my least favourite quilting terms. I thought about making foundation patterns. I thought about doing them using English Paper Piecing. I thought about applique.... in the end I put on my big-girl pants and did them. Templates and Y-seams. Success.  They took some time, but they are mostly flat and they mostly m...

 The same weekend that I made the cushions for the kids, I also joined a workshop to make the Zip-Around pouch. It's a pattern I've made before by Bad Banana Patterns , but I didn't need much of an excuse to make it again and I picked up some excellent tips from Tori, who was leading the workshop (@Cloudtori). Basically, if Tori says hand-baste in place, hand-baste it, because it makes life easier and the results better! I decided two pouches is better than one! So I made a new pouch for my headphones. I make my ziparound pouches deeper than the pattern - for this one I cut each of my side strips 1.5" wide. In hindsight this is perhaps too deep as without any interfacing, they don't hold their shape - perhaps next time I'll add some interfacing? I love that 90s walkman print - perfect for a pouch for my headphones - it's from Lovely Jubbly fabrics, but I can't remember what it's called (It comes in two colourways too!). The pink is a Kona and the bl...

 The dinosaur quilt I finished back in early September was quite popular in our house. Josh squealed in delight every time he saw it. So he was not best pleased when we gifted it to the newest addition to the family - a baby cousin. I am planning on making him his own dino quilt (I have a May 2021 deadline in mind....) but in the meantime, I decided a cushion would soften the blow.  Michael and I watched his reactions to the quilt a few times and worked out that he definitely liked the orange dinosaurs but couldn't pick between the Stegosaurus and the Triceratops. I made an executive decision that the Triceratops made a better shaped cushion! But of course when you have three children, one cushion just won't cut it! I was lucky that I had a weekend set aside for the Virtual Sewing Shindig. We couldn't meet up in person this year, but a weekend was organized full of zoom chatting and sewing with some workshops as well! I cleared out our junk room, set myself up and closed th...

 It seems so long ago now that lockdown started and here we nearly are again in the North East. Do you remember the first few weeks when rainbows appeared everywhere? We had a few in our living room window and in the porch. A symbol of hope and friendship during the most extraordinary times. We would take the kids out for a walk and they would look for the rainbows and point them out excitedly. About that time, Kristy from Quiet Play released a pattern bundle which contained a foundation pieced rainbow. I didn't hesitate, and bought the pattern immediately. I made it into a cushion with the beautiful Speckled fabric for the background and some fun weather fabric from Dashwood for the backing (I posted this to Facebook at the time and the back got more attention than the front - I'll forgive my non-quilty friends, but not my mother!)

 This is one of those patterns that as soon as I saw it, I knew I would be making it, and I knew I would be making it more than once! Josh loves this pattern - he has been excited by every block and thrilled with the finished quilt. And pretty disappointed when he realised it wasn't for him. The pattern is Dinosaurs by Elizabeth Hartman - her patterns are just the best - they are fun, stunning, perfect for all family members, incredibly well-written and a joy to make. Yes, they are at the more expensive end of the pattern spectrum, but I honestly believe they are worth every penny - so far I've used each pattern at least twice in various guises! This quilt was gifted within an hour of it being finished to the newest addition in the family - Baby Rory.  And Rory's big brother needed a Triceratops cushion to match so he didn't feel left out.  The fabrics are all from my stash - mostly blenders, lots of solids. The background is Kona Juniper which is a lovely rich dark gr...

 You know me and a good sew along.... so when the Cariad Modern Quilt Guild organised a Plaidish Quilt sew along, I got drawn in! But it's been a brilliant decision and made a massive difference to lock-down for me!  The Plaidish Quilt pattern is by Kitchen Table Quilting and is all squares and rectangles. The hardest part is selecting your fabrics and sorting them into lights, mediums and darks - if you get that right, you get the plaidish look!   Using a black and white filter on your camera is a really good way of checking the values of your fabrics - There were some fabrics I had originally picked out which really didn't work once I'd done this check... and even once I'd got to this point, I was worried that there wasn't enough contrast between my mediums and lights! I used only fabrics from my stash - purples, pinks, aquas, peaches and low volume. It was a lot of cutting, but once you've got that out of the way, the construction is split into three types o...

 I made another two pouches in the last couple of months. If you've ever come across the pouches designed by Aneela Hoey , you'll know how amazing they are, and as soon as she released the patterns for the Flip Pocket Folio and the Four Pocket Case they went on my list! The biggest struggle was deciding what fabric to use on the outsides. I started with the Flip Pocket Folio and decided to use a pattern by Berene Campbell (designer of the Hello friend block I used for a cushion and a pouch ) - I love the Stitch On banner pattern but to make it fit I had to shrink it to 50% - that made from pretty tiny piecing, but the pattern is so good that it went together beautifully! Lots of pink on the inside and this is the perfect pouch for all my hand sewing threads. Aneela's instructions are very clear and the vinyl sewing went without a hitch - though I can recommend  a teflon foot! For the second pouch, the Four Pocket Case , I used a mini charm pack of Tilda fabrics from The C...

It's a well known fact that Alison Glass designs the best fabrics - turns out she runs pretty good sew alongs too. Last year was the Trinket Sew Along and this year was the Mini Series sew along . I was a bit on the fence to start with... the cost of the patterns was a little high... but in the end I couldn't resist. There were nine patterns sewn over 9 weeks each made up of the tiniest foundation piecing. And in order to complete the sew along, all nine had to be made into finished objects - that was the challenge. I pieced four of the blocks using a rainbow of fabrics and a black background from speckled which has a copper fleck. These four became canvases for Joshua's bedroom wall. The flying geese were paired with the Love pattern from @quietplay, released earlier this year to raise money for those affected by the Australian bush fires. I made these into my first Retreat Pouch which was a gift for Linda. The crossed geese pattern was the block I struggled with the most...

Lockdown has proved to be a busy time for us: whilst my mother-in-law moved in and has been a huge support in home-schooling the girls and Joshua-wrangling, work hasn't let up - no furlough for me! I've worked on a few bigger projects during this time, but I have mostly been ddrawn to either hand-sewing on the sofa whilst watching Vera and Death in Paradise, or smaller projects for quick finishes. Pouches definitely tick that box! I've made a fair few retreat pouches - these are made using a free pattern by @emmalinebags and are slightly different from a regular zippy pouch because you create a channel just under the zip and add wire frames. And it totally transforms the pouch into something amazing. I've made two large and two small ones so far - here is one of the large ones - a foundation pieced pair of scissors on one side (pattern by @quietplay) and some lovely Tula Pink fabric on the back. And here's one of the smaller one - made with Liberty and hand quilted...