Jennie's Threads

Alongside the Finish Along , I have had real success joining in with the "A Lovely Year of Finishes" in 2015, hosted by Shanna and Melissa . Despite pregnancy induced exhaustion over the summer, I did manage to complete 9 of the challenges I set myself! Essential Sampler Quilt Trellis baby quilt Preppy the Whale Woodland log cabin cushion Moccasin blocks Mia's cat quilt Pink Plusses Mia's Advent Calendar Maisie's rainbow cushion A lovely year of finishes sadly won't be continuing into 2016, but a huge thanks to Shanna and Melissa for their hard work in organising this for the last few years! I'm linking up with them for one final time!

This could be something of a record: normally my finish post for my goal in A Lovely Year of Finishes is as near to the end of the month as I can get it whilst still being eligible for the link up. Not this month! Oh no! We're not even half way through December, and the cushion is finished! Urged on by the fact it needs to be posted and the last posting date for 2nd class mail is this coming Friday - even so, it's still only Tuesday! I started this cushion many, many months ago, pieced two sections and abandoned it. Christmas seemed as good a time as any to get it finished and gifted. So last week, when I had a few hours of energy, I finished the piecing. Present Jennie needs to thank past Jennie for cutting generous pieces way back when, because it made the foundation piecing so much easier! I took a couple of days to do some chunky hand quilting in white perle cotton, and I added the back yesterday morning. It was delivered to the post office by the end of the day...

My goal for December will be a cushion which I would love to gift this Christmas. That makes it a pretty good goal fr this time of year. I picked a foundation pieced design, but with nice lare pieces. I've pieced two sections, I've cut all the fabric. A few hours sat at the machine, and this should be pieced. Not quite sure on the quilting yet though. Maybe hand quilting in chunky perle... This needs to go in the post, so really needs to be done in the next week or so, rather than by the end of December!

A little close to the wire, but Mia now has a finished advent calendar and with a day to spare! Chocolates will go in one per day so that naughty puppies cannot be tempted... Last year when I made advent calendars for my niece and nephew I knew Mia had to have a special one for this year, and despite looking online for inspiration for a few months, nothing had jumped out. It was only when I saw the new design from Lilipopo Stitches back in October that I knew what I wanted to do. The embroidery pattern is an instant download and her instructions are brilliant, especially for the less common stitches (she writes blog posts with lots of photos to guide you through these unusual stitches). I decided to use some speciality threads which I bought years ago, obviously with a project in mind because they all go together beautifully. These are DMC satin threads - the "new" marketing of rayon threads. Also included are a few metallic threads. My past experience of metallic t...

This month's goal was a no-brainer. I've started an advent calendar for Mia and if it isn't finished by the end of the month it will be too late. I'm doing some embroidery in the centre - it's a design from Lilipopo , and I've added some words top and bottom so I can surround it with enough pockets for 24 days. There's still a bit of embroidery to go, though I've done a few more rows on the tree since I took this photo, and then I need to find fabrics for the pockets... fingers crossed!  

I'm so please to finally share this finish with you - it's been a while in the works and I've missed a few deadlines - the baby's birth, the baby's christening... unfortunately the weather has conspired against us for any good photos... My new official quilt holder upper! My sister-in-law, Steph, asked me to make a quilt for her friend back at the start of summer. We knew she was expecting a girl and Steph had a very specific colour scheme in mind: cream, beige and pink - not my normal go to, but very pretty. A found some ideas on Pinterest and Steph picked the pattern from those. All of the fabrics came from my stash. I really don't know what the neutrals are, but the pinks include Art Gallery, Lily and Will, and Pearl Bracelets. I normally struggle with pink, as I never have the shade I need, but this pretty, girly baby pink seems to be abundant in my stash. After some grovelling around the dining room floor I had my layout. I started piecing this bac...

I haven't been very successful with my ALYoF goals recently. I didn't make my July goal, with no real excuse. My August goal remained untouched. And I didn't even bother to make a September goal. But gradually I think my energy is returning - slowly. So I'm going to try a goal for October. It's a repeat.... my July goal was a baby quilt. The quilt is a christening present. The christening was last weekend! It's a finished quilt top, but I do now have backing material, and I got it basted yesterday evening! Bring on the quilting! That gives me plenty of time to get it quilted and finished by the end of the month!

I failed to complete my July goal, due to a slight backing miscalculation...but it's close enough that I don't think I need the added impetus of listing it here... let's hope I'm right. So instead I'm going to list a different baby quilt - the inside addition quilt. It needs another 20 blocks, which are already cut which need to be pieced. This is for a friend who we'll be seeing in September and it would great to have it ready to give to them then. Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes

What to pick? So many options.... In the end I've picked this baby quilt - not particularly inspiring right now is it? It's for my sister-in-law to gift to a friend of hers who has just had a baby girl called Layla, and honestly, it's not in my choice of colours, so I really need this push to get it finished. I have now sewn together the squares in the photo above, but this is section one of six. And I'm sure once I get further with it, it will come together fine. Watch this space! Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes.  

My Finish Along list this quarter is looking a little bit sad... no sewing machine for a month, followed by the urge to do lots of hand sewing last month, means that a lot of those goals are no longer achievable - so far I have just two finishes out of an optimistic 18. So I've had a look down the list and picked out the most important and likely finish... Mia's cat quilt. All of the fabric for the cats is cut and the first 10 kitties are pieced. It takes literally 10 minutes to piece each block, and I'm planning on quilting a cross hatch on this quilt to keep it soft and drapey. The only unknown is whether the cats alone will be a big enough quilt, or whether I'll need to add a few borders. This is totally do-able! Linking up with ALYoF!

My aim for a Lovely Year of Finishes for May is to make sure I don't fall behind on the Moccasin BOM from Gen X Quilters . I didn't complete April blocks in April because of the small matter of moving house, and I could easily slip further and further behind... this is my way of getting back on track. But this post should be called "Three nearly [lovely] Moccasin Blocks"... So here are April blocks - this was my first time making string blocks and I really enjoyed it. It definitely won't be my last. And a single block for May - this will be the focal point of the quilt. It was also another technique I don't often play with - Dresden circles. Unfortunately, despite carefully making sure the printer was set to no scaling, and being very careful with my seam allowance, the circle is 3" too big. Yes. 3". I have no idea where it went wrong. I'm going to leave it for now. If, once I've pieced all the blocks, I have enough fabric left t...

To make a change, I've decided to may my May goal a "catch-up" goal rather than a "finish" goal. I have plenty of incentive to finish up some projects thanks to the Finish Along, but I'm in danger of slipping behind with the Moccasin BOM as I missed out on April due to the move... So my goal for May is to add to January, February and March, pictured in this post. I need to complete three blocks - 2 from April and 1 from May None are particularly complex, but it's really important for me that I don't fall behind! Linking up  

It was hard to know what to have as my goal for this month, given that I have no idea how much sewing time I'll have... I've decided to go for the Whimsical Woodland cushion. I need to do a fair amount of hand quilting still (I also need to pick up some pink thread to quilt with), so that will keep me busy until I can get my machine out again to finish it off. I have a great flannel to back it with. Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes  

I've had a browse through the remainder of my Finish Along list for Q1 and picked out a quilt I really should finish: it's a baby quilt, but if I take much longer, the recipient won't be a baby any more... Preppy the Whale needs to be swimming off into the distance! All of the whales are pieces and yesterday I started working on the sashing - I really don't enjoy sashing, so it hasn't moved as quickly as it could have done. Normally I go out to sew on a Monday evening and I often use these few hours to layer up quilts, but next week I won't be going so I need to work out how to get this done. And how to get it marked - I'm going to quilt a cross hatch grid, but find I get better results if I mark each line, rather than relying on quilting guides. And then life will get very busy with the house move, so this month could be one where I don't achieve my goals. Pop back in a few weeks to find out! Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes  

February was a month for slow sewing. My weekends have been very busy and in the evenings I'm more inclined to sit with some hand sewing than sit at my sewing machine. I also felt pretty uninspired by most of the items on my Finish Along list, which is normally the basis for my ALYOF goal. With just a few hours before the end of the link-up I picked Trellis, which was pieced and basted. Theoretically, quilting wouldn't take long.... And once I sat down and did it, it didn't take long, and I now have a finished baby quilt ready to gift to its little owner (who is now a few months old). The idea for the quilt came from a fat quarter bundle (Flo's Garden from Makower) I'd forgotten I'd bought and a block I saw on Instagram. I can't remember now who had posted it, but it was someone in Australia. I loved the secondary pattern created by repeating the blocks, so worked out the measurements, raided my stash for some coordinating solids and within a very sho...

I am feeling totally out of this week - life is pretty hectic, but not necessarily in a bad way! We're preparing to move houses, so there is a lot to do - trips to the tip, to the charity shop, to the mortgage advisor... calls for insurance, solicitors, removal company, builder... I don't understand how people can do this every few years - I am never moving again! It's also been hectic because I've had dinner out a number of times  this week - I'm not confessing to how many. lets just say that once we're moved and settled the next thing up is a diet! I briefly tried whilst juggling the move and regular life and it just didn't work, but I've been pinning some appealing recipes in anticipation. But the downside to all of this is I've had very little sewing time. Where I have had a couple of hours I've been had sewing so there has been very little progress. I have no lunch dates for the rest of the week, so hopefully can spend some time relaxi...