Jennie's Threads

This is one of those embarrassing finishes. Of a quilt that was started many many years ago... In September 2012 I finished piecing my Farmers Wife 1920s quilt, made all in batiks. I took it down to my Mum and Dad's to baste it, and my Uncle saw it. He loved it. He spent ages examining it and studying it and I promised him a quilt made from batiks. Fast forward 6 and a half years. And he still hadn't received that quilt. When I saw the Kinship quilt pattern by @Gnomeangel and @Skyberries I thought it would make a great quilt for him: I could make good use of the larger scale batiks, but it was a realistic goal as the blocks were quite straightforward, unlike my original plan of more complex 6" blocks. And even better - it was a quilt-along! I decided to make a non-batik version as well, using fabrics from my stash in a rainbow. And I have to confess that I did prioritise those blocks ahead of the batik ones. I finished piecing the rainbow one whilst on Retreat and I lov...

So looking back through my blog history, it would seem that I haven't mentioned this project here before, so let me explain. Ever since I saw this quilt, I've wanted to make it, but getting hold of the pattern in the UK seemed impossible. Earlier this year I won a $25 voucher to a Canadian fabric shop, and they had it in stock. They were able to do me a good deal on the postage and so it seemed like a very good use of my voucher. And then @Gnomeangel announced that it would be a quilt along starting in August and ending in December. I decided that this would be the perfect quilt for an Alison Glass rainbow so I started stock-piling fat quarters - such a pretty rainbow! You can just about see the background print at the bottom there, too. The quilt along started just before a number of other quilt alongs finished, and just a day before we went on our summer holiday. I worked really hard before the holidays getting a couple of quilts finished, and I came back with a lul...

It's now a well-known fact that I am a sucker for a quilt along. Here's the next one I've joined in with. The host is Angie @ Gnome Angel - who is just a dreadful influence on anyone trying not to start new projects; and the pattern is 'Long Time Gone' by Jen Kingwell. This was a block of the month originally, but this quilt-along steps up a gear as a block of the week - and some weeks, that's a lot of sewing. This is going to be intense. But Angie's a good 'un and has given us advance warning of the running order and I've been doing some preparation! There's no other way I could make 16 foundation-pieced, 37-piece, pineapple log can blocks in a week! I decided to join in this quilt-along as I was finishing up my My Small World quilt. And I wasn't allowed to join in if I hadn't finished that quilt. You may remember my journey with that quilt. I really, really enjoyed piecing it, but once pieced I didn't like the scrappiness of i...

We have just had a fabulous weekend celebrating Mia's third birthday. Third! Where did those three years disappear to? She is a little star: She is constantly talking, and her speech is so good; she is constantly busy with something - she wears me out just watching her. She loves fabric and quilts and Mummy's sewing machine. She loves dolls houses and little dolls (God bless Happy Land) - we bought her a castle dolls house for her birthday. She is also stubborn (don't know where she gets that from) and isn't keen on having her photo taken - so the one above is the most recent, nice one that I have! She refuses to potty train or give up her dummy. She also refuses to nap (except for when she's with the childminder - black magic, I tell you!). But every day with us, at some point, she will curl up on the sofa with a cushion and a quilt and "have a sleep" - during which time she watches TV and doesn't close her eyes. She picks which cushion and which...

I have to admit that there were points in the last year when I never thought I would be writing this post. But here I am. Today I can share with you my finished #365 quilt top. This is big: 98" x 98" (I guess - I forgot to measure it but I know each of the 96" strips I cut for that final border had to be extended by a couple of inches....). To get the photograph I lay it on our front lawn and hung out of the bedroom window! And that's really why it got finished last Sunday - I noted that not only was it sunny, but there was no wind at all, and therefore and outdoor shoot was possible. This is unheard of on the north-east coast. There's so much I want to say about this quilt top, so bear with me... I had come across the project in November 2015 and dismissed it. I looked at it again in December and dismissed it again. The reason was the fabric requirements. I was totally put off by the requirement of a dark-dark, dark-medium, dark, medium-dark etc. I couldn...

Yesterday was the first of the month and the reveal day for the project number for February. Number 8. Oh dear... this is very much an unloved project. Here's its sad little story: Back in 2013 I finished piecing my original Farmer's Wife quilt. I made it from batiks and used black throughout as my background colour. I took it down with me when I went to visit my parents so my Mum could help baste it. Whilst there my Uncle visited. Never have I seen anyone appreciate a quilt so much. He spent over an hour studying it and just simply enjoying it. It was really wonderful to see. When someone enjoys a quilt that much, they definitely deserve a quilt of their own. He was drawn to the batik fabrics in particular because of the colours and the depth - a feature I love about them, though I have to say that I rarely use batiks these days. I keenly started another black and batik sampler quilt, and then just as keenly, moved on to other things. The last time I worked on this quilt w...

Our penultimate trip into the crazy world of 100 things about Jennie! Block 81: Aunty Mary This is for my husband's Great Aunt, Aunty Mary. She is the sister of Aunty Margaret, whose block can be found at number 27! Block 82: Pyjama Day Because that is exactly what we had on the day of this block. Every so often, you just need to slob out for the day and not bother. It was lovely! Block 83: Grandad Tom This is for my paternal Grandfather. He was actually called Eric, but with the surname Thomas, he'd been known as Tom forever. He was the grandparent I know least about, but he loved woodworking and built us our wendy house at the bottom of the garden. Michael's Grandad was also called Thomas (his block is #74). Block 84: Sampler Quilts In case you hadn't noticed I have a bit of an addiction... the quilts I'm working on with this hashtag #100days100blocks is just the tip of the iceberg! Block 85: Princesses We're a big fan: Jasmi...

{following on from yesterday's post...} Our neighbour's grandson needed a quilt too. Whilst Orla, who is 3, clearly loves yellow, Hugo who isn't yet a year, hasn't yet expressed such a preference. So we took the safe option and went for blues and greens. This time we started with a backing fabric, which we picked up in Harrogate (at the back in the above photo). It was a lovely ombre fabric from light blue to dark blue, dark green and light green. I mached the fabrics for the front to these colours, and ended up with quite a small colour palette, to which I added a pop of red. I used the same setting as his sister's quilt, but the fifteen blocks are all different. The blue sashing and negative space is Kona Copen, and I used the same fabric to bind it. Here you can see both quilts together pre-binding. I quilted it with the same 30/60 degree cross hatch as the yellow quilt. Here you can see the backing, and the fundamental error I made when plannin...

So the neighbour we introduced you to in yesterday's post has two young grandchildren. We decided to make quilts for them as well. Her granddaughter, Orla, loves yellow. So yellow it was. We dug a bit deeper and discovered that if she were forced to pick a second colour, it would be green. I then added a touch of orange. I searched and searched for the right pattern, but kept getting drawn back to the City Sampler blocks by Tula Pink. Once I decided to just give in and go with it, I did a Pinterest hunt for an interesting setting that would also reduce the total number of blocks I had to make. I came across this one , and adapted it slightly. Once the quilt top was completed, I asked for quilting suggestions on Instagram. I was thinking a cross hatch when Archie the Wonder Dog suggested a 30/60 degree cross hatch. It's a bit different isn't it, so I gave it a go. The result is one finished toddler quilt. It is made up of fabrics from my stash with quite a few fr...

2016 is the year of the block. Of the day, of the week, of the month - I'm not really fussed. That doesn't mean to say I'm up to date with any of them... #365quilt challenge (daily): I'm 45 blocks behind Splendid Sampler (bi-weekly): 24 blocks behind plus a few bonus blocks still to make Zodiac BOM (monthly): 5 behind Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (weekly): God knows how many behind - I haven't touched this in quite a few months... 35-40 maybe? Summer Sampler (weekly): 7 behind. Can you see a pattern developing? But you know what - it's not stopping me starting something new. Unless you've been living under a rock or aren't on Instagram, you will have likely stumbled across the #100days100blocks hashtag. It's been organized by @gnomeangel, @ sunflowerquilting and @sweetlittlepretties and the idea is that each day for 100 days you sew and post the blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler book. It starts tomorrow. I've already...