Jennie's Threads

The lull before the storm! Mum and dad have arrived, presents are wrapped, tree is decorated and the rest of the family is en route. And the Snowman and the Snowdog has just started on the telly. In this moment of peace I thought I'd share a quick tutorial with you. I posted a picture of my finished Christmas Tree table runner on Facebook and some friends asked for the pattern. So without making another one, and using just the photos I took when I made it, here is the briefest of brief tutorials... I started with 16 squares of low volume prints of a creamy persuasion rather than a grey persuasion. In hindsight I would have selected lower volume prints than those I did use. I pieced them together in pairs and then created the background of the table runner. Then I raided my scrap boxes. Green strips, red scraps and yellow scraps. I drew some stars on scraps of iron on interfacing and used it to attach the stars at regular points along the table runner. This was the only ...

It may only be a week till Christmas but more importantly it's only 2 more days left in the office until my maternity leave starts! But Christmas is what the sewing is all about round here! At the weekend I finished a Christmassy table runner - you can read more about it here , but I wanted to share it again because I just love it. A couple of friends have asked for the destructions so with enough naps maybe a tutorial will appear! The WIPS are also Christmassy and just as spur of the moment as the table runner. This is as far as I have got - do you see a theme? Improv (well, improv for me anyway), dense straight line quilting.... I got these three to this stage yesterday and it was such good fun - I sewed straight onto the wadding and quilted as I went and made it up as I went. Each will have some embroidery in the middle... but what will they be? The other big WIP this week is the batik wall hanging for my Mum - I still have hopes it will be done for Christmas... she kn...

I have four finished table runners to share today - three very different designs and techniques! First up is a finish that qualifies for the Finish Along - and has appeared on my list a few times now. I finally can share the finished piece with you. This was the very first English Paper Pieced project I ever started. It was my holiday project for Sidmouth in August 2012 and the colour scheme was inspired by a palette I found on Design Seeds . The fabrics are a bit of a mixture: lots of Art Gallery, some beautiful low volume texty fabrics and some proper black fabrics! The background is Primitive Muslin from Moda, the backing is Nature Elements from Art Gallery and the binding is Floral Elements from Art Gallery. I finished piecing the hexies months ago and did the applique when I stayed in Budapest in March.  Basting was interesting. And possibly a contributing factor in my current bad back! It took a lot of time to decide how to quilt it, but I dec...

I had a burst of enthusiasm since last week! So these are all new projects.... I've been given some hand-knitted booties and a cardigan for baby by some of the ladies at church, so to say thank you I've made a couple of table runners. Both are the same design as this one below, but the un-photographed one has opposite colours for the blocks. The fabrics are totally out of my comfort zone. I wanted Christmassy colours, but not overly Christmassy fabrics - with some help at my LQS I picked the fabrics from the Women of Courage range. The block is called Love in the Mist and I've reduced it to a 9" version. Both runners are pieced and quilted. Now I need to trim (never my favourite task) and bind. I'm thinking pointy ends... But the table runners didn't stop there. Having seen this pin , I put together this table runner all for me. It's one of those projects that, as I piece it, I know full well my Mum won't like it! I haven't started qu...