Jennie's Threads

Many years ago, I wrote up a tutorial for Leanne at She can Quilt as part of a Finish Along tutorial week for a block storage thingy. Just a few weeks ago I took my own version along to our local patchwork group and there was some interest in it. I realised that I never posted it here on my own blog. So here, once again, is my block-keeper tutorial in all it's glory! ****************** Hi there! I'm Jennie and I blog over at Jennie's Threads. I live in the UK and I've been quilting for about three years now. This year I have got rather addicted to BOMs (Block of the Month) - I'm sewing along with three, designing my own , and I'm very very tempted with a couple of others. I'm also making a few long term quilts, so I have loads of blocks knocking about in boxes, rolled up corners and folded in piles. This isn't a great way to store them, so I've made myself a block keeper. And Leanne was lovely enough to ask me to write a tutorial for you all. ...

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 ...

Back in October I made a hoop for a swap using quarter-inch hexies. It started as a bit of a joke, but I found they weren't as fiddly or horrid as I had kind of assumed. So when I joined the Get Your Hex on Bee I knew I wanted to introduce more people to the joys - obviously not the whole block - but just a flavour. And if I was asking people to play with quarter-inch hexies for the first time, it was only fair to give them some tips! I start off with pieces of fabric 1" x 1" (though this is quite generous), paper hexies, an applique needle, quilting cotton and scissors. I always use quilting cotton because it's a bit more flexible for the basting, and fine for the whip stitching. Use a matching thread throughout, because the basting stitches remain in the  hexies once you've finished. Basting I stopped chewing my finger nails especially for the next pictures.... unfortunately the size of the hexie makes my thumb look even fatter than it is :) ...

This year just seems to be rushing by! I spent the first half of the month working in Budapest again, and Jane came with me. I made five blocks using English Paper Piecing technique (blogged here and here ), and wrote a tutorial on how I did it. When I got back I completed my entry for the Emerald Challenge - a block keeper for storing all those blocks I'm making as part of many many BOMs. I have written a tutorial for this too - you can find it over on Leanne's blog today as part of the 2013 Finish Along  I'd love it if you'd pop over and take a look. The second half of the month was about catching up and starting new things I made my block for Stash Bee - It's enormous, and not my normal colour scheme but I really enjoyed it. And the Queen Bee for April has picked the same block in different colours, so I get to play with it again! I made the March block in the Lucky Stars BOM - I absolutely love these little blocks and have s...

I have always struggled to like blue and orange as a colour scheme, but when I found out how many people I know are having/have had baby boys, I just new I wanted to make a baby quilt using blues and oranges. So I raided my stash and came up with these. I started with 20 different oranges and 20 different blues. I put together the design whilst in Budapest - I'm not claiming originality but it shows off the fabrics well! It took about two hours to cut all the fabrics, but I pieced it in just three hours - that makes a very quick quilt top. Hopefully I can get it quilted in the next few weeks but I have put together a quick tutorial - well more of a cutting guide. You can find it as a PDF here . I'd love to see anything you make!

Whilst I'm away from home I've been working on some Dear Jane blocks. I've tried regular piecing by hand in the past with somewhat dubious results, so to piece by hand I use the English Paper Piecing technique. This is a great way to do inset seams, which is something I'm not great at on the machine (having started my double wedding ring, I will be getting a lot of practice of this). On my last post I shared a very bad photo of block D-2: Mouse in the Mirror. So here it is again, with better lighting: I've also completed B-9 Tinker Toy The fabric is Oval Elements from Art Gallery Wendy then asked me how I do my blocks with EPP, so I thought I'd share a little tutorial. This isn't the only way to do it, and it most likely isn't the best way, but this is my way.... the block is F-1: Big top and the fabric is from Lecien. I start by tracing the block design from the book onto freezer paper. I just lay it over and mark the corners on the dull si...

I am so excited that you some of you want to sew along with me! Welcome along! If you have a Flickr Account, I'd love to see you over there, where you can introduce yourself, and post pictures of your blocks! First of all, I wanted to take you through my plan - of course, you can do it differently! There are twelve months of the year and twelve blocks round the centre of the quilt. There are also twelve colours in a regular colour wheel. Alyssa has a great post about colour theory as part of her 2013 BOM (which I've also signed up for)! As I'm stash shopping for this quilt, I've had to tweak my colours slightly, as I don't have quite the range of blues/purples that the colour wheel requires. Here is the layout of my quilt: Each block is 10" x 10" (finished)and I plan on adding a border. I have created a blank version of this for you to use to plan your own quilt. You can find the file here . Eight of the blocks will follow this plan (though ...

October is my turn! I've spent ages trying to decide which block to ask for this month. Back in May I saw this quilt entered in the Bloggers Quilt Festival and I knew I had found the block I wanted! Thanks, Becky, for letting me share your beautiful quilt! But I am going for a slightly different colour scheme - these are the favourite colours of my Great Aunty Iris! My heart sunk when she said she liked purple, as it's a colour I struggle to find, so I thought I'd ask my fellow Stash Bee-ers to help me out. I've put together my own tutorial here, but drawn heavily from two on-line tutorials here and here : To make one block, you create four quarters: To make four quarters you will need Four 6" squares in various purple fabrics Two strips of cream 1" by width of fabric (If you're using a fat quarter, you'll need four strips cut from the longest side, and if you're using scraps, 8 pieces 1" x 10.5". If you can cut fro...