Jennie's Threads

Done in time for Christmas: Michael's Hangover Blankie. This was a bit of a slog, if I'm honest. There are some things about this quilt that I love, but there have been moments when I didn't love it: I love the setting - it's so fresh and modern and the negative space invites interesting quilting; I really struggled with the fabrics I chose and there were a lot of challenges to get it finished. So, the fabric. From day one this was a quilt for Michael. I started by pulling fabrics from my stash. But I wasn't convinced. The pattern called for five colours, and having seen some of the finishes popping up in the Flickr quilt, I could have selected a slightly more refined colour pallette whilst still maintained 5 "colours" and the necessary contrast. But I didn't. I picked red, yellow, green, blue and purple. It also didn't feel very masculine. So we swapped it for solids. Michael used my Kona colour card and we picked Canary, Lime,...

This is the final Sew Together bag of Christmas 2014. I promise. I only finished it the Saturday before Christmas - I'm just happy it wasn't Christmas Eve! This one was for Linda - she loves owls, and feathers hold a special place in her heart, so this combination was perfect! I's also the right colours! Quite lucky really as I was given the fabric, rather than picking it out with a purpose in mind! The embroidery, which seemed to take forever, is a pattern from Urban Threads - I love pretty much everything on their website! It's hand embroidered in backstitch with the odd French knot, lazy daisy stitch and cross stitch thrown in for good measure. I used two strands of DMC stranded cotton throughout, except for eyes and beaks. The border around the embroidery is a peeped seam. At least, I think that's what it's called. I took a strip of fabric 1" wide, pressed it in half lengthways, then basted it into the seam allowance, before attaching the fe...

This really is one of those patterns that gets easier and quicker the more you make it. My third Sew Together bag and the second I've made a Christmas present. I started off with purple and paper hexagons and a load of zips. I had the pieces cut out and interfacing attached weeks ago (something else which makes it seem quicker to make). But it took me a while to finally get round to making it up. The outside is a Kona solid with some graffiti quilting and 3/4" hexagons appliqued over the top. It was shame to hide some of the quilting in the end, but it would have looked a bit naff without the hexies! I have to confess that I didn't use scraps for these - I just didn't have enough purple variety in my at-hand scrap bags. Task for the new year: properly sort all scraps and make pretty quilted boxes to store them! I ended up cutting yardage at the same time as I cut for another purple zippy pouch. On the inside I picked a Tula Pink fabric and then co...

On My Finish Along list at the start of Q4 I had ten zippy pouches listed. This was one of them. And the third to be finished back in mid-November. But because it was a Christmas present I haven't been able to share it with you until now. This was my second attempt at the Sew Together Bag pattern and it went so much quicker than the first one. I made a few changes as well: I found a great tutorial for adding tab ends to the internal zips at Crazy Mom Quilts which really tidies up the look of the inside - it makes it looks more finished somehow! I also hand stitched the binding down on the outside of the pouch - this looks so much neater than my original bag and didn't take much longer when you consider the struggle of getting the bag through the machine and everything lined up, and allow for the changing of needles when I inevitably snap one. Or two! I also understood the final step in the instructions this time. First time round I was quite tired but determined to fini...

I am so pleased to report that this is a finished project. I made the first block in November 2010 and the final of the twelve blocks in October 2011. And I didn't do anything with them. The blocks were designed by my Local Quilt Shop and finish at the rather odd 14" (well, some of them do). I made them before I had figured out how to get my seams matching and accurate, some were hand pieced, some were made with templates which I drew round with biro... and the biro shows through... so this was never going to become a quilt as I'm out of fabric. Because of this, they have sat unloved for the last 3 years. Although the fabric wouldn't be my choice today, I do still love them - they are so pretty and delicate. So every time I fell across them in the cupboard there was a twang of guilt. This time last year, heavily pregnant, my husband bought me the most romantic gift ever - a maternity pillow. It's 4.5 foot x 1.5 foot. And it was rubbish. Far too chunky and...

Some of my Q4 Finish Along goals have deadlines. Some just got added to the list because they were knocking about, half-finished. This is one of the latter category. And whilst sewing time is hard to come by at the moment, I decided about a week ago that rather than concentrate on the Christmas presents I had to finish, I would quilt this one up! The pattern is Preppy the Whale by Elizabeth Hartman . I'm half way through making a baby quilt from this pattern and this mini was a practice run. It's such a quick and easy block that there was never any doubt I would be making the whole baby quilt. But it's not quite finished yet. I decided on cross hatch quilting with lines a inch apart. Normally when I do cross-hatch quilting I mark each line with my hera marker, but this time I tried using the quilting guides again. And I just don't get the same accuracy. But with that many lines it's definitely the quicker way to do it. Also, I don't think I get the same de...

Remember the Moustache cushion front I showed you? Well now it's a cushion cover. And it's wrapped! I trimmed down the piece I showed a couple of weeks ago, then added what I'm calling a peeped binding. I'm not sure what it's actually called... I took 1" strips of red yardage and folded them in half length-ways. I then basted them onto the cushion front within the seam allowance. I also basted the pieces of the envelope back to the front, as I didn't trust the fabric not to move about with that many layers! Once in place I added the binding, made from the same fabric as the cushion body (so thicker to work with than regular binding), then brought it to the front and top-stitched it in place with a small amount of the red still showing. I love how this adds interest without being piping! This is my second scrappy cushion made in a similar manner and I'm planning a quilt in the same techniques in the new year (along with a few other things!).