Jennie's Threads

Sneaking under the wire I have a final finish to share with you today! Do you remember Steph's quilt - the one I wasn't enjoying (well - one of the two I wasn't enjoying) and which kept appearing on my list at the start of each quarter? Yesterday I finished it!!! This is a 21st birthday present for my sister-in-law. She will be 23 in October. All of the fabrics are batiks and were bought at the Harrogate quilt show just a month before her 21st birthday, so there was never any way it was going to be finished on time! Except for the sashing fabric, which might even be a Moda batik, but I'm not sure. As always I overbought by about half a meter of each fabric.... By the end of last quarter I had finished piecing the quilt top, and Mum had helped me baste it. It took me another few weeks to get round to quilting it. I even trimmed it. And then it sat on top of the pile, being ignored. I had planned to add another border to the quilt top made up of all of the differe...

I have two WIP projects to share with you today! Steph's quilt - anyone who reads my blog knows that this has been a bit of a long project. It's for my sister-in-law's 21st birthday. She will be 23 in October..... I got bored of piecing straight lines all the same, so I really had to make myself finish this one. Mum and I basted it at Easter and this weekend my husband was away so I could free motion to my hearts content (he gets grumpy with the constant whirr of the machine). It took forever. Or it seemed to. It seemed much more hard work than Daniela's quilt, even though hers is quite a bit bigger - maybe it was the batik: it ate needles and it ate cotton. I got a break when I had to go to my LQS to buy a second reel of Aurifil.... Every second Tuesday I go to craft club at the local church. I have to confess, I started going mostly to gain some mother-in-law points, but I actually really enjoy it (I'm the youngest there buy at least 30 years!). And they...

A quarter of the way through the year already. Back in January I posted a very ambitious list of things I wanted to achieve.... I didn't do very well in finishing, but I did move some projects along... Pac Mania: is finished. And I have sent it to it's new home with a friend who has recently lost her husband. There were times when I wasn't sure about this quilt, but once it was completed and washed I was really please with how it had turned out - nice and crinkly. I'm linking this post up for this finish, but you can fid more information here . My only other finish this quarter was my Pembrokeshire English Paper Piecing mini quilt. This is also now living in its new home with my Mum. You can find all the information about the finish here : Rhubarb and Custard: Isn't finished. But I have made huge progress in the sashing. This project will go back on the list for Q2. Steph's Quilt: Isn't finished. But I do have a completed quilt top afte...

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...

We're visiting my parents for the Easter weekend. They have a large garden, so we managed to take some pictures of my two biggest quilts. They have a large living room. Or at least I thought so, until we tried to baste the monster... Here is the monster (116x116") in the garden Strict instructions to crop my mother from the photograph! This photo gives quite a good idea of the colour of the fabric. And here's the baby monster (80x80") in the garden And being basted - you get a better idea of the warm pinky look from the sashing in this picture. We also basted my neon stained quilt. and the back of Stained - a wonderful Ikea print which turns out to be 60" wide - no seam down the middle of my back! We are now high on 505 fumes! Whoops...

Is that how you spell Ginormous? anyways... I like fiddly, intricate, tiny... But none of that for me this week. Instead I've been putting together some quilt tops that have been waiting a while. And that means long seams and lots of pins... I posted the first two of the weekend - the quilt tops are finished and this weekend I hope to baste them on my Mum's living room floor! Above is Steph's quilt - it's about 80x80". Below is a quilt that I'm not really sure what I will do with. It's about 38x48" (I think). And tonight I have finished piecing the monster of all monsters.... it's so enormous I can't get a photo of it. I'm hoping Mum and Dad will pose with it at the weekend so I can post some proper pics. This is me fighting it through the machine... Each block has the creamy square in the middle and are about 17x17" The fabrics are Durham fabrics by Lecien and they are very pretty - not my normal colours at all,...