Jennie's Threads

This is my final finish of 2019, and I really didn't think I would make it! This is the Summer Sampler which was run a four-month-long block of the month by Sarah Edgar of Pretty Fabrics and Trims. Everything about this project was beautiful: the instructions were beautifully presented, the fabrics absolutely gorgeous, and the patterns are lovely: little blocks, mixing all my favourite techniques: applique, English Paper Piecing, hand embroidery and some machine piecing. And then there's the beautiful little extras - a touch  of lace here, and a button there... it's far and away the prettiest thing I have ever made! It's also quite the departure from my normal style, but I have adored every minute I spent working on this project - so much so that I have signed up for two more blocks of the month from Sarah. The quilt finishes at 18" x 24" and is entirely hand quilted - using the 12w Aurifil provided as part of the kit. I'm hoping to get this up on...

Earlier this month I started a new project - I know that's very unlike me! It's a Block of the Month from Pretty Fabrics and Trims : three five inch finished blocks per month for 4 months over the summer, mixing embroidery, applique, English paper piecing and machine piecing (and eventually hand quilting too). I had saved up the blocks for the first two months to make on holiday, enjoyed making them while we were away and then came home to the next three blocks, which I haven't made yet. Here are the month one blocks: And the month two blocks.  (ooops - I picked the wrong pink on my photo editing programme for one of those didn't I!) You may be thinking, this isn't Jennie's normal thing... you're right, it isn't. But it reflects my changing tastes. Or rather my extending tastes (I'm not turning my back on rainbow and Tula any time soon. But I'm finding myself drawn to pastels and florals and vintge-y looking pieces mor...

Back in 2016, you may recall I embarked on a ludicrous project to stitch a block-a-day for a year. I achieved that goal , despite giving birth to Jess half-way through. But I couldn't have achieved it without the huge amount of support from the others who made their quilts in 2016 as well. As a group, we then displayed our finished quilts at Festival of Quilts in August 2017. We still keep in touch through a Facebook group and I've actually met a few of them in real life! Back in December a mini quilt swap was suggested. I confess I paused, because I'm not really into swaps anymore, and, you know, Josh. But it was confirmed there was no pressure at all, so I joined in - and a swap between friends is far less risky that a swap between randoms. And you know what? I didn't leave it to the last minute to make my mini quilt. I'm proud of myself. I selected the geometric sewing machine pattern by @quietplay, and obviously stitched it up in a rainbow. Sadly that patt...

At 10.30pm on Christmas Eve I finished these very cute Christmas samplers! The pattern was a mini quilt-along from Sarah at Pretty Fabrics and Trims . It uses all my favourite techniques: piecing, EPP, embroidery, and hand embroidery. And there's some applique too - which I'm getting better at! I made one for me (the one on the right) and one for a Christmas-obsessed friend. Luckily hers turned out far better than mine!  Lessons learned comparing the two: cream or grey - both didn't really work; her buttons are prettier and better contrast; my Christmas tree is drunk! Despite being a little disappointed with how mine turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed making this little sampler and Sarah is already showing sneak peaks of the next Christmas quilt along - this time a tad larger - starting in February. That may have to go on my list for 2017! This was another Finish Along finish - you can find my original list here .

Another finish - I promise I'll start sharing some progress posts again soon, but believe me, a lot of progress is going on to get to these finishes! For now, this has to be my favourite of the recent abundance of finishes (I was looking for a good collective noun I could use for my finishes and got very distracted - did you know that a group of Flamingos is called a flamboyance of flamingos - how good is that? If you have ten minutes to waste, try googling collective nouns!) Anway. This project started out as many do, on a bit of a whim, and became, as many do, far more involved than originally planned. I had planned to embroider the cat for Mia, who likes cats, and either make it into a cushion by itself, or frame it in a hoop. Bee Curious The pattern came from the Moda Bake shop website and is called the Bee-Utiful quilt. It was designed by Pamela Morgan. She released 20 blocks finishing at about 12" (I think). I ended up picking out the nine I liked best, an...

On a roll with the finishes at the moment! I finished this last week, but it's taken me until the weekend to combine weather and daylight to get some photographs. I tried to convince my little helper to hold the quilt, but it didn't quite work! Anyway: this is a quilt I started back in July at a wonderful workshop with Sarah Fielke hosted by the lovely ladies at Simply Solids in Huddersfield. You can read all about the workshop here - suffice to say it was the hottest day of the year in a room where the large windows didn't open! I had grand plans at the start of the day of a full quilt, but the reality was that the technique ate low volume fabric just a bit too quickly for my liking. I stuck with the single word I made on the day and knew that I was never going to get any further. I added a bit more background and quilted it up. A bit of purple binding and I have a finish. It's 36" x 12" and might end up on Jessica's bedroom wall. T...

Rewind 16 weeks. I was 41 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Too pregnant. Huge. Fed up. I was booked in for induction. Call the maternity ward at 1pm to check if you can go in at 2pm as planned. Lunch at Weatherspoons. Home and on the phone. "Sorry, we're really busy this afternoon and don't have room for you. Call back at 5pm". I think 'disappointed' best described my emotions. So I had four hours to kill. I decided to pull down my scrap basket and do some mindless piecing. I cut little pieces 2"x 1" and pieced them into sets of three without much more thought than colours together. It was what I needed. By the time I called the maternity ward back at 5 I had a nice little pile of them. The maternity ward told me to leave it half an hour then come in, but they couldn't guarantee I would be seen quickly. In the end my waters weren't broken until 5.30am the next morning. Jessica arrived just 11 hours later. A few days later, the first sewin...

Have you seen the Splendid Sampler? It launched in February: two blocks per week from a variety of designers using a variety of techniques. When I first heard about it and thought I might join in, my plan was to just make a few of the blocks I liked. Well it turns out that although I don't like all the blocks, I like an awful lot of them. So far 43 blocks have been released and I've made 22: I'm hiding one cause I don't like it and there's one that will appear in a few sentences time! Whilst I'm enjoying the variety of these blocks, there is a niggle of doubt that they won't work very well together in a finished quilt. That's the reason I'm making each block a single colour, in the hope that a rainbow layout in the final quilt will add much needed cohesiveness. I've just made up the above collage, and I'm optimistic. There have been some straightforward rotary cut and foundation pieced blocks. I particularly loved these two blocks I ...

Last quarter was unsuccessful because I hadn't planned. When I wrote my list my mind was elsewhere and the list didn't include much that was achievable, and certainly didn't include much that inspired me over the last few months. As such, I didn't have many finishes to share. But I know how important the Finish Along is, not just for getting me to finish things, but also for getting me to be creative and find time to sew, which in turn keeps me sane in between the dirty nappies and bottles! So with that in mind I've planned this next quarter a lot more carefully! However, that doesn't mean that the list will be any shorter! So, in no particular order, here are the plans: ABC Embroidery: This project is pushing my embroidery comfort zone with some new stitches and I'm thoroughly enjoying leaving the backstitch zone behind. It's rubbing off on other embroidery projects too which I'm finding quite exciting! I've done A-G and I need to start thinki...