Jennie's Threads

It's confession time... I had really good intentions for this quilt this month . And they all fell flat on their face. I kept thinking I had loads of time to make some blocks. And then life happened - we had two big birthday weekends - and all of a sudden February is over. And this is all I have to show for it. One, single 6" block. This is Anvil. I do have a plan to prevent this from simply going back in the cupboard for another few years: another of the projects on my APQ resolution list is my Architextures and Botanics quilt. I started both quilts at the same time and there is quite an overlap of blocks already. I don't know which month this project will be appearing, but when it does, I should pair up the blocks and make one for each quilt. None of the blocks are particularly difficult! Let's hope I make more progress with the March project!

Yesterday was the first of the month and the reveal day for the project number for February. Number 8. Oh dear... this is very much an unloved project. Here's its sad little story: Back in 2013 I finished piecing my original Farmer's Wife quilt. I made it from batiks and used black throughout as my background colour. I took it down with me when I went to visit my parents so my Mum could help baste it. Whilst there my Uncle visited. Never have I seen anyone appreciate a quilt so much. He spent over an hour studying it and just simply enjoying it. It was really wonderful to see. When someone enjoys a quilt that much, they definitely deserve a quilt of their own. He was drawn to the batik fabrics in particular because of the colours and the depth - a feature I love about them, though I have to say that I rarely use batiks these days. I keenly started another black and batik sampler quilt, and then just as keenly, moved on to other things. The last time I worked on this quilt w...

I didn't have an edition of Sampler Quilt Love in April, as all I'd managed to do was to cut out a few blocks - none had been pieced. But this month every now and then I pieced another block. These are for my Architextures and Botanics quilt and are all from the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt except the last which is from Silvia's Bridal Sampler Ribbons Star of Hope with small design alteration cause I had a stupid moment Star Gardner Pinwheel 2 These are for my Uncle's quilt and all come from Silvia's Bridal Sampler Gulf Star Cut Glass Dish Bow Tie Pinwheel 2 The last two batik blocks were cut out at different times - I obviously like this combination of fabrics!  I did however, manage a Lucky Stars block - I figure that as each star is different this is a kind of sampler quilt too. The two other sampler quilts I'm "actively" working on are the Dear Jane quilt and Michael's Hangover Blankie. I was di...

January has felt like an odd month - I haven't been at work, waiting for a certain little arrival, but I haven't had much energy to do masses of sewing either - and that has annoyed me - I know it shouldn't, but it does. I'm not good at feeling less than 100% but I'm going to have to get use to it. I have been working on all the projects I wanted to, I just haven't got as far as I would have liked. The quilt I'm making for Baby is now fully pieced and I'm busy hand quilting it . All of my City Sampler blocks are finished. I desperately wanted to have the top pieced by yesterday so I could join in the final link up. I got 3 rows together. I started this about the time I fell pregnant so it would be lovely to have a finished quilt top before she arrives - almost like my pregnancy journey. I used up some scraps with a Kindle cover and a new pincushion . I still want to make a pincushion to wear on my wrist when I'm hand sewing, but that re...

A new year means new projects and yesterday I started two! Both are sampler quilts. Let me explain... About 18 months ago I decided to make a quilt for my Uncle. He had seen my Farmer's Wife quilt top and spent ages looking at it in great detail. When someone shows that much interest in a quilt it's not a hard decision to want to make one for them. Add in the fact that he has a habit of falling asleep on the sofa and it's easy. While he was there we worked out what size quilt he would need, and for Christmas I asked for the book of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - I wanted to stick to 6" blocks and he really liked the jewel colours you get from using batiks but I was bored of the Farmer's Wife by this point. In February 2013 I bought the black batik background. And then I ignored it. Other projects took priority. Meanwhile I fell in love with a range of fabrics this time last year - Architextures by Caroline Friedlander. So much so that after ordering and playin...

This isn't so much a post about resolutions, but a post about the things I'm going to have a go at this year (and pretty fabric I'm going to play with). You can't have read my recent blog posts without realising I'm expecting our first child in the very near future. I read a lot of inspirational blogs about Mums who still find time to sew. A lot. I hope I will also get the chance to sew in between nappies and feeds and everything else that comes with Baby. Nevertheless, I have probably planned in too much... (I'll say it before my Mum or my mother-in-law do)! I've signed up for the Vice Versa BOM hosted by Anne-Marie at Gen X Quilters I "took part" in her Sisters BOM last year. By "took part" I mean I made the first couple of blocks... I have every intention of finishing last years quilt too, but I picked a lot of white, which doesn't necessarily fit comfortably in a house with two dogs, my husband and a new baby... so I'm...