Jennie's Threads

May was a bit of a slow sewing month. Instead I've been enjoying time with this these two fruitcakes! Jess is now 6 weeks old, desperate to see whats going on and be involved, giving out great big smiles, and starting to chat away! I forget how quickly they start to interact. And speaking of chatting away, Mia doesn't stop! She's taken a liking to map-reading in the photo above! Having completed 43 blocks in April, I had a feeling May would be a drier month - just 27. But my running total for the year is still a healthy 283, so my 365 blocks in a year goal is well on track! But this month's blocks were more varied: I finally made a second Zodiac block. This project has been held up because I do freezer paper piecing and I had to replace my iron, and it just didn't get hot enough to melt the wax, making freezer paper foundation piecing a thoroughly unenjoyable experience. I've now replaced my iron so hopefully I'll get caught up o...

New year and new energy! January has been good to me! Firstly I had a finish - an actual finish. Of a proper full-sized quilt! It's been a year since I had a full-sized finish! My pixelated heart quilt is on our bed right now! I love it. As does my daughter! And blocks... I set myself a challenge at the start of the year to make 365 blocks - one per day. For some projects a block is obvious: I made thirty-two blocks in the 365 Challenge (there was a bonus block at the start of the month!), so I'm up to date with that; I made 22 of the Farmer's Wife blocks below (5 are from December), so I'm still not up to date with these; And I made t he first block in the Zodiac BOM . Other quilts don't have such well defined "blocks". For the My Small World quilt I'm counting a row of each section as a block: for some blocks this means they are very simple and completed in just a few minutes. For other blocks, like the hand pieced clamshel...

This year I decided not to take part in any BOM programmes. I did decide to take part in a block of the day quilt, and I'm still supposedly making two Farmer's Wife blocks a week. That's plenty. Until I saw the Zodiac Block of the Month from At Blank Pages. I didn't take a lot of convincing.... The first block, Aquarius was in my inbox first thing on 21st January. Filled with the enthusiasm of a new start, I got started cutting my fabrics straight away: I've decided on no particular fabric pull, rather any warm colours that take my fancy. The grey frame will run throughout the quilt pulling it all together and I'm planning on using my birthday money to buy enough of the Modern Background fabric I've picked for the background to do the same. Oranges, purples, pinks, yellows, reds, peaches.... all in scope! For someone who normally includes aqua or green in her quilts, this is a bit different for me! For this first block I've used Pearl Bracel...