Jennie's Threads

Four years ago I made Santa Sacks for Mia and Jessica  (I can't believe it was that long ago!). I had planned to do stockings for them, but I couldn't find a pattern I liked that was big enough to take presents without having to be too careful to buy small ones, but not so big that it would cost a fortune to fill... my husband's family always had pillowcases rather than stockings growing up, so a drawstring bag seemed like a great compromise. When I made those original Santa Sacks, I only had Mia and Jess. We knew that we wanted to have a third child, but obviously we didn't know whether it would be a boy or a girl. So I made sure I had enough matching fabric in case we had another girl. Well, it's just as well we didn't cause I have no idea where that safe place is that I put that fabric! And it was just a bit too girly for Josh anyway.  Last Christmas I picked up some green snow-globe fabric. I ran out of time (and inclination) to make the Santa Sack last yea...

 I've fallen in love hook, line and sinker with all of Corinne Sovey's patterns! I started piecing Christmas Cheer alongside Hocus Pocus - some of the techniques are the same, but there are also different ways of creating a similar look - whilst this quilt looks straightforward it makes use of multiple techniques - applique, foundation piecing, inset circles and regular piecing.  I pieced these blocks during our weekly guild zoom sewing sessions on a Monday night - whilst the last year hasn't been the easiest, this is one of the besy things to come out of it. I spend more time chatting with this lovely bunch of sewers now than I ever did when we could see each other in real life, and I really hope we continue with these sessions once the world rights itself! Three of us were busy piecing this quilt and it was lovely to progress together. I adore the backing of this quilt. It was a duvet cover I picked up at Asda last Christmas (or maybe even the Christmas before) and it is...

Last Summer I joined a block of the month programme run by Sarah Edgar at Pretty Fabric and Trims. It wasn't my normal sewing - it involved Liberty Fabrics and ditsy florals and applique.  But it also involved English Paper Piecing and embroidery which definitely is me. I absolutely loved every minute I spent working on this project, so I signed up for another block of the month - 12 blocks over the course of a year to create A Happy Little Year quilt. The blocks are chunkier than the Summer Sampler - after all I'm making a full size quilt rather than a mini quilt, and the fabrics aren't Liberty, but still very different from what I would normally pick. There's EPP, applique and regular piecing and the blocks are coming together beautifully. Receiving the package each month is such a treat - full of pretty fabric all beautifully wrapped up, and the instructions are always clear and beautifully presented. It's a brilliant mix of blocks I can throw together with an ho...

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...

And now for the other piece of fabric I had printed by Print Me Pretty. this was another piece of text - my paternal Grandmother's travel diary from 1957 - Devon and Cornwall. The scale of this print is slightly larger than the marmalade recipe from my last post, so the Lola Pouch ( pattern by Sotak Handmade) I made for this was considerably bigger - my intention was that it could house the journals themselves as a gift for my Dad for Christmas. I just love how matter-of-fact my Granny's writing is. The act of putting the car in the ditch is given equal waiting to what they had for tea! If I'd put the car in a ditch I'd never hear the end of it! For the reverse of the pouch I decided to try my hand at a Cathedral Window panel. This is a technique I haven't done before, but it was something my Granny did a lot of, so it seemed fitting for this pouch. The fabrics are all Quantum by Guicy Guice fabrics, and a Kona cream for the base. It felt like an awful ...

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...

well I'm a little behind in finishing off the second batch of Dear Jen blocks. There were four English paper pieced blocks this month: This one held me up... I'm a firm believer that any block can be EPP'd but the fine ends of the outer curves on this block nearly had me doubting that belief! And then there were two applique blocks. It was this one that I left to last and really didn't fancy - not just applique, but bias applique too. I used Sarah Fielke's method to create the bias binding, and her tip for transferring a pattern to dark fabric and it all worked out beautifully. So much so that I enjoyed working on this block the most of any this month! Onto month 3. No applique but lots of curves. I'm thoroughly enjoying the challenges of these blocks!

I am absolutely loving this year's Block of the Month from Sarah Fielke. There's so much variety of techniques, the instruction are so good and it's a wonderful challenge every month. I'm even enjoying the applique, which is just well because I think next month will be all about the applique! And because I'm enjoying it so much, I am 100% up to date! This is the status at the end of month four. The tulip appliqued corners were last month, which I failed to blog about. I found the inny corners tricky and I may have to go back and embroider some strategically placed ladybirds... I made all the houses in the outer border this month using a mix of rotary cutting and foundation piecing, with appliques doors and windows. This quilt will be for Mum and Dad when it's finished and I find myself taking Mum's taste into account far more than Dad's. He's a musician so I was pleased to get the red musical notation print in (it's an old Basic Grey print...

Well I'm still on track and I've completed month 2 of Sarah Fielke's Coming Home quilt . This month was the star points and the appliqued star in a circle. I broke out the applique paper again and thoroughly enjoyed the applique process. I'm also really pleased with how neat it looks. And all that practice will hopefully pay off next month as it's going to be all about the applique when we fill in those corners!

It's been quite the month! Having three kids seems to suit me. So far at least. I have loads of energy, the house is tidy and I'm sewing. Joshua is napping, and generally a happy, laid back baby, and the girls have accepted that he won't be going back in Mummy's tummy! I finally finished Joshua's quilt ; I completed the top of my Ice Cream Soda quilt ready for quilting; I made two more rainbow cushion s for birthday gifts; I finished the long running Architextures and Botanics quilt; I finished my two-sided Hidden Agenda in Tula Pink fabrics and low volume. I finally bought a hoop to frame the owl embroidery I did back in January. And I started an embroidery.... more on that later this month as it deserves its own blog post. I started a new quilt: the Cherish pattern and papers from Tales of Cloth, paired with Tabby Road by Tula Pink; I made a couple of blocks for the Summer Sampler 2018, I started the Coming Home quilt; made a few more Lisa the Unic...

Back in 2017, I signed up for Sarah Fielke's block of the month , Down the Rabbit Hole . Inevitably I lost momentum, not least because of the shear volume of neeedleturn applique - I was still working on the second month in October. But that hasn't stopped me signing up for this year's Block of the Month, Coming Home. Mum has been making not-so-subtle hints about wanting a quilt for a while, and she liked this one. It's pretty important with this block of the month, that I keep up to date with it throughout the year. That may become harder as we go along, but for now, I have achieved that with month 1. When picking the fabrics, we actually started with the background. Mum loves fabric that have "light" to them, and when I saw this Grunge by Moda fabric, I knew it was perfect. Luckily Mum agreed. And then I proposed my standard rainbow and Mum (and Dad - he got a small say in events) approved it!  I am aware that this quilt will also have a fair amount...

I've been joining in with the #stitchedsewingorganizerssal on Instagram - sewing the projects from Aneela Hooey's Stitched Sewing Organizers book - if you only buy one book this year, buy this one - it's so good! We're coming to the end of the sew-along and the penultimate project was the Needlebook Plus - an who doesn't needs a new needle book? I used some of my new giraffe fabric on the front and on the pincushion, and my favourite - bright pink for the lining. The leather strap is a trimming from the leather I harvested from our old sofas before they went to the tip!

It has been months since we talked about my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt on this blog. There's a very good reason for that - I didn't touch it! This is a block of the month programme from Sarah Fielke and it combines templates, hand applique, bias applique, foundation piecing.... you name it, it has every technique going, and right from the start I knew it was going to be a huge challenge. I got through the first couple of months a little behind, but then in month three, we had to applique, by hand, the tiniest, fiddliest little leaves going... and that's where the wheels came off. I had 24 to add and the first one I did is still the best. Over the summer I did work ahead a bit, but the next section - 40 tiny houses with paper pieced roofs didn't go quickly either... I knew that the next borders were heavy on the hand applique, so in September I made a decision: If this quilt was ever going to be finished, and I would like to finish it, then hand applique just wasn...

I LOVE this quilt. But I didn't always. Regular readers will have heard the story before, but I'm going to tell it again anyway! This quilt first appeared in an issue of Quilt Mania back in spring 2015(!), and a friend managed to snag me a copy. There was a little bit of a quilt along going on Instagram and, well, you know me! I decided to replicate the original feeling of the quilt - totally scrappy. This was a new look for me: all the fabric all over the place! First up was the sky. I forget just how many 1.5" squares I needed to cut, but I multi-tasked: I cut it out the same week as I cut the background for my pixelated heart quilt . So whilst it took a long time - a ridiculously long time - at least I was killing two birds with one stone. And despite the size of the pieces, the sky area came together quite easily. I struggled more with the "city" - trying to get a good balance of colour. But I really enjoyed the freedom to use any fabric and t...