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...

This is one of those embarrassing finishes. Of a quilt that was started many many years ago... In September 2012 I finished piecing my Farmers Wife 1920s quilt, made all in batiks. I took it down to my Mum and Dad's to baste it, and my Uncle saw it. He loved it. He spent ages examining it and studying it and I promised him a quilt made from batiks. Fast forward 6 and a half years. And he still hadn't received that quilt. When I saw the Kinship quilt pattern by @Gnomeangel and @Skyberries I thought it would make a great quilt for him: I could make good use of the larger scale batiks, but it was a realistic goal as the blocks were quite straightforward, unlike my original plan of more complex 6" blocks. And even better - it was a quilt-along! I decided to make a non-batik version as well, using fabrics from my stash in a rainbow. And I have to confess that I did prioritise those blocks ahead of the batik ones. I finished piecing the rainbow one whilst on Retreat and I lov...

We are now officially a family of five...plus Charlie! Joshua joined us at 4.47am on 19th January after 30 hours of induction and 8 hours of labour. He weighed 7lb 9oz... my smallest baby! He seems so much smaller than the girls! We got home on Saturday evening and we're slowly settling into our new routine. Mia and Jessica are over the moon with their new baby brother. According to Jess, he is "adorble" and "so cute"! As for me, I'm still on painkillers but no worse for wear. I'd love a good nap though! But that is tempered with my desire to be doing something! I'm not very good at sitting and doing nothing! So today I started tidying my sewing desk so I can use nap times to get back to my machine and introduce Joshua to the sound of sewing! I unburied the triangles I received as part of the Alison Glass EPP Triangle swap last summer. I also found the extra fabric I'd dug out to add in and the planets aligned and I found the spare pape...

It's all gone rather quiet over here, hasn't it? In defense I do have a good excuse - honest! Yep - Baby number 3 will be joining the Craigs family in February next year and whilst we are aboslutely thrilled, I'm also absolutely knackered! As with my previous pregnancies, the first trimester is not a productive one for all things sewing, and sadly, even though I'm now 17 weeks, my energy is still low and so still not much sewing to report. We've been on a couple of weekends away: one to Chester to go to the zoo, which was amazing!   And another with all the family to the local Brownie Pack Holiday house to celebrate some 60th birthdays. We've also been enjoying the summer! We've had loads of fun in the garden with a new paddling pool and slide - Mia loves it, Jess took some convincing.... We took our annual holiday to Sidmouth for the folk festival and had a lovely week - it's fabulous to watch the girls get so much out of it - and I...

There is nothing quite like an impending deadline to get a project finished, and that was certainly the case with this finish. Advent starts on 1st December (in terms of advent calendars, anyway) and Jessica needed an advent calendar. It might have been better if I'd started it earlier... the first challenge was picking out a design. Like Mia's I wanted there to be a central embroidery, surrounded by the pockets, but I could not find an embroidery that fitted the bill. It wasn't until I changed my search to "Christmas Line Drawings" that an absolute gem popped up . It's a Christmas card design and it's perfect. Jessica loves standing on the sofa looking out of the window, and she loves dogs! I needed to make it bigger, so I added some words and then my mother-in-law had a brainwave - I could add the side of a Christmas tree and the final pocket could be a present under it! Perfect! Challenge number 2 was picking a colour scheme. In the end I went with...

I started this quilt on a bit of a whim. I'd been watching the build up to the quilt along for the Fussy Cut Sampler Quilt book on Instagram, and I'd had a look at the book on Amazon a few times and just not committed. Then, on 31st May,  the day it started, I'd had a long day at work and just needed to relax. I saw the first block pop up and I liked it. I made it, without the book, based on the knowledge that the blocks were 9" finished and the good fortune that the block was very straightforward. I ordered the book as soon as I'd finished. I had to make blocks 2 and 3 the same way because my book hadn't arrived... The book arrived in time for block 4, and it was beautiful. A really lovely book - detailed information on techniques and beautiful photos. It made me look at fabric in a different way - fabric I thought was not a fussy-cuttable fabric, suddenly was... My favourite block! And the last one in the book. I am not a fussy-cutter. I don...

As I mentioned in my last post, we came back from our family summer holiday a couple of weeks ago now. Whilst it was nice to spend time away from staring at a computer screen every day, this years holiday came with its own challenges. We spent the first week in Sidmouth, as always, for the annual folk festival, sharing a house with my parents, my brothers and his wife and young son, and my mother-in-law. This year there was added complication as my Dad has spectacularly broken his foot, so not only did we have two buggies, we also had a wheelchair, zimmer frame and crutches to contend with. And if everyone had just done their fair share of washing up and been considerate of others, it would have been a lovely week. Sadly that wasn't always the case. Add on a musical line-up that wasn't the best ever and it wasn't the great festival we're use to. We will have to think very hard as to whether we go again next year. Nevertheless, the girls seemed to enjoy themselves. ...