Jennie's Threads

Well you can tell how behind I am on blogging, can't you - we're heading into the final month of quarter 2 and here I am only just rounding up Quarter 1! It's funny how sometimes life just runs away with you! You would think we'd all have more time with the current lock down, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way! But Q1 was quite successful, so I think it's worth documenting: I finished some quilts! First up, Fancy Forest . I love this quilt - there were times when I wasn't sure, but when I pulled it all together, the rainbow just shone! And then there was this, rather special quilt - my Tula Nova, started on my day with Tula Pink! The Meadowland quilt - finished as part of the sew along and gifted to my niece. And the Blueberry Park hexies quilt. I finished a couple of tote bags: Yarned and Dangerous for my Mother-in-law And All the Single Ladies for me Then there were a few smaller items: the tubs for my Mum And the tubs for us Some placemats

Well this finish has been a while in the making. Two years in fact. I started it on a whim and made a couple of blocks and then put it away. Over Christmas I got a sudden urge to work on it again, and I very quickly made enough blocks for a small lap quilt and put it together while away for work in January - hence the poor hotel lighting! Then I had to decide - keep it small or keep going. I started with a fat quarter bundle and still had some left so I just got on with cutting, cutting, cutting. I cut as many more blocks as I could from the fabric I had left, but it was soon apparent that there were a couple of fabrics I loved most which I had used quite heavily in the section of quilt I had already made. In the interest of balance (and because they were my favourite prints) I put out a call for help on Instagram - and some fabulous people helped me out - thank you @jenthepiecemaker and @the_orriginal! The final quilt top is 10 x 10 blocks (the blocks are 6" finished). I ba

Another finish for you tonight! Back in March 2020, whilst Josh was napping and I was enjoying maternity leave, I was stroking a new parcel of Tula Pink Pinkerville fabric, wondering what to make with it. I'd just missed the Meadowland quilt along on Instagram and finished quilts were popping up everywhere. I took a deep breath, told myself it was only fabric, and cut up the entire bundle! Eek! It was a 20-piece fat quarter bundle and I needed 20 fat quarters. It was meant to be! In the space of an afternoon it was cut out. I was all enthusiastic. For four blocks. I needed twenty, but I lost steam and once I'd gone back to work last June, I didn't pick it up again all year. Then just after Christmas a new Meadowland quilt along was announced - the perfect shove in the right direction. The plan was five blocks a week - there were a couple of weeks where it was close to the wire when I posted my blocks, but I kept up and by early March I had a finished quilt top.

Last October I went away on retreat with my guild mates We hired a cottage in the wilds of Northumberland and spent the weekend sewing. You can read more about that weekend here. As part of that weekend, we swapped Sisterhood blocks - each of us made eight girls in a single colourway and then we swapped so we each came home with a rainbow of girls. I made aqua girls. One retreater, who shall remain nameless... was making her girls on retreat. Ad she kept on singing "All the Single Ladies"... so when it came to turning my girls into a tote bag, I knew exactly what I wanted to put on the reverse... I purchased a foundation pieced alphabet pattern from From Blank Pages and started piecing. In a rainbow of course! With a scrappy low volume background. It's becoming my go to fabric pull! I honestly don't know which is my favourite side of this tote! This time, I used the heavy weight interfacing  attached to the back of the outside panels between the panel and

This is the quilt I was going to finish when I finished my Tula Nova. Luckily I had a day off a week later and this was top of the pile! Two years after I started it, my Fancy Forest quilt is now a finish! I started this quilt as part of the Elizabeth Hartman All The Animals Sew Along hosted by @gnomeangel in 2018, but I only got as far as the foxes and the rabbits. In Autumn last year, I picked it up again and pushed it over the finish line - a finished quilt top. I love the rainbow effect - which I wasn't sure was working at the half way point. I love the owls - I've made loads of these blocks now, yet I still managed to sew one together wrong. I was away at the Sewing Shindig Retreat that weekend, so I couldn't just recut the pieces I messed up. We had such a laugh about my little mistake, which I didn't realise until I'd finished piecing my owl, that I decided to leave him and not redo. So I have 7 mean owls and one slightly sheepish one! I think he's

I can't believe it's been nearly two years since an epic day out in Huddersfield with the amazing Tula Pink. That day at Simply Solids was pretty close to the best day ever: a morning lecture by Tula where we got to see some of her quilts - and the amazing quilting by Angela Walters - and then an afternoon workshop with her starting work on the Tula Nova pattern. The centre that I made that day became a cushion, but I redid my centre and kept going with a rainbow or stars around it to create my final Tula Nova. All of the print fabrics are Tula All Stars with Pompoms and Stripes. The solids are all Kona. This was my first real time working with Tula Pink fabrics. I'd long been a fan of her patterns, but not her fabric. After this day I was a convert. We won't discuss how much Tula fabric I now have, nor how many of my current WIPs are Tula WIPs! But this was the start. The medallion is all hand pieced using English Paper Piecing. I learned about fussy cutting to

It's another year of the Finish Along. And whilst the format has changed slightly to make it more Instagram focused, I've decided to still post a list on my blog as a way of keeping myself accountable and recording my finishes! So firstly I have a few carryover items: Joshua's advent calendar: I got this started but not finished and it wasn't missed this year but I think it will be next year when his Lordship is nearly 2. So I'm posting it here in Q1 in an effort to finish it early and not at the last minute I'm not going to promise that it won't appear on Q2, Q3 and Q4 as well though! And the same thoughts about Joshua's Santa Sack - though I did pick up a great fabric in the post-Christmas sales for this, so his will be different (and a little less pink) than the girls. Again, expect to see this on Q2, Q3 and Q4 - I'll probably not start it until December 2020.... but you never know! Item three is the Sisterhood Quilt block I made on re