Jennie's Threads

So - how did I do on my Finish Along targets? No bad I think! You can find my original, somewhat ambitious, list at the start of the quarter here . Farmer's Wife Quilt : FINISHED: I finished my Farmer's Wife Quilt just a couple of days after posting my list! It was so large that we photographed it at the local Church! Mod Pop : FINISHED: I love this quilt. I got it finished in time for Christmas and gave it to my Husband's Aunt and Uncle. Papillon Quilt II : FINISHED: just in time for Christmas (thank goodness) - it is a different one - I promise - the border is different! Braided Chain Jelly Roll Quilt - FINISHED: this was my final finish of the year, just after Christmas. I wasn't sure about this  quilt for most of its life, but the quilting, and perhaps more so, the scrappy binding, really brought this quilt to life and now I'm very pleased with it and happy to give it to its recipient. Count down to Christmas: FINISHED: This second ve

One down, four to go - quilts for Christmas, that is! Today I quilted and bound my Mod Pop Quilt. I started this with Leanne's QAL and used my collection of browns and blues which turn out to be mostly from Pure by Sweetwater (I really do have a bit of a Sweetwater thing), but there are some other random fabrics added in. This was the first time I've done a quilt with lots of curves - I've done a sampler block of a drunkards path and I'm working on my Pac Mania quilt which is large scale curves, but Mod Pop was proper curves. Leanne has a great video for how to sew curves without pins. I think if I had had to pin all of these curves, this quilt would never have been made! There were loads of options for quilting this. The way Leanne quilted her first Mod Pop is stunning, but it was a bit too modern for the recipient of this quilt, so I went for a free motion stipple in the "background" - the brown - and left the blue un-quilted so that it po

Before I went to Budapest I had finished making the curved units for my Mod Pop Quilt and I had made one block. At least, that was what I thought. Leanne set 2nd December as a deadline for finishing the quilt top in her Quilt Along, and I figured that if I picked up my machine on Saturday morning and spent most of Saturday and Sunday stitching, I could get my quilt top finished for then. Yesterday, I didn't get a chance to sew. So this morning I started... and made six blocks before I ran out of curved units.... I was 32 short, so out came the templates, and the scissors and off I went. It is now 11 o'clock and I have a finished Mod Pop top! Not all of my seams are perfect as I would have liked. And it doesn't have the level of contrast that I had hoped for (the photo makes it look worse than it actually is, but it's late so no day light), but I fully intend to do some kind of quilting that will make the "glasses" pop more, so hopefully when finish

My two weeks in Budapest are over and I am back in the UK. It was a very busy two weeks, but I managed to get a little bit of hand sewing done, which I'll share tomorrow. For today I'm going to combine some of my photos from the last two weeks with Fresh Sewing Day over at Lynne's. This is the only photo that I actually have from Budapest - the view from my hotel room first thing in the morning. I was there over a weekend, and we took the opportunity to visit Vienna. I lived in Vienna for four months when I was a student and we visited Budapest when we lived there. This time we went the other direction. And we were in perfect time for the Christmas Markets! This the Christmas Market on Rathausplatz  And just look at the Christmas decorations! And some more! I ate Wienerschnitzel and Erapfelsalat (I have missed this sooooo much) and we ate a lot of cake: this is the window of Aida's on Stephansplatz and those are doughnuts! The Spanish

After the success of Quarter 3, I'm going to be even more ambitious in Quarter 4. The projects that didn't get finished in Q3 will be carried across (though will be the least like to be finished!) And then will come all of the projects that MUST be finished in Q4 because they are Christmas presents. So here are my finish along plans Farmer's Wife Quilt: I am so close to having this one finished! Without last week's travelling, it would already be finished. Last night I finished the quilting and cut the binding: Binding cut and ready This may be my first finish of the Quarter - pop back tomorrow! If I do get it finished, there will be loads and loads and loads of photos! Steph's Quilt: this one is killing me. I just need to get it finished. But in all honestly I'm finding it really boring. Maybe I need to make myself do a couple of blocks each weekend before I do anything else. But I have bought the batting.... Daniela's Quilt: this is t

September was good: four finished quilts, a finished quilt top, and three new projects! The four finishes were: Sew Intertwined - I joined in the quilt along and finished it in time to link it up (and win a prize) and give it to my parents' next door neighbour who was absolutely over the moon that I should have thought of her and put the work into such a lovely gift for her - this is why I quilt - it brings such happiness. Sebastian's Quilt . Sebastian isn't even due yet - not until next week. Unfortunately he came early weighing just 3lb12oz. We went to meet him just last week, butunfortuantely the quilt was just two blocks short then. I've since finished it and can't wait to give it to him - well his Mum and Dad really, cause I think he'll have to grow into it. Him and Mum are both doing really well. Papillon - my first finished Christmas present this year. I still need to make its twin! Mini Swoon - finally quilted to give me the chance to prat

I finished two quilts this weekend. So I get to start two more. Those are the rules, right? I signed up for Leanne's Mod Pop-Along , but it was only yesterday that I finally got round to starting it. I made myself some plasttic templates and played with some scraps. Leanne has a great video tutorial for sewing curves without pins. It's just as well. The pattern calls for about 120 Drunkards Path units - pinning those would kill me. It took some practice, but I think I have it sussed! I'm glad I didn't start with my proper fabric first, as the unpicking leads to much fraying. I spent three hours this morning rotary cutting the units from which you cut the curves, and then the rest of today making up the first block Just one dodgy bit that I had to unpick, so I'm calling this a sucess. I'm even managing with templates! And last night, after I'd practiced curves, it was too late to really start on the real fabric, so I pulled out the Joy Jelly Roll

I just can't help myself - I love the community feel of stitching along with everyone else. And the best part of Quilt-alongs is that everyone wins because everyone comes out of it with a (partly) finished quilt. For me it all started with Vignette in Stitches. I joined the blog . I stitched the first block. I have blocks 2 and 3 half finished. The final piece of the pattern will be published immently and I haven't got any further.... I still love the design and I love the fabrics and I will love the quilt. But it always gets pushed to bottom of the pile. Then I saw the Farmer's Wife. And that was when I joined Flickr - July 2011. Here are some new photos taken this morning that show it slightly better (though it is too big to hold up easily) Since then I've done a number of other Quilts online: Swoon, Oh My Stars, Stained..... And September seems to be a busy month for quilt-alongs to start: I've already mentioned that Leanne is running a Mod Pop Quil