Jennie's Threads

I'm linking up today with Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival. It's so lovely to hear all about the background of a quilt - it makes the quilt even more special - when I am making something as a gift for something I am constantly thinking of them whilst I make it, and it seems like I'm not the only one. Check out the main blog here (or click on the link to the left). This is the story of my Wilding Angels Quilt and the story of how I started quilting: I first saw the pattern for the quilt at a show at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, UK. It's a design by Debbie from Letters Tied with Blue and was on the Fat Quarters stall. I looked and looked at it. I have done cross stitch for ever, but I was really scared about embroidery without counted thread and patterns with symbols. We went back the next year and I looked at it again, and Debbie tried to convince me I could do it just fine. I went back the next year. Looked again. Walked away again. Then Lin

This summer is the summer of finishing projects (and if the last few weeks are anything to go by, also the the summer of buying fabric). The first project I decided to concentrate on is now finished! This is my finished Wilding Angels Quilt. The colour hasn't come out very well, but it's a dark, rich red and the thread matches this. I bought all the patterns and materials on my 25th birthday. 18 months later and the quilt is now hanging in our dining room. I had a few issues on route - I was so enjoying the stitcheries that I didn't want to do them too quickly, so I took a break, then when I cam to stitch the central panel, the calico I had bought to stitch it on had faded in the sun, so I had tobuy some new fabric - luckily it's fairly standard. Lesson learnt: store things away from direct sunlight. Then I cam to make up the final quilt and there was a problem with the pieces I have cut - I don't know what happened, but I ended up needing some more

Mum, Dad, me, Michael, Linda, Roy and Jan We are back from our holiday! We had a fantastic time! We spent the first day with my parents in Bedforshire and as well as going to see the new Harry Potter film (which was excellent), we went to Threads and Patches in Milton Keynes. I bought some batik fabrics for my (much neglected) Farmer's Wife Quilt. And Mum found some fabrics in turquoise and lemon that she liked for a double bed quilt in what use to be my bedroom. Linda also got some very nice fabrics. We drove to Sidmouth on the Friday for Sidmouth Folk Week . It was a fantastic week of concerts, workshops, morris men, shopping and eating. And...oh dear.... we found another patchwork shop.... Maisie Daisy . I have never seen a smaller patchwork shop - no bolts, just fat quarters, fat eights and fat sixteenths, but Pauline was so friendly that we spent quite a while with her at various times during the week. It was fantastic because I could buy lots of different fabrics

Bearreraig Bay The second post yesterday was only half finished, so here it is.... Today we got back from a week long holiday in the Isle of Skye in north-west Scotland. It was fantastic and by some incredible flook we had lovely weather for most of the week. Normally I just talk about embroidery and patchwork here, but I shall indulge myself and share some photos from my holiday. Archie and Charlie THE JOURNEY So, it turns out that even starting our trip from as far north as Newcastle, the Isle of Skye is still quite a long way away and we maybe underestimated our journey time slightly... it took 8 and a half hours but the journey route was lovely. We crossed through the Northumberland countryside to Hexham, then across to Carlisle. North on the M73/4 then the M8 (not the prettiest section of the journey), then across the Erskine Bridge, up the west coast of Loch Lomond towards Crianlarich then over Rannoch Moor, through Glencoe to Fort William. Past Ben Nevis, up

Hello - this will be the first of two posts today. Firstly I'll bring you up to date on what I have been sewing recently. Firstly, here are four of the six June Calendar Girlies in green and yellow with tiny buttons for juggling balls. Jane has asked for some stuffed elephants for her birthday. I thought I'd do a practice run, so here is a purple one, that I made for Michelle. In preparation for our holiday to the Isle of Skye I wanted to finish the piecing for blocks 2 and 3 of the Vignette quilt. Here are the results before any embroidery

Hello So it's been a while since I updated. The Wilding Angels: The Wilding Angels quilt from Letters Tied with Blue is now fully embroidered, so I have six angels and a large central panel. I have also pieced it - though this nearly ended in disaster - I don't know whether it was my cutting, or the destructions, but the top and bottom panels ended up 2 inces shorter than the central panel, which couldn't be reduced. The original shop where I had bought the beautiful red fabric had sold out, so we went on a major hunt for the same fabric. We finally found it in another local quilting shop, where I bought the final meter from the bolt. It was a perfect match so the quilt front is now pieced. I'm backing it with some fairly plain fabric from French General (from the Lumiere de Noel range). It's all tacked together and I have made a small start on the hand quilting. This project is getting very close to completion, but I've loved doing it, so when Mum said tha

So, the main purpose of this blog is to keep my mum updated with what I'm creating at the moment. But, if you're reading this and you're not my Mum, that's great too. Hopefully some of the things I post will inspire you, or even just make you smile. I want to use this blog to keep a record of all the things I am making - cross stitch, quilting, patchwork, embroidery and sewing. For the record, I cannot knit or crochet, despite my mother-in-laws attempts to teach me. I started stitching when I was very young, inspired by my Grandmother who was a fantastic needlewoman, and encouraged by my Mum, who, if I remember rightly, always seemed to indulge my hobby. My first cross stitch magazine was Cross Stitcher from summer/autumn 1995, when I was 10. I've done so many pictures and cards over the years, most of which I've given away, with no record of what I've done. I still give away most of what I stitch, but now I take photographs! Last December I went to a