Monday progress - Fraction quilt

 

Our 2024 Christmas project was Fraction quilt by Lou Orth which is currently on sale for £5. Lizzie left yesterday and she had just one quarter of the binding that she still had to stitch to the back of her quit. She use all Ruby Star Society fabrics in blue and turquoise on a white-on-white background. We prioritised quilting her quilt so it would be mostly finished by the time she left.

My version is more like the sample in the pattern. I used solids from stash and substituted where necessary. I did draft and print out a swatch page for us both which was very useful. I used a Ruby Star background of black stars on off white. I think my binding will be a rainbow stripe, but which one?

The same pattern but very different fabric choices. Quilting my quilt will be my main focus today but first I need to do some admin.

2025 UFO challenge

It's time to think about what I'd like to achieve in our group's 2025 UFO challenge. 2024 was cross stitch and clothes, but for 2025 I'm going to use some of the digital embroidery files and kits I've purchased in 2024 mainly, to make an item whether it's a quilt, pouch or mini quilt for SCBU.

Number 12 is the only project not from Kimberbell. The embroidery files from the Homemade collection by Tula Pink is from OESD.

Monday Make - Fraction

I won this pattern at the Modern Quilt Club July retreat, and it is currently on sale at Lou's website This is one of two projects that Lizzie and I have to work on together over the Christmas break. We have been very busy with family commitments so have not had a full day sewing, so progress has been slower than anticipated.

Lizzie is using a blue / green palette, and I am using Kona Cottons from stash in approximately the same colours as the pattern. However today we need to work on Christmas gifts for the men.

Friday finish - Hot water bottle cover

 

When a friend, whose birthday is next week, complained that she couldn't find a cover for her new hot water bottle, of course I offered to make one. And of course I left it until the last minute! Wednesday was my deadline as I would see her on Thursday. 

Our most important job on Wednesday was to get a price from a local garage for Lizzie's car so we could sell it privately. Fortuitously Steve is looking for a first car for his niece so we are waiting to hear from him if he wants to buy the car which he has serviced for many years.

Next, I made the hot water bottle cover and a rice bag whilst Lizzie cut the squares for our first Christmas project. I added a Kylie and the Machine label to the seam, and it came up in my memories on Facebook that it was from my advent calendar, a year ago.

WIP Wednesday - deadline quilting

 

Our daughter arrived home last night after a long ferry crossing. The food offering on board was poor and they changed the schedule to go via Guernsey which mean the trip took over ten hours. Her car is going to be sold over the next few weeks, so today's priority is to find out how much it's worth and I also need to make a gift for a friend for tomorrow.

I was pleased to get one more customer quilt completed yesterday amongst family commitments with my father and aunt which I find draining. This is a beautiful Liberty quilt, and the backing is also Liberty which is so soft. We chose a simple butterfly design for the quilting which picked out the butterfly motifs from the central panel.

That just leaves me one more customer quilt made from a beloved family member's shirts which is loaded but not basted. A simple pattern has been chosen so it should be straight forward. I've already had to remove one button from the quilt top and once the quilting is underway, I will double check that there are no more buttons as they could spell disaster to my machine.

So my priorities today are:

Make a birthday present for a friend;

Start quilting this customer quilt; and

Get Lizzie's car listed for sale.

Monday make - two more customer quilts completed

Our daughter, Lizzie, arrives home for Christmas tomorrow afternoon - weather and ferry permitting. I had six customer quits to finish and four are now done. I will load one later this morning and I hope to finish at least a few rows today. It's a fun packed day with a Zoom call, then I will take my father to the library to change his books, canasta and cake this afternoon and Wicked this evening.

Perhaps a few rows is being optimistic!!

A customer brought me two quilts made from stash leaving choices to my discretion! For this one it had a definite floral theme, so I used dancing vines by Anne Bright with Glide in the colour bone. The backing was a pretty floral.

 

I love how, in both quilts, the colours are pulled from the centre fabric. Not colours you might naturally put together but they work.

I used Malachite by urban elementz and I love how it picks up the stripes from the tabby cat.

Another pretty pieced back. My next job is to arrange collection.

Sunday stash

 

I purchased some new Tula Pink fabrics in the Sew Hot black Friday sale. I went for the geometrics rather than the big florals. I also purchased some zippers to make Aneela Hoey's booklet pouch and more Ruby Star creams for my foundation pieced long term project.

Less impressive was a cross stitch order from Peakside which arrived very quickly. Unfortunately, when looking for this month's UFO piece, I found that I already had the pattern and flosses which made up the majority of the order. Sue was happy for me to return my order, but I will pass the pattern on and add the flosses to my stash instead.

Friday Finish - Go Big Baby Bear

 

This pattern was originally published in Make Modern but I will be making it available to everyone in January via my Payhip shop.  If you'd like to be notified when the pattern is available, do sign up to my newsletter.

The original was made in Moda Fabric designed by April Rosenthal. I have made another version in scrappy pinks ready for gifting next week, but it incorporates two of the fabrics from the original version. All sewn rom stash including an Alison Gass fabric bought from the discount bin in Gathered Here in Boston. 

I used a digital design called Fast Feather from Urban Elementz stitched in a pinky red variegated thread from Superior Threads. I even remembered to add a label!

WIP Wednesday - customer quilts

 

On Monday I expected to have five customer quilts to work on this week. I decided to start with the smallest of two quilts delivered on Sunday. I chose the pantograph Splash of Love by Anne Bright. There were hearts in several of the blocks which I spotted when choosing the design. Also it is designed to be  gifted as a baby quilt.

Next was a larger hexagon quilt which was quilted with a classic Baptist fan. It has turned out beautifully and both are now ready for collection.

Two quilts were delivered yesterday even though I was only expecting one quilt. No deadline for these but I’d like to have finished at least once before two more quilts are delivered on Friday. I also needed to find my December UFO. It was at the bottom of a storage box and surprisingly finished. I have bought a frame which I hope to paint before our group meeting on Saturday.

Monday make - Christmas quaker

 

It's so nice to have a finished project at last but I now need to decide how to mount it. This is Christmas Quaker by Primrose cottage stitched in Weeks Dye works Candy Apple.

My December UFO is Autumn Squirrel by Barbara Ana Designs. My first job today is to locate the project. I know I have worked on the dress and face of this project so it may not take as long to complete as it looks.

I have finished a long outstanding customer quilt which is being collected this afternoon. Two customer quilts were dropped off yesterday, the smaller of which I plan to work on today. In all I will have three more quilts being dropped off this week to work on before Lizzie arrives in just over a week. No pressure!

Sunday stash

 

Last Wednesday we spent in Leamington spa and Warwick with our son Matthew who was celebrating his 29th birthday. Not sure taking his parents shopping was top of his birthday list, but he did receive an advent calendar from us.

Matthew was excited to share a new discovery with us - Sostrene Green which he thought I'd love. He's not wrong as when I'm in London and Liverpool I usually find my way there for a quick mooch. I bought these illuminated mushrooms and house which survived the journey home.

Driving through Warwick on the way to Leamington Spa, I spotted the shop front of Quilter' Den who I have followed on Instagram for some time. We returned there later as it would be rude to not support local businesses! I also bought some more cute heat erasable pens from Ryman.

I use a lot of red and white spotted fabrics in my Christmas quilts so that was a quick choice, and the stripe was a bargain from the sale shelf. You can never have too many striped fabrics.

We left England on Thursday afternoon and now we're home we are so grateful that we didn't stay any longer as flights both yesterday and today are all cancelled due to storm Darragh.

I persuaded my husband to make a smallish detour via Guthrie and Ghani on the outskirts of Birmingham and picked up the dark blue version of Chicacheetah, I already have a metre of the same design in pink. Also, The Edit fabic by Nerissa is in the same colourway as another design of hers that I have in stash so I thought I could combine the two.

Friday progress

 

We have just returned from a flying visit to the UK to see Lizzie in Leeds and Matt in Warwick. The Leeds Armories weren't open on Monday, which was our only full day in Leeds, but we decided to visit on Tuesday on the way to Warwick. The Japanese exhibits were fantastic, but I let my husband roam around the exhibit and attend a talk, whilst I sat myself down in the cafe an enjoyed some carrot cake and stitched on my Primrose Cottage Christmas Quaker. 

I am using Candy Apple red and have almost finished the second of three skeins. Though there has been some unpicking, so fingers crossed, I have sufficient to finish the piece.

My December UFO is Barbara Ana's Autumn Squirrel which I will recommence after this piece is finished.

Friday progress

 

On the Friday of last week's retreat, I started by making two Ohio star blocks in the prescribed colours. Making two meant I could make sure the candy stripes would all be going in the same direction.

I then made two of my scrappy woven star blocks and completed most of three further blocks on the Saturday.

I now have ten blocks made but I definitely need to order some more background fabric in today's Black Friday sales. I also put them on point on my design wall and I think I prefer that setting.

Lessons learnt

Last weekend was our local retreat. I woke up on Friday morning full of a cough and cold but decided to go anyway but not sleep over. One of the projects I took to work on was the boy raglan sweater by Wardrobe by Me Patterns. I had won the fabric and pattern at the recent Modern Quilt Club retreat. My big mistake as you can see was not to check the finished body measurements of the top before choosing the size!! I could easily have made the top two sizes smaller. My daughter has described it as cosy and will be great to wear around the house.

In the end I left the retreat early on the Saturday and didn't return on the Sunday. My husband was kind enough to retrieve all of my equipment on the Sunday. I have done nothing since other than admin and keeping warm. I am starting to see a slow improvement but need to be well to visit our children in England on Sunday.