February 2024 finishes

February is a shorter month and the last five days of the month are being spent volunteering 9 to 5 at The Jersey Eisteddfod, but I did make a good start on two items at our Jersey retreat.

Dancer by Barbara Ana was my Guild UFO challenge and I was pleased to finish it, even if I couldn't frame it as I needed to buy some lace to cover a blemish on the fabric.

My free pattern to go out to newsletter subscribers was successfully tested at our retreat. You can still sign up here.

A rainbowtastic bag to go in an entry for a local WI competition. The boxy clear pouch by Aneela Hoey.

Valentine's Quaker by Primrose Cottage was stitched and finished before Valentine's Day.

Hanging baskets by Odile Balleouil, one is packed to gift to my daughter at the MQC retreat at the end of March.

Sewjo banner - pattern by Happy Sew Lucky which I started piecing at our local retreat and finished it by quilting it on my longarm.

I was pleased to get my Guild Challenge piece finished for February and I am looking forward to March when adjudication of the 660 + entries for the needlework section of The Jersey Eisteddfod is complete and I will see my daughter andd our friends at the MQC retreat.

Monday Make - Dancer

February's project for our Guild's challenge was Dancer by Barbara Ana purchased from Creative Poppy. I hadn't even started this piece or even fully kitted it up at the start of the month, but I finished the stitching on Saturday. 

I made a BIG mistake this morning as I used a pressing spray too liberally on hand dyed fabric to eliminate the creases in the fabric. Unfortunately, the fabric has been affected. The piece is rectangular, and it is a square upcycled frame so I was planning to add some lace or ric rac vertically on the left and right so that should cover my faux pas.

Friday finish - hanging baskets

I first came across Odile Balleouil at L'Amour du Fil in Nantes. She is a French fabric designer and uses different fabric bases combined with lush, detailed patterns. Not my aesthetic. However, over the last few years, I've purchased a few fat quarters and a scrap bag with no idea of what they will become.

I spotted a free pattern was available here for hanging baskets which were a perfect project for our Guild's demo on Monday. I used ribbon for the hanging straps and instead of printing two copies of the pattern, I cut the fabric on the fold. 

They are quick to make and I can see 100s of uses for them including to contain a large easter egg. I had some scraps of a local print, left behind by my daughter, which I used for the lining of all three baskets.

WIP Wednesday - tree quilt

Our group has made improv trees for a group quilt to be submitted for adjudication at the Jersey Eisteddfod this weekend. I originally made two blocks and then I realised I had made my blocks with Christmas fabrics so I made two further blocks. The instructions can be found on The Diary of a Quilter blog.

Kim put the blocks together and I was impressed how it looks cohesive despite many of the blocks not conforming to the colour inspiration provided.

I quilted the quilt using malachite by Urban Elementz. I also donated the wadding and a local shop, Rachel’s Textiles,  donated the backing fabric.

 The quilt is being donated for Jersey Trees for Life who are thrilled with the donation.

Monday make - sewjo banner

For our local retreat two weeks ago, I kitted up Sewjo by Happy Sew Lucky. I printed the foundation paper pattern onto specialist paper which is easier to tear and remove. I got some of the units pieced whilst at retreat but last week I decided I needed to have some stitchy time as my mind is occupied with the forthcoming Creative Arts Eisteddfod (more about that next week).

The sections with the most pieces were the lid and the top half of the Q. I can see why the pattern has an option to embroider the R and QD instead of piecing them. I quilted the piece with Glide in the colour Bone with a chevron pattern. I had to increase the size of the tabs and they could still be a little less snug. I am hoping that when my husband next visits his brother in the UK, he can get holes drilled into the knitting needle which is a 20mm needle from a local charity shop.

I am pleased with how it turned out and the choice of the strawberry fabric makes me smile. As children, when anti biotics were prescribed, you always hoped for the strawberry version and not the banana version.

 

Friday finish - Valentine’s Day

I was thrilled to finish Valentine’s Day Quaker by Primrose Cottage on Monday. I even managed to mount it on a backing board from the charity shop with a mat of a pink Bumbleberries by Lewis & Irene.

 

I have displayed the piece on the mantelpiece in our lounge along with a decoupaged LOVE with an old photo of our children, who love changing the letters around to spell VOLE. Apparently it never gets old for them.

WIP Wednesday - Dancer

Dancer by Barbara Ana is my UFO challenge piece for February. Some of my chosen projects have been started in some small way. This was kitted up by I didn't even have all of the threads.

I have made some progress this week with a middle start and I have worked down to his jumper at the bottom and up to the houses below the cartouche at the top. The houses and keys are definitely part of Barbara Ana’s aesthetic. Next I will do the cartouche at the top and then work left to complete the ear. The darkness of the fabric means that I can’t work on it at my Wednesday morning group, but I a, focusing on it at home if the afternoon.

I am now up to date with customer quilts, and the last quilt for February was delivered yesterday.

Monday Make - Valentine’s Day Quaker

 

I have surprised myself and got this piece stitched in five days. I am not a quick cross stitcher. The pattern is Valentine's Day Quaker by Primrose Cottage which can now be purchased as a digital download here. I bought the pattern and two skeins of Priscilla's Peppermint from Peakside Needeworks. The pattern specified three skeins and I already owned on skein. However, I didn't even use two full skeins, despite some unpicking due to dodgy counting. 

I have been under the weather since last Wednesday so have been focused on this piece and getting customer quilts quilted. The last quilt of three is now ready for collection. I am a little disappointed that I haven't mounted the piece yet, but my husband has sanded the sentiment off this square board from a charity shop, ready for me to paint it. I think he's done a great job and it doesn't need dry brushing which was my plan, so I just need to finish this and two other Valentine projects in the next two days.

Friday finish - boxy clear pouch

This is a boxy clear pouch by Aneela Hoey which I made at our retreat last week, apart from hand sewing the binding on one side of each end. 

I chose rainbow fabrics for a Women's Institute team competition. One of our members is knitting a pair of rainbow socks and we also need to make a card and one more hand-crafted item, such as a crocheted scarf.

Supplies:

Fabric - Alison Glass and Quietplay

Vinyl and zipper pull - Sew Quirky mystery box

Zipper - Purple Stitches mystery bag

 The pattern worked very well but was designed with a fixed length zipper in mind and I used zippers by the yard. I made it work and the bag has come out well.

WIP Wednesday - the shopping edition

Whilst I was at retreat, some purchases arrived from some of my favourite shops. I jumped on the Valentine's Day Quaker sewalong band wagon and purchased the pattern from Peakside Needleworks. It can now also be purchased from the designer's Etsy shop as a PDF. The suggested thread wasn't available, so I chose Priscilla's Peppermint as three skeins are needed and I already had one skein. I added some ric rac trim in snow from Lady Dot Creates and a scrap of Picture This Plus in Blush from stash.

I have three customer quilts that I need to quilt this week, so I will stitch this project whilst my machine quilts the quilts. It's a matter of deciding which quilt to start on first. I'm thinking, I will choose the smallest for a quick finish.

My last minute retreat planning involved choosing fabrics for the Art East Quilting Folk Art Sampler, so I purchased some more Ruby Star Society basics. Fabric doesn't like to travel alone and I also purchased the recently released  notebooks and a free crap pack was sent as a gift.

Whilst I was at retreat, I received the Tiny Modernist which highlighted the newly released Valentine Terrarium which I fell in love with and can join the Halloween and Christmas terrariums waiting to be stitched. The apttern is printed out and I need to choose a fabric and source any threads that I don't already have in my stash.

 

Monday Make - Bits ‘n’ Bobs tray

 

Our local retreat finished yesterday, and I provided a pattern for the Make and Take. It is a quick make and will be released as a free pattern to newsletter subscribers on 1 March. You can sign up to my newsletter here.

Most of us used a combination of faux leather and fabric together with some Kam snaps for a quick make.

Some didn't listen to the instructions so the result as a slightly larger, but useful tray. I love the pink and orange which are Kim's signature colours for any sewing accessories that she makes.

The tray can also be made with just fabric but requires a firm interfacing for the best results. Sign up for my newsletter here to receive the pattern in March.

February 2024 plans

The Jersey retreat is happening this weekend so I expect some progress on the three projects that I’m planning to take.

 Double rings sample from the recent taster day to be made into either a cushion or another mini quilt for SCBU.

Seek banner by Happy Sew Lucky which is foundation pieced.

I am already three blocks behind on the Folk Art sewalong so in February, I plan to stitch the January and February blocks. I hope that we can join a few of the blocks too, but I’m getting ahead of myself!

 

I have my Easter tiered tray to complete and I will try to finish one item a day rather than try and finish it in one day.

Number 8 was chosen for our group's UFO challenge, and I'm concerned that this could be quite big and time consuming. Especially as I want to have a new start and join the sewalong for the Valentine's Quaker by Primrose Cottage which was just released as a digital download on 1 February, the day after I ordered the paper pattern!! However, it needs three skeins of thread which I didn't have.