I spy quilt complete

 

I finished piecing this quilt top at retreat, so it was a priority to quilt it on my return. The quilt is for a Christmas challenge for the Wednesday group that I attend, but it's good to get ahead.

I used the digital pantograph Malachite and a multicoloured thread to quilt the top. I used the backing that was already loaded on my long arm from the Tula Pink Roar which I quilted with car interlining instead of Bosal in the middle for Lizzie. There was no black or white in the quilt top, but a black and white stripe for the binding is often a good choice.

I even remembered to add a small rainbow label on the back of the quilt and there is a rainbow block in the quit top.

Frida dress

Do you end up with lots of off cuts of dressmaking fabrics? I made the Aspen dress in a seersucker from Fabric Godmother in March 20205. I parceled the leftover fabric neatly in an Ikea Ziploc bag and it has lurked with many other off cuts. 

Last week I used the Frida dress pattern from two stitches to make this pretty dress in size T2 as a gift for a friend whose daughter is having a second baby this summer. I am surprised how much fabric that I have left and can probably make at least one, if not two dresses more. I think that these dresses could be a good retreat make if precut ready to sew. 

Retreat purchases

Just a few purchases from retreat. I bought the two stitches girls dress pattern as I thought that it would be a good way to use up scraps from the clothes I've made. The Oliver + S pattern was my raffle prize with the same thought in mind.

From A Beautiful Thing I bought two charm packs and a strawberry print to add to my strawberry stash. I also bought some magic pins which I left behind with my daughter, Lizzie. I left some other things that I didn't immediately need as my husband, Nick will collect my goodies when he visits the children and his family at the end of the month.

Also not pictured is the small stripology ruler that I bought to try out. I will report back.

I spy quilt progress

 

On the Saturday of my retreat weekend at Gomersal Park, I pieced the 81 5" blocks into a quilt top. Fortunately, I had a large bed in my room, so I laid all of the blocks out and then stacked them ready to piece together. This is now ready to quilt and perhaps bind, this weekend.

Still getting ready for retreat

Our Wednesday group Xmas challenge is to make an eye spy quilt for donation to a charity. I have taken the easy route and pulled out two Ruby Star panels. I thought it was going to take some time to find them, but they were actually in my Ruby Star box!

I also plundered my box of Moda solids for colours that toned with the squares in the panel. I was surprised not to have more dark blue fabrics. I have added a 1.75" border around the fussy cut squares and then trimmed the squares to 5". I find that the squares are a bit smaller than 3" square so i would prefer to trim them down for accuracy. 

I am stitching about ten blocks per day which takes about an hour and I hope then to be able to put the quilt top together at retreat.

 

Winter by Barbara Ana

Number 4 was chosen as our group's UFO challenge this month. Another of the seasons by Barbara Ana which I hadn't started.

I finished the piece on Saturday. There was a lot of white to stitch which doesn't really show up in photos. I now have Autumn and Winter complete. Spring is started and I may work on that in May to make progress.

Meanwhile, I have been doing tax returns for myself and my father's estate whilst also quilting metres of Roar by Tula Pink for Lizzie, so the fabric is prequilted for bag making. I should finish this job today.

Pour l'Amour du Fil 2026

When we arrived at the exhibition centre, there was a long queue. I was shocked as the French don't queue and I thought Thursday would be quiet. However, the red dress project which greeted you at the entrance to the hall, was only there for two days which may have changed the pattern for booking tickets.

This was Lizzie's first time at this show which is very different from, and much smaller than the Festival of Quilts. We started by looking at the rooms of quilts which were predominantly vintage, Japanese or traditional, which is not our aesthetic. This dress made out of tea bags caught my eye as an elderly friend keeps tea bags for recycling into bags in India.

We went up and down the rows of stands methodically but managed to lose each other in about ten minutes!! My obsession with strawberries continues and we also bought some Fimo buttons, but I think they've gone back to the UK with Lizzie. 

Au Fil d'Emma has the largest stand of modern fabric and I bought these two patterns along with some useful Fat Quarters and a blue FQ bundle for Lizzie for her birthday. I am joining a new quilt bee and I'm thinking of requesting stars in yellow, orange and red so a couple of these will come in useful.

I bought this vibrant pink fabric to make a gilet or similar. I thought had the same vibe as the Liberty Adidas shoes Lizzie bought me for Christmas. At our stop at Ecolaine in Rennes I also picked up this Liberty bias binding to cover the edges. If I have enough, I will also bind the few seams for a neater finish.

We had a lovely but short trip. Two 6am starts on Friday and Saturday, threw me a curve ball but I had a good night's sleep on Saturday night which makes all the difference.