Plans for this week

Our daughter, Lizzie arrived back home yesterday evening and we have two plans for the week:

Stitch up the Frida shirt; and

Spend a few days in France including a day at Pour L'Amour du Fil in Nantes.

I am going to use this light cotton from Seasalt with a fish motif. I feel that fish was the motif in fabrics and homeware for 2025. I have had this fabric for some years, but it is now prewashed and ready to make into a shirt. I plan to make the long-sleeved version so long as I have sufficient fabric. I will need to be careful where the circle motifs are positioned on the front of the shirt!

Paris je t’aime 5

I made good progress on section 6 of Verushka Zarate's pattern. There are only a few flowers to applique in this section so I will leave them until section 5 is complete. I have even completed one part of section 5 already. Do I keep going or wait until after our trip to Nantes to continue?

Be careful what you wish for!

 

For our group UFO challenge in March, I had completed Autumn by Barbara Ana. Lizzie is visiting in April and we are going to Pour l'Amour du Fil in Nantes together, so I was hoping for an easier UFO than in March. Unfortunately, number 4 was picked which was Winter by Barbara Ana and I had not put one stitch in this piece.

I have surprised myself this week and made good progress on the piece. I have finished the face and started working on the crown. My next aim is to stitch to the extremities of the piece on the left, right and top. I would estimate that I have completed about 50% of the stitching but my progress has been a bit scatter gun.

Lizzie arrives on Sunday afternoon, so more good progress is needed this week. Our joint project whilst she's home is a Tilly and the Buttons shirt and Lizzie has two quilts to put on the long arm. A little ambitious, I think, as we are away for three days which leaves only two days to sew.

Preparing your quilt for quilting

The maker of this quilt was very specific in her requests which I appreciate:

* Pantograph is Sally by the seashore

* Green thread

* Deadline

The backing fabric (a Tilda fabric) was 4" bigger than the quilt top as was the wadding. I recommend the Robert Kaufman app for calculating the size of backing that you need to purchase as well as how much fabric you need for the binding. It's always a good idea to prepare the binding before the quilt is ready to be bound, so that you don't have to think once the quilt is trimmed. I have 20.5" square quilt ruler that I often lend to customers to help with the trimming process.

I recommend that you pay particular attention to pressing your quilt ready for quilting whether by you or your longarmer. Another good practice is stitching around the whole of the quilt 1/8" from the edge so that seams don't come undone and it stabilises the quit.

Paris Je t'aime 4

Having finished my March UFO challenge, I decided to work on section 3 (my fourth section) of Paris Je t'aime by Verushka Karate. It is a small section so perfect for me whilst still nursing a cold. I also added in a few blocks for section 6 so as to make more progress. The top half of the quilt is now finished and looking great.

I usually store my scraps folded into the main piece of fabric, but I am now keeping the scraps separately so it's easier to see them and use them up. 

Autumn by Barbara Ana

 

Autumn by Barbara Ana was my March project for our group UFO challenge. This last week, I have been full of cold so was surprised that I got this finished. At the beginning of the month, I hadn't started the project so there was a lot for me to stitch. I fell that perhaps I should start working on Winter next so that it isn't a blank canvas. Tomorrow, the next UFO will be chosen but for today I'm going to work on Honey of a Tiny Town which is nearing completion.

Paris je t’aime 3

I am doing this project one section per month in 2026. My priority projects were my customer quilt to be long armed and my UFO challenge cross stitch. However, my long arm is playing up so a new cable has been ordered which I hope will arrive today or tomorrow (mail boat permitting). Then I left my cross-stitch project - Autumn by Barbara Ana at the Eisteddfod and didn't want to make a special journey to pick it up.

Unable to work on my priority projects, I prepped the applique for the third section of Paris je t'aime by Verushka Karate. It came together quicker than expected and is ready to be stitched to section 2. Section 4 is small and has no applique so should be a quicker make. I like how it's coming together and the less pressurised pace of one section a month.