Wednesday, February 05, 2025

February 2025 plans

February and March will both be busy, but I am hopeful that I will get some stitching done. The number for our group's UFO challenge has been selected and it is number 8. 

Number 8 is the Perfectly pieced design for Me Time delivered from October 2024. I have printed the instructions and have decided to make another rainbow mini quilt for SCBU with 4" blocks.


My number 8 cross stitch project is Honey of a Tiny Town by Hands on Design which I bought twice!! I have some but not all of the required floss.


I have also chosen Winter Quaker by Primrose Cottage to work on this month and I don't think I have the necessary floss for this either!


I will be having a Stitch Sewcial with my daughter this weekend and she has chosen for me to stitch the Portland Shorts by Maven Patterns. I have the pattern and my fabric is prewashed, so I need to trace the pattern and cut out the fabric before Saturday.


I have ordered more of the Chicacheetah fabric from Guthrie and Ghani to make another Frankie top as I love this version. I also have my three slow progress projects to work on this month too:

The woven stars foundation paper pieced blocks;

Jingle all the way sewalong; and

The Ruby Star Society anniversary quilt.

I am probably being very ambitious as we have two homes to clear / tidy this month and a day trip to London for an appointment. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!











Monday, February 03, 2025

January 2025 achievements

I have had a productive January and it feels good. I only have one project that I didn't touch this month which is Ruby and Ralph - a cross stitch project.



Our Guild UFO challenge for January 2025 was number 4. I played around with the colours of this block and made a mini quilt for SCBU.



I bound my Fraction quilt - pattern by Lou Orth and love the striped binding. I wasn't sure on the background that I chose but it has worked well.


I finished one cross stitch project this month. Pear and Partridge by Pigeon Coop Designs. I finished it in a hoop, and I'm pleased with how it's come out.


I completed the Booklet Pouch - pattern by Aneela Hoey. A great mix of Tula Pink fabrics. I even remembered to add a label and used some of the selvedge to add interest.


During my January sew date over Facebook Messenger with Lizzie, my daughter, I made the Frankie top by Tilly and the Buttons with fabric from Ghani and Guthrie. It's my new favourite top. I've just been on the Guthrie and Ghani website, and they've restocked this fabric in two colours, so an order has been placed.


I also finished my Second Cassie dress - pattern by Emporia Designs. All I needed to do was hem the sleeves and body of the dress.

Friday, January 31, 2025

January 2025 progress on slow stitching projects

I have three projects for 2025 that I am working on slowly throughout the year:

The woven stars foundation paper pieced blocks;

Jingle all the way sewalong; and

The Ruby Star Society anniversary quilt.


There are 42 sheets in the Fat Quarter Shop Foundation paper pad, and I stitched two more blocks yesterday bringing the total so far to twenty completed scrappy blocks.


I have caught up on the sewalong for Jingle All the Way by Kimberbell Designs and we have now completed nine out of the thirteen sections and there will be embellishments to stitch and add to complete. I hope to finish this during February as I added the Pumpkins and Potions to my Guild's UFO challenge and I definitely need to make some progress before that project is drawn.


I was planning to stitch ten blocks of the Ruby Star tenth anniversary quilt each month. There are five different blocks, and I completed all twenty of block one in January and six of block two. The other sixteen of block two are already cut and ready to sew. I will continue to cut out the blocks at our monthly Guild meeting as that worked well for me in January.

I have made a positive start to 2025 on these larger projects which has been very satisfying.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

WIP Wednesday - Jingle all the Way

  

I was so delighted to get my Janome Atelier 7 back on Monday from being repaired in the UK. I even put away my smaller machine last night and set the Atelier 7 up. I also pinned some of the blocks, ready for some sewing on Tuesday. I am so very nearly up to date, but I have made a filler block in Block 4, 2" too small so I will make another filler block when we work on section 8. Otherwise, I am finished with sections 1 to 7.



Section 9 needed just one narrow filler block, so I stitched it along with other fillers. we have lots of blocks for future sections already complete so for section 8, we already have four embroidered blocks which are also on my design wall.



Aren't the gingerbread men in the snow globes just the cutest? Time to put away this project until the video for the next section is released.


Monday, January 27, 2025

Monday Make - Pear and Partridge

 

I am still without my Janome Atelier 7, which should hopefully be delivered today, so I focused on finishing a cross-stitch piece last weekend. This is Pear and Partridge by Pigeon Coop Designs. A small piece but there was a lot of unpicking!! 


I am lucky that my local needlework Store - Rachel's Textiles is open on a Sunday and had a 5" embroidery hoop.  I ironed some interfacing onto the back of the piece and put it in the frame, then I gathered the excess linen on the reverse. I don't like leaving the back of my work for all to see how messy I am, so I used a circle of Decovil light ironed onto a Christmassy fabric and then pressed under the edge. The circle of fabric was then glued to the back of the hoop to give a neat finish.



The plan for this week is to work on my Ruby and Ralph cross stitch, finish at least one more cross stitch piece and stitch together sections 1 to 7 of Jingle all the Way.

Friday, January 24, 2025

Friday finish - booklet pouch

 


I have had the pattern for The Booklet Pouch by Aneela Hoey for some time and I kit it up for the November Modern Quit Club Retreat, however I needed the correct zippers including a separating zipper. I ordered some from Sew Hot but the colour choice was very limited. When I was in London in January, I bought matching 10" red zips from MacCulloch and Wallis. I was ready to make my case or so I thought.

I used Tula Pink's Tabby Road collection together with a more recent rainbow houndstooth. I think I need to buy more of that fabric. I also needed double sided heavyweight interfacing which wasn't available in Jersey, so I improvised with Steam a Seam light ironed onto some Decovil light. I will try the recommended interfacing next time but my solution did work satisfactorily.


On the outside of the case, I fussy cut two cats for the front and back of the pouch and then pieced them together. Although I am not a rodent lover, I do love the selvedge that I added to the pouch, and I even remembered to add a label to the outside.


I now need to focus on two cross stitch pieces that I wanted to work on this month. I also hope that my Janome Atelier 7 arrives back from being fixed today so that I can piece together some machine embroidered blocks from Jingle all the way.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

WIP Wednesday - Jingle all the way

During December I fell behind with the Jingle All the Way sewalong on Cristin Creates Facebook and Youtube channel. Last week Cristin released the first video for 2025 with the small flying geese blocks which I cut out and pieced straight away.

I then felt enthusiastic again about the project and hooped up two berry blocks which I had abandoned in December. Fortunately, I had marked the edge of the hoop on the stabiliser so I was able to accurately reload the blocks into the hoop. I was so pleased s I thought I'd have to start again.


Then I moved onto the third berry block and the Dec. 25th block. I put them in one hoop but stitched them one at a time.


Full of enthusiasm and having found that I had bought the embellishment kit, I stitched the gingerbread men snow globes. So cute. I am now up to date with all the embroidered and pieced block, just some filler blocks to quilt some of which, if not all will need a double hooping. Eek.