Stash bee blocks

I was delighted to get these courthouse steps blocks sewn on the first day of the retreat and passed onto their recipient, Jane. She was receiving blocks from several attendees, so I hope they go together as she has planned. I had only printed out the instructions and chosen some fabrics, so I had to cut the strips ready to sew. I was surprised how many neutrals with small pink accents are in my stash.

I am now back from Liverpool and the first job to do is unpack my suitcase! I am always slow to do this on my return.

One final push

I had nothing planned on Tuesday so I focussed on quilting Lizzie's sealife runner. I played thread chicken and lost and also lost at backing chicken. That annoyed me as I had to take the runner off the long arm and add some extra fabric to the backing.

It is now finished and ready to take to the UK for Lizzie to bind. Fingers crossed that my flight has gone to plan and I'm safely in Bradford. Retreat starts at noon and I plan to start with Stash Bee blocks first as a quick make.

Lizzie’s Christmas present

 

I started binding the place mats and table runner on Sunday. I had not had much sleep the previous night so expected to be only able to finish two table mats. I was pleasantly surprised to finish all six place mats and the table runner. They are now rolled up together and, in my wardrobe, ready for gifting at Christmas.

Next, I need to see if I can quilt a quilt for Lizzie before tomorrow. I haven't been given any backing so I need to see what I have in stash.

Jingle all the way finish

I finished my October UFO challenge piece, just under the wire. Those embellishments took me longer time to embroider (four hours) and attach to the quit. I decided against adding the ribbons to the bows as I couldn't get a neat finish, so I just pleated the bows and stitched the pleats down on my sewing machine before attaching them to the top of the presents.

The lights were added without the string between them for a simpler finish too.

I am delighted with the finished quilt and now need to prioritise what to complete over the next few days before going to retreat. My flight is on Thursday afternoon and I return home on Monday lunch time.

Prepping for retreat

 

There's just over a week to go until I'm back at the Modern Quilt Club retreat at the Gomersal Park Hotel. Usually I have lots of projects packed, but this time I am packing fewer projects and acknowledging that I can no longer speed sew with any accuracy all day.

The first project that I've packed is the next border for the Liminal Quilt by Jo Avery for Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I think this would be a good project for Saturday as I should be able to finish it in a day. Soon the borders move into appliqué which will be much slower!

November's Stash Bee mama is Jane. I will prep on Sunday and stitch it at retreat on the Friday. Jane will be at retreat so won’t have to post the blocks.

Adamsews was showing off the new Tula Pink Legendary lawns on Instagram this afternoon. I caved and ordered two different fabrics for another Frida Shirt. It has already been despatched and I hope it makes a quick journey across the English Channel so that I can prewash the fabric before retreat.

Christmas progress

Despite a trip to Accident and Emergency on Saturday, I have finished quilting Jingle All the Way and Lizzie’s table runner and placemats. I have also trimmed the pieces ready for binding.

I had prepped the binding earlier from a red and pink dotty fabric. However I think I will change to use the Ruby Star Society starry fabric used for the outside border.

I now need to:

Add binding to the quilt;

Embroider three tags for the presents

Add bows to the three presents. Unfortunately, I think I may have used the fabric needed for the bows for other projects. I have one of the fabrics already to hand.

This is my October UFO for our group’s UFO challenge, so I need to complete this project before binding the placemats and table runner for Lizzie.

Multitasking

I always thought I could muti task but if I sewed leaders and enders, I always ended in a muddle. One place where I can multitask is on my long arm.  I loaded up a red and white backing with scraps of wadding and quilted five of the six place mats for Lizzie's Christmas present. It was tempting to also quilt the table runner at the same time, but I resisted. The scale of the quilting for the runner will be slightly smaller. I may take these to the November retreat to bind them.

Next on my machine will be my October Challenge UFO. Cutting it a little fine! I need to add some borders to the piece and then it can be stitched in the ditch. There are a few decorations to be embroidered but we have a storm threatened tomorrow so I can see a few days spent at home.