June 2023 plans

Just a one day trip to London planned for this month and ten days at home by myself as hubby has gone to the UK, so potentially plenty of opportunities to stitch.

1. The Trinket sewalong comes to an end this month and I have just five more blocks so stitch so would like to finish the piece this month.

2. 2010 Prairie Schooler Santa (UFO Challenge no 6) of which I have just two in the series left to stitch 

 

3. Ruby the Raccoon by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery which I started in April

4. Whale Hello There by Hands on Design from the Polar Plunge series. I started this one in April but was sidetracked by another project. I also have the finishing pieces coming from Fat Quarter Shop very soon along with two more of the patterns. The final pattern will be a fundraising pattern released on Hands on Designs website.

5. Alpen bag for which I'm just waiting for a 1.5" slider.

6. Sew Happy by Lori Holt is complete but I need to sew on some buttons and take it to be framed.

Additionally I have a client quilt to go on my longarm and mini blocks for the sampler to be stitched every Monday.

Monday make - 2022 Prairie Schooler Santa

 

I started this last week as I thought it would be a quick piece to finish with the large blocks of red and I was pleased to finish it yesterday evening. I replaced the Arctic Lights lettering to an extra string of lights. I think we all know that there are penguins in the Antarctic not Arctic.

The fabric is 32 count Belfast vintage stormy night, and I changed the red to 321 and the green to 699 to brighten the piece. I now have just two Santas left to stitch. 

I think this will be my last finish for this month as I am still waiting for one piece of hardware for my Alpen bag, when I went to check on Ebay whether the item had shipped, I was disappointed to see it was coming from China. It should arrive this week. Though the ferries to the UK have been cancelled for today but hopefully recommence tomorrow. Nick was meant to be leaving on the boat early this morning to visit his brothers in Kent. I was also looking forward to ten days to myself. He is talking about postponing his trip if the ferry is also cancelled tomorrow.

Friday finish - matchstick quilted pouch

I joined in my friend Hele Steele's sewalong this week for the Matchstick quilted pouch. The pattern is free from here. Helen has also been doing daily videos at a nice pace on the Pfaff UK Instagram page.

I used a combination of a Superior King Tut in Cleopatra with an Aurifil turquoise and pink to quilt the panels. I used an open toed foot on my Atelier 7 and then used the side of the foot as a guide for my second line of stitching and then filled in the resulting space with one more line of stitching.

The outside of the pouch is a Robert Kaufman Essex Dyed linen from Sew Hot and the lining is a deep pink from the Phosphor range by Libs Elliott. The candy pink striped zipper finished the pouch off nicely.

I added another of my labels from Kylie and the Machine into the seam of the pouch for that finishing touch.

I am pleased with the finished project but I was hoping the hardware that I had ordered from Ebay for the Alpen bag would have arrived by now. The triangle fittings arrived on Monday, but the slider and lobster claw are still outstanding.

WIP Wednesday - trinket week 8

 

This week is week 8 of the Trinket SAL with Alison Glass. The bonus block has been released and I love the opportunity it presented to fussy cut an apple for the centre.

Week 7's blocks were Things 1 to 5 and now they're grouped together there's a lot of orange. I love the purple / pink background to the arrow. This is the latest Halloween collaboration from Ruby Star Society which hits shops next month. I don't really like the tent any more than I did last time I stitched it.

Week 8's blocks are very blue and pink. I love the diamond and its facets and the fussy cut strawberry. The envelope contains two fabrics from a scrap bag from Olive & Flo Handcraft. Week 9 is a bonus week so I should probably start thinking about how I'm going to combine all of these blocks into a quilt.

Monday Make - May basket

 

I knew where the packs I'd put together for A Year of Celebrations by Hands on Design, but to be honest the packs don't seem to be complete, and they are in complete disarray. A job for another day. The May pattern was over 50% complete and it is small, but it took longer than expected to complete. I am disappointed that there is little difference in colour between the two pinks - Weeks Dye Works Chablis and DMC 605. Though that might be my fault as the called for floss was 3688 not 605.

I hunted down the other months that I had already stitched, and I can tell you that I am completely disappointed that I've only stitched three. Perhaps there are more hiding away that need to be found. I hope so. For now the completed patterns are being stored with the other months waiting to be stitched.

Friday finish - rainbow remix

Once I focus on just one project, I amaze myself that I actually get something finished in two days despite the project having waited to be quilted for several weeks.

This is the Rainbow Remix (pattern by Paula Steel) with a kit from Modern Quilt Club. All of the Alison Glass fabrics for the quilt top and binding were provided in the kit and I have plenty of leftovers which need tidying away.

The quilt is 54" square so rather than buying a 108" backing, I went to Rachl's Textile STudio who sell Guttermann fabric which is 60" wide. I love the cheery golden yellow and it shows of the quilting beautifully which is Circuits by Anne Bright.

Whilst starting to tidy away the kit, I found a sweetie bag with a cute sticker for my planner and a label too. I also added my new label from Ever Emblem which I purchased with a prize voucher from a recent sewalong. I basted two sides of the big label into the binding and then stitched the binding to the front of the quilt.

I hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt using Aurifil 50 weight thread, Bohin milliners' needles, my clover silicon thimble and binding clips yesterday.

 

Cataloguing your Accuquilt dies

I catalogued most of my dies when I was procrastinating and should have been doing something else. I thought that I would share how I did it. I have also asked local friends to do the same so that I can put together a catalogue of our dies so we can share them.

Go to Accuquilt.com and Sign up for an account (green button top right) and then sign in. Then go to AQ Circle account and choose Product Library. You can also do the same thing on the Accuquilt app. Then click on the + Register Product.

Both on the app and the website, you then take the five digit code from the end of each die and enter the number, press return and it adds it to your library. I did find some products weren't in their database so I need to go back and report those to Accuquilt. If you have boxed sets each die of the set has a unique product number.

To make a catalogue, I then selected show 100 entries on the website and cut and paste the results into an Excel spreadsheet.

I was very pleased to have gone through this exercise as I found a die I wanted as a single die but which was in one of the boxed sets that I already owned. Another benefit is a much tidier shelf in my cupboard with room for more dies.

Monday Make - cross body bag

 

I started this bag at the March Modern Quilt Club retreat with my daughter, Lizzie. Lizzie made and finished two versions and I half finished my bag. I wasn't happy with one of the corners of my bag which needed unpicking and restitching. A recent Facebook challenge inspired me to get the project out again and I finished it this morning.

The bag has sat on our couch for at least a week waiting for the lining to be hand stitched around the zip opening and this morning I located the setting tools and rivets to complete the strap. I had intended to use a strip of webbing from Zipper Valley for the strap but the colour wasn't quite the right shade of pink so I made a matching strap with the Ruby Star Society fabric.

Pattern : Square Cross Body bag by Zeriano 

Fabric: Ruby Star Society strawberries from Olive & Flo Handcraft

Zipper : Purple Stitches

Pleather: Sew Quirky mystery box

Label: Kylie and the Machine 

I continued the strawberry theme into the choice of fabric for the lining 

Friday finish - August Cottage

 

I am loving the seaside theme of this monthly stitch as living on an island you are always no more than three miles or less from a beach. I used all of the DMC threads on Permin Lambswool which is so crisp it makes it trickier to stitch. All of the monthly cottages so far have been stitched on this fabric.

This was my number 7 UFO for our group challenge. So far, I have finished seven of the twelve projects on my list, and we are in month 5. None of the remaining projects are large which was deliberate to make them achievable. Next, I'm going to stitch on Ruby Racoon.

WIP Wednesday Trinket week 6

 

Week 6 is a bonus sewing week so time to catch up. The 2023 bonus block was also released this week so I fussy cut the apple for the centre of the block. This fabric was a small square froma scrap pack from Olive & Flo Handcraft and was perfect for this bock.

By this week we should have finished half of the blocks so far, which is 20 out of a total of 40 (not including bonus blocks). I have been steadily sewing these on a Monday morning along with my mini block sampler so only have six more blocks to stitch. If you look carefully at the piles of completed blocks you might just spot some fabric that has yet to be released.

Monday make - Cloud block

Although the coronation of Charles III happened on Saturday, today is an extra bank holiday to celebrate the event and fortunately for Channel Islanders tomorrow is 9 May when we celebrate Liberation Day (another bank holiday) so we get a four day weekend. This morning our WI had a scheduled swim at Anne Port at 9am which was my first swim of the year. It was so cold that we just took a dip and then celebrated with cake.

After a nice warming shower, I have stitched up the week 19 block of the mini sampler blocks by Art East Quilting. I chose the neon pink on cream print as I thought the shapes looked a little like clouds.

Even though we don't have even half of the blocks stitched, my idea is starting to take shape.

 

April achievements

 Not many achievements this month but I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Nantes for Pour l'Amour du Fil.

                                            

First, I started and finished the 2023 Prairie Schooler Santa. Just three more to go.

A sewing ham for use when pressing clothes.

Sew Happy by Lori Holt which now needs some 1/4" buttons and to be framed.

May 2023 plans

We have no travel plans this month as hubby is waiting for a minor op and he may then plan a visit to see his brothers in Kent. Leaving me to do as I wish.

My biggest UFO is my Rainbow Remix (pattern by Paula Steele) and I bought the backing last week, so it can soon be loaded on my long arm. There will be a scrappy binding made from the leftover fabric from the kit from Modern Quilt Club.

I also have this Square cross body bag (pattern by Zeriano) which needs some unpicking on one of the corners, the lining to be made and hand stitched inside and a strap made and fitted. It is so cute. My daughter, Lizzie, made two of these at retreat in March.

In the cross stitch world May is known as Maynia. Originally stitchers started a new project every day for the month. It has evolved into stitchers making it their own and working on WIPs or five new starts etc. 

I am going to work on five projects in May for five days each and then I will have six days to finish any of the projects that are close to being finished. I have several series of patterns which it would be good to make progress on both in May and future months. My five projects are:

1. Whale Hello There by Hands on Design from the Polar Plunge series. I started this one in April but was side tracked by another project.

2. 2022 Prairie Schooler Santa (UFO Challenge no 9) of which I have just three in the series left to stitch 

3. August cottage of the month by Country Cottage Needleworks (UFO Challenge 7) This is our challenge number for May 2023 so it needs to be finished this month.

4. One month of a Year of Celebrations by Hands on Design. I need to find this and work out which months I still need to stitch.

5. Ruby the Raccoon by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery which I started in April

Now to decide which to work on first. Number 4 would be the quickest to stitch but I also want to get another Santa completed, but the racoon is also very cute. Decisions, decisions. Perhaps I could work on the white border of Ruby the Racoon at my Wednesday morning group to get it finished whilst working on another project for five days.

Monday make- sewing ham

 I have been participating in a free challenge called Confident Capsule Collection challenge which is a warm up for another class with Sew Confident. There were three elements to the challenge:

1. Your sewing set up and useful tools. As a result of sewing hams for pressing being mentioned I found a free tutorial here and set about making one straight away. It's very solid and filled with leftover wadding not sawdust or similar. I may make another for my daughter and send it to her unstuffed.

2. Visualisation I visualised my fabric from Guthrie and Ghani made into a Stevie dress with my completed strawberry bag on holiday in Turkey.

3. Mood board using Canva. I utilised my vision from the second challenge to make my mood board and it has encouraged me to get out my half completed strawberry bag. It is the square cross body bag by Zeriano.