Post finish tidy up

I will admit that usually I am very lazy when I finish a project an the remains of the project remain strewn around my work space. I don't know what came over me when I finished A Quilty Little Xmas, but I tidied up!

I started with my basket of Christmas fabrics and donated many of the scraps to a friend who loves improv. An overflowing basket and two bags of scraps were sorted to half a basket with a part jelly roll cut for a small throw. Perhaps this might become a retreat project. I just need to add a background to the bag. I have also added some Halloween fabrics to the basket and rehomed my low volume fabrics to its own basket.

I also got out all of my Glide threads that I own as well as the ones used in A Quilty Little Xmas and sorted them by colour. Even the bobbins I'd wound for the Easter event last year were tidied away with the correct colour spool. I just need to reorder the colour Linen as its running low.

I had planned to throw away scraps of iron on interfacing, but they came in very useful to glue large scraps of light interfacing together when I finished the bolt of interfacing but still had some blocks to stitch.

A good start to tidying my space, even if I'm the only person who would be able to spot an improvement.

Apple mini quilt

This was meant to be a pallet cleanser after finishing a Quilty Christmas. However, I caused myself more challenges than I planned and the project took longer to complete than I expected. My mistakes included taking my eye off the embroidery machine and then the foot became trapped under the wadding. I also took out a square from the embroidery hoop thinking that it was complete, but it wasn’t, I still had the embroidery of the pips and stalk to do. I managed to get it back on the machine but not quite in the right place. I now know how to reposition the design which would have led to a more accurate finish block.

My mistakes also meant that I ran out of interfacing! My local needlework store was open, but I wanted to purchase another complete bolt of this interfacing. I managed to use scraps of iron on interfacing to glue sufficient numbers of pieces together to make four more blocks. Now I have absolutely no light interfacing left.

Quilty Little Christmas

 

Number 11 was selected for this month's Guild UFO challenge. Fortunately, I had worked steadily on stitching the blocks from the A Quilty Little Christmas by Kimberbell.  I decided to make the four small projects into one ladder quilt. I added embroidered blocks from Jingle All the Way and Cup of Cheer which are also Kimberbell projects.

I love the little details on the project and love how the quilting lines on this star block line up with the V. I couldn't have planned it better had I tried.

The quilt ladder is now on order as it has become available on Amazon UK. I am thrilled to have this finished. Time to put away fabrics etc and tidy my sace.

Friday finish - Q4CL

This pretty pastel work in progress was on offer at a Monday group meeting earlier in the year. As no one else wanted it, I decided to see if I could make it into a quilt to donate to Quilts for Careleavers (Q4CL). It was constructed of 5" pastel squares with a 5" border on two sides.

The original quilt was square, so I got out my trusty tape measure and started to see how to approach the project.  I removed two rows to bring the width of the quilt down to 10 squares deep and I removed the borders. Unpicking is so boring! I was delighted however to find that the two rows could be added to the bottom of the quilt to bring it up to the required height (70").

I didn't have any pastel backings in my stash, so I pieced together two butterfly fabrics that had been donated by Hantex Fabrics for backings for charity quilts. I cut the two 5" border strips into 2.5" strips which was perfect for the binding which I machine stitched down.

 

September plans

I finished more in August than I had expected. My hemoglobin is under better control, so I am not so tired. Nick is away for ten days in September so what can I achieve?

My UFO challenge for September is to make a ladder quilt from the blocks for this project. Fortunately, I have already made good progress with the blocks, and I now need to come up with a firm plan to add more blocks. I have made some extra blocks but without a clear plan.

Side by side with this project I'll work on plus blocks from stash and also the Moda Blockheads 6.

My priority for garment sewing should be the Florence dress by Merchant & Mills. However I have two simple projects cut out ready to overlock, so I will start with some scrappy pyjama shorts and then a Chicacheetah top.

I haven't made much cross-stitch progress, but I plan to work on the Winter Quaker by Primrose Cottage. If I finish that I will work on Frosty Tiny Town by Heart in hand.

Dressmaking pattern tidy up

 

Next on my tidying up schedule was my paper patterns as I had one on the floor that had been printed locally but I was never going to make. Firstly I ordered a triple magazine rack, little did I know that it had to be constructed before use!

I gathered my pattern, books and storage envelopes and have culled a few patterns that I will not make again. Then they all fitted into the magazine holder and are now in my cupboard. I definitely need to sort out my Jersey fabrics soon as I have so much more than I realised and much of that is also on the floor.

Friday finish - TATB shorts

I have made pairs of shorts from this book by Sewing Bee's Tilly and the Buttons several times. One to wear as shorts and two to wear as short pyjamas. I was trying to sort my stretch fabrics last week and came across this print that I'd purchased from By Graziela. Although it is almost too green for my comfort, I made this pair of shorts which are brilliant for wearing around the house in this hot weather. I plan t pair the shorts with wither a navy or pink T-shirt for our holidays.

Although they may not look as if they fit, I have an odd shaped figure and these are very comfortable.

I remembered to include a label and this was from a bag makers box from Studio 7T7.

 

Twice as nice pouch

Yesterday I had a day with no plans or commitments, but I had no yearning to stitch any of my current projects. Do you know that feeling? I moved a few things in my sewing space and found the pattern for this pouch along with the two required zips. I even had a piece of clear vinyl but I would soon realise that it was too small.

I paired a silver waterproof fabric with a dark grey splatter print by Guicy Guice. Even though this is the third version of this pouch that I've sewn mistakes were made! I did however remember to add a small label which I hope is subtle enough for my husband. I plan to give this to my husband, Nick, on his birthday which is the day before we travel to Istanbul. It's a perfect pouch for travelling. Having just pulled out a British passport for this photograph, I realise my new Irish passport isn't where I expected it to be, so finding the passport needs to go on my to do list.

The silver fabric matches the packing pouches that my daughter made for Nick for last Christmas, so this adds to the matching set.

Monday make - Sew and Tell case

In the UK this is the last bank holiday weekend until Christmas. Lizzie was free all weekend, so on Saturday we chatted and sewed over Facebook Messenger. We worked on our joint retreat project. This is the Sew and Tell Case by Rosie Taylor Crafts

I prepped and quilted the outside of the case before retreat and made the tab closure. All of the fabrics are by Ruby Star Society with only a smattering of strawberries. I enjoyed using the Ruby Star selvedges which I cut with one inch of the patterned fabric.

Lizzie and I prepped our vinyl whilst she was at home in July. We now have NO patterned vinyl left in stash so there are all different vinyls throughout the case. I had misread the instructions and thought there were only four pockets but there are four internal pockets and two pockets inside the cover.

We completed all of the pockets at retreat so on Saturday it was just a matter of putting it all together. I may have misread the instructions several times! My outside binding is sewn first to the inside of the case and the internal binding is machined down as I should have sewn it to the side with the vinyl first!

 

Friday Finish - Cassie dress

 

I think this is the third version of the Cassie Dress any Emporia Sewing Patterns that I've finished. The fabric is by Storrs of London which I purchased at Shaukat in London earlier this year. I cut this out last month to take to the Modern Quilt Club retreat whilst I made some progress, it was less than half complete.

I am pleased to have this finished for our trip to Istanbul and cruise next month. I even remembered a sneaky little label on the back of the dress. Just one more retreat make to finish which I will be stitching with Lizzie over Facebook messenger this weekend.

WIP Wednesday - scrap stash plus quilt

National jelly roll day is on the third Saturday of September which happens to coincide with our Guild meeting. We are encouraged to sew a jelly roll on that day. Jelly rolls are not something I purchased so when I saw the scrap stash plus quilt which is a free pattern for subscribing to Emily Denis’s newsletter, I thought I might have a way to participate.

I am planning a rainbow of colours alternated with low volume prints. The notional plan is to cut five pairs of fabrics each week from fabrics to hand. Perfect to combine with Moda Blockheads 6. My only change to the pattern is that I am mixing up the low volume fabrics. I realise that many of my low volume fabrics are directional and need more careful planning when cutting.

I will make this for quilts for care leavers and it will be 42” by 72” or 84 blocks. At ten blocks a week I might finish it for retreat in November when I can donate it.

Wadding tidy up

 

Now that I am feeling more like myself, I have decided to tidy one area of my stash each week. I decided to start with things I’m either working on or which once tidied will have the biggest effect on my very untidy room.

I started with wadding. I have a roll of wadding next to my long arm, a bag of large wadding scraps in the same room, a bag of smaller scraps for when I’m prepping my embroidery projects and leftover backing that needed to be unpicked so as to recycle the wadding attached.

I started by unpicking the Ruby Star backing and wadding. The surplus wadding is just the right size for my embroidery projects. Then I went through the smaller pieces of wadding and pulled out any pieces that were too small and those are bagged and ready to go to a friend. Then the smaller pieces were extracted from the bag of large pieces and rehomed ready for embroidery projects. I recommend the zipper bags that come with new bed pillows for this.

I have reduced the volume a small amount but the benefit is now I have the right sized pieces ready to cut for my embroidery projects.

Next I plan to tackle paper dressmaking patterns, iron on interfacing and my work desk.

Friday Finish - mix it up tee

I'm not sure how my husband always takes my photo when my eyes are closed! This is the Mix It Up Tee by My Handmade Wardrobe which was a free pattern during an online challenge. The biggest challenge for me was choosing the two fabrics.  I also need to challenge myself to put all of my Jersey fabrics away again tidily. I did remember to add a label which I stuck to my sewing machine so there was some chance that it would be remembered before sewing the side seams together.

Hello Summer

This is Hello Summer from Primrose Cottage and was one o their free Friday patterns. I stitched it last month and as summer is coming to an end, I thought that it should be fully finished. 

I backed the piece with iron on interfacing and drew a one-inch margin around the piece. I then basted the mini pom pom trim in four pieces aligning the edge with the drawn margin. I cut off pom poms if they were too close to the corner. i was going to use my zipper foot to stitch the piece into a pillow, but I have mislaid it. I need to tidy my table just in case it's there somewhere!

I think it goes with my summer mug just perfectly. When summer comes I forget the simple joy of feta, water melon and mint salad.

Blockheads 6

 

I wasn't expecting to be back so soon with another Moda Blockheads 6 update, but this block is so large it deserves its own post. Block 11 is designed by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings and is 27! finished. I only have about enough of the black spot that I'm using for the background, to make one more 9" block.

My original plan was for this block to be turquoise, but the other large block is turquoise, so I went with purple instead. I also decided not to worry about the direction of the purple and blue wavy fabric. This took most of Saturday to cut out and complete and I only had to get my seam ripper out twice!

Friday finish - Quilty Wishes

 

MY UFO challenge project for August is Pumpkins and Potions, which I have already completed, so I decided to pull out a Quilty Litte Christmas by Kimberbell Designs. The project is four mini quilts which I plan to make into a Christmas ladder quilt.

My first task was to establish what still needed to be embroidered, find the pattern book and my thread collection I had the blocks for two of the mini quilts completely stitched out. I found both the embellishment kit and the thread collection put away together in a large project bag.

The third mini quilt was stitched out apart from the snowflake and present stamps. My intention was to do a block a day but I was enjoying the process. I had also already combined files in Embrilliance which meant I only had to ut out the fabrics - no computer time.

I might make a few more of the strip of stars from this project as filler strips. 

I then embroidered the whole of the last mini quilt over two days. Those 2" finished blocks are so small.

A ladder quilt is 20" by 60" and these blocks together measure about 20" by 30". I am now going to select some blocks from other projects to add to these. I will definitely be making larger blocks to make quicker progress, but I am thrilled with the progress I've made so far this week.

Moda Blockheads

This week is block 10 of 2025 Moda Blockheads It is designd by Janet Clare, a British designer who was at Festival of Quilts. I had serious FOMO because I didn't go. However, it was the right choice as it took me the week to recover from the retreat. Lizzie went with a new friend, and they had tickets I'd won and had a lovely time.

I am enjoying stash diving and this block uses OG Cotton and Steel on the black background.

I am now just making one block per week and I intend to make it int one or more quilts for Care Leavers. The sewalong continues until November and the blocks are already almost a 36" square. My next block will be turquoise.