Monday, August 10, 2026

August UFO challenge

 


I bought this fabric from Rosenbergs in London about four years ago and I have been undecided about what to make with it. Lizzie favours the Oskar top with a zip and more seams than I'd like in a top in this fabric. I am thinking about the Jarrah sweater as I already have the pattern. I just need to measure myself and choose the size.



Friday, August 07, 2026

Running with scissors

 

This is Running with Scissors by By Annie in Tula Pink's grey work. I quilted the fabric on my Janome Atelier 7 with no marking. I just eyeballed the middle of each dot and it has worked out quite well.

This is not a difficult pattern but unusually I didn't precut all of the components and that turned out to be unwise. The stitching of all of the pockets for your tools took longer than expected. I took the project to the Modern Quilt Club July retreat but I wasn't getting along with the machine so it ended up coming home incomplete. 
 

A couple of hours spent sewing and chatting with my daughter, Lizzie and it was ready to bind. There are so many layers to bind that I managed to break a needle and a needle threader, I also mislaid my jar of hand stitching thimbles, needles and scissors. That necessitated buying a metal thimble even though I prefer the Clover silicon thimbles.

 

Just before going on retreat, I noticed that Minki Kim has specific labels for finishing a zipper end. Inspired by this new idea, I sandwiched the zipper end between two identical labels from Sew Quirky. I should have used some basting tape and the stitching could be neater on the label, but finished is better than perfect.

Wednesday, August 05, 2026

Handmade rocks

 

This was the joint project Lizzie chose for the July MQC retreat. Neither my brain nor the sewing machine were cooperating so I returned home with the applique panel almost complete. I finished the applique whilst on a Facebook video with Lizzie yesterday and then after the call, quickly made the panel into a banner.

I used lots of Aurifil 40 weight threads and Ruby Star Society fabrics. The knuckles and creases are drawn on with a permanent marker and I have omitted the tattoo. Today I need to finish hand stitching binding to another retreat project.


Monday, August 03, 2026

Liminal quilt - month 1


I dislike being behind on a block of the month, so finishing month 1 of the liminal quit medallion BOM by Jo Avery for Love Patchwork and Quilting was a priority this week. It is out of my comfort zone so there was quite a bit of unpicking.


I am pleased with the result but should have chosen a different foot for my machine to stitch the cogs as it dragged due to having been used on vinyl with the addition of some washi tape. I now need to clean that foot and put away the blocks and fabric until next month.

Here are months 1 and 2 together. Month 3 looks like two improv spikey borders, which should be in my comfort zone.