Monday Make and take

It is always difficult to come up with make and takes or tutorials for our monthly guild meetings. Sometimes you don't even need something new. Last month I used Lori Holt's instructions to make a design board. I have one this demo multiple times before but there's always someone new in the group. I made this one with sparkly binding and it will be added to this month's raffle.

I saw that Kylie and The Machine had a free pattern for a scissors case which seemed like another good demo. I definitely need to practise my binding skills on curves. Instead of Velcro I used a snap to close the pouch.

Friday finish - Zip n Grip bag

Lizzie chose the Zip n Grip for us both to work on at the Modern Quilt Club retreat in March. The designer, Sew yours estimates that you can make this in four hours including the cutting out. I have spent mor like fourteen hours on the project and it very nearly defeated me. Lizzie finished hers in a day at retreat, whereas I put mine aside.

I did find the perfect binding in my stash for binding the base. I bought it in Glasgow from Fabric Bazaar because I'd never seen two colour binding before. There were mounted policemen near the store which intrigued us. There was a match that day between the two biggest Glasgow football teams - Rangers and Celtic. The shop was located near the stadium for one of the teams but the game was being played away and the team local to the shop had won. 

I am very pleased to have this finished, now I need to work on quilting a customer quilt.

WIP Wednesday- 2024 Collector’s heart

Tomorrow is our second bank holiday - Liberation Day but today I'm busy with an appointment with the dental hygienist followed by a Covid vaccination and a quiz this evening. Busy busy!

This is how much I'd achieved on the 2024 collector's heart from Heart in Hand before we went to Nantes and it came back without an extra stitch having been added! The 2023 version came with the required thread, linen and button, but there were no threads with the 2024 pattern. However, in my small stash I did find all of the required threads apart from one which I decided to substitute for merlot by Weeks Dye Works.

I have made good progress this week but have now run out of red licorice so I need to place an order so that I can finish the piece this month. I can probably do an evening's more stitching and then it will need to be set aside.

This month's chosen UFO is Cast a Spell by Hands on Design. It will be a quick stitch which I'll start this week but first I need to review the DMC substitutions for the specified Cosmo threads to make sure I like the colour intensity on the black.

 

Monday make - quilter’s tote 3

Today is the first Bank Holiday of three that we have during May in Jersey. We have an extra bank holiday to celebrate the liberation of the islands in 1945 on 9 May.

You'd think I'd be taking it easy today, but this morning we're taking my aunt back to her house for a visit and I hope she decides to put the house on the market. An empty house is an expense for her. This afternoon I have a meeting which I'm told will be quick, I have my doubts!

You might think that you've seen this bag before! This is the third My Quilter's Tote by Zeriano that I've made so far. I quilted the panels for two bags at once which was very efficiently done on my long arm with a digital pantograph called Circuits by Anne Bright.

I even remembered to stitch a label from Sew Anonymous into the binding. I have taken out a monthly subscription to The Label Collective and the first month came with a lovely big sticky label. where to put it? I decided that the Aurifil box that I use to store the feet for my Janome Atelier 7 might be a good place as it might remind me to use a label in every project.

The humper jumper that came with my machine came in very useful with the thickness of the bag seams and binding. I didn't know what it was until someone did a demonstration at a guild meeting.

April 2024 achievements

Another light month for finishes but I have quilted four customer quilts, had a London hospital appointment which was a day trip, six days in France and I published my first pattern.

 

Our April project for our Guild UFO challenge was number 7 which for me was the September Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks. I completed this early in the month.

I finished a class block from my trip to France into another mini quilt for SCBU. I need to follow up presenting our group's contributions again this week.

And last but by no means least, I finished a second sample of my Corbiere Cushion which will be released in my Payhip store on 1 May. If you sign up to my newsletter there will be a discount code for this pattern for the whole of May,

May 2024 plans

 I definitely achieve more when I focus on one project at a time, so here's what I'm planning to work on this month, allowing for a five day trip to Guernsey with my 96 year old father. There was no way we were allowing him to go by himself.

La Vie en Rose Nantes by Veruschka Zarate is completely pieced, so I just need to decide whether to make it into a wall hanging or a cushion.

I completed one of these Quilter's Totes last month and I have one which is quilted and needs to be put together. 

The Mave skirt which looks like a straight forward pattern which I need to trace first.

I have the Zip and Grip pouch still to finish, should be another quick finish, in theory.

I signed up for another sewalong, I was powerless to resist. The pattern is by Pen and Paper Patterns. I did have a polaroid style camera when I was younger so this spoke to me and it is perfect for featuring some Ruby Star fabrics.

Monday make - flower pop

I was inspired by this version of Flower Pop by Sew Kind of Wonderful to turn my one block into another mini quilt for SCBU.

I used up yellow scraps from my scrap basket and cut into a few fat quarters to make two scrappy vertical borders.

I then quilted it with straight lines on my long arm which I've not done before. I also realised that I need to investigate getting Prostitch Designer back on my computer after lots of programmes were deleted during an update.

I chose a pink fabric from my stash that picked up the colour of the pink flower petals for binding, which I stitched down by machine. I even remembered to add a tag into the binding.