2019 - my sewing summary

I’m writing this post in January, but hopefully with some technological wizardry it will travel back in time and appear in the archives for December – a much more suitable place for a look back on my year of sewing.

2019 turned out to be quite a product year. I took part in the Finish-a-Long which gave me deadlines to get things done and I even managed to finish some things not on the list. In total, and in no apparent order, I managed to finish:

• 2 large quilts
• 3 small quilts
• 1 mini quilt
• 1 mug rug
• 2 coasters
• 1 tote bag
• 2 reusable non-plastic bags
• 24 drawstring bags for the Leeds MQG charity sewing day
• 1 ironing mat
• 2 tops
• 5 skirts (including 4 from the Style Arc Faye pattern)
• 2 key fob holders
• 5 mini Christmas stocking

There were also quite a few alterations (shortening 5 pairs of trousers for my husband, shortening 3 tops for me which needed the coverstitch machine being brought back into action, adding an inside pocket to a jacket) as well as various repairs that were quick to do, but had been put off for ages.
 

 

Some progress has been made on an EPP hexie patchwork quilt that is a very long term work in progress. My activity on this quilt seems to go in three year cycles – I started it way back in 2013, decided to change the design back in 2016, and I have changed the design again in 2019. I’ve kept the mirror idea, but switched the mirror effect from one side to the other. 
 

The change in design required a bit of unpicking and then I realised that I won’t have enough of one of the pink fabrics, so I've started using an alternative and will replace some of the other pieces to give me enough to finish the quilt. Even though there will be a bit more unpicking to do yet, I think I have passed the halfway stage now with this and can see progress from the 2016 photo to the 2019 photo.

For 2020, I’ve already got a short list of quilts I’d like to make and I bought some fabric in Abakhan’s sale to make yet another Style Arc Faye skirt. The Finish-a-Long has moved to Instagram for 2020 so I’ll give it a go again and see how I get on with the new format – I can be found on Instagram as @sewlittletosay if you want to see what I have planned.

(A WordPress version of this post is available here as it may be more mobile-friendly for viewing and commenting.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q4, finish 2

This is my final finish from my FAL Q4 list and has only taken me a year and two days to finish!
I've had this quilt top on my list since Q1 and finally it is a completed quilt.
 

The blocks were from a block of the month club and I think they were designed more to learn new techniques than to be used together for a quilt. I framed each block in dark grey and added sashing to make a decent sized quilt. Quilting was simple straight lines in the sashing and either echo or stitch in the ditch for each block as most appropriate.
 

The backing is fleece (which meant the quilting could be light) and the binding is the same dark grey as the block frames.
 

Hopefully Project Linus can now find a suitable home for this quilt.


(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q4, finish 1

My first (and hopefully not last) finish from my FAL Q4 list is the shaker style box I got at last year’s Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate and which first appeared in my Q2 list.  It had an insert to go in the lid and I needed something to decorate it.
 

 
I had bought a needlepoint kit at Festival of Quilts in the summer with the view to adapting the square pattern to fit the oval shape of the lid. However, while I was still thinking about this, I received a lovely hand embroidered card from a very talented friend and I realisaed that this was a much better starting shape.

(This was taken after I had poked around the edges to see if it would come apart)

By adding a bow and making the stems a little bit longer, the embroidery was just the right shape and size for the lid. I add a couple of layers of quilt wadding to pad the lid and laced the fabric across the back to secure it to the insert. The insert was then fixed to the lid with some double sided sticky tape
.

Even though my stitchy contribution to this project was very small, I’m so pleased to have repurposed this embroidery in to something that I will used. I’m planning on keeping sewing essentials (a pair of scissors, a few needles, some pins, and bobbins of threads in useful colours) in it so they are at hand for mending jobs etc so I don’t have to root around in my main sewing box.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 - a nice surprise

Back in the summer, I had a surprise email from the organisers of the 2019 Finish-A-Long to say that I won one of the prizes for Q2. Being in the UK, there is always the possibility that with vouchers for American suppliers, you might end up spending more in shipping and custom charges than the voucher itself. Luckily this was a very generous prize and so right from the start I factored in the likely custom charge when deciding what to get.

My voucher was from Sew Sweetness and I spent a while looking at the website to see what I needed and what would be the best value items taking into consideration shipping/customs. Sara from Sew Sweetness was very helpful with questions I had about the different shipping options and once I had finally decided what to get and placed my order, the items arrived in the UK very quickly.

I chose a mix of items that I needed (a hot ruler for pressing hems etc which will be an improvement on the cardboard templates I usually use), items that were better value than in the UK (long double-headed zips for bag making), and some items that I wanted to try and where ideally priced to use the full value of the voucher (Tulip applique needles, a magnetic needle/pin/scissor keepers, and some Clover wonder clips). With some careful planning, less than a fifth of the voucher value went on shipping and the cost of all these items to me was a customs charge of ~£18.

I’d like to thank the sponsors and organisers of the 2019 Finish-A-Long and I better get sewing to have some finishes to show for Q4.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Autumn themed mug rugs

With winter approaching, there’s just time to show you a mug rug and couple of coasters I made for an autumn swap.

I used Paula Doyle’s mini mosaic technique which I learnt at a Festival of Quilts workshop back in 2016. The mosaic pieces start off at 1” square and are fused onto an interfacing backing. Once the seams have been stitched, they finish at half an inch square.

For the mug rug, I just used a narrow binding, but for the coasters I added a border before binding.
 

The quilting on the mug rug was stitch in the ditch around each leaf shape and I did the same on the coasters but added an echo line of quilting around the outside of the leaf.
 

The swap was supposed to be for a single item, but I received two sets of mats!

 (All of which are far too pretty to use.)

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 - the list for Q4

I completed just two of the six items on my list for for Q3, so for my list for this last quarter I am going with the four uncompleted items and not adding anything new:
 

1. BOM quilt No progress at all during Q1, Q2 and Q3 on this quilt - perhaps its time will come in Q4. My target for this year remains the same - to have it as a completed quilt and donated to Project Linus.
2. Upcycled bag This pure wool jacket from the charity shop remains deconstructed waiting for me to make it to make into a Carter bag.
3. Shaker box I've still no idea as to what I would like to put on it, but I'm still thinking it will probably be something EPP.  Perhaps Q3 will be when the ideal pattern for it appears.
4. Liberty pinwheel quilt I made this quilt top several years ago with a view to turning it into a picnic blanket, but something more suitable came along. I'd quite like to get this finished as a quilt now, maybe using it to practice FMQ as it has large "empty" areas.

Let's see if I can make the effort and get all these finished by the end of the year.

Linking up with 2019 Q4 Finish-A-Long


(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q3, finish 2

I think this will be my last finish from my Finish-a-Long list for this quarter. The two tops that have been hanging on the back of a door for about a year are now hemmed and finished.

Unfortunately, I think the short sleeved top will get packed away ready for next summer, but the long sleeved top will get worn this winter.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q3, finish 1

For the first finish from my Finish a Long list for Q3, I dusted off the overlocker and made the Style Arc Fay skirt in the geometric print.

Using the overlocker to attach the elastic resulted in a much neater finish than I had managed to obtain with the sewing machine.

This was so quick and easy that I made a second skirt the same day.

(I have also bought fabric for another one, but that has yet to be cut out.)




(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Festival of Quilts 2019

If everything had kept to the usual schedule, I would be at Festival of Quilts now, but it was moved forward a week this year and so I was at Festival of Quilts last week. This also meant that it coincided with the Ashes cricket at Edgbaston and so it was more “spot the cricket fan” in Birmingham than the usual “spot the quilter” (but the less said about the cricket the better).

My trip this year was spread over two days with the usual mix of workshops, shopping and looking at quilts. I had two workshops booked – a full day on the Thursday and a 90 minute twilight one on the Friday evening. After making sure the essentials were packed (rulers, mat, etc for the workshop and supplies for the hotel room), I travelled to Birmingham on the Wednesday afternoon to minimise the chance of train delays and cancelations preventing me getting to the workshop on Thursday. In the first workshop (Precision Piecing with Philippa Naylor) we got to sew on a Bernina machine (which I was surprised to find retails at ~£1000!) while learning how not to lose points on HSTs and flying geese. There also just about enough time to have a go at a mitred border sample, something I’ve not tried before. The second workshop was Designing Grid Quilting with Carolyn Gibbs which I chose to give me more ideas for straight line quilting. This was a low tech workshop (pencils, rulers and tracing paper) but nevertheless I came away with a much better understanding of how to plan quilting patterns rather than my usual way of starting to stitch and hoping it works out.

I didn’t have a shopping list as such this year and though I had wondered about finding some novelty prints for Project Linus quilts, I wasn’t really in the mood to browse given the overwhelming choice and number of stands. I picked up some finer machine needles than I usually use as these were recommended in the first workshop and I had ordered some Flatter for collection, which will also come in useful as in the first workshop we were advised to press with steam or a spritz of water. I also noticed in the first workshop that my cutting mat had lost its self-healing properties and crumbs of it were sticking to my rotary cutter, so it was the ideal time to buy a new mat. My other purchases were a silver marking pencil, a needle threader with thread cutter, an embroidery kit, a couple of back issues of magazines chosen for their free gifts, and a box of acrylic EPP templates. As you can see, all these had to be inspected and then ignored by “Not-Our-Cat”.

When it came to looking at the quilts, I was disappointed to find that the modern quilt section had been banished to the furthest corner away from the main entrance. I don’t know if the layout of the show is planned by the Quilters Guild or Twisted Thread, but perhaps they should consider what message it sends by always having the same quilt categories in the prime spots. Anyway, once I found the modern section, I was delighted to spot several quilts by people I know either in real life or via social media. I didn’t take many photos of quilts, just a few of ones that inspired me with their piecing and/or quilting, or ones that used blocks I’d like to try. If I had to pick one quilt as favourite I think it would be Red Light by Anette Sundberg (E108 in the guide). I loved the use of different sizes of the same block, the colour paletteand fabrics, and the black background.

Red Light by Anette Sundberg (Festival of Quilts 2019, E108)

As usual, after looking at Instagram posts back at home, I realised that there were sections that I had not found and not had time to see. Perhaps next year I should go on the last day when I have had chance to see what everyone else has spotted.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 - the list for Q3

I only had a 50% success rate with my list for for Q2, so there are some familar looking projects on the list for Q3:
 

1. BOM quilt No progress at all during Q1 and now Q2 on this quilt, so it reappears for Q3. My target for this year remains the same - to have it as a completed quilt and donated to Project Linus.
2. Upcycled bag This pure wool jacket from the charity shop remains deconstructed waiting for me to make it to make into a Carter bag.
3. Shaker box I've still no idea as to what I would like to put on it, but I'm still thinking it will probably be something EPP.  Perhaps Q3 will be when the ideal pattern for it appears.
4. Style Arc skirt This is a very quick pattern to make  - it takes nearly as long to clear enough space to cut out the very large single pattern piece than it does to sew. After making a successful wearable toile, I hope to make many more, the first of which will be in this cream and black geometric print.
5. Liberty pinwheel quilt I made this quilt top several years ago with a view to turning it into a picnic blanket, but something more suitable came along. I'd quite like to get this finished as a quilt now, maybe using it to practice FMQ as it has large "empty" areas.
6. Summer tops These two tops have been hanging on the back of a door since last summer waiting for me to get out the coverstitch machine and finish the hems. Perhaps I'll get them finished in time for the rest of this summer.

That's three old projects and three new projects for Q3 - I wonder which ones will reappear in Q4 :-)

Linking up with 2019 Q3 Finish-A-Long


(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly  for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q2, finish 3

This bag was finished just in time for this round of the Finish a-long. I'd initially called the project a "building bag", but I'm now thinking of it as the "Tudor Tote".

The inspiration for this bag was a woven striped bag produced for a London department store. I used a supermarket tote bag to give me an idea what size to make and took the opportunity to shorten the handles as most shop bought bags seem designed for someone several inches taller than me. This was going to be a simple bag, but I ended up including three pockets and making padded, corded handles.

I bought several fat quarters with stripes of different widths to use for the main body of the bag. Most were black and white, but one was black and cream, so I tea-dyed all the fabrics to get a uniform colour.

I used patchwork to get the different widths and different directions of stripes and then lightly quilted the main pieces using off-cuts of wadding fused on to a backing of woven interfacing. The handles were also pieced and then reinforced with a woven fusible interfacing before being wrapped around a soft handle cording.

I added three pockets to the bag - a “hidden” zip pocket on the outside, a zip pocket on the inside with striped piping, and a slip pocket on the inside using remnants from making the handles.

The main problem I had making this bag (and why it took longer than it should) was my sewing was significantly impeded by the determination of Not-Our-Cat to sit on the fabric at any opportunity.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q2, finish 2

Here’s a nice bright finish for this round of the Finish a-long. Project Linus have requested quilts in bright (red, yellow and blue) colours to be donated at this year’s Festival of Quilts and this is my take on those colours.

The centre squares feature pirates, treasure islands and sea monsters and have a narrow red border (which is also used for the binding) and a wider yellow or blue border.
  

The backing fabric continues the nautical theme and quilting was a simple diamond in each feature square and curved quilting in the borders.

Hopefully this fun and colourful quilt will brighten someone’s stay in hospital.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q2, finish 1

My first finish for this round of the Finish a-long is a quilt for Siblings Together. This appeared in my Q1 list as a quilt top but was upgraded to a complete quilt for Q2.

 

I finished hand stitching the binding at Leeds MQG meeting on Saturday and handed over the quilt. This meant that my usual washing line photo is with the unfinished binding.

I included sections of the pink in the binding, but didn’t bother with working out where they would land. I was lucky and there was only one piece that needed restitching so it didn’t run round a corner.

The quilting is all straight line quilting using a walking foot. The stitching on the white sections was using a pale grey Aurifil 40wt and the teal and pink areas were quilted using Aurifil 50wt as the colours were a better match from my stash of threads.

(I thought you might also like to see what happens when you're in the middle of quilting and leave a neatly folded quilt on the table and the visiting cat decides to call in.)

 

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)