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.)