January – comings and goings

Just a quick post with a few bits from the tail end of last year and some plans for this year.

Christmas (which seems so long ago) saw some new sewing arrivals for me – a FQ bundle of Liberty’s English Garden quilting cotton and a Fiskars folding ruler.

I’ve no project in mind yet for the Liberty FQs, but I know the ruler will be great to take on the train when I go to Leeds MQG. To make space for the new FQs I destashed a few FQs online, though the net result was still a gain but at least some fabric has found new homes where hopefully it will get used.

 

After missing 4 months of meetings I finally managed to get to Leeds MQG this month and spent the day sewing some POTC blocks. I’m still working on the joining blocks but now I have decided on the two fabrics for these, once I have a few more made I think it will make it easier to pick the fabrics for the “cross” blocks.

The only other sewing this month has been sewing name tags on to clothes for my Mum who is having to spend some time in a nursing home (and which probably will become a long term stay). For such small items, they seem to take a disproportionally long time to sew.

Next month’s sewing is likely to be a FPP quilt for a friend’s baby which I need to get done it time for her return from maternity leave and her daughter’s first birthday. It is my first attempt at an entire quilt using FPP blocks, but at least if I get stuck I will be able to take it to the next MQG meeting for help and advice.

Last of the Liberty (thank heavens for a stash)

October has been another quiet month sewing-wise, with just one item being made, no sewing progress on my Patchwork of the Crosses quilt, and some news that will impact my Liberty stash.

At the start of the month, I met up with Di whom I follow on Instagram. Di was in Liverpool for a few days and was looking for suggestions of where to go and what to see. We arranged to meet for lunch followed by a trip to the craft cotton bargain baskets at Abakhans. I didn’t want to turn up empty-handed, so I made a quick “Peek-a-Boo” pouch using the free pattern from Sew She Can. Unfortunately I forgot to put anything in the pockets when taking the photos, so you’ll have to take my word that there is a vinyl pocket on the inside.

I had warned Di that the craft cotton baskets can be a bit hit and miss at times, but we struck lucky on our visit. I found some Tula Pink and Art Gallery Fabric; Di found some backing to complete a cushion and started planning ahead with the purchase of some Christmas fabric.

Although I’ve not got any further with my Patchwork of the Crosses quilt, I have got as far as deciding on the final fabric for the joining blocks – the centre squares will be in Liberty “Penny”. I've not sewn any of these blocks yet, but Photoshop gave me an indication of how they might look.

Talking of Liberty, I was saddened to learn last month that Standfast and Barracks will no longer be selling Liberty seconds in their factory shop. Apparently printing has been moved to Como in Italy, which probably explains the lack of newer designs and the half-price sale in the Lancaster outlet. I bought a few metres of the Wild Cat design (from the Autumn/Winter 2016 collection) before they stopped selling on Ebay, but it looks as though this will be the last of my bargain Liberty purchases.

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Slow, but steady, progress is being made with the first set of blocks for the Patchwork of the Crosses quilt. After having picked just two fabrics so far, I thought it time to make the third choice – the one that will be used for the squares in the “sashing”.

I chose several fabrics from my Liberty stash, but having photographed them with the two other fabrics, I think I might have to go back for another rummage or change my plans and go for the scrappy approach.

If it takes me this long to come up with just three fabrics, picking fabrics and choosing layouts for the crosses blocks could take some time.

A fast finish and a slow start

There's not much to report on the sewing front this month as again I've been spending most of the weekends in the garden centre or in the garden. I think all the clearing and planting has been done now and so hopefully it will just be a matter of a little light weeding throughout the summer, leaving more time for sewing.

I did have day sewing at Leeds MQG a few weeks ago and was able to finish a quick project of anonymising a chain store bag with some EPP. This was my first time using InvisiFil 100wt and early signs are quite encouraging. It doesn't tangle or snap as much as Aurifil 80wt and I prefer it to the Bottom Line 60wt which I had been using previously.

I have also decided on and started my new long term EPP project. I had two projects in mind and decided to go with the Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses rather than more pieced hexagons. I have done the quilt maths as to how many blocks I will need and how much fabric is required, but have only made two fabric choices so far - the background fabric (Pure Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics) and the small squares for the joining blocks (a Liberty print from my stash).

I've not used the Pure Elements before and I really like how it pairs with the Liberty lawn. I have some plain Liberty lawn, but I don't think it would be ideal for EPP as the seam allowance would show too much with light coloured fabrics. I might be tempted to get some different colours of Pure Elements to use in the crosses blocks as it could get too busy using just Liberty prints, but first I need to raid my Liberty stash and make some more fabric choices. Given it took me several months to decide which project to start, this may take some time!