March’s mixed sewing

I’ve a variety of projects to report on this month, starting with some secret (at the time) sewing from January.

I mentioned that I was pattern testing and I can now share that it was for Jodi from Sewfearless and was for her Rafka box. Way back in 2013 I tested Jodi’s Mommy Poppins bag and it was lovely to work with her again. This is very clever pattern – the large size box opens out into a useful tray thanks to the curved zip. The pattern went together really well, though I made things difficult for myself by not taking the zip apart. I would certainly recommend deconstructing the zip (as in Jodi’s instructions) or using a separating zip if you make this pattern.

In something completely different, I attended an afternoon workshop and evening talk at Waterloo Quilters by Jennie Rayment. The workshop (Texture into Sudoku) saw us making nine blocks using a variety of folding techniques. I took photos as I went along, but I don’t think they will be much help if I wanted to make the blocks again. There are still finishing touches needed and I will share more photos when these have been completed.

My final update for this month is for the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge and the end is in sight for this project. The borders have been added and the top sandwiched for quilting. Fortunately the backing (which has been in my stash for at least 10 years) was wide enough not to need piecing. However, I did run out of pins when basting the layers and had to find my emergency supply of smaller pins for the borders.

I’ve now completed the quilting and binding and just need to work out how to get a photo of the completed quilt as I think it might be too big for the usual washing line photo.

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

The tiny nine patch project continues

In several of last year’s posts, I mentioned the blocks I was making for the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge. These blocks are tiny - each block is 1.5” finished size (UK 5p and 1 cent Euro coin for scale!).

The original timescale of the challenge was to get the quilt top completed in a year, but I only managed to get as far as making all the tiny nine patches (~550) I need and cutting over 400 setting squares. Good progress has been made this month and all the tiny nine patches have been assembled into larger nine patches. This means that I am now ready to start stitching the rows of the quilt together and working out what size edge triangles to cut for the on point layout.

However, I’ve taken a brief break from tiny nine patches to gather some supplies from my stash for some pattern testing. I pattern tested for this person back in 2013 and I'm looking forward to trying her latest pattern.

 I’ll update you on the project and show the finished item once the pattern is available. 

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

Easter sewing (part 2) – pattern testing

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I used the Easter long weekend to catch up on some sewing projects. I’ve already posted about the case I made for my iPad mini, but the other project was to finish off a bag that I was pattern testing for Jodi at Sewfearless. Her latest pattern is the Mommy’s Poppins bag -  a carpet bag with an internal frame and is customisable for any size of frame.