Espritpatch

First month of the year is over, and it has been rather cold and quite often grey or wet. I am happy that I have finally started to take more sewing time or at least sewing related time! Not much to show for it but I have revisited some abandoned projects and progressed some others. As long as I don't get distracted by 20 new projects, I might be able to finish a few this year! First I finished a bag that I had planned to make early November, better late than never! It is already in use and I love it. I also worked on an old UFO which went from a pile of blocks (not all completed) to a mini top! Lots of pieces of paper to remove on the back too, all gone now! Not quite finish but not far either! Let's hope it won't take me another 12 years to quilt it... I made a secret block for a secret project! A total of 29 blocks this month And finally I managed quite a lot of stitching on the Nutcracker Parade which I will most probably park away now until next winter/Christmas. Befor

  Another long-abandoned project out today. I started the Farmer's Wife quilt with a view to gift it to my mum for her 60th birthday. She'll soon be 70 and the quilt is far from finish. Going through the box, I have 52 blocks completed. The full quilt has 111 so I am not even half way but not far either... Here are all the blocks together: Will I find some motivation and finish it all this year? I would love to gift it to my Mum for her 70th... Linking to  Design Wall Monday,   Monday Making ,    Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle and Threa d Celine

Once again, my Dear Jane has been set aside for far too long... I worked on a block (G11) in December while we were travelling but I think these were the only stitches for the whole of 2021. And that block is not even finished because I lost one of the applique pieces... So this week I pulled out my drawer and started digging into it to find out where I was at with very old UFO. The positive news is that the first 4 rows are complete and could be assembled... and that's an encouraging view really! The second good news is that I have a few blocks already prepared that I can take with me whenever I travel next time... G11 is nearly done and I now have all the pieces for the applique so this one should be a quick win! I also have E3 ready to be sewn and 2 triangles TR1 and RS9. Other blocks are partially cut so should be ready soon... Let's see how long it will take to get those blocks done. So I guess this is not actual sewing but it still counts since I spent a whole evening fig

My mini is assembled now!  What's left is to take out all the papers at the back and to quilt and bind it. It wasn't so bad really, not sure why I parked this project for so long.. Linking to  Design Wall Monday,   Monday Making Celine

  Finally... my first finish this year, my first project fully made in this new house, my first bag in nearly 6 months... and 2 months later than the sew-along... but who cares, it is now FINISHED and in-use already! Let me present my strawberry and chocolate Remus bag! Pattern by Bags of Bags of Style. The sew along finished on my birthday, on the very same day I started the cutting... I then spent (far too) much time sourcing my hardware that I had decided needed to be rose gold. It came all the way from Belgium from Serial Bag makers who has such beautiful hardware.   The bag doesn't take that long to make but my progress was very very slow.  For the lining I picked a print from my stash that I really love because why not enjoy it.  I had never tried a strap with 2 pieces of leather, it was a little fiddly (definitely use some tape!) and it is not perfectly regular but I really like the look of it. My machine really didn't like the top stitching at the top of the bag and kep

  It is still early in the year so I'm still trying to stay focused. First project I've picked up to work on is a very old UFO  (>10 years). I started this paper pieced Storm at Sea at the time I used to attend a local quilting group (i.e. before I had 3 children!).  It's all been packed ever since, not quite sure why as it was a rather small project. Anyway since I listed it on my UFO list for this year and I knew where to find it (always a bonus!), it got some airing time last week... the bigger blocks were all completed,  the rectangle blocks were half sewn but all the fabric was already cut and only 1 square was available with fabric cut for half of the blocks.  Finishing the rectangles didn't take very long Neither did the little squares Now all that is left is to assemble all the pieces to get a small wall hanging. Maybe it will get to that stage before the end of the month? With that, I have already completed 28 blocks this month, quite a good start! Linking t

Not much sewing yet this year but I've tried to do some stitching every day, just a little some days when I didn't have time but the idea was to pick up a needle every day. This is my progress over the first 10 days of the year I am trying to keep it up, partly because it's nice to see the progress but also because with my sewing space not fully set up, it's harder to sew in the evenings. I don't have much space for it and I'm reluctant to use my machine when the kids are in bed as I'm worried the noise might wake them up.  Linking to  M onday Making ,   Monday Design Wall ,  Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle  and Threa d ,   Free Motion Mavericks   Celine

I didn't graduate to get a PHD in 2021, will I manage in 2022? Quilting Gail is launching the challenge again. The idea is to finish 12 projects that are identified at the beginning of the year and also to finish all the projects started in 2022 to avoid creating new UFOs. Of course my list of UFOs is well over 12 (nearer 40 and that's just for the quilting...)but if I could at least finish 12, that would be nice progress... 1.  Super Mario quilt (started 2012) - this one needs the binding and burying all the loose threads 2. Flabellum (started 2021)  - this one needs the binding and burying all the loose threads 3. Impromptu (started 2013) - this one needs quilting and binding 4. Remus bag  (started 2021)  - this one needs assembling 5. The Utility Coat  (started 2021)  - needs finishing 6. Morgan jeans  (started 2019)  - needs sewing 7. Farmer's Wife quilt (started 2011) - needs more blocks 8. Persephone purse  (started 2021)  - needs finishing 9. Storm at Sea (started 2

New year, new start! Let's hope I get this renewed energy to finally get back to some sewing. I'm missing not sewing but don't seem to have any energy or time for it since we moved. I'm hoping that a few little projects might help me to get back into the saddle... Quilting 1.   Flabellum quilt - needs  binding  2. Super Mario quilt -  needs binding 3. Farmer's Wife quilt Dressmaking 1 .  Utility coat - need finishing 2. N urit coat Bags 1. Remus bag  -  this will be my   One monthly goal 2. Moonwake bag 3. Persephone purse Cross-stitch 1. Grimm's Tales stitch along 2. Nutcracker  Celine

Wishing you all the best for the new year 2022, and hoping that progressively life gets back to some normality. Stay safe, stay healthy! Celine