Espritpatch

Finally, after procrastinating for nearly the whole month, I have finished my pillows! I messed up the first one so much that I had to unpick everything but at least I tried one at a time. I thought it would be fun to add pompoms on my pillow and to close them with a zip on the side (both features I haven't tried before of course). Well fun is not the first word to come to mind now... In addition I used a beautiful cotton lawn fabric for the back of the pillows but it was so slippery, it kept moving away, pins have been my friends here! Pompoms get in the way of the machine foot when you sew.... Lesson learned, don't sew them too close to the border and move your needle position... But I now have beautiful cushions that will sit on my bed and will be used as support when we read at night. All from a very old UFO started when I started my blog about 9 years ago... Not sure why it took so long really. I am so glad they are done, and this was my  One monthly goal

I finally had time to get back to the Farmer's Wife 1930 sew along this week, as I fell off the bandwagon after one week. I made 3 blocks this week. Block #3 Alice Block #4 Ann Block #5 Anne Hoping to catch up by the end of next week but not sure that will be possible! With those 3 blocks, I have made 8 in January. Celine 

Just before Christmas I saw a lovely Christmassy version of the Toaster Sweater on Instagram by Amanda and I really wanted one too! So I ordered some Christmas jersey from Girl's Charlee UK when they had their special pre-Christmas sale, hoping to make it before we went away. I started cutting it and thought it would be easier and quicker to make it on my overlocker. The only issue with that was that the overlocker needed rethreading.... something that always makes me a little stressed out. With very little time to spare before we went away, I sadly realised that it was just not happening... And of course the cut fabric has been starringat me ever since and making me feel guilty about it. The weather has been miserable here so although Christmas is gone, it is a project I could easily work on. We even had a little snow at the week-end. Anyway, I changed the thread on the overlocker from grey to white (just to discover that it needed rethreading... again.. it is all good training!)

There has been hardly any sewing done in the last 2 weeks because largely of an excess of work eating up my evenings and also some of my week-end, plus there has been some travels too. The only thing that I have managed to squeeze in is some cross-stitch. So I have been able to finish one more postcard: Tokyo! And I started the next one which is New York, just started. I am hoping to have more sewing time in the next few weeks. Celine

About a year ago, I made my first Toaster Sweater, and although it came out a little short, I really liked it and planned to make some more. It is an easy pattern and it is a nice wear: 4 pieces for the body and the collar and cuffs. This time, I made it with my overlocker entirely. I can't believe how fast it was, I made the whole sweater in one evening, cutting and sewing. And I have worn it so much already. it is so nice and snuggly. It is so comfortable to wear, not sure why I waited so long to make this second one. And I think I should make another one soon! My first finish of the year and the first off my Q1 FAL. Celine

About 2 years ago, I joined Angie 's sew along (probably my first one with her) to make the Farmer's Wife 1930 quilt (with the secret hope/utopia) to finish both this one and the previous one. Well, of course, that didn't go according to plan and I ended up with yet another UFO. I made a grand total of 14 blocks (!) out of the 99 required for the full quilt.... Angie is running the sew-along again (mainly on Facebook) this year (started this week), with 2 blocks a week made in numerical order. Easy enough to follow really. So I picked up my pile of blocks again and decided it was now or ? I can proudly present you #1 Addie and #2 Aimee And that gives me 2 more blocks for January taking my total to 5 so far! Let's hope I can keep the pace! Celine

It's time to write the crazy long list again! And since a New Year has just started, I have no doubt it will be a crazily long list once more... Maybe I should say this is my annual list but even that is probably not achievable. Never mind, the more the merrier really :-) Quilts: 1. HK quilt for E (all cut)  2. Modern HST triangles (half of the blocks are done) 3. Super Mario quilt (half of the blocks done, a real UFO) 4. Project 48 quilt with a few Solstice challenge blocks (all blocks done, might need a few more???)  5. Impromptu quilt (a real UFO)  6. Farmer's Wife (not half way yet....)  7.  Farmer's Wife 1930 - only 14 blocks done 8. Bubble blocks quilt 9. Cadence Court quilt - no started 10. Gipsy Wife (in progress)  11. 365 challenge quilt (about 25% of the blocks done)  12. Zodiac BOM - hardly started Bags etc: 1 Blanche Bag for A - fabric picked 2.  Blanche Bag for C -

The routine is almost back to normal here and I am so happy to be reacquainted with my sewing machine after a far too long break! It is so nice to be able to sew some (simple) blocks again. Of course, the temptation to start a new project was very high and there are a few new projects on my wish list, some of them I already have the supplies for, I thought it would be better to progress some "parked" projects before they fall in the UFO trap. So with that in mind, I have been happily playing with my Gipsy Wife project. I guess the finish of the Long Time Gone has given me energy to progres this one too! I fell off the sew along path some time in October or November when I started quilting some of my top and tried to make some clothes too. So of course, I have plenty of blocks left to do, some bigger blocks and also lots of filler blocks. But instead of making all the blocks and leaving the construction for the end, I have picked the blocks I already have and started to bu

Another year gone by? Really? How is that possible? Time just seems to go faster and faster. I really don't know where November and December disappeared but I know I had very very little time to sew unfortunately. And of course with a crazy long list, it was obvious there would be lots left to do for next year! I had the quilting frame out and managed to quilt 4 tops, 3 of which were on this list so that wasn't too bad! A few items of clothing but not as many as I planned/wished for... Quilts: 1. HK quilt for E (all cut) - no progress 2. Modern HST triangles (half of the blocks are done) -  no progress 3. Super Mario quilt (half of the blocks done, a real UFO) -  no progress 4. Project 48 quilt with a few Solstice challenge blocks (all blocks done, might need a few more???) -  no progress 5. Impromptu quilt (a real UFO) - little progress here! 6. Farmer's Wife (not half way yet....) -  no progress 7. Pink Bee blocks quilt 1 - finished