Espritpatch

August has been very busy with a lot of travelling. I nearly went to the Festival of Quilts, but I was too tired in the end, so I passed. Because of the travelling, there hasn't been much time at the sewing machine but I have made a few things. Hoping for finish 1. Kielo wrap dress - number 3! - This will be my  One monthly goal   finished 2. Scrappy Trip Along - orange blocks completed WIP 1.  Farmer's wife - no progress 2. Gipsy Wife - lots of catch up needed here  -  no progress 3. Postcards of the world - only one postcard to finish! - some progress 4. Farmer's Wife 1930 - let's try to continue to make more blocks  -  no progress UFO / Abandoned WIP 1. HST modern sampler quilt - (19 blocks) - this one was my February goal on the APQ UFO challenge, I need a few more blocks to finish this top, it would be good to get there 2.  Project 48 / Summer Solstice  3. Super Mario quilt  4. Impromptu quilt  5. Bubbles qu

This week is the first installment of Melissa's lovely quilt along and we are making BIG stars. I picked my fabric last week and after seeing a few sketches on Melissa's blog, I decided to completely change my mind! So here we are with a dark/black background and random fabric from my stash.... 3 massive stars in a star at 24', quite a stark contrast after the 365 blocks at 3' finish And with those 3 blocks, I have now 13 for August! Linking to  Seeing Stars Quilt Along Celine

I haven't done so for a while but this week I decided to just make some "random" blocks. My APQ UFO challenge for August is my 365challenge quilt , which I have started in 2016 and not touched since.  I don't even have half of the blocks so there is no way since can be finished in August and maybe not even in 2018 so I initially completely discarded it. Until this week when I thought, what about making a few more blocks? I picked some 6' light blocks which are the ones I need for the second border and made 3 blocks from May picking random fabric in my stash or in my scrap bins as well as one 3' block from August And with those blocks I have 4 more for August taking me to 10 so far/ Linking to  Let's Bee Social , Wednesday Wait Loss , Midweek Makers , Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

I love the Ogden top, this is no surprise ... after all I have 4 already and I saw someone made one with black silk which made me want one too, of course! When I went to Goldhawk Road a few weeks back, I didn't buy black silk but a lovely black cotton.  The idea was also to try an "Ogden dress" by making the cami longer. So I cut a cami and a dress too and set on.  Both were finished quickly enough and I really love the fabric of it. However, I am not convinced about the dress, I think it might look like a night dress somehow. I think I might try to modify it. I also repaired the Ogden cami I made last year as the straps had all frayed.    So these give me 2 more OPAM for August and also one of my Q3 FAL . Celine

A few more blocks for the scrappy trip along, even though I am late for it. I made 6 orange blocks but then realised I only needed 5... never mind, I can pick the ones I will put in the quilt in the end! Linking to  Let's Bee Social ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers ,  Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

With Instagram and Facebook, there is less time for blog hopping and where I used to spend hours jumping from one blog to another, I rarely do so now! I linked my last post to a few linky parties and it was just the right occasion to hop around. Just as I was happily jumping, I found quite a lot of interesting blogs, posts and also other linky parties. I discovered the Throwback Thursday one at mmm! quilts   The theme of the last linky is table runners. This isn't a size I have done plenty of but I have made a few. The oldest one is tiny and was made reversible by quilting the squares and assembling them after. I made this one in Spring 2003 and called it "Travel to Asia", when it was  a substitute for our planned honeymoon to Asia. It had to be delayed because of the SARS outbreak. The second attempt failed too because I lost my Dad at that time. I embroidered some Chinese characters but of course I have forgotten what they mean now... Definitely a pre-bl

I know, I know... I have posted about so many quilt-along recently and have very little to show for it. Maybe I am being reasonable :-), maybe I am edging my bets, maybe I have too many projects I want to start that I am almost paralysed.... Anyway, this week I saw yet another quilt-along, this one by Melissa at Happy Quilting Melissa  starting next week. I love the look of the all stars quilt - picture from Melissa's website I have played with Melissa 2 years ago for the Summer Solstice sew-along  making a big cushion . So this week it is all about choosing the fabric for this lovely big quilt, and you can post your choice on Melissa's blog here . I have picked a bundle of fabric I had saved for the Flowering Snowball quilt-along in ...2014! I think I have cut 2 blocks to date so I doubt this will ever become a quilt... so maybe it is time to use the fabric stashed! Linking to Melissa's blog , Midweek Makers  and Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

For a long time I couldn't see the attraction for the Kielo dress. Of course, that was until I made one and found out: wearing a Kielo is like wearing secret pyjamas. So as soon as I finished the first one and started wearing it, I cut a second one.  I was hoping to have it finished in time for the #sewtogetherforsummer competition on IG. I nearly got there but a business trip just before the end of the contest and lots of kids taxiing prevented me to finish on time.   I cut the second one slightly shorter and tried to sew the armhole a little higher but that didn't work. I got to the point where the dress only needed finishing (armhole, neckline and hem) and just like last time moved on to other projects, why oh why? I am not sure, really... I tried to find some knit bias tape but didn't and then while making my moxi shorts, I used wonder tape and that was the light bulb moment! Of course, what about using wonder tape to turn the hem under and stitch it to finish the