Espritpatch

Once again, it has been a busy month... will that ever change? School started back earlier in the month and I traveled 3 times in the last 3 weeks so of course sewing time was rather limited. I was lucky to go on a sewing retreat so although my sewing output has not been very much, I managed to make some outerwear, which is a rather big project! Hoping for finish 1. Summit peak top, cut and ready to be sewn - This will be my  One monthly goal  - sadly no progress    2. Scrappy Trip Along - red and green blocks needed - sadly no progress 3. Tabor v-neck - cut -  sadly no progress 4.  Kingfisher sew-along - more blocks needed! -  sadly no progress 5. Pencil roll -   finished 6. Pencil case - finished WIP 1.  Farmer's wife - the sew along has just started, time to get going again -  sadly no progress 2. Gipsy Wife - lots of catch up needed here   -  sadly no progress 3. Postcards ...

Slowly very slowly, I am catching up with my stars for the Seeing Stars sew-along. I have made the 4 pinwheel stars from week 3. I cut the fabric out at the begining of the month and it took me until the last weekend to finally finish sewing them together   And here are the 4 together! I have also cut all my fabric for the curved stars from week 2. Now to see how long it takes to sew them. Hopefully I can finish those before the end of the month. The quilt along finishes on 17th October. I wonder if I can finish my top by then... wish me luck.  And that gives me 6 blocks for September.  Linking to  Seeing stars quilt along pinwheel star Celine

Stash guilt I guess but I made some pillow cases for the kids on Sunday. I had some fabric bought for a project I didn't do and won't be doing so I digged into my stash and used up 3 of my fabric stashed away. The children now have new pillowcases that they are so happy with. 3 OPAMs for September.  Celine

Last week-end, I spent 3 days at Guthrie & Ghani in Birmingham for a sewing outerwear retreat. It was a fab week-end and a fantastic group to work with. We even received a goodie bags with some little treasures and Lauren had organised 2 events for the evening, which was really nice and fun. I picked the Kelly anorak pattern by Closet Case which I love but always thought would be quite intimidating to try on my own. It was a nice opportunity to try it with some expert guidance from Layla and Lauren. I bought some grey cotton twill for the outside  and some Liberty for the inside that I quilted over some thinsulate wadding (more in a this post ) I had pre-quilted my lining before the retreat to save some time! On the first day of the retreat, we cut the pattern, which had a lot of pieces, then the fabric (outside, lining and interfacing), again lots of pieces and finally we got started on the pockets. I know, it doesn't sound like much but the pockets are quite inv...

After months packed away, the quilting frame finally came out earlier this month. And I am almost ashamed to say that it wasn't for a quilt originally but to quilt the lining of a future jacket. Anyway, out and used is good regardless of the project I guess! I had bought some lovely Liberty fabric to use inside a Kelly Anorak and followed Lauren's  path quilting it over some  thinsulate fabric  f or extra warmth. I didn't want to quilt diamonds as I thought that would take forever and be rather boring to do. That's where the frame came very useful. I quilted an allover meander in a variegated King Tut thread. The piece I needed for my coat was done rather quickly.   Since the frame was out, I took advantage of it to also quilt my bubble quilt that I had finished piecing together in March. Again I used a meander all over the background but not over the bubbles. Again I used King Tut thread for the quilting in a neutral (white?) colour. With those 2 pieces...

School started back today! The summer holidays have disappeared so quickly, I can't believe it's over already. Anyway no big school bags this year but just some accessories. I finally finished my daughter's pencil case.  All it needed was to neaten the raw edge inside which I did with a little bias binding, I could have just serged them but I thought it would be nicer with some binding. As for the pencil roll, she started sewing it in the summer but the bobbin ran out and after that she lost interest.  Anyway she at least made a start on it and I finished it for her, a collaborative work!  She went in happily this morning and showed her friend her new stuff! 2 OPAMs in the bag for September already and 2 finishes for my Q3 FAL list ! Linking to Q3 FAL ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers . Celine

Back home for 2 lovely weeks in Corsica, back to work today, back to school this week.... but also back to my sewing machine 😊 And of course there wasn't much time for my sewing machine this weekend but I've managed to make 2 little blocks for the 365 aout challenge, these are the 3' blocks for September 2 and 3. 2 little blocks for September already! Linking to   Let's Bee Social ,  Needle and Thread Thursday Celine

There is a new challenge on IG to make a kaftan from the no-pattern version shared by The Stitch Sisters .  The #sewingsansfrontieres  challenge is open until 4 September so there is still time to join in! Of course this one was not on my list for August but never mind!  I didn't really have the time for it but I knew I had perfecr fabric for it and I would use it straight away for our holidays... so what was I to do? Try and stitch one last-minute, like one the night before we go away? Everyone does that, right? The pieces are easy to cut being all rectangles, and construction was easy enough too! I managed to wip one up in about 2 hours the day before we left for our holidays and of course I've enjoyed it very much while away!  Plus you can wear it with the V at the front or at the back... This was one last OPAM for August that I didn't have time to blog before.  Linking to  Whoop Whoop Friday Celine