Espritpatch

The first month of the year is already over and I am happy that I feel I got to spend some time with my sewing machine, always positive in my books. I manage to finish 7 items and to make 15 blocks this month with more in-progress. Not a bad start of the year really! Quilting: 1. Get started on the Harry Potter sew-along and keep up the pace, if possible - first block done! 2.  Scrappy Trip Along - red and green blocks needed to be able to finish the top - no progress 3.  365 challenge, so many more blocks are needed, let's see if I can make a few  -  no progress 4. Dear Jane - BOW and TOW, is that possible? 5.  HST modern sampler quilt - (19 blocks completed out of 24) - this one is my January goal on the APQ UFO challenge, it would be good to at least finish the top - 23 blocks completed, only one more to be able to finish the quilt top 6. Kingfisher Sew Along - prepare more blocks for sew on the go -  no progress 7. Strips blocks...

The APQ UFO challenge for this month was #3. On my list, #3 was the Modern HST QAL that I started in 2016 and abandoned half way through with 12 out of 24 blocks. Last year I made a few more blocks and got to 19 blocks.  I finally finished block 20 earlier this month after I found the missing parts again.... With 20 blocks and only 4 more to go but very little background fabric left, I was very close to a finished top! Of course, there were many more triangles to sew and trim before making the last few blocks Block 22 23 and finally 24 all from the QAL. But if you counted well, you might have noticed that I have only 23 blocks at this point. All because I didn't really like the look of block #18 so I didn't make this one.  That means that I need to make another block, with hardly any background fabric left. So I went to all the leftover bits from previous blocks and found a few HST lefts that I decided that I will try to combine randomly wit...

I started this block as a sew-along with Angie in 2017 and of course I fell off the train. I picked it up again last year when I started cutting and sewing some of strips keeping with the colour scheme from the original quilt.  But then I saw some with low volumes strips and very different scheme that I wasn't sure anymore and I ended unpicking the strips and leaving everything aside until this month when I picked it up again. I guess I was encouraged by the new  2019 Gipsy Wife Quilt Along  that started in January. I only made filler blocks this month, none of the single blocks but progress is progress, right? 5 blocks for various sections of the quilts and 4 for section 1 which is now complete. Section 3 was already from when I started the project Section 8 was completed last year as well and I had even got as far as adding some strips that I ended up unpicking.... Not a massive step forward but with these 9 additional blocks, I have now 29 out of the 7...

I tried bra making in November and at the same time signed up for B.Wear   mystery box, because why not, right? I receive my first box in December but had little time to do more than opening the box and picking inside.  A pattern was suggested for the box but only with very basic instructions, not the traditional indie approach of walking you every steps of the way while holding your hands that I am used to and like! So I shelved the box for "later"! Later finaly came on Sunday when I thought about this box as my "Make something red" project for the 52-week sewing challenge group on FB . I digged it out and tried to find some inspiration/explanation before taking the plunge! I picked the very wide lace piece and cut in half lengthwise to make an insert for the front and one for the back. The construction of the cami was easy enough, even when working with slippery fabric and I had the body finished relatively quickly, then I just needed to add the bra strap...

I know I've made a few pairs lately but the reality is that my son hardly had any that still fits him. So he really needs new ones and ever since I made him the first one,  he's in love about how well they fit him! Plus I had piled some fabric about 18 months ago with the intention of making a few pyjamas for us all.... at the time I had bought a big 4 pattern and I think that's probably why I never started them.... that was until I found the fab 11th gear hour pattern by New Horizon design that I absolutely love! This one is definitely great value for money in my house! So last weekend I made the pyjamas pants,  all on the overlocker but the ribbing and I had cut the top as well. And finally this weekend I made the top,  again all on the overlocker but the ribbing. And one happy child with a new pyjama. Of course that's one of my Q1 FAL list too! Celine

The new double quilt-along for Harry Potter at Sew Fresh Quilt and at Seriously I think I need some stitches  have both started last Saturday. I showed both patterns to my son and asked him to pick his blocks. The first one he picked is Lorna's Harry Selfie  so I have been making that block this week. The piecing is rather easy but there are a lot of pieces! And as soon as you start sewing it is instantly obvious who you are sewing! I am planning to use fabric from my stash as much as possible. I might buy some background fabric for cohesion but I am not sure yet. Linking to    Let's Bee Social ,  Needle and Thread Thursday ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers Celine

My second finish from the weekend is the Lark Tee by Grainline studio . Another pattern that I had in my stash but never tried yet. I picked the boat neck style and cut it straight from the pattern. I had left over jersey from one of my first ever dressmaking project. There wasn't quite enough for the T- shirt so I cut the front and short sleeves in my leftovers and bought a lovely soft yellow/ mustard jersey (NOT my usual choice of colour at all!) from my local shop for the back. The t-shirt is rather easy to make as there are only 4 pieces in total. I did all the construction on the overlocker so it went together very fast. I used my twin needles for the hem with 2 colours (pink and lime green) on the print and only lime green on the plain yellow (that was the closest colour thread I had in my stash and I didn't want the t-shirt to sit there unfinished for a while). It worked very well and even better with a walking foot to feed the fabric through for the hems. ...

The first theme of the year for #Sewmystyle 2019 is to sew some activewear of our choice,  no specific pattern. Last year I bought Fehrtrade' s book Sew your own activewear but I never tried any pattern yet. The book gives the basic block patterns without seam allowance and then explain how to use and modify them. So there was a little bit of prep work involved even before getting to the cutting phase. I cut the close fitting long sleeve top from the book. I cut the chest smaller than the waist/ hips and added about 1' to the length.  I used a reversible jersey fabric I bought at the Cloth House warehouse a while ago. It is brown on one side and silver on the other. I picked the silver as the right side. The assembly wasn't particularly difficult and I did everything on the overlocker which was rather quick. And I now have a new top for yoga,  with long sleeve so I don't get chilly during relaxation. And I tested it this morning 😊 Now when I assembled...