Espritpatch

The month started very productively but then Covid struck... so I spent a week sleeping a lot and not doing much more than that, which of course, stopped me in my tracks. Thankfully I am feeling a lot better now but I am still tired at times. Anyway, I have managed to advance quite a few projects, including some I am hoping to finish in time to gift for Christmas. I finished some quilt tops, including the Tinsel Tree, the Bear Rug and the Retro Tetro the last 2 have also been quilted now I also made 3 more blocks for the Super Mario quilt and finally the Threadology quilt is finished after about 18 months! Linking to November Furtle Celine

With 4 quilt tops ready, it was time to get the quilting frame out, which we did last Saturday.Of course I need to get the backings ready too so for the bear, I digged very deep into my stash. I found these prints that I must have for over 15 years, perfect for a little boy living on a farm! I started quilting on the bear last Saturday night but I ran out of thread half-way through the top... not what I had planned really. Being the week-end, I thought I wouldn't get more thread until at least Monday so I took the bear of the frame and replaced it with the Retro Tetro top to be able to quilt on Sunday. As soon as the Retro Tetro was finished, I put the Bear back onto the frame and finished it, which didn't took that long really. I managed to include a few personnal notes  All trimmed today, he is so much nicer all round and cozy! Now it needs binding to be all finished! Linking to  Monday Making ,   Monday Design Wall ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Maker...

Last top finished, first one quilted? Well yes! That was not the original plan but since I ran out of thread for my bear on Saturday night, I figured I should take it off the frame and replace it with another quilt for which I had enough thread to last the week-end! So on came the Retro Tetro quilt top. For this one, I had planned to use same colours as the fabric, which of course, meant changing threads very often! I used an all-over quilting motif for the top and used up so many bobbins.       I really like how the quilting brings depth to a quilt, it really transforms it I think. It needs trimming and it needs a binding but maybe this one can be finished before the year is over! Quilted mainly with King Tut threads and also some Aurifil and another one I found in my box! Linking to    Patchwork and Quilts ,   Oh Scrap ,  Slow Sunday Stitching Celine

 And finally my Threadology quilt is finished! I quilted it in the Spring when I had my frame out for the 5 tops that were ready to go and it had been waiting for its binding since. I was hoping to find enough of the black fabric I had used on the top but I couldn't find much left so I used some plain black with it. In the end I think it's not very obvious and works well. The blocks were from a quilt-along over the Fat Quarter Shop Blog in 2019. I started well but then before the half way mark, I lost the pace and parked the project. I finally picked it up again earlier this year and made the quilt top and pieced backing last March. It was free motion quilted with a different motif in every block more or less in May. And I finally finished it this month. The worst part for me is always to bury the threads but at least that can be done while watching some easy on TV. I had selected this one as my One Monthly Goal, even though I didn't link it on time on Patty's blog...

I was hoping to post about my quilted bear rug today that I loaded on my quilting frame last night but I ran out of quilting thread.... so I wasn't able to finish it. I wondered whether to keep it on the frame or to load another quilt instead and eventually this afternoon I decided to take it off. So the next quilt will go on and I'm hoping that by the time I finish it off, more thread will have arrived. Anyway while I was finishing my quilt tops and backing this past week, I also finished one more Super Mario block with the turtle shell. Getting there slowly! Linking to   Monday Design Wall Celine

  Next quilt top that needed finishing was the Tinsel Tree quilt-along. I made up the tree a few weeks ago. All that was left was to assemble the big pieces and to add the tree topper. The tree topper was the part that stopped me! For some reasons the reason of cutting and applique the circles was too much. I finally cut the circles on my Cricut last week-end. And once I got over the fear of the circles, I had another finished top ready for quilting. Now it will be worth getting the quilting frame out! Plus some of these I would really like to finish soon as I want to gift them at Christmas. Linking to  Patchwork and Quilts ,   Oh Scrap ,  Slow Sunday Stitching Celine

  This week was the final week for the Retro Tetro quilt-along with The Geeky Bobbin  when we assemble all the stripes from last week into a quilt top. Well I am happy to report that I have a quilt top, ready to be quilted and finished off. All made from my stash as well! Linking to   Put your foot down ,  Whoop Whoop Friday ,  Peacock Party ,  Brag about your Beauties ,   Off the wall Friday Celine

November had started as a rather productive month for me while hubby was floored with Covid. But then unsurprisingly, I caught Covid too and I wasn't able to do much as I was so so tired and slept a lot.  So there has been virtually no sewing at all last week. I was hoping to make up for it at the week-end, but I was still very tired with virtually no energy on Saturday and didn't do much then either. I did eventually start playing with the strips of fabric I had cut out the previous week-end from 3 of hubby's summer shirts that he was no longer wearing. And little by little by log cabin started to grow into this cute bear. All it needs now is to be quilted before I can trim it off. Lovely pattern by Ira Rott . Linking to   Monday Design Wall ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers ,  Needle and Thread Thursday Celine

  One more Super Mario block! While I was making Shy Guy, I ran out of black squares so I picked this block, Star, which had only 3 colours: yellow, black and the light yellow background. I figured that if I pieced the blocks leaving out gaps for the black squares, I could easily slot them in when I had cut more. Well, it started quite well but I ended with a big puzzle and I confused myself in the end. I had all these series of squares of various lengths and combinations attached to one another that it took quite some time to solve the jigsaw in the end. Anyway, I finally finished it this week and that's one more block for this long-standing UFO. 4 more and I will have all the pieces to make the top. Linking to   Monday Making Celine

I haven't really posted any of the blocks I've made for the Retro Tetro Quilt Along yet, not sure why I missed them so far but here is a catch up, which is also what I've done this week with those blocks! After the cutting was complete (well I haven't cut all the background pieces yet), the first steps was to make small and big HST, I did all these in October.  From the big HST, we made a new block variation the diagonal stripe, all done in October too  And that's where I lost the pace... The next assignement was those 10 pretty Flying Geese blocks that I finally made this week.  The next blocks were these 8 Arrows, all finished this week too  and finally 8 4-HST blocks With these 26 blocks, I have caught up with the quilt along, just!  Next week we start playing with the background stripes, I think I have some serious cutting to do at the weekend... Linking to Off the wall Friday ,  Patchwork and Quilts ,   Oh Scrap , Slow Sunday Stitching Celin...

A small finish, but one that has taken a looong time! I cut these scrunchies in August, while I cut some masks and a dress, all out of an old bedsheet. And really it should not have taken very long to make them. But it did!   They are not difficult to make, but I hated the part when the turn needs to be turned out. It is just so awkward and fiddly to do that they have been sitting on my sewing table, waiting to be picked up again. Well I finally finished them last week, so strictly an October finish really but altogether a finish (or 3!). Made using this tutorial . Linking to  Put your foot down ,  Whoop Whoop Friday ,  Peacock Party ,  Brag about your Beauties Celine

I was hoping to keep up with the Tinsel Tree quilt-along, considering that I had cut and assembled all the background pieces early on but I fell off the race so early on.  I worked on the tree topper but didn't have my circles ready for applique so I left it aside until such time I'd work out how to cut them with my cricut, which hasn't occurred yet... The next step was to slice off the big triangle to build the tree. This was a step that I wanted to do during a weekend when I'd have time to go from the first cut to the last seam as I was worried I would otherwise end up with a big puzzle that I could no longer reconstruct.   Well it seems that the stormy weather of this weekend was the right time to do so. It took some time but I'm pleased with the outcome and the lines seem still quite aligned! The tree is ready to be set back into the background pieces. Now I really need to cut those circles so that I can complete the top. I'm really hoping I'll finish it...

One more! Super Mario is slowly growing and now Shy Guy is complete. With that I have 5 more blocks to make before I can put the quilt top together. Linking to   Monday Design Wall ,  Monday Making . Celine

October has certainly been busy workwise. I am happy that I have started my new job, even though I have so much to learn! All very interesting so that's good. At week-ends, we have tried to make the most of dry days to enjoy the lovely colour of nature. But I am happy that I have also managed some sewing time here and there. Not many finishes this month, but lots of blocks - all together I counted 27. Blocks for the Retro Tetro Quilt Along And all the blocks for the Snowflake Quilt Along I also made 5 tiny blocks for the 365 Challenge that I had abandoned years ago. I have one more cut out but not yet sewn... and one more Super Mario block too! 2 projects that I am really happy to have completed: my beautiful Persephone purse  and my brand new Fumeterre skirt Linking to October Furtle Celine

Here we are again, a new month, which will be marked by another lockdown here in England, starting on Thursday. Only this time, the kids will continue to go to school. Hubby and I both work from home all the time so that would not change for us but of course, movements are reduced and activities too. A good time to get sewing I guess! Stay safe everyone... Quilting: 1. Threadology quilt along -  needs binding -  this will be my   One monthly goal 2. Super Mario quit - 5 more blocks 3.  Halo quilt sew along - I need to cut the arcs to be able to continue 4.  Baby bear rug -  NEW 5. Snowflake quilt-along - needs quilting 6. Tinsel tree quilt-along  7. Retro Tetro  quilt -along  Dressmaking 1 .  Knickers 2.  Jeans - cut 3. Blouse 4. Raincoat 5.  Christmas PJ for all 6.  Moneta dress Accessories 1.   Moonwake handbag -  NEW 2. Handy bags as Christmas presents 3. Kuori phone pouch   -  NEW 4. Persephone...