February 2022 / CHARM ABOUT YOU

The 100 Day Project for me

28 February 2022

I fell for the Merrow Croft pattern at the Festival of Quilts in 2019, where I met Margaret Mew and was enchanted by her work. My wonderful friend Michelle very kindly (and sneakily) bought me the pattern and gifted it to me later, just when I really needed something to smile about. It's taken me some time to start working on it but my plan was to finish a couple of other things first - they're getting there! With everything that's going on though I decided I really needed something that was no pressure, that I would enjoy making and that was a bit of a challenge. For those reasons, I have chosen to work on the Merrow Croft pattern for The 100 Day Project and you can follow my progress at #100daysofmerrowcroft. Obviously there's a lot of hand sewing in this quilt so I don't expect to be anywhere close to a finish after 100 days, all progress is good though and I'm excited to spend a little time each day working on it. It's mostly hand piecing and hand appliqué, I have looked at how Margaret stitches and preps her work so that I can try and do things in the way she does, much of which I have never done before. Learning is my love, I get excited about new information and trying different techniques... more on that shortly.

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I have chosen some fabrics for the quilt (see the first picture), however it may be subject to change and additions! I have no plan, I'm working on each section or round at a time and choosing the fabrics as I go. These were my choices for the central part of the quilt:

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a piece of me scrappy pouch

24 February 2022

A fabric zippered pouch made with patchwork fabric scraps and hand quilted with a cross hatch pattern

patchwork fabric scraps, the reverse is shown with the hand stitched seams and an open small tin of pins

Back with another make that was finished last year. I can never have enough storage, sewing or bags for sewing supplies. I made this pouch on a whim, using up pretty scraps and repurposing a little jewellery bag (the mustard yellow above), because it was so soft and it seemed wasteful to throw it away.

I began hand piecing the scraps together, organised by size, starting with the smallest pieces. It grew until it was enough for a panel and then I repeated the process to make a back panel.

patchwork fabric scraps, shown being sewn with a needle loaded with stitches

It was so fun, just stitching the fabrics together and not being too precise about it. I like using a long needle for piecing, a milliners or straw needle, and Aurifil 50wt thread. I decided to continue the hand work by hand quilting the panels and used Aurifil 28 weight #6722, a nice neutral.

A spool of Aurifil 28 weight thread laying on fabric patchwork with quilting lines scored

I used the Clover Black Gold quilting needle #12 and it sewed beautifully. I have used the Black Gold applique needles and they are my favourite. The coating really helps the needle glide through the layers and they are so sharp.

straight line hand quilting stitches and needle

Of course I went with my very favourite quilting pattern, a simple cross hatch. I adore the texture.

What is cool about this pouch pattern is you can see the quilting on the inside of the pouch too. I used a plain fabric for a pop of colour, my stitches are always smaller on the reverse and I love that it shows it's handmade.

For added fun, I used some alphabet stamps to add lettering. Hooked on a Feeling has been on repeat in our house because my middle child is obsessed with it and it is a super happy song. I stitched some split crosses randomly around the letters for a bit more texture too.

Hooked on a Feeling in ink stamped onto fabric

Time for assembly! Despite having a stash of various coloured zips, I went for simple white and cut the bias binding ready from the blue and white print.

pouch making, panels, zip and bias binding

This pattern has the SIMPLEST zip insertion and what I love is how neatly it turns out. No faffing, just clever needle alignment. If you struggle with zips (or even if you don't!), do buy my pattern because it makes sewing them joyful!

two panels opened out with zip sewn in the middle

Looking at it now, the white zip does contrast nicely with the lining and because it coordinates with the thread it makes the quilting pop too. So good choice past me.

open pouch showing inside the pouch with quilted texture

Rounded corners - instructions in the pattern - add such a nice modern and aesthetically pleasing bottom.

For even more pizzazz I finished it off with a little zip charm I made. A felt pom pom, glass bead, split ring and perle thread holding it together. I left tails and cut the ends of the perle thread rather than burying it, and I like the fluffy texture it adds.

zipper charm, felt pom pom with glass bead and tufted black thread

a piece of me pouch - scrappy patchwork hand pieced and hand quilted, round bottom zippered pouch

Not intentional, but because of how I pieced the binding strips (cut from scraps so didn't have enough for one long strip); the print ended up on one side for one edge and then shows on the bottom and other edge on the other side. I actually love it, random in the best way.

a piece of me pouch - patchwork, fabric scraps, hand pieced and hand quilted, round bottom zippered pouch

This pouch ended up being 7.5" x 7", a handy size for bits and bobs! Earlier in the week I used it to take some hand piecing with me to Cardiff, I got everything I needed in it (48 squares of fabric, embroidery scissors and a spool of basting thread - I even managed to store my glasses in there when I realised I forgot my case) and it fit perfectly in my smallish handbag. Gotta love portable projects!

You can purchase the A Piece of Me Pouch Pattern here - remember it's easy to adapt the pattern to any size and this version is a perfect stash buster, so have fun making pouches for all the things!

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shining blue quilt

03 February 2022

This quilt was made last summer and gifted to a wonderful educator who retired from my kids school. I used some fabulous new products in the making of this quilt, which helped me make perfect blocks and perfect points with pins! I don't know why I didn't blog about it at the time but here we are, months later and it seemed a shame to have documented the making of the quilt and not share.
I sneakily got the girls to find out her favourite colour... blue! I went through my stash and picked out loads of blue prints, many of which were leftover from previous projects. My fabric stash is not coordinated by colour, much of it is organised by designer or style of print instead - it just makes sense to my brain that way. So it's always interesting when I do go to shop my stash for a certain colour, I never quite know how much I'll have.

It was a bit of a tight deadline to get the quilt made so I decided to keep it simple, with mostly patchwork squares and some star/cross blocks using the blue fabrics I had more of.

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