'Tucked Away' Pouch

 

Last month I had the privilege of pattern testing Just Jude Designs 'Tucked Away' Pouch.  

This is a beautiful versatile pattern for two sizes of pouch with those gorgeous twisted tucks. I made the smaller one, which was still a fairly generous 8" x 6".  You will certainly have fun playing with your fabric choices for these pouches.  The whole time I was stitching I thought this would be a perfect project to preserve the very last little scraps of your most treasured collections - maybe a Denyse Schmidt line, or Heather Ross, or Bonnie and Camille?  Or, imagine the little tucks in an ombre gradation ... so many possibilities!  As you can see, I went with a little rainbow of scrappy leftovers from my Kindred Spirits Quilt and a little piece of natural Essex Linen.

As always with a Just Jude pattern you can expect beautifully clear written, step by step instruction supported by plenty of photographs to keep you on track.  Fancy a little post-Easter sewing treat? Then hop on over to the website to purchase your own copy.

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 20

Well, that's it for my Kindred Spirits quilt.  I am sad that the QAL is over but I truly enjoyed every minute (well, up until my terrible quilting). Thank you Just Jude Designs team, Judith and Lucy, for the fantastic tuition via video class and pdf.  Thanks, too, to all the other Kindred Spirit Stitchers on FB for the encouragement, kind comments and the inspiration provided by your work. I loved it!

And here's my quilt, wonky quilting and all - 

The pieced backing looks fun now that it's done.

Of course, I didn't forget the label I made from the templates for the Unity Tile block that features in Judith's design.

There are lots of other gorgeous KS QAL quilts being finished and shown off on the group Facebook page. It feels like everyone is gaining a sense of achievement from conquering all the various techniques and building an armoury of quilty skills.  It has been great to forge community for a time when so much of our natural community has been interrupted of late.  Thank you again Judith for all your hard work in bringing this fantastic project to us.

If you like what you see in this Kindred Spirit sampler quilt, Judith's video classes for the project are available on her web shop here.

 

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 19

 

It's the whole shebang this week, by which I mean, it's time to get our Kindred Spirits quilt tops pieced together from all this lovely blocks Judith has been teaching us to make.  So, here she is -

I'm not sure I realised as I was making her how big she would turn out to be.  She's quite a sizable 64" x 77" and I love her!  This has been a real pleasure to piece and at times has been quite challenging too, but its good to learn new things and Judith certainly had lots of content and knowledge to pass on in all her video tutorials. They're still available here if you fancy a wee lockdown challenge of your own.

Once I got the top together, I decided I'd use the leftovers and a few other fabrics of similar style to piece a backing.  Made quite a dent in my stash!  

So, that's me almost ready for next week's quilting stage.  I need some inspiration for how I'd like to quilt it, so I've got my thinking cap on.  Need to get my big girl pants on, too, and get her basted, but I'll think about that on Friday ;-)

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 18

This week was the last of the quilt blocks for the Kindred Spirits QAL - three mid sized blocks, two with orange peels and one with hearts, all appliqué by method of choice.

Way back in September, when this QAL kicked off, the very first block was appliqué and Judith's video tutorials offered a choice of machine appliqué or needle-turn appliqué.  Back then I opted to have a go at the machine appliqué (you can see my efforts here).  So, this time I indulged my hand stitching preference and parked myself on the sofa for a couple of evenings to needle-turn them.  I always find it tricky to line up orange peel points in the centre well, and there was a reasonable amount of unpicking and re-stitching to get these to the point where you can't tell from a distance they don't meet ;-)

I'm a little bit sad that there are no more blocks to make for this QAL, but there's putting together and quilting to come in the next fortnight so I'll be too busy to mope for long ;-)

 

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 17

 

Week 17 of Kindred Spirits QAL is Spools!  I enjoyed using up the last pieces of some of my favourite 30's style fabrics for this week's blocks.  

I wasn't sure what colour fabric to make the spool ends for these.  I trialled some yellows and then some more muted orange shades but they weren't quite right especially as the sunflower block next to which these will sit are largely oranges and yellows too.  In the end, I remembered I had these scraps of soft grey and I think they work well.  Neutral enough not to look like I have randomly introduced another colour at this late stage of the project.

Hard to believe there are only three weeks of this QAL left.  I will be glad to see it all come together but very sorry for the weekly motivation and fantastic teaching to come to an end.  

This Just Jude Design class will remain available for purchase on the website though, so if you would like a brilliant project with step by step, comprehensive teaching to entertain you through this latest lockdown, do pop over and buy it.  You'll be able to work at your own pace and it is truly worth every penny!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Weeks 14, 15 &16

 

For the Christmas weeks, Judith has assigned the flying geese borders on her Kindred Spirits QAL.  It gives us time to make them amid family Christmas commitments and children off school and allows a little extra time for anyone who needs it to catch up on a block or two, or three!

These are the largest flying geese I think I've ever stitched at 3" x 5.5" unfinished, but it was actually really nice to work with bigger ones for a change.  Judith's video tuition was superb as always, showing us more than one technique for creating accurate geese.  I used both methods because sometimes I didn't have enough of a particular fabric to cut for the no-waste method but it was a good way to compare each.  I liked the speed of the no-waste method, but somebody else will always have to do the maths for me if ever use it again ;-)

As you can see, I've been able to attach the top border of flying geese already and the bottom one is waiting patiently for another few weeks while the final blocks get made.  I can hardly believe there's just one month of this fabulous QAL left.  I'm psyching myself up to stay on track and try to have a finish in the allotted timeframe.  Now, that will be an achievement!!

I hope you are all managing a little fun stitching in these days between Christmas and New Year.

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 13

 This is week 13 and our block in the Kindred Spirits QAL is the Light of Life Lantern.  

I spent way too long finding the right amount of the right fabrics for this block, but it was worth it, I think.  I love the curvaceous outline of this block.  I think this block design looks a little exotic, don't you?

There aren't too many blocks left now, but there are a gazillion flying geese to come next week!!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 12

 

I didn't quite make it to the Crossed Paths blocks on time but I did play catch up this week.

I was so eager to get the top half of this Kindred Spirits QAL quilt together that I forgot to take a photo of the Crossed Paths blocks on their own, but you get the idea.  The colours aren't great in this night-time pic.

And, here's the top half of the Kindred Spirits quilt all stitched up.  Hasn't Judith designed a beauty?

I'm really rather chuffed with it so far!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Weeks 10 & 11

 

As you know, I love a little bit of EPP, so with the latest block for the Kindred Spirits QAL I have been in my element!  Slightly different from the regular hexagon which I love so much, Judith's Unity Tile block makes use of elongated hexagons, squares and pentagons. 

I love how it turned out!

As the quilt progresses, I'm trying to keep an eye on colour balance across the various blocks.  Harder than it sounds, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I assemble it all I won't have over concentrated any one colour in any particular area.

Judith asked if I'd like to come up with another way to make use of the QAL templates to share as inspiration for the other Kindred Spirits.  Hard to resist an EPP challenge and a request from my lovely friend.  

After swishing templates around my dining table in and out of various configurations, I decided I liked this layout and that it would make a fabulous quilt label for the finish of my Kindred Spirits quilt.  

I used 8 of the Unity Tile template A plus a 2" square for the centre (not in the original templates).  The centre square is the perfect place to record your quilt details. You'll notice how optimistic I have been that next year will be the year this quilt gets completely finished!  Once I had stitched it all together with my little whip stitches, I gave it a good press to tuck in the corner folds of the shapes and lightly sprayed with starch before pressing again.  The starching will keep it nice and crisp and flat until the time comes to actually appliqué it to the back of my quilt.

Quilt label and tree decoration (front view)

As you can see, I couldn't resist also having a little play at making a Christmas decoration from the EPP templates.  I used 8 of the Unity Tile template A plus 2 of template B to create a front and a back piece for the decoration.  The centre square (template B) was crying out for a Christmas fussy cut so I used some Lori Holt snowmen to oblige.  Once the front and back were stitched, I layered them with a piece of wadding in-between cut just slightly smaller than the overall shape and stitched them wrong sides together with an invisible appliqué stitch, including a little ribbon hanging tag at the top.  I finished mine with some perle blanket stitching on the edge and a little running stitch to outline the centres, but you could get very creative with other festive additions if you wanted.

Quilt label and tree decoration (reverse view)

What I loved about both of these mini makes is that they are a great way to use up scrappy leftovers, and in the case of the quilt label to incorporate an element of the quilt design into your label too.  I always think that's a nice thing to do if you can.  

We've officially crossed the halfway line with the Kindred Spirits QAL - woohoo!  There are lots more lovely blocks to come - and a gazillion flying geese :-o

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 9

 

More HSTs for this week's Kindred Spirits QAL!  A different formation results in completely different blocks - aren't HSTs so versatile?  There are two Kinship Mosaic blocks making up this week's addition to the quilt.

The colours are much softer in reality, November light isn't great at my house. 

Joined to last week's solidarity star block they make up another good chunk of the quilt.  It's nice to see it come together in sections like this. Makes me feel like progress is being made.

Really looking forward to next week's block - it's all about EPP!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Weeks 7 & 8

 

Kindred Spirits QAL is all about Foundation Paper Piecing last week and this.  It's a biggie at 18.5", but isn't it striking?  

FPP allows for amazing precision with points which makes it the perfect technique for complex stars.  There are many beautiful Solidarity Stars showing up in the QAL Facebook Group - so many gorgeous blocks and lots of interpretations resulting from varied colour placement. This is the part of sewing along together that I enjoy - seeing everyone's quilts come together and look so different and still all so fabulous!

Kindred Spirits - Week 6

 

So, my final catch up block was the mighty Dresden.  It's huge! But it's beautiful, don't you think?

This photo doesn't do my fabric colours justice.  Much prettier IRL.

Then the Dresden was joined with a little sashing strip to the Week 5 Garden Baskets block and another little section of the quilt top comes together!

Encouraged by my catching up and by the small sections that are building, I wanted to see the 'story so far', so I laid my Kindred Spirits QAL blocks out on the kitchen tiles.  Coming along nicely, I'd say.

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 5

 

Still catching up on the Kindred Spirits QAL blocks that I was MIA for, it was time to watch Judith's video instruction for Y Seams in the Garden Baskets block.  She makes it all look so very easy! And well, all in all, I think it went pretty smoothly.  Only one reach for the stitch ripper.  I'd say that's not bad!

I've never chosen to make basket blocks myself before. Perhaps they're a tad too traditional for me. But, in a skill building sampler Judith knew exactly what she was doing when she chose this block to encourage practice of Y seams.  I might lose a point or two on the bottom 'feet' of my basket, but I'm not too worried, just thrilled the Y seams came together.

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 4

With all of our moving out/moving back in and fixing the house back to semi normality I have managed to fall three sets of blocks behind on the Kindred Spirits QAL.  So, mindful of the imminent release of the fourth set I've haven't stitched, I set to work yesterday to try and catch up.

My first set to catch up were the Friendship Stars.  Two little HST blocks joined together.

And then joined to the first week's Friendship reel block to complete a small section of the top right hand corner of the quilt.  I like this build as you go method.  It helps to feel like you're making progress.

As always, Judith provided fab video instruction for cutting, piecing and trimming HSTs to make these blocks.  Such a pleasure to be taught so very thoroughly!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 3

 

Curvaceous sunflowers are this week's block in the Kindred Spirits QAL class.  I spent way too long choosing fabric this week, mainly because I was in denial that my lilac scraps wouldn't stretch to the size required for the petals!  Once I finally conceded that blue and lilac petals were not to be, I settled on yellow and orange - not a bad second best, I think.

This week I remembered that my seam allowance on the Janome is already scant when using my quarter inch foot and everything turned out to size as it should.  I even went back and adjusted the seam allowances on the too large Grandmother's Cross block from last week, switching out the centre colours for a little better contrast.

Good week's work amid all the box packing and house clearing, I'd say (major redecoration/repairs starting on Monday so we're having to clear everything away).

I'm really enjoying the Kindred Spirits QAL and the FB page for members.  It's a lovely way to watch how other people do it, their colour choices and of course, share our faux pas and tips too.  The QAL is still available to sign up to and you would be made very welcome in the FB group or at the instagram hashtag #kindredspiritsqal if you'd like to join us.  We can promise much cheering on as you catch up on weeks 1, 2 and 3!

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 2

 

Week 2 of the Kindred Spirits QAL has been all about regular straight piecing.  Maintaining my scrappy approach, I haven't made identical Grandmother's Cross blocks, and that meant I got to play with lots of beautiful colours!

You can maybe just about tell from the photograph that my first block (the purple/orange one) is a good quarter of an inch too big.  I have been using my Janome machine this week as my Pfaff is in for a service and I forgot that my quarter inch foot on the Janome is already a scant quarter.  Consequently, all of my seams are a little too scant resulting in a larger block than is required.  The second block is grand (even if I might catch a few of those points when it gets stitched in to the quilt top).  

I think that I will re-make the first block in a few weeks when I have more time.  I might also switch out the two centre squares in it while I'm there as they aren't providing enough contrast with the orange ones.  Maybe a little aqua print would work better?

Another lovely week of Kindred Spirits QAL.  Next week is all about curves to grow a sunflower!!

There's still plenty of time for you to join the Kindred Spirits QAL class if you'd like to have a go.  Just visit the Just Jude Website for all you need to know.

Kindred Spirits QAL - Week 1

Kindred Spirits QAL is a go!!

When I first saw the design for this quilt I decided that the pretty little block in the top right, just beneath the Flying geese was going to be my nemesis here.  Everything else looks fairly familiar and possible under Judith's tutelage, but that one was going to make me squirm.  And, what do you know, it's Block 1 of the QAL 😖 !!!

So, I calmly chose my background and three fabrics to incorporate in the block and then sat down to listen to Judith's video tutorial.  I find it so calming to hear Judith's clear, measured instruction and my trepidation (because machine appliqué isn't really my forte) dissolves as I watch her methodical process.

After testing my stitch lengths and widths just as Judith demonstrated, I was off VERY SLOWLY.  I used that little slider speed control on my Janome to restrict how fast I could go just so I didn't accidentally get happy feet and rush into disaster.  There was much tongue sticking out in concentration for this little Friendship Reel block, I assure you!

You can see that my curves became less wobbly as I progressed around that centre shape (the very top curve of the photo has some distinct hiccups occurring).

As my curves smoothed out, my confidence grew and even though I kept my speed at granny's driving pace I managed to get around all those twists and turns in a relatively neat fashion.

So much so that I'm not even embarrassed to show you this close up - yay! Sarah -1, nemesis - 0!  What a great start to the QAL.  I am so looking forward to next Monday for the next blocks!!

For all of the details on this fabulous QAL, please go to Just Jude Designs. Registration is easy and it's not too late.

Betty Bag Swap

To combat the fact that my lovely Threads Across the Sea (TATS) friends and I have not been able to get an in-person meet-up this year, we decided to join in a little socially distanced stitching by way of a swap. Remember those?

We wanted to make a little something for each other - no pressure, just fun. We opted to test drive Judith's fabulous new You Tube class and make our "secret" partner a Betty Bag.

Of course, I soon discovered that it's not easy to keep the secret of who you are making for when the four of us know each others' tastes so well.  I tried a bluff with this fabric pull - for a partner who likes Tilda? or who likes teal? or who likes pink? Not sure I was really fooling anyone though ;-)  The secret wasn't the main thing though. We were each having fun doing what we love for friends we love, and that's what matters.

It was so brilliant taking a class with Judith again, even if just virtually.  The Just Jude Designs Betty Bag Class is such an accessible watch and Judith has filled it full of tips on how to use your machine, your quilting bar, your zipper foot, so you learn lots along the way as you construct the Betty Bag stage by stage under her fab tuition.

The Betty Bag has lovely features that allow you to learn how to incorporate magnetic clasps, letterbox zippers and top zippers, single fold binding and hardware fitting.  None of it is scary as Judith walks you through it one step at a time, and the beauty of buying the You Tube class is that you can repeat any section as often as you like. I did!

Betty is a cute little bag for times when you want to carry a minimum.  It would be a fabulous holiday pouch to carry a couple of credit cards (see the slots in the pic above) some loose change and your passport or tickets, assuming of course you are keen to travel currently.  Alternatively, it would be really handy for nipping out to the shops with your cards and your mask!

I added a few little zipper tab bling things

and a cute handmade button on the front.  Perhaps I got carried away, but my partner can adapt the bling if required.

My finish was a little bit wonky, so I've encouraged my partner to learn to stand with one hip tilted to take the bad look off it ;-)  This is not a pattern fault, but user error when aligning the magnetic snaps - apologies partner xx

Of course, you'll want to see the one I received too -

The lovely Di nailed it with her fabric choices on this version 

so beautiful

and I love the cute multi coloured zips with those handy ring pulls.

I LOVED sharing this project with my TATS friends and cannot recommend Judith's class enough.  Please do go and get it for yourself.  My advice - watch it all the way through before you do anything else. Just enjoy and follow the process, and then have fun re-watching and making your own beautiful Betty Bag!

Looking forward to a little more TATS socially distanced sewing soon!