November 2020

 Back into lockdown, so no golf and plenty of sewing. I made some mug rugs as birthday gifts for friends.

Mug rugs from The Patchsmith's Sampler Quilt Blocks
Amanda Weatherill

Patchsmith Patterns Rainbow mug rugs 
Amanda Weatherill

As our monthly quilting group have not had a meeting since the beginning of March, we (the Committee) thought it would be nice to set some challenges to keep our members engaged as a group. I love making Christmas decorations and wrote some patterns for a few. I did get a bit carried away with sampling them, here are the results. I have written patterns for all but two of them. Ideas came from looking  at pictures on Pinterest. I have a few more ideas for next year, if needed. 

I have also crocheted these baskets from a book with lots of lovely Christmas projects, it is called Christmas Stitchery by Jenny Chippendale and Kate Thorp. I have made lots of projects from this book, I don't think there is anything in this book I wouldn't want to make. The book appears to have been published in 1990, which is possibly how long I have had it.

 I have put several layers of wadding, a piece of beige felt and a Christmas present topper with added beads and frosted felt balls in each basket. I have made three of each and they will look lovely hanging on the tree. I also used a hot glue gun for the first time on this project.

While on the subject of Christmas. A friend gave me a Gail Lawther pattern as a present a couple of years ago. I have looked at it several times and never got around to making it up until now. I really enjoyed making this, it was a lot of sewing for the bias binding, but it went really well.

Bethlehem (25 inches square)

One of my friends had to clear her Mum's sewing room recently and asked me if I would like a box of pink fabric, some of which had been cut into squares. I said 'Yes please' even though pink is a colour I am not keen on. I like a challenge and working out of your comfort zone can be exactly that. This is the result, largely pink with a bit of beige (not a keen colour either). I am very pleased with the result and will be backing it with a pink and cream fleece with hearts on it, a very pretty quilt.

October 2020

Over the last 3 months I don't seem to have been so productive with my sewing, playing much more golf as the weather has been so nice. I have made another pair of trousers and a pull on top. I also came across a pattern I bought years ago for a Star Flower Bag by Lee Brown. This was all hand sewing so useful as a Saturday quilting group project. I was pleased with the finished bag, but felt it was a bit tedious to make, may just have been my frame of mind.

I also took on a commission to make a baby quilt for a friend. This was a very simple pattern that took me a while to complete due to circumstances beyond my control. I then decided to get my sewing machine serviced before embarking on the quilting as the tension had needed altering too regularly lately. I have used it a lot this year so it deserved a little TLC.

With the left over fabric I made a bag to keep it in.

I took a trip with a friend to Creative Quilting in Molesey and bought some fabric (a Nickel pack and strip roll) to make a small quilt I saw on Pinterest and liked the look of, it was called Round and Round by croskelly. I added the pale star in the middle and will add a 2.5 inch borders of the coloured stars and white. I should have enough coloured fabric to make a binding. 

September saw me doing a lot of crochet, as I bought a book for making crocheted wreaths. I am finding suitable wreath sizes difficult to source, so have not finished one yet. I have made this one using a stick from one of my garden shrubs, I found it in the greenhouse so it was nicely dried out.

Crocheted Wreaths for the Home
Anna Nikipirowicz

Most recently I have been working on Christmas decorations for our monthly quilting group. We have not had a meeting together since March, as it does not look like we will be having any before next year we thought it would be a good idea to try and get members involved in group and Christmas projects, via email and the blog.

I have made several of these trees over the years, most as presents. I have the original one but thought it would be nice to make myself another. The pattern came from Creative Quilting as a kit with fabric and instructions. you then add embellishments to suit, the fun bit. Now you can buy mouldable battery operated string lights you can easily incorporate real lights on them too. 

I recently bought a second hand over locker and made this scrappy Linus quilt using it. As it over locks the seam allowance as you sew, I used less quilting to attach it to the backing, as the seam allowances should not fray when washed.

Another useful project are face masks. I have made some for friends and family using these two styles.