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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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Simplicity and mending (with tips for iron on patches)

19 August 2023

I'm continuing to work on my Merrow Croft quilt. I keep thinking I've not got far to go but hand sewing is a slow, slow process! I'm working on my last border of back basted, applique blocks.

It's such a satisfying process, if you've not tried back basting applique I recommend doing so. There are some good tutorials on YouTube to show you how.

Hand piecing and hand applique are definitely two of my favourite techniques. The simplicity of just using fabric and thread is so lovely.

Then some mending was required. My middle loves skateboarding, which plays havoc on fabric when you carry your board grip tape facing you!! So these jeans now had a hole and some rips on the seam caused by the friction of the board.

I was going to do a fabric patch but then she remembered we had these cute little cat patches. She chose the gold cat and I pulled out some perle cotton to match.

Tips for iron-on patches

If the fabric has a hole, use a piece of iron on stabiliser behind it. This helps give it something more to grip to and it feels better from the inside.

Once ironed in place, I like to stitch around the edge with a ladder stitch to make it really secure. I try to catch just the edge of the patch and match my thread to the fabric of whatever I'm mending.

For the ripped seams I just sewed over them with the perle cotton to hopefully make it a bit more robust. It's kind of messy and scrappy looking, but she likes it!

Yes, I'm that lazy that I did a running stitch between sections that needed mending. It's a design detail, adding to the home repair vibe.

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It would be terrible of me not to chronicle that in May this year, I was graced by the presence of my beautiful friend Hydee. She visited Manchester as part of a trip and we enjoyed a delicious meal and wonderful evening together, talking well into the night. Through the connection of quilting and blogging, I am truly blessed to have this friendship, her wisdom has had a huge impact on my life and that of my family.

If you haven't already, run and visit her inspiring blog Splish, Splash, Stash or visit her on instagram @hydeeannsews.

I've been here quietly stitching. I'm currently going through photos so I can share my makes in upcoming posts. There are a few abandoned blog posts hanging out in my drafts, things may get oddly out of sync but it'd be sad not to publish them.

It's taken me some time to get used to my (now not so) new position and I just needed a bit of a break and time to refocus. I'm doing an apprenticeship through work and I have lots to juggle, like many of you I'm sure. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking around!

More makes and quilts to follow...

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Sunday Stash: a bit of everything

26 June 2022

I've been enjoying a return to what started as my 100 day project, hand piecing my Merrow Croft quilt (pattern by Margaret Mew). If you haven't done any hand piecing before, I have a how-to with lots of tips in my hand piecing tutorial. Using some of my treasured hand printed fabrics by Karen Lewis and Lucy Engels, I'm enjoying the neutral cool vibe of these pieces.

A hand holding small pieces of fabric, being sewn together with a running stitch. In the background is a circle shaped quilt block that has been hand pieced. Surrounding this are more small pieces of fabric, thread and embroidery scissors.

So I'm using up my stash but I'm also adding to it...

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festival of quilts 2019

05 August 2019

I spent two days at the Festival of Quilts this year and it was fully all about friends for me. It's like a quilty friend reunion and this post is going to be unashamedly about the people I met and the friends I saw... with quilts and cool finds interspersed throughout. If you are looking for a blog post featuring all the beautiful quilts that were on display, this isn't it (sorry). You will certainly find pictures of all the quilts on social media, like here.

Friday

After a fun road trip down with my friends Michelle and Rachel we arrived in Birmingham (a bit later than expected thanks to traffic) on Friday and I went straight to find my friend Nicky. She made this amazing Expanding Universe Quilt with signature blocks from quilters that have contributed to Siblings Together.

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A post shared by Nicky (@nickyeglinton) on Aug 1, 2019 at 2:39am PDT

My block is a cornerstone in the top right of the quilt but I'm too short to properly point at it. Cue the first of many friend selfies...

Next on my to do was visit my colleagues and friends at the Janome stand and of course to see the awesomeness that is this quilted jacket made by talented Lucy Engels.

Lucy Engels quilted jacket festival of quilts 2019

I am madly in love with every aspect of this, the colours, the collar and cuffs, the log cabins and the texture of the quilting. It's the only quilted garment I've ever truly wanted to wear!

I also had to visit my friend Charlotte, we have known each other since we were in an online quilting bee ages ago and it's always nice to catch up. We also compared bee tattoos and I admired her beautiful bee dress!

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