A Productive Couple of Days.

Back to work tomorrow, but my two days off have been busy! Yesterday I posted a list of projects I wanted to make some progress on this month, so let’s have a look and see how I’m doing so far…

(((But First A little Blogger grumble…

Before we get into the projects, I have a small Blogger-related rant. Because apparently my perfectly good photographs are not good enough for Blogger.

It has decided to squish, blur and generally make a mess of some of my images. 🙄 So, if a photograph looks a bit odd, it’s not the original image — Blogger has had a little fiddle with it.

The images are clickable, so if you want to see what I actually photographed, give them a click and you should get the proper version.

Honestly, Blogger. They were perfectly good pictures before you got involved…)))

Normal blogging content shall now resume..

1) Lest We Forget

No more of that big stitch hand quilting for now, but I did take it through to The Fun Machine, where I made a start on working some details into those big appliqué flowers.

It was all fun and games until the bobbin ran out. Never mind, it was almost time to stop anyway!

2) Down in the Garden

That almost-finished block is now complete. 

And I’ve made a start on the final block. This one has no pretty fabrics at all — it is entirely stitchery.

I’ve only made a start, but this one might keep me busy for a while longer! 

It feels good to finally be working on this last piece. I can almost see the finish line now.

3) The Memory Quilt

I started with a huge pile of fabric pieces that I had cut from clothing last week.

And over the two days I’ve made great progress. I’ve been cutting medium-weight interfacing, fusing it into place and then cutting the blocks.

I still have a few more fabrics to work with, and I also have some large offcuts tucked away in case I decide I need a few more pieces.

4) Christmas ornaments

Yep, I even made a start on those too!

No pictures though. They are always secret, remember? 😉

5) Load a quilt onto the frame

Well… I only had two days off! I had chores and grocery shopping to fit in as well as all the fun stuff. 😂

So, loading a quilt onto the frame didn’t happen this time.

Back to work for three days tomorrow, followed by a busy weekend off. Hopefully, though, I’ll manage to pick up some hand stitching in a quiet moment.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with my progress. Not everything on the list got done, but quite a few things moved forward — and that’s what counts. 

🪡 

It's Never Too Late....

I haven't set any goals since I completed two quilts to take with me to the Isle of Man. So, I think it's time to get back into the game.

The first week of August is already over, but hey... a girl can be late. 😂

During this month, I would love to make some progress on the following projects.

1. Lest We Forget — The Poppy Quilt

This one is getting there. It needs a little more hand quilting, some more machine work, and then binding. I would really like to see this one moving closer to the finish line.

2. Down In The Garden

There are less than two blocks left to hand stitch, and then I can put the whole thing together. I'm looking forward to getting to that stage, because assembling a quilt always makes it feel like a real quilt rather than a collection of bits living in a project box.

I have been struggling to picture it quilted but now I'm thinking I might like to try some hand quilting on this one too. 

Oh dear.

It really has got me.

I've been bitten by the hand quilting bug!

  🪡

3. The Memory Quilt

A colleague gave me a pile of her mother-in-law's clothing, and I need to turn those clothes into a memory quilt. This one is obviously going to be a longer-term project, but I'd like to at least make a start on it.

And, interestingly, this is the only one of my August projects that mainly requires The Fun Machine. The other three projects involve mostly hand stitching or hand quilting, so perhaps this will be my excuse to get the machine out and give it some attention. It does seem rather unfair to leave the poor thing sitting there looking pretty and unused. 😂

4. Christmas Ornaments

I need four more Christmas ornaments this year. I already made three and took them with me to the Isle of Man, so four more need to be made.

5. Get a quilt onto the frame

I have a whole pile of finished quilt tops waiting patiently, so for this one, any top will do. I would simply like to get one loaded onto the frame and quilted.

There is something slightly ridiculous about having a pile of finished tops waiting to be quilted while another lovely machine sits underneath a pretty dust cover doing absolutely nothing. I think it's time to put it to work!

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And note that I didn't say I wanted to complete anything.

Progress would be good.

I'm trying not to fall into the trap of deciding that every project needs to be finished before I can enjoy the next one. Sometimes a little bit of stitching, cutting, quilting or planning is enough to move things forward.

So that's the plan for August.

Make progress.

No promises about finishing anything. 😉 

One Big Stitch Led to Another....

 A few days ago I showed you my very first attempts at big stitch quilting. My success with Tommy gave me the confidence to think, "Perhaps this is how I should finish the rest of the quilt."

After a rummage through my stash, I found some Pearl Cotton #8 threads in just the right colours. That felt like a good sign!

To continue the remembrance theme, I made a simple cardboard template based on the familiar paper poppies we wear on ANZAC Day and Armistice Day. Using the template, I marked poppy shapes around the quilt before stitching around each one in big stitch quilting.

Happy with how they looked, I turned my attention to the appliquéd poppies. Echo quilting around the flowers is subtle and I think it worked well.

Then I reached the leaves...

The leaves were cut with lovely wavy edges, which look beautifully realistic, but they aren't nearly as much fun to quilt around. Trying to keep my stitches neat while following all those little curves is proving to be quite a challenge. They had me wondering if I need to rethink my plan for quilting them. My stitches aren't as even as I'd like them to be, but I keep reminding myself that this is my first ever attempt at big stitch quilting. 

Perhaps this quilt isn't quite ready to wave the white flag just yet! Even so, every new section teaches me something, and I'm still convinced that big stitch quilting is the right direction for Lest We Forget. I may just need to be a little flexible as I work out the best way to tackle those troublesome leaves.

One stitch at a time...

Meet Tommy.

 So today was the day.

I wasn't supposed to be working on Lest We Forget today, but it happened anyway. And I'm so very happy that it did.

I spent some time this morning cruising the web, looking for ideas to fill some of the black and white spaces. I wanted something that would add interest without taking away from the poppies.

Then I came across Tommy.

You know the classic black silhouette of a soldier, standing in the "Rest on your arms reverse" pose? That was the one.

I had quite a large space to work with in the black section, so a printed template wasn't really going to work. There was nothing for it — I would have to draw him by hand.

I'm rather pleased with my efforts.

Next, I set about quilting him using my walking foot and black thread. I couldn't really see him from the front of the quilt. He looked great from the back though. I wanted something subtle... but perhaps that was just a little too subtle.

I decided I would think about it while I worked on filling the other spaces.

Poppies of course.

The first one was great.

Then they went downhill faster than a runaway train. 😂

Some unquilting took place, followed by a rethink.

And then I went off on a slight tangent. My brain came up with the idea of big stitch quilting... and that's when Tommy showed his true colours and my first ever efforts at big stitch hand quilting.

I loved what I was doing.

I see a lot more big stitch quilting in my future.

I really didn't need another handwork project, but it seems I have one anyway. Tommy may be keeping me company and keeping me busy for some time yet.

And you know what? I'm perfectly happy about that.

As I have been working on this quilt, I have found myself calling the soldier in the black panel Tommy.

Not because I have randomly given him a name, or because I have become attached to a name for the sake of it. I call him Tommy because that is what he is.

In British military history, "Tommy" (from "Tommy Atkins") became a familiar name for a British soldier. Add in the tin helmet, the rifle, and that unmistakable First World War silhouette, and the name just comes naturally. When I look at him, my brain simply says, "That's Tommy."

But I think the quilt itself should still be called Lest We Forget.

Why?

Because Tommy is the figure within the quilt. He is one of the characters in the story. The poppies, the soldier, the quilting, and all the details come together to tell that story.

Lest We Forget is the message the whole quilt conveys.

There will still be poppies dotted about in those blank spaces. Hopefully, they will be created with big stitch quilting too. I still like the idea of some echo quilting around the flowers and leaves, but now I think that may become another opportunity for some hand stitching.

I really didn't need another handwork project. Honestly, I have quite enough already! 😂 But it seems that Lest We Forget had other ideas.

Tommy may be keeping me company, and keeping me busy, for some time yet.

As for the barbed wire in the borders...

I make no comments and absolutely no promises. 😂

A New Chapter for an Old WIP.

Back in June 2021, I started a new project, Papaver Pazazz. (Link here back to the original blog post.)

Those bias edges gave me a few problems, even though I was working on freezer paper. 

At the time I added some stems, then all work stopped. I'm really not sure why.

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It rested quietly in its project box until 2024, when out it came again and the flowers were appliquéd on.

 And once again it stalled when I realised that the designer had quilted the black and white background before adding the flowers, so I really wasn't sure how to overcome my hurried mistake. Back into the box it went.

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Papaver Pazazz — or simply the poppies, as I have been calling it — saw daylight again when I came up with a plan last year (2025). It was loaded onto the quilting frame and I began to quilt. I don't seem to have saved any photos. 

Not surprising really as I wasn't happy with my efforts, and once again progress came to a halt. It sat on the frame for months, causing all manner of blockages... quilting, mental and creative. Eventually I admitted defeat and took it off the frame early this year. So that Anchor Me (Jiffy's Quilt) could take its place and be finished in time to travel with us to the Isle of Man for the wedding.

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Since getting home, I've spent a couple of afternoons with Jack, carefully unpicking those first quilting attempts. During one sleepless night, a much simpler idea came to mind. 

It wasn't what I had intended to work on today, but it kept calling to me, so I made another start.

I did load it back onto the frame, but only so I could keep everything nice and straight while I used about a billion pins to hold all the layers together. Then it was back to the domestic machine...

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Domestic?

No, no, no.

It's not domestic. I have far too much fun with my sewing machine for it to be domestic.

The fun machine.

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I popped on the walking foot onto my fun machine and set about working into those bias seams. Not quilting in the ditch but stitching a serpentine pattern over the ditch instead.

It reminds me a little of coils of wire laid over trenches, and I quite like the effect. I've already started planning where to go next.

I want to quilt into the flowers and leaves, using the stitching to add extra detail. 

I'm thinking perhaps echo quilting around the flowers and leaves, maybe more serpentine stitching using red thread for the flowers and green for the leaves and stems.

Then there are all those blank spaces in the background. I want to try something creative—not too heavy or loud, because the poppies are the stars of the quilt—but enough to secure the layers and add some interest. I think I have a plan for those too.

And finally... perhaps some barbed wire quilted into the red border.

This quilt will no longer be called Papaver Pazazz or even the poppies.

From now on, it will be called Lest We Forget.

I didn't forget about it and after fretting and worrying over it for the longest time, I'm finally falling in love with it again.