A Raspberry Plus

I’ve made another quilt as part of my quilting ‘stretch’ project using the block from Sherri at A Quilting Life’s mystery block a month. As I said then I don’t know if I’ll manage to make a quilt a month, but I won’t really know unless I try…

I’m beginning to think this stretch project was a daft idea.

Though I know it’s a self imposed challenge, I’m not ready to give up or make compromises just yet. To catch up, i.e. to make the July and August blocks that Sherri has released I just need a few days to sew, and that’s no bad thing. I’m yet to convince MOH, but I’m still working on it!

But I don’t like to be beaten, so I’m continuing.

My eighth charity quilt

This month I definitely wanted some calmer colours, but had no set ideas when I looked in my fabric stash. These were the colours that called to me this month.

Quite a pleasing caramelly raspberry infusion. The fabrics are mostly fat quarters which I’ve acquired from various de-stashing events, along with two old shirts - one mine, the plain raspberry colour, and the other MOH’s the pink/white small patterned material in the top right of the photo above.

The pattern for this block, the June release, is another star - this time a friendship star - and in my rush to ‘be done’ my points were a bit off on a couple, so that’s yet another lesson for me - patchwork isn’t a speed sport!

I ummed and ahhed about the border fabric placement, eventually settling on this layout - which was also partially informed by the amount of fabric I had!

And as ever, it wasn’t long before the borders were on and the squares were sewn together. This time for a single unifying border I added some strips cut from a vintage pillowcase. The floral pattern reminded me of the ‘Edwardian Country Diary’ phase from the 1980s, and I like how the floral pattern is interspersed around the blocks.

I have once again used the vintage single duvet for the backing, which is turning into quite the bargain. It cost £1.04 plus postage from eBay a few years ago, but I’ve used it on plenty of quilts so far - and there’s more to come from this 'costly’ investment!

For this quilt I have once again used straight line quilting. This time I’ve used varied widths, mainly to see how that turned out and how much I liked it. I think I prefer more equal distribution on reflection, but it’s good to try these things. I’ve also used a burgundy top thread (with cream beneath) for the quilting, and I’ve learnt that my lines aren’t always straight, and this notices more with a dark thread!

But overall it’s another great looking quilt which I’m pleased with and one where I’ve learnt more about what I like most, and used the opportunity to improve my skills further. As I was sewing this one I was trying to think of a catchy name for it, they centred around caramel, coffee, wine and raspberry - which no doubt is obvious. But as I laid this one out it became clear that there was only one name for this - a great big raspberry plus, so it named itself. Sometimes these things just happen, don’t they?

You can see my other quilts which I’ve made to donate to Project Linus - a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets, including those that are part of this ‘stretch’ project in earlier posts. I’m aiming to publish an update on my progress in the last week of each month for the remainder of 2025.

This July...

Unlike last month, it’s been a relatively quiet and ‘normal’ month. No jet setting off anywhere, though I have been thinking about where we can go towards the end of the summer. In fact the closest we’ve got to exploring anywhere was the ‘Pour Le France’ wine tasting at our local Majestic store, and that was only very loosely themed. I actually thought their marketing people could have made more of this, and had some fun but that’s by the by, the wine was still good. And we had to go back the next day to collect what we’d bought, always the sign of a successful evening!

We’re wine tasting again tonight at our local independent wine shop and will no doubt be heading back in the next few days to collect our South African purchases.

That seems a great way to celebrate two years since we moved here. It’s the same old adage though - it seems like we’ve been here forever, but also for no time at all at the same time. We don’t regret moving out of London one single bit, which is good news, hey?!

A new sofa and two holes

We went shopping in Nottingham for a new sofa, this time actually making it to the shop we intended. The last time we tried we were distracted and bought some rather large artwork for our stairwell, this time was much more successful and not only did we agree on a sofa style and colour and not flinch too much at the price. After checking the colour and measurements at home, we even ordered it. But would you believe, this is the only photo I took during the whole sofa shopping trip!

WE’RE NOT HAVING GREEN THOUGH!

It’s booked to arrive in the middle of next month, and it’ll be good to replace the garden sofa we’re currently using in the kitchen. That garden sofa, will for the first time in its history finally move into the garden - we’ve had it since 2016, so it’s lived a pretty sheltered life so far.

We’ve ended the month with a hole in the wall too, well two holes in the wall. We had the electrician in to move some high level sockets (intended for a wall mounted TV) down to counter level. We don’t intend having a TV in the kitchen, so it makes sense to stop looking at the sockets. Now we just have to do the final repairs.

I’ll be covering the two holes temporarily with a high tech solution - a folded sheet of A4 paper. But even so it’s already looking better already, and the plant has lived there since our ‘get to know the neighbours’ party coming up for two years ago now.

I’d emptied the bookcases in case they needed to be moved, as it turned out they didn’t but it was no bad thing really as I managed to evict plenty of spider webs and random insects at the same time. And let’s face it, it’ll be a while before they get pulled out again.

While the electrician was here he added some more power sockets for our garage gym and an additional light switch so that we can have lights whichever way we go into the garage - all the mod cons us! It’s taken us a while, but we are finally making headway in sorting out the garage. We’re having a bit of a moving box amnesty with various batches heading off to people living locally who need boxes, as well as some put aside for the youngest niece. So much so that we can almost see the floor in the garage now - and yes, it’s dusty!

I’ve worked out the optimum racking solution for the garage and while sorting it out may still be a bit like one of those puzzles where you move things around for a while before they find their proper home, it is starting to come together.

Mostly sunny BBQs and rainy Saturdays

We’ve celebrated birthdays this month with barbecues starting with MOH’s at the start of the month, closely followed by a trip to Sunny Hunny (which wasn’t so sunny) to celebrate my dad’s 91st birthday, albeit a bit earlier than usual. Last year for dad’s 90th birthday I made him some bunting, this year it got an upgrade so look out for the post on that.

We arrived with everything needed for an impromptu family get together. That is apart from the jug for the Pimms, but we improvised, and improvised well…

It even had a lid!

There’s been a rainy Saturday or two as well this month, but that’s not been so bad as there’s been plenty of sport to keep us entertained; the British & Irish Lions, the Tour de France, the darts and so much more, that we haven’t really minded the wet -but still humid - weekends. And it won’t be long before the football season starts again though we’re currently unsure where, or if, we’ll be able to watch the Community Shield between each of our teams as that’s another fixture that’s fallen to TNT Sports.

A new craft

You’ll have seen that I’ve picked up a new hobby this month, and one that I think may actually lead MOH to despair. I already had a fair bit of what I’ll call ‘a waste stash’ by which I mean those bits you keep because they could be handy one day, and now I’m looking at everything with fresh eyes. As the days go by I’m finding more and more things in my craft room that could come in useful for this new ‘need’ - I just need to work out how to fit it in alongside everything else, and how not to make over-extensive plans. The usual really!

I’ve also been getting to know my new ‘take to’ sewing machine, which was a purchase at the start of the month. I’d planned to take my old Toyota sewing machine to my sewing group, instead of the hand sewing that I usually take, and thankfully had the idea to try it before I went. Sadly that didn’t go so well as the machine goes up and down, but not forward. It also sounds like a train - and not one of those quiet ones, so I took myself off to the sewing machine shop for a new one. Look out for a post in the coming weeks about my ‘take to’ workshops and sewing group machine, and my first makes using it.

And I’ll leave you with the current state of my ‘Essex Kisses’ quilt which featured in my June quilty update.

It’s so close to being almost there, that I’m hoping that once I’ve got my June charity quilt and Block of the month finished, I’ll be able to crack on with this. I’ve now got the perfect backing fabric for this, and have ideas about how I want to quilt it - but I’ll save that for the update when it’s done.

All I need is not to get too distracted by my visit to the Festival of Quilts this weekend - wish me luck!

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.

Getting hooked on weaving with waste

Earlier in the year I tried to book on a workshop with Sarah Cooke, but unfortunately I’d discovered it too late and it didn’t go ahead as there weren’t the numbers for it to be viable, which was a shame. I hoped there might be another date at some point, but didn’t really think any more of it until one morning on our recent holiday when I saw it advertised in my sewing group’s facebook group. I couldn’t believe my luck and manically emailed the organiser to secure my place. What’s more, this newer date was much closer than the previous one, so it was a real bonus for me.

And so I turned up not quite sure what to expect, and not really sure I was going either - but that happens a lot as I’m continually discovering new places by attending workshops or exercise classes!

Sarah started the day by showing some of her makes, which you’d never guess what they’re made of. Clue - it’s all waste products, and for these two that I’m sharing here, they’re most likely food products we have in our freezers and in our store cupboards.

A striped weaving by Sarah Cooke made from Sensations crisp packets

A green and yellow striped bag by Sarah Cooke made from bags of frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn

So the two examples above use (clean) crisp packets and frozen vegetable bags, and you wouldn’t think to use them would you? But Sarah did and they are amazing, they’re also both really soft which I didn’t expect either. If you look at the pictures closely now you know what they’re made from you can see some of the text remains and almost gives it away.

Now you can see why I was so captivated, and inspired can’t you?

Sarah brought plenty of ‘waste’ for the group to use throughout the day, and there were things you’d expect like wool, ribbons, trimmings and material scraps, as well as things you’d probably not expect. For me the revelation were those plastic string bags that lemons, oranges and other fruit come in - they’re amazing to use, as well as old hi-vis jackets, plastic metallic streamers, oh and so much more.

We started by adding our warp to the frame - I opted for a cerise and a boucle red, and you’ll see these intermittently in my weaving. I should say that this is my first time weaving and while I’d love for my outputs to be as good as Sarah’s, I know I’ve a way to go and for me the day was about trying things out.

But it didn’t surprise me that when confronted by the tables of stuff I headed to my default colour scheme of pink, red, orange and yellow with a few variations.

From the bottom I’ve used: wool, plastic metallic streamer, more wool, a strip of orange hi-vis clothing, more wool, more plastic metallic streamers, more wool, a bobble trim with the bobbles poking out to the front, wool, plastic rope, wool, plastic twine (this isn’t as closely woven), wool, a material scrap, red mesh bags, wool, yellow mesh bags, wool, more hi-vis material, wool, orange mesh bags, wool, bobble trimming, orange mesh bag, wool, black and white plastic rope, a split row of the bobble trimming and a flat metallic plastic strip, black and white plastic rope and wool.

Mine grew pretty quickly on the day, and while wall hangings are nice they aren’t me. So my plan is heading more towards a placemat for our garden table. That said though I do like the effect of it on the frame against our white walls and MOH is going to put some hooks up in my craft room so I can enjoy it as transient art while it’s ‘in progress’.

It has grown a little since the workshop too, but there’s a little further for it to go yet.

Since the workshop I’ve added: wool, a velvet trim I’d kept from a t-shirt, wool, a velour strip, a red mesh bag and a ribbon from chocolates.

In the weft rows I’ve added since the workshop the velvet trimming and chocolate ribbon have come from my own stash - and I’ve plenty more that I could use. In fact I came home from the workshop so inspired I was immediately off to look out that velvet trimming which I’d kept for I didn’t know what until then. I’ve also found some plastic present wrapping ribbon which I’ve never used but fell in love with years ago at Ikea - these will feature in a future attempt.

I also have plenty of ribbons, and scraps of materials and edgings which I’ve known ‘will be useful one day’ and the great thing is their day is coming, well when I find the time. I didn’t really know I needed a new craft, but I’m happy I’ve found it!

I’m also commissioning MOH to make me a smaller sized frame, so that I can make smaller pieces and potentially use some of the crochet threads I’ve acquired over the years, but first on my list is to finish this one and to make complementary (and not necessarily matching) table mats to use.

Watch this space.