My one monthly goal for July ...

 ...was to finish my patchwork jacket. At the beginning of the month I posted a photo of the fabric selection. Well, two heatwaves in four weeks have put pay to reaching my goal. The heat is sapping my energy! This is Northern Europe and largely air conditioning free. We can't install a unit because it's forbidden to alter the outside of the building.

 

After that moan about global warming and building restrictions, back to the patchwork jacket.

 

 

This is the back panel with a strip pinned on the right ready to add to the edge of the panel. 

The white you see on the sides is the filling and inside of the jacket. It is made using the quilt-as-you-go technique. There is extra fabric all round just in case the size needs alteration, but the inside was cut to the right size.

 

The front panels are at the same stage as the back, and I still have to start on the sleeves. Once the patches are on the sleeves I can start assembling. and hopefully it will start looking like a jacket.

 

It seems that next month will see the same goal as this.

 

I'm linking this uncompleted goal to: 

 https://www.stories from the Sewing Room July One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up

  Click on the coloured section to see how more diligent quilters have made progress.

 

Sew happily

Marly. 

 

Patchwork Jacket and one monthly goal

 

Elly's own jackets in her shop in Zoetermeer: photo from her website

Yesterday I started something new in a workshop given by Elly Prins Machine Quilting: a patchwork jacket! I wanted to make the main colour terracotta, but I didn't have enough different fabrics with that shade, so I settled for a collection of browns with some terracotta.

I spent most of the morning cutting ten long-quarters into 2.5" strips.  Next into given lengths to be joined, ready for stitching together into long strings.

 

 

 

This was quite a slow process. Elly showed us a useful method for ensuring an even distribution of the fabrics in the finished result.

Now I'm finally sewing; joining all the small pieces from the long quarters, firstly into twos, then into fours and finally into eights.

My one monthly goal is to finish my jacket by the end of the month.

I'm linking this post to https://www.storiesfromthesewingroom.com/2026/07/july-one-monthly-goal.html

  

 

Happy sewing

Marly. 

A fresh start

 Another year has passed and I've hardly looked at my sewing machine. 

I hit a problem with a pattern I was following three years ago and just stuck there, in limbo! The obvious remedy (I now think!) was to sew something else, no matter what: crumb blocks would have been a good answer, there are enough fabric crumbs around here. But, alas, even that seemed too much.

This month's request from the "Do Good Stitches" Comfort Circle (Dutch group) is a pair of Hugs and Kisses blocks. This morning I pressed and cut the necessary pieces:

 

and intend sewing them this afternoon. A nice easy project to get me going again.

I'm linking this to: https://www.storiesfromthesewingroom.com/2026/07/july-one-monthly-goal.

 

1 July 2026  I wrote the above in January last year, but couldn't link up. I hope it works this time, in which case ignore the following sentence.

The next obstacle in blogland is to link up with the above. I've followed the instructions - each time without success.

Secondly someone told me recently that last time I posted I was in no-reply mode. Am I still? Please comment and let me know.

 

And so to sew, 

Keep safe 

and enjoy your creative hobbies.

Marly