Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
Phew this one took me a long time to get finished – for some reason all the hand-stitching took me forever. This was part of a past subscription box from Kitty Rose Cottage using Tilda fabrics (focusing on the Woodland collection), and designed by Molly & Mama. There’s also a matching zippy pouch that came in the kit, but I haven’t started that one yet. Very happy to have this one finished – although it needs to be ironed …
I decided to make another ByAnnie bag straightaway after finishing my Take a Stand bag – I figure the more I do in a short space of time, the more confident I’ll feel and the lessons learned will stick in my pea brain a bit longer 😉 Truth is I’m super proud of this one, and it’s already stuffed full of crochet supplies ready to be taken to our monthly crochet social gatherings that have started at our local Women’s Shed. After spending 7-8 years being too intimidated to make these bags it feels amazing to finally see them come to fruition. And this fabric choice just makes me supremely happy!
I managed to make a Take a Stand bag to match my Running With Scissors one, and I’m pretty thrilled with it. I chose navy zips this time around and I much prefer it in comparison to my Running With Scissors. I learn something more with every bag that I make, and slowly getting a bit more confident.
I’m also getting more comfortable in making fabric choices etc as well, and in this case make a change to the pattern by adding extra D-rings so that if I decide to have shorter carry handles in the future I can add them really easily.
To say I’m proud of myself for finishing this project would be an understatement. Even with all its imperfections I absolutely love this. It was the first pattern from ByAnnie that I ever bought (dated 2018) along with the Take a Stand pattern, and it was hands down the one that’s intimidated the most to attempt making it. Randi Roost created a slow-along group for Running With Scissors just as I was considering giving it a try, so of course I jumped at the chance and joined up. If nothing else, it gave me the kick I needed to make a start … and I was amazed that I managed to finish it in the group too. The only thing I’m unhappy with is the zip, which is my error with it being my first time ever inserting a full enclosure zip … and it just means the next time I choose that style of closure for a project I’ll be more aware of it and can make adjustments. For now I’m just feeling super chuffed and gobsmacked that it’s done 😀
I managed to actually put needle and thread through canvas this month … yay me haha. I’ve had a kitty cat superglued to my lap most nights, though, and she doesn’t like the sound of the thread going through the fabric so it was a very short-lived stitching session. If it’s not entirely obvious at first glance, I did the wee purple section at the top left – hardly worth crowing about really haha. Here’s the before and after:
Sewing-wise, though, it was a relatively productive month. A few more project bags got finished, along with some sewing accessories in my all-time favourite vintage (Babette Teal) Tilda fabric, and even managed to finish an old WIP from 2021 woohoo!! 😀 I actually had another massive completion late last night, but as I’m already late posting this, I’ll do a separate post and include it in next month’s tally 😀
What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year??
Well I can’t say I learnt any new stitching techniques this year, but I’ve sure been pushing the boat out with both crochet and sewing. In crochet I’ve learnt a couple of new stitches while finishing (or at least … um … starting) some old subscription boxes. And of course this year has been the year I’ve really pushed myself by actually attempting and finishing a couple of ByAnnie bag patterns. I’m still a bit shocked at my success on that score, I’ll be honest … and more than a bit proud of myself. I wish Mum was here to see them, she’d be grinning from ear to ear 🙂
I finally finished an old sewing WIP from late 2020/early 2021. This was an emotional finish for me – I started it while I was emptying the family home after Mum was put into care, and when I returned home again I found sewing to be too triggering emotionally. Fast forward 5-6 years later and I’m finally becoming more comfortable to start tackling some of those projects. This was part of the Woodland SAL within the Tilda Lovers Facebook group, designed and taught by Designs by Fee. The prairie points had already been created, and fabric hearts adhered to the fabric, so it was a relatively quick job to race around the hearts on the sewing machine then sew it all together.
My dear friend Fee (Designs by Fee) created a tutorial for a sturdy sewing tray, which is something I’ve been wanting to make ever since I did my first trial early in the year. I was never happy how that one got crushed easily and felt it needed extra sturdiness in the sides. Fee’s tutorial was perfect as it solved that problem for me, but I just made some small tweeks to the design so that it fit my needs. I decided to change the dimensions so it made the tray rectangular to hold pens and other tools, but I added Kam snaps to the corners instead of sewing them together – that way it will fold down flat and go into my travel sewing kit I’ve been planning.
After making up that beautiful tray I then got the urge to make a few more accessories in matching fabrics. The teal fabric I used is Babette Teal (480112) from the Summer Blues collection 2012/2013 by Tilda, and it’s my all-time favourite fabric by Tilda. It’s like hens’ teeth to find now, and I’ve been so reluctant to cut into the small amount I have in my stash. I decided this year, though, that life’s too short and that I’ll get so much more enjoyment out of my favourite fabrics by making them into functional pieces that I can look at every day, rather than just having them languish in a drawer somewhere.
I’ve been slowly adding a few more sewing accessories to the pile – first up with a small boxy drawstring bag – the sides are stiff enough to have structure and the top folds down to create a cuff and allow easy access to the contents inside – this was designed for my wonder clips.
The next project was to make scissor cases for my travel kit – and I chose the Crepe Case for Scissors by Minki Kim. The larger one will hold my Mum’s 8″ Gingher fabric scissors (she fell in love with mine years ago so bought a silver set for herself) – I enlarged the pattern so it was approx 1/2″ larger so I could still keep the protective cover on the blades. The smaller one is a tiny bit too small for my Arm Wrestler scissors (I didn’t even think to change the size of that one oops), so it’ll likely be for my Kay Buckley ones instead, and I’ll just have to make another one for the Arm Wrestlers in a slightly different size. Mum would definitely be cheering me on seeing me getting back into sewing once again.
I’ve been in a sewing mood this month, and I’ve had a pile of project bag pieces all ready to be sewn up for well over a year now. I decided to take the time to finally finish off all the ones I’d already quilted (I never trust my fusible fleece as it doesn’t seem to adhere well, so I still add quilting lines just in case). I still have a very large pile that still needs to have the fleece and quilting lines added, but I’m super happy to have these ones out of the sewing room.
I think the top two are my favourites – the Tilda ladies are wonderful in those colours, and the floral fabric from Jason Yenter is a stunner. I had to have one of with kitties at the sewing machine which will always make me think of my own sewing helper, and another koala one with a slightly lighter zip, which I think I prefer.
I’ve had a pile of project bags all cut out ready to be ironed, quilted and sewn together since late last year – I’ve finally started working through the pile, which will be ongoing for a few months. The first one off the rank, though, is a sweet one with a koala print. I found the most perfect koala zipper pulls from Dreamy Bag Hardware that I just had to use for this one, so it feels extra special!
Another month with no stitching under my belt, instead I’ve been making the most of the cooler weather and working on some old crochet subscription boxes as well as using up some big chunky yarn on patterns that have been printed off for a few years. I was caring for a sick cat in the middle of the month so it was the perfect craft while giving her lots of lap cuddles for a few days. I’ve been working on a thick chunky blanket and she’s been snuggling up onto it on my lap every night which hinders progress but makes my heart burst 🙂 I’ve also been working on the Coriander Quilts border of the month quilt blocks and the Running With Scissors slow-along (ByAnnie).
Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time??
Honestly it depends on my mood and the projects being worked on. On the whole I prefer to work on multiple WIPs because I tend to get bored easily. But then again sometimes I love working on one single project for a challenge which has multiple milestones to hit, I just find my rhythm with one project and enjoy spending a large amount of time on it and watching it grow more quickly. Other WIPs I’m ready to change it out after just an hour of stitching (Stitching is the Berries falls into that category with the never-ending Queen stitches).
