Category: Crafts – Needlework

Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – May 2026

Anne S

Thanks to Maynia I started to get a tiny bit of stitching progress this month – I named my challenge ‘Mix-it-up Maynia’, and the goal is to complete at least 100 stitches or 1 hour of progress on stitching projects. The projects could include existing WIPs, some new starts, or finish-finishing projects. Sadly I only lasted about 6 nights before getting distracted by other projects that weren’t eligible for the group running the challenge (it’s for cross stitch only). My stitching mojo definitely comes and goes, that’s for sure – I’m learning not to stress about it and to just go with the flow, and to embrace whatever craft is tempting my energy at that moment in time 🙂

Stitching progress:

Mill Hill – Conch Shell – as this was a new start I managed to get 300 stitches into, and it was a really enjoyable stitch. It’s nice to add some ‘new blood’ into my WIP pile, it keeps it fresh and makes me want to take the time out to stitch.

When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler – This one has pretty much gone as far as I can go now until I rip all the dark theads out – there are basically three different shades of the thread due to dye lot issues that in hindsight really bother me. The only option to make me happy(-ish) is to rip it all out and replace with one dye lot, which has been ordered.

2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid – I’ve somehow managed to misplace my entire skein of Bermuda Reef silk, so I’m plodding along with the hair for now. It’s still an enjoyable stitch, made even more enjoyable by stitching almost entirely with silks, just lush …

Finch Song by Shepherd’s bush – I’ve been jumping around a bit with this one, partly because one of the challenge items at the end of April was to stitch with a pink thread so I scrolled up to start the quaker block in Dried Pink Roses. I managed to finish that in this month’s Maynia session, along with 9 other stitches in a tiny sampler spot near the tree. I think I’ll be returning back down to the border again soon, if nothing else so I can finish off all those loose threads 😉

Stitching question

Give us five projects in your stash right now that you’d really love to start – and why you haven’t yet.

Oh boy, how do we narrow it down to just five? I have sooooo many projects I want to start, and most of them are for the same reason … I despise kitting things up. Lots of people love selecting their fabrics and pulling all the threads, but for me it leaves me cold – I’m much more likely to start something if it’s already been kitted up, and more so if it’s been migrated over into Pattern Keeper – especially these days when lots of my challenges are based on stitch count, anything not in Pattern Keeper seems to take a lower priority unless I have a day or two spare to create a working copy manually in PC Stitch then exporting it for use in PK. But seeing as the question says to choose 5, let’s see …

  1. Freshness of Cold by Leonid Afremov / Artecy. The overall size puts me off because I’m still just getting my feet back into water stitching-wise again and I worry I’ll never get it finished. Of course I never will if I never start, so there’s that … This one is actually about 70% kitted up, and just needs to have the fabric cut …
  2. Walking the Water’s Edge by Diane Herrmann. This one is soooo high up on my to-do list, I really really want to get this one done and one the wall … and I have to admit I’m getting closer to starting. I don’t know why, but I’m intimidated by it for some reason. It uses stranded cotton floss with a laying tool, which isn’t my favourite thing in the world to do … but it will be so worth it I think – it’s a stunning project!
  3. March Aquamarine Fairy by Mirabilia. The two reasons this isn’t started yet is 1) I want to rechart it a wee bit which means putting it all into PC Stitch to play with it, and 2) I can’t for the life of me decide on a fabric. But she’s another one I really really want to see up on my wall, so I really should make an effort!
  4. Bright Bouquet by Sue Spargo. To be honest I actually bit the bullet a couple of months ago and started to cut out all the various pieces of fabrics etc that I need for this. And there it stalled again. I’m so far out of my comfort zone with this one, I really need to concentrate on it, and I’ve been struggling to do hand-sewing/embroidery lately … I just need to get out of my own head and ‘do it’, preferably before year end 😉
  5. My Treasures Workstation by Judy Odell. I bought the finishing kit for this one years ago when it was first released, but I could never decide on fabric and threads to use for it. I just need to pull my finger out and make a decision – the stitching itself is really simple, and I know once my decision is made and the fabric is all marked out that I’ll whip through the stitching quite quickly. Seems such a waste to have the hardware etc sitting there unused …

Sewing progress:

As mentioned in my last post on 28 May I managed a few stitching projects this month – some are still in progress and some were fully finished … and I’m really proud of every one of them!

The finishes:

New starts, still in progress:

Quilting & Sewing, Sewing

A week or two of sewing bliss

Anne S

I lost my sewing mojo five years ago after putting Mum into care and emptying the family home – Mum taught me how to sew which made all efforts quite triggering for me. I’ve forced myself over the last 18 months or so to do a few projects, but my heart wasn’t truly in it. Fast forward to last week and finally sewing doesn’t feel forced anymore – I’ve had a few sewing sessions recently where my heart was truly joyful in the process. That also meant a few finishes that I’m super proud about – and I know Mum would have been too, she was always my greatest supporter.

Coriander Quilts: Border of the Month quilt-along – My sewing spree started with this year’s mystery quilt-along project by Corey Yoder and Coriander Quilts. I decided I wanted to push my personal boundaries and try creating a quilt using some fabrics that are outside my comfort zone. While it still has a mix of my usual preferred cool tones, there are soooo many pops of vibrant coral throughout this range and I have to say I’m seriously thrilled with the results so far. I’m using a 10″ layer cake called Garden Society by Crystal Manning and Moda.

ByAnnie: Call Me – this project is one of the free ones for beginners to learn the various techniques Annie uses in her larger projects. This is the 3rd project in the series, and one of my goals for this year was to complete all four. I’m well on track now with the 4th one also almost in the bag woohoo! The Call Me project has you installing zippers to create both vinyl and quilted fabric pockets, continuous bias binding around the edges and to also create the cord. It also has a mesh pocket on the back with folded elastic edging. I struggled a bit getting the bias binding to behave and had countless false starts on that part – it just means I need to do more now to reinforce the learnings and to improve more.

Tilda Club 33 – Stitching Companion by Larisa/Stitching Notes: This has always been one of my favourite Tilda Club projects and I love the choice of fabrics that we received along with the project itself. I’m the most proud of this one, I think – and it really boosted my confidence getting it finished. I did make a few very small changes, though – I changed one of the small bottom pockets on the right to be split into two narrower ones, I did a quick topstitch along the spine of the needlebook so it didn’t flop open, and I added three layers of smaller felt shapes to pad the needle book instead of using polyfil. It’s already filled to the gunnels with sewing supplies for me to take out and about with me to social gatherings.

Kitty Rose Cottage: Slumbermouse Pouch – This project was from a monthly kit subscription by Kitty Rose Cottage. I’d actually cancelled my subscription (I had too many kits in the backlog since I hadn’t been sewing for so long), but I just had to purchase the separate kit when Dawn offered it up for sale. It uses Tilda fabrics from their Hibernation range, and it’s such a gorgeous project. First time for me making Dresden points and also tabs on the zipper ends. It’s a lot bigger than I initially thought it would be so I think it’ll be a super handy item.

I also started three other projects, but they’re not finished yet – Duck Duck Goose quilt, Catch-All Caddy 2.0 by ByAnnie (as part of a slow-along on Facebook), and Easy Does It by ByAnnie.

Fingers crossed this is the start of many many more sewing projects to come … because I think that means that the healing process is finally taking shape 🙂

Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, Tilda, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – April 2026

Anne S

Another month without a big number of projects being worked on, and after completing over 1,000 stitches on one big project I’ve decided to scrap it and start again … oops.

Sewing finishes

I managed one small finish this month as a practice piece for me … I came across two squares of ‘printing samples’ from a fabric order about 7 years ago and rather than try to find a home for it I decided it would be perfect to create a small basket try with Kam snaps. I still have two more squares to use up yet – I’m just awaiting inspiration for those 😉

My finish sewing finish for this month was completing an older (2020) sewing kit called the Little Box of Creativity by Kitty Rose Cottage. These monthly mystery kits contain all the fabric that you need for the project, and you just have to supply the sewing machine and thread usually. This project’s pattern was called Market Day Bag, and it’s an awesome size tote bag! I’m going to use this one for my crochet WIPs I think, but I definitely see myself making more of these, the size is awesome – of course my versions will use my favourite blue/teal fabrics, and I’ll leave off the lace and felt flowers in the next ones. Such a great project!

Next up I decided to put the final stitches into these two items from back in 2020 – the mannequin pomander only needed the bottom closure to be sewn up (!), and the lavender wardrobe sachet was waiting for the embroidery to be done before I could sew it all together. I still have one more lavender sachet waiting in the wings, but that’ll be for another day.

Stitching progress:

Sea View by Luca-S – I managed to reach 20% completion of this project before deciding I’m not happy with it, and really want to stitch it over-one on 28ct fabric instead of the Aida in the kit. So far now it’s been put aside until I cut out a piece of fabric and start again, then it’ll regularly continue to be my focus piece for the year. This is the stopping point for me.

Finch Song by Shepherd’s Bush – After putting Sea View aside, I turned to Finch Song for the remaining challenges for the month. While this hasn’t been my favourite one to stitch, thanks to not much variation in the green threads and the cream disappearing on the fabric etc, I’m already hankering to start another Shepherd’s Bush sampler kit …

Stitching is the Berries – I actually made some progress on this one in January, but forgot to post about it, so I’ve included it here for my own records. Those berries were taking me forever to work on so I decided to take a break from it – I really should get back to it again, because it’s sooooo close to a finish now, I think it’s just the berries, a handful of queen stitches, and my initials left to go.

2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid – I managed to work on a bit of her hair this month. I’ve managed to mislay my skein of Bermuda Reef silk so her hair is the only focus for now. I swear sometimes I live in the Bermuda Triangle, I’m forever losing things!

Stitching question

What is your oldest WIP? Tell us a little bit about it.

I’d probably say it’s Mediterranean Scene from an old magazine – started in 1998. I was never happy with the colours of the blue shutters etc and it just fell into the UFO basket. Now the projects are so much more realistic these days I wonder if I’ll ever finish it. Perhaps if I add a bunch of embroidery stitches to give it a little more depth and texture I might like it a bit more. I’m thinking if I did that perhaps it’d work as the front of a zippered project bag or a tote bag – not sure. Then again, another part of me just wants to just ditch it and use what time I have to work on other projects that bring me joy … I wonder which side of me will eventually win out?

Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – March 2026

Anne S

My needles were on hiatus during March, so there’s little to show – I almost didn’t bother posting (hence the late publishing), but I think it’s good to remind me that at least I made some progress.

Sea View by Luca-S – I used this one as my focus piece for a Facebook group challenge in March. Not much stitching was done on it, but progress is progress 🙂

Stitching question

Which of your current WIPs do you consider your most difficult piece to stitch?

That would have to be Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala. I absolutely detest the fabric I chose for it – the fabric is tightly woven with metallic threads in it, and it’s so difficult to see the holes for stitching. I’ve had to stretch it tightly on a huge cobbled-together Qsnap frame which worked for a while, but I stupidly added some treasures and beads as I went, assuming I could keep growing the frame and working outwards – I’ll never ever do that again! It’s such a chore working on this piece, I really struggle to give it any love. It’ll be amazing once (if ever) it’s completed, though.

    Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, WIPocalypse

    WIPocalypse January 2026

    Anne S

    Oops I missed the posting date last month – I haven’t managed much stitching throughout January, but I did manage a bit of sewing, as well as sharing the bigger finish of 2025.

    The final (BIG) finish of 2025:

    I finally put the final beads in place on 31 December, with just 20 minutes to spare before midnight! It was my biggest goal to finish this piece by the end of 2025 and I miraculously found the two missing sets of beads on New Year’s Eve – of course that was after I’d ordered replacements – I couldn’t believe my luck!

    “Three Kings” by Mill Hill / Jim Shore
    Stitched on recommended linen with purchased embellishment kit
    Started 14 August 2018 – Finished 31 December 2025

    Sewing finishes

    The small drawstring pouch was finished on 31 December 2025 (before I found the missing beads for Three Kings), and the remainder were staggered throughout January. I’m determined to upskill myself to be able to tackle a larger ByAnnie project so I’ve been working through the beginner projects as they’ve recommended.

    Stitching progress:

    Sea View by Luca-S – this will probably end up seeing some monthly progress using some challenges, as I’d quite like to see this one finished by the end of the year (that could be a lofty goal, mind you, considering the small amount of stitching I achieved overall in January!). I managed 629 stitches overall, which I guess is relatively decent progress, as that takes me to 13% overall completion. I’m currently in the progress of stitching my way up to the top so that I can start working top-down. The colours make this a really pretty one to stitch.

    When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler – I managed 928 stitches on this one, because I used it for a few challenges. Once the main stitching is finished, I’ll need to decide which sections to rip out. Unfortunately when I converted the DMC threads to hand-dyed ones, I didn’t have enough of the dark chocolate thread – I then tried another skein of the thread from a new order and it was substantially different. I then reverted back to the DMC colour and that was totally different again … which means for me to get a consistent look I need to reverse stitch those of those dark brown colours pfffft :/ Oh well, at least I’ve almost finished the rest of the stitching now, so then it may have to sit in the naughty corner for a while as I mull that challenge over for a bit longer …

    2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid – I worked on the hair during January, with a total of 410 stitches.

    Finch Song by Shepherd’s bush – this was mostly stitched using white thread, so I took a close-up of the stitched area for the progress. I completed 219 stitches in January.

    Crafts - Needlework

    Two finishes

    Anne S

    Woohoo, getting close to the end of 2025, and I’ve managed to finish two more projects over the last week or so.

    The first one has a lot of sentimental memories attached to it, as I purchased it during a visit to Paris with my Mum. I rarely do surface embroidery, so I need more practice as this one really challenged me – I have more kits in my stash, though, so maybe I need to prioritise at least one of those for my 2026 new start stitching plans.

    “Août” by Un Chat dans l’aiguille
    Purchased as a kit from Le Bonheur Des Dames in Paris during a visit
    Started May 2020 – Finished 10 December 2025

    The next one really makes me smile – the Supernatural TV show has been a firm favourite of mine ever since I watched the first episode years ago, and I regularly re-watch the seasons over and over again. I don’t often gravitate to ‘character’ designs, but I just couldn’t go past this one … Castiel especially makes me smile in this. I think this may end up as a panel insert on the front of a project bag, as I have some fabric scraps with a Supernatural theme on it … time will tell.

    “Supernatural” by Pixel In Stitches
    Started 20 January 2025 – Finished 19 December 2025
    Stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Boo! linen by Silkweaver using recommended DMC threads

    Canvaswork

    Color Delights – Seafoam

    Anne S

    Yippee, I have another finish for the year. One of my goals for this year was to start a new canvaswork project, and because it was so small I managed to finish it as well last night. It’s such a pretty piece to work on, with relatively simple stitches, so it was very relaxing to stitch.

    “Color Delights – Seafoam” by Needle Delights Originals / Kathy Rees
    Started 22 January 2025 – Finished 15 September 2025
    Stitched using kit canvas and threads

    Friday Night Sew In, Quilting & Sewing, Sewing

    Friday Night Sew In – Feb 2025

    Anne S

    Yay it was Friday yesterday, which meant my sewing/stitching pals were busy creating and working on sewing and other craft projects.

    In my case my first task was to put together this book cover, which was from Tilda Club issue 36 by Lilabelle Lane Creations. I managed to attach the embroidered panel on Thursday night, and put it all together yesterday (Friday) … however the notebook that it was based on didn’t end up fitting! I grabbed an alternative hard-backed notebook instead, which fits perfectly, but now the embroidered panel is off-centre and kinda annoying. I must say, though, the project itself is really pretty – and it was a great one to use this very colourful and busy Tilda fabric collection.

    I’ll be truthfully honest that I found the instructions a bit lacking for this pattern. There seems to be one clear error where it says for both lining pieces “along one of the short ends on each piece…” to fold over and top stitch the edge. On the smaller piece of lining, though, the actual edge that needs the foldover and topstitching is the longer side and not the short one – the instructions contradict the diagram in the instructions.

    There’s also no adjustment made to ensure your notebook fits other than for the height (ie it doesn’t take into account the width of the notebook), so the notebook I’d originally intended using for this didn’t fit thanks to the coiled wire spine – I had another hard-backed notebook I could use instead, so that was no drama though. When adding the embroidery panel it states to ‘take into consideration the 1/4″ seam allowance and the width of your A5 notebook’. What would’ve been super duper helpful (especially to this less experienced sewist who takes every instruction literally) is to also add a note to “take into account the 1″ back flap that holds the notebook in place”, and not just the 1/4″ seam allowance. Anyhoo, that’s just my lack of experience not thinking about that, so regardless of which notebook I ended up using the embroidered panel was never going to be aligned in the centre … my bad, and something I’ve learnt from for future projects! One day in the future I’ll do something to fix it – either by removing and reattaching the hexagon panel or adding a stamped fabric tag/label with a positive saying on it. For now I’ll just glare at it with a filthy look every now and then haha.

    Last night I also started working on another project – another notebook cover, must be the week for it – but old fluffy bum (aka Smudge) decided she needed attention so it got put to one side. And while trying to finish it this morning she decided to join in the fun but this time kept swishing her tail by the needle, so I had to down tools for a while today too … at some point either today or tomorrow it’ll get finished and another kit can be ticked off the sewing list.

    Sewing, Tilda

    Windy Walk Project Bag

    Anne S

    I’m excited that I’ve managed to start and finish another old kit project from Kitty Rose Cottage. These Little Boxes of Creativity offer a great variety of projects in Tilda fabrics, and really worthwhile – the only reason I cancelled is because I was amassing too many kits during a time I wasn’t sewing anymore. It’s great that I’m finally finding the time and motivation to work through them.

    This was the “Windy Walk project bag” kit, and my first attempt at doing hand quilting – my goodness, I have so much empathy for those who hand stitch full quilts, it’s very time consuming, although rewarding at the end. It was great to try this technique out on a smaller scale before committing to a quilt.

    I’m not a huge fan of pink fabrics, and I loved that Dawn sent enough squares in the kit that I could leave out the squares that were predominantly pink. I’ve always loved the red fabric with teal flowers in this range, and I think the teal and red colours help to offset the pink so it’s less prominent (also really happy that the lining in the kit was teal, so that helped me to embrace it haha). I’m super thrilled overall with this finish – and super chuffed with myself that I’m getting back into sewing again!

    Canvaswork, Finished Items, Laura J Perin

    Lahaina Breezes

    Anne S

    Oh my goodness I can’t believe it’s been this long since I posted, after a good start to the year. As it turns out I decided to buy my first home – and a mammoth move 2 hours north of Sydney. A few moving issues, and still not fully unpacked six months later, and my stitching mojo disappeared again!

    My stitching mojo wasn’t helped by the fact I adopted a beautiful wee kitty who, after settling in, decided that she likes to sprawl all over my lap making stitching more challenging … something I need to work on improving in the new year. Smudge was the old family pet of a dear stitching friend that had to be rehomed due to no fault of her own, and she was 11 years old when I took her in – we bonded really quickly and she’s been an amazing companion that likes to follow me around and sleeps where she can see/hear me and is almost always found on my desk or on the floor by me when I’m working etc. She’s a total sweetheart that has captured my heart 100% since the minute she arrived on my doorstep ❤ I’ll add more favourite photos at the end of the post 🙂

    In the early days, though, before she was superglued to my lap every night, I did manage to sneak in one finish back in April when I first moved into my new home – Lahaina Breezes by Laura J Perin was such a delight to stitch, even with those pesky rayon ribbon threads haha. It look amazing in real life with all the various textures, and I’m so proud of this one!

    Starting point:

    Completed:

    I just made redundant last week after 24+ years with my employer 😦 I’ve decided to take a break for 6-8 weeks over Christmas before job hunting again, and I’m hoping it’ll give me chance to finish a lot of the unpacking and to get my craft space more organised, along with trying to get my stitching mojo back more regularly. It’s a juggling act trying to give time to all my different crafts, but hopefully not having to work will give me the mental energy to work out a plan for the new year and set some routines in place. I’ll admit the first thought I had was that I’m so grateful I have a huge craft stash for my three main hobbies (stitching, sewing and cardmaking), and that this is the reason I’ve been stashing all these years, just waiting for this day to happen LOL – it definitely does help me keep a positive mindset right now anyway, and I’m excited to re-explore everything that I already have instead of burning through the cash every month haha.

    2025, the year of less spending but more crafting … I say, bring it on!!! But before than, here’s some more Smudge (aka ‘old fluffy bum’) spam 😀