Category: Quilting & Sewing

Quilting & Sewing

Tilda Woodland table mat

Anne S

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.

Quilting & Sewing

Tilda sewing accessories

Anne S

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.

Quilting & Sewing

More project bags finished

Anne S

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.

Quilting & Sewing

Koala project bag

Anne S

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!

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, Prairie Schooler, Quilting & Sewing, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

WIPocalypse February 2026

Anne S

Not much stitching to show for February due to a big mental health slump – I just couldn’t get overly motivated with anything, and when I forced myself to work on a sewing WIP that was almost finished I totally stuffed it up by lopping off the seam allowances by accident … that kinda sealed the fate of the remaining WIPs for February and I’ve been avoiding them all ever since in case I ruin anything else 😉

Sewing

Before my big sewing disaster I did manage to successfully complete one item at the end of January, though – a wrist pincushion that’s a free pattern by ByAnnie. I was nervous it would be uncomfortable to wear, but it’s an absolute dream to wear and use. So glad I made this, it’ll hopefully save me regularly sending my small tub of pins flying from my sewing desk (I’m incredibly clumsy these days, even more so that I’ve always been). I used Tilda fabrics from my stash for this … and had an unexpected furry model assistant in the background desperate for a cuddle 😉

Stitching progress:

When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler – this is the only stitching project that saw progress during the last month. Surprisingly it just may get finished this year if I keep this up!

Stitching question

What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

I signed up for the HAED SAL this year, and for the second year running I’ve decided to opt out from the stitching because I have so many pokers in the fire that need dealing with instead. Also I do a lot of cardmaking each month as part of Instagram hops etc, and that feels like enough commitment for the year so I don’t feel overwhelmed. From a stitching/sewing perspective, the only items I’m participating in are some monthly blog and Facebook challenges:

  • WIPocalypse
  • WIP Warriors (private Facebook group)
  • 52 week sewing challenge

Quilting & Sewing, Tilda

Tilda patchwork project bag

Anne S

While I was on a roll with making project bags I decided to finish making the final one today. As it used the last piece of Pellon in my stash, I’ll need to wait for a while now to make more.

I’m really thrilled that all the 2″ squares came from my Tilda scrap bags, and the only pieces of fabric that came from my stash were for the top and back panels and the lining. I’m so very thrilled with this one, it’s definitely my absolute favourite of them all. I can definitely see me making more of these in the future! This one is a big bigger than the others, which will be more useful for my canvaswork WIPs.

Quilting & Sewing, Tilda

Koala project bag

Anne S

I decided to try a different type of interfacing for this bag as an experiment, and it was an epic fail that I won’t repeat. BUT even with all that, I’m in love with this project bag – I love everything about it: especially the predominantly mint colourway, the smaller patchwork block sizes. This one just makes me happy to look at it! It was great fun rummaging through my vintage Tilda scraps to find coordinating fabrics that worked with the critter panel.

Koala quilted project bag
Quilting & Sewing

Kangaroo project bag

Anne S

I’ve been wanted to make more project bags for a long time, but the sewing bug totally disappeared after Mum was hospitalised four years ago. It’s back with a vengeance, and I finally made my first ever project bag in this style (I’d previously made a vinyl-fronted bag, but decided it wasn’t my favourite style). And it was a quilt block tutorial of all things that sparked the inspiration!

I was searching YouTube tutorials for scrappy quilts and came across potato chip quilts. In one video the maker was showing different styles of the block, including using a focal fabric in the centre of the blocks instead of using two cut fabrics. I’ve had a large panel of Australian critters in Christmas sweaters for a while and had no idea what to do with them, and all of a sudden inspiration struck! I chose the kangaroo on a pink background as my tester block, because I can’t stand pink and it wouldn’t matter if I messed it up 😉

I started with the larger sized fabric cuts, as per the quilt block, but quickly realised that it looks great for larger quilt sizes, but isn’t quite the look I was going for as project bags. For this one I also tried to have a continuous look of the blocks going around the shape, including in the space above the zipper, but that just added extra complexity and I’m not sure it really adds to the overall look – I’m not sure. One thing I’m super happy about, is that I found a great kangaroo zipper pull which suits this little project perfectly! Overall I’m super happy with it, though, and I think adding the darker zipper tape helps to take away the emphasis on the pink colours. I’ll probably end up keeping this one (even with all that pink, yuck) – in some ways it’s a good reminder of my starting point for future bags … 🙂 And what a wonderful way to combine my new adventure in patchwork with something that’s practical and useful while improving my skills! 😀