Tag: quilt

Challenges & SALs, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – February 2025

Anne S

The start of February was a busy time for me stitching my little heart out. It tailed off, though, and I moved into sewing mode for a while. I’m embracing being out of work for a while and ‘doing all the things’, ie working through all those WIPs and kitted up sewing projects that have been gathering dust for years. It really helps having a dedicated sewing space, something I’ve never had before.

Stitching WIP updates

Here’s my progress from February, including the starting point as at 1 February and their current status.

“Mini Sunflowers” by Heaven and Earth Designs – fully finished!

“All you need is love” by Design Works – fully finished!

“Creepy pin cushion” cushion by Shepherd’s Bush, before and after:

“Almost Halloween” by The Drawn Thread, before and after:

“Three Kings” by Mill Hill, before and after:

“Egyptian Garden Mandala” by Chatelaine, before and after:

“2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid” by Nora Corbett, before and after:

“Supernatural” by PixelStitches, before and after:

“Seafoam” (canvaswork) by Needle Delights Originals, before and after:

New starts

Stitching

I continued adding a few smaller projects to my WIP list with some more new starts this month. Some Facebook group stitching challenges gave me the excuse to start them. I was aiming to have a bigger new start for my birthday but I totally forgot my birthday and everything that went with it and then lost my stitching mojo temporarily. Oh well, it’ll get started soon and will likely become my focus piece after I finish Three Kings..

  1. Cabana beach by Mill Hill
  2. The boys are back in town by JABC
  3. Girls night out by JABC

Sewing

  • Cali & Co mystery block of the month by Coriander Quilts – Block 2 (started and finished)
  • Tilda Club Jan 2023 – The Makers Tactical Tool Belt by Arabesque Scissors (started and finished)
  • Thimble pip (started and finished)
  • Bee Grateful journal cover kit by Gum Valley Patchwork (started, and just needs the leather catch to be hand-sewn on before it can be fully finished)
  • Slumbermouse Pourch by Kitty Rose Cottage (started, but put to one side now while I work on some cardmaking classes)
  • Tilda Club issue 36 notebook cover by Lilabelle Lane Creations (started earlier in the year and finished)
Slumbermouse pouch by Kitty Rose Cottage

Question of the month:

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

I originally signed up for the HAED SAL for Jellyworld, but I decided I’d have to dedicate pretty much all my stitching time to that project to meet the deadlines, and after only just returning to stitching after a 4-year hiatus I wanted to focus my energies finishing some older WIPs instead. I did join the WIP Warriors Facebook group at the end of 2024, and they have regular monthly challenges that are really varied – adding the gamification to the stitching has really been motivating to me, and I’ve been stitching regularly every day because of it. Continuing those challenges throughout 2025 will be my only type of SAL I think, because I can work on whatever projects I want to focus on while meeting the challenge commitments.

The only other SAL is a sew-along rather than a stitch-along – I’ve started making the monthly mystery scrappy quilt blocks designed for Cali & Co fabrics by Coriander Quilts. Instead of using the Cali & Co fabrics, I’ve been pulling my Tilda fabrics out that are in cool-tone colours, and loving it so far.

2025 goal achievements

Because I kept my craft goals small this year, and having all that extra spare time to focus on my mental health, I’ve managed to achieve a small number of my goals already, which I’m thrilled with.

  • *DONE* Hit the 80% completion mark for HAED’s Mini Sunflowers – I fully finished this one
  • *1/3 DONE* Finish three stitching projects (at least one should be a current WIP):
    1. All you need is love by Design Works
    2. TBC
    3. TBC
  • *DONE* Make progress on one canvaswork project (new start) (I started Seafoam by Needle Delights Originals)
  • *DONE* Make progress on at least three class/kit sewing projects:
    1. Sewing Day Project Bag by Fee Fee & Me (fully finished)
    2. Windy Walk Bag from Kitty Rose Cottage (fully finished)
    3. KJ’s Ruler Bag from Kitty Rose Cottage (in progress)
  • *DONE* Start a bed quilt (mystery BOM by Coriander Quilts)

Quilting

Coriander Quilts QAL

Anne S

Here’s my February/second block for the quilt-along by Coriander Quilts. I’ve realised I’m going to need to create 3-4 of each month’s blocks to have a quilt big enough for a queen-sized bed, so I may have trouble having enough of the Tilda fabrics … I guess time will tell. I have plenty of the teal ones that can be used, but some of the purples and greens etc I only have a fat quarter of each fabric, and I’m likely to need 1/2 yards. I might just have to get a bit creative down the track …

These blocks continue to make me supremely happy – you can’t help but feel that way when you’re with fabric colours that you adore 🙂 I can’t wait for each new block to arrive each month!

I was very unexpectedly given a $50 gift voucher to a quilting shop by a dear friend for my birthday, so I decided to use it towards a Sue Daley rotating cutting mat. It seems I have hundreds of half square triangles in my future with this quilt, and having a rotating mat will hopefully make it a lot quicker to trim down all those blocks! I know I shouldn’t be spending money right now, but I haven’t a small moment of self-indulgence for my birthday month 😉

Quilting

Coriander Quilts QAL

Anne S

I’ve wanted to try quilting for many years – I’ve been amassing quilt fabrics to support that dream in readiness for having the motivation to start. Finally yesterday was the day where I started bringing my dream to life. Truthfully I actually have about four quilts planned right now, along with the fabrics, but this quilt-along by Coriander Quilts is the one that gave me the push to make a start. It’s a mystery quilt where a new block is released every month and for a beginner like me it’s perfect because Corey also provides a video tutorial for every block as well so it gives a confidence boost to give it a try. It’s actually designed around a fat 1/8 bundle of fabric by Cali & Co which has 40 fabrics, but I couldn’t justify the extra $200-$300 to source it locally, and let’s face it, with my ridiculous fabric stash it made sense to use what I have.

I was originally going to choose similar fabric colours to the Cali & Co bundle from my Tilda stash, but in the end my heart decided for me and I went with my favourite cool toned Tilda fabrics. It’s an overall scrappy quilt, so it was a great excuse to start using all of those fat 1/4s in my Tilda stash … including some very very precious vintage Tilda pieces. I also figure if I make the quilt in my favourite colours maybe I’ll be more inspired to actually finish it. Honestly I don’t think I could be any more proud and thrilled with the end result of my first block … it truly makes my heart sing, and I just know I’m going to love this quilt at the end of the year!

I think the 12 blocks will only end up being big enough for a single bed, so I’m going to have to make multiple blocks to increase it to fit a queen sized bed, but I’ll work that out at some point. I think it makes sense to make the additional blocks at the same time each month, so hopefully I’ll find out over the next month or two. But right now I can’t stop looking at this block – it makes me so freaking happy!! 😀

Challenges & SALs, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – January 2025

Anne S

WIP updates

Here’s my progress from January, including the starting point as at 1 January and their current status – I managed quite a bit, which I’m super happy about. I think I’ve finally got my mojo back again, thanks to more free time available to craft after being made redundant, along with joining the WIP Warriors Facebook group and joining their WIP challenges, plus actively doing WIPGO this year. Now it’s just a case of finding a balance between my multiple crafts of cardmaking, sewing/quilting and cardmaking – yikes.

These are the stitching projects that managed to get some love so far in January:

“Mini Sunflowers” by Heaven and Earth Designs, before and after. Only about 3% left to go now, woohoo!

“Aroha” cushion by The Stitchsmith, before and after:

“Almost Halloween” by The Drawn Thread, before and after:

“Three Kings” by Mill Hill, before and after:

“Egyptian Garden Mandala” by Chatelaine, before and after – hard to see the changes as there was minimal stitching done, but at least it’s starting to get some love

Egyptian Garden Mandala 24Nov2018

“All you need is love and coffee” by Designworks, before and after:

“2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid” by Nora Corbett, before and after:

New starts

Stitching

I’ve been looking at the same WIPs for so many years now, I decided that I also need to have some new starts this year to help with my motivation to keep stitching, and early in the year I pulled together a huge pile of potential new starts into a tub, and started a couple of small ones to fit with some of the challenges I’m working on each month. January saw me have two new starts:

  1. Supernatural by PixelStitches, and
  2. Creepy Pincushion by Shepherd’s Bush
  3. Seafoam (canvaswork) by Needle Delights Originals

Sewing

Question of the month:

“Tell us about the oldest WIP you have in your stash.”

I think my oldest is also one of my most unloved – and I’m considering adding backstitch to it and calling it a day. It’s the first project I ever started on evenweave, and there are so many mistakes in it it’s not funny. There’s way too much to rip out to fix it, and it’s more difficult to fix anyway because it uses older dye lots of DMC for some colours which are totally different these days. I’m thinking I should just cut my losses, hack into the fabric and turn the image into a something else such as an inset for a tote bag or book cover.

Nature’s Resting Place by Stoney Creek

2025 goal achievements

Because I kept my craft goals small this year, and having all that extra spare time to focus on my mental health, I’ve managed to achieve a small number of my goals already, which I’m thrilled with.

  • *DONE* Hit the 80% completion mark for HAED’s Mini Sunflowers (currently sitting at 97% completion)
  • *DONE* Make progress on one canvaswork project (new start) (I started Seafoam by Needle Delights Originals)
  • *DONE* Make progress on at least three class/kit sewing projects:
    1. Sewing Day Project Bag by Fee Fee & Me
    2. Windy Walk Bag from Kitty Rose Cottage
    3. KJ’s Ruler Bag from Kitty Rose Cottage