Tag: Sewing

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

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!

Tilda, WIPGO

Sewing WIPGO number 20

Anne S

Now my stitching mojo has returned a bit, I’m attempting to join the WIPGO Challenge again this year. So far so good, I’m managing to give some love to each of the projects called – both in my Stitching and Sewing WIPGO boards.

I’m also trying to keep track in a digital planner this year to help keep me motivated, and it’s great to be able to quickly jot down notes into the planner on my iPad … I just have to remember to go into the planner in the first place LOL.

#20 on my sewing board was to complete the Sewing Day Tote Bag that was a Tilda Lovers Group sew-along project in 2020 which I was unable to complete. I loved being able to tick this one off of the list of those backlog classes, and I look forward to doing some more as the months go on this year. Here’s my finished project – I changed it slightly by changing the fabric choices to cool tones (all Tilda fabrics), and I didn’t add the stitchery panel that’s supposed to go on the front of the bag, but added another two columns of squares instead.

The next project that was called is the “Be my valentine hanging scrappy heart” project from the same sew-along. Hopefully I’ll manage to get that one completed by the end of January as well – I’m loving getting my sewing machine out again after a 4-year hiatus!

Cartonnage, Quilting & Sewing, Tilda

Tilda exchange

Anne S

I joined an exchange for the first time – I hadn’t touched my sewing machine in almost 4 years, and I found it a struggle I’ll be honest. Then when I was made redundant in the last month of prepping for the exchange I just didn’t have the headspace available to finish the last couple of homemade gifts that I wanted to include. I’m still proud of what I managed to achieve, but it wasn’t the exchange gift I wanted to send. I may still complete the remaining two items in the new year and send on to my recipient, though.

These are photos of what I sent to my exchange partner – the criteria was to send something in each of the following 5 categories/themes:

  • Something special for the recipient
  • A small doily or table runner
  • Something for the sewing room
  • A Christmas ornament
  • Something to eat

Something special

A small doily or table runner

Something for the sewing room

A Christmas ornament

Something to eat

Challenges & SALs, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse Nov 2024

Anne S

I can’t believe it, I have another stitching update – maybe the mojo really IS back again?! I joined a new-to-me Facebook group called WIP Warriors and I’ve joined in with one of the challenges, and that’s really helped me get back my love of stitching. Still working on getting a comfy stitching spot worked out in the lounge, but very day is one step closer to getting settled …

This week I’ve managed progress on two of my WIPs – I managed just over 200 stitches on Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches, and 300 stitches on HAED’s Mini Sunflowers.

Here are photos of most of my WIPs/UFOs as they stand now, just to keep track of any future progress I make.

I have to say it feels really good to have a needle between my fingers once again – hopefully this is the start of continued progress. I’m especially loving working on the Mini Sunflowers, and that will remain one of my three focus pieces for next year.

Question of the Month: How do you begin planning for the next year with your stitching? Tell us your process.

I have to admit while my mojo has been absent each year I’ve planned and failed, and so each following year I whittle down my goals to what may be more achievable. This year is no different, so I had a closer look at my WIPs list and realised a lot of them don’t give me a lot of joy – because of that I decided it was time to freshen up my WIP list with some new starts, hoping that would help give me momentum to continue stitching regularly instead of being such a chore. I’ve decided to still have my WIPGO board, which will help me do a small amount of stitching on my oldest, and less loved, WIPs – but instead of lofty goals I’ve decided to just focus primarily on 3-4 projects to get them closer to a finish, and just chip away slowly at the remaining ones. Maybe next year will be the year I finally have something to show for all my planning … although I love the planning stage, even if I rarely tick of achievements – it’s fun to do all on its own.