I recently joined a Tilda project bag exchange, and this is the pair of project bags that I created for my exchange partner – one larger one and a smaller one that can be used inside the main bag or for smaller projects. My partner’s favourite ranges were pinks/greens so I was pushed outside my comfort zone, and ended up ordering some older ranges from the UK that I wanted to use for the main fabrics.
I also caught up with the Cali & Co mystery quilt-along by Coriander Quilts, after not being well enough to sew for a few months. I was originally going to make these into a queen sized bed quilt, but considering just keeping to the original QAL size instead – I guess I’ll need to officially decide in December after seeing all the blocks finished.
A recent Tilda exchange of the Tully Tote Bag by Natalie Bird/The Birdhouse saw me making this version for my partner. It was fun creating for someone with similar colour tastes to me 😉
A bit late, but I finally managed to finish my block 3 version of the Coriander Quilts/Cali & Co mystery quilt-along. Instead of using Cali & Co fabrics I’m using my cool-toned Tilda fabrics from my stash.
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.
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.
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..
Cabana beach by Mill Hill
The boys are back in town by JABC
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)
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)
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.
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!
I’ve been invited to the Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) for a long time, but haven’t joined in because my stitching and sewing bugs were off having a holiday together. The time has finally come that I can actually join the group and put needle to fabric, woohoo!!!
I started this project last week, and it just needed to have the binding and button to be attached before it’s finished. Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll be able to share the finished project!
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!
Feather Stitching 