A Little Red in The Woods Fabric Collection

Getting the opportunity to create with Jill Howarth’s latest collection with Riley Blake was such a wonderful honour and it was hard to choose which prints to create with.  The Little Red In The Woods collection is a combination of larger illustrations celebrating Little Red Riding Hood and tiny smaller prints featuring tiny florals, bows and fruit.  What’s not to love!  Jill Howarth is a wonderful illustrator and surface designer creating nostalgic designs of sweet characters and  has worked on numerous beautiful books and Riley Blake fabric collections.

 

While not a Christmas collection the mint, white and red colours are perfect for any handmade Christmas gifts you plan on making!

I used the free tutorial from Lindsay from Primrose Cottage Quilts Instagram page to make 4.5 inch tiny present blocks.  By adding another strip of fabric to the block I was able to make a perfectly sized heat/cold pack.  Once you’ve decided on your size you just need cut a same sized backing piece of fabric and with right sides together stitch around the edges using a ¼ inch seam and leaving a 1 ½ inch gap.  The gap will then enable you to turn the rectangle out and you can then fill it using either dry rice or wheat.  If you do use rice you will need to add a cup with water in the microwave so the rice does not dry out.

The next project I made was a mini quilt using drunkards path blocks.  I hadn’t made this type of block before but I wanted to showcase the larger beautiful scenes and twirling curved blocks seemed the perfect accompaniment (You can follow a free tutorial on the Love Patchwork and Quilting website) I then hand quilted the blocks using 12 weight aurifil thread and then used a Riley Blake Basic print, 1/8 inch striped print in Sweet Mint, for my binding.

My final project was a cushion for my youngest daughter’s bed.  I choose to use the Mandolin English Paper piecing pattern from Tales of Cloth.  The block features lots of opportunities to showcase the Little Red in the Woods illustrations.

I fussy cut my pieces using the acrylic templates and then hand quilted the pieces together.  I also hand appliqued the block to the Riley Blake striped print and used Aurifil 12 weight thread in 1148 to keep with the pretty aqua tone of the prints.

I was so excited to create with Jill’s collection and am looking forward to making a few more Christmas gifts with these sweet collection!

Happy Sewing

Ange

A Stitch In Time Blog Tour

A Stitch in Time is Sharon Burgess’ latest book with Tuva Publishing.  Sharon from Lilabelle Lane Creation has written a book that is a wonderful celebration of needle craft featuring 18 different projects, and it is perfect for those who have never stitched to those like me who stitch most nights.  The first 33 pages has all the hints and techniques you’ll need for hand quilting, embroidery and adding those personal touches to your projects to make them truly unique!  Sharon has included lots of detailed instructions and pictures for each of the steps.

I also love that Sharon has used Tilda Fabric throughout her book, and the collections she’s used are still readily available (so no need to spend hours hunting for out of print collections or wondering what fabric she used).

The first project I made was the vintage pouch.

A sweet spin on a simple pouch design and would be a great first project for someone new to sewing.

Making 1 inch hexes from Tilda Fabric in Bird Pond and Devonstone solids  I embellished my pouch not with a vintage doily like Sharon did but instead following her steps at the front of the book stitched lazy daisies using 12wt aurifil thread.  It was the first time I had tried creating lazy daisies but Sharon’s instructions guide you through every step and are all accompanied by clear illustrations.

The next project I made was the All My Love baby doll quilt.  A lovely paper piecing project that would be a perfect gift for any child who loves their doll or softie.  I accidentally ordered the wrong size paper pieces from Tales of Cloth (1 ½ inch not 1 inch jewel pieces) but followed Sharon’s piecing instructions to ensure my points would all align.  This time I used a combination of linen and Tilda Apple Butter.

Apple Butter is released next month and I love the playful 1940s style of  colours and prints.  And while I was making the doll quilt I decided it was too sweet not to be hung up in my house and instead turned it into a mini quilt for my lounge room.

If you have a friend interested in learning to stitch or if you want to sew up a few new projects that are a perfect combination of pretty and useful then I highly recommend A Stitch In Time!

You can also see more versions of projects from the books made by a great range of inspiring bloggers by following the hashtags #astitchintimeepp and #stitchintime or #tuvapublishing!  Always a brilliant way to see how different fabrics can change the look of different projects!

Happy Sewing