Tilda Club USA is Taking New Members!

For several months now, I've been designing patterns for the Tilda Club USA subscription box put out by my dear friend Julie of The Intrepid Thread. It's been a fun challenge for me to create something small and simple that people can enjoying making every month just for fun. And yes, getting my hands on these gorgeous Tilda prints has been pretty wonderful too!

Julie opens up the club membership three times a year for new people, and today is one of those days! Monthly members get...

• a box of 6 Tilda fat quarters with matching notions and goodies
• a digital Block of the Month pattern
• digital patterns for small projects (many of which are designed by me!)
• surprise projects here and there
• a members-only forum and Facebook group
• weekly live Q&A chat sessions

It's a pretty good deal and a nice way to make connections with other people who love to sew. I especially love that she's now offering an inexpensive digital membership option, so if you're already overflowing with fabric and don't need the monthly box, you can still access all the other perks of the club.

If you're interested in joining, just click here to see all the options. Membership closes on Thursday, so hurry on over!

Patchwork Pocket

I snagged a sample spree bundle of Sarah Watts' new From Porto with Love collection from Modern Quilter after Quilt Market, and I think it's one of her best. The colors are lovely, and the details are perfect -- so much great material for fussy cutting. I combined it with a few prints from Anna Rifle Bond's Les Fleurs collection for this small project. We had a difficult weekend of health issues with Bunny, spending several nights in the hospital, and though we're joyful to say that the doctor is getting to the bottom of her breathing issues, it's all been pretty exhausting and emotional. So once again, I embraced a little patchwork therapy.

I originally planned this pocket to be for my sunglasses, but it turned out to be a bit too small for that. Happily, though, it's exactly the right size for the little package of Kleenex that I keep in my purse.

The pocket is lined in a peach City Toile print, a soft lawn that features gold metallic designs. It makes such a gorgeous lining and goes perfectly with the travel theme that I was using for this project.

For the back, I used another metallic print from Sarah's collection. Sardines never looked so beautiful!

Another week, another small project...just the way I like it.

Pocket Mending Book

"I'm the queen of little things," I told a friend once, and it's true. There's nothing I love more than a small patchwork project. This pocket mending book is definitely one of my tiniest projects to date, and I'm just crazy about it.

The book itself finishes at 4" square, small enough to actually slip into the pocket of my purse. The scraps making the patchwork X on the front finish at 1" square, and I added a little hand quilting with pink Aurifil thread just for fun. I love that I can feature tiny details in this design like that adorable kitty by Heather Ross!

The inside of the book is lined with my favorite Tiger Lily print. I added two felt pages for needles, pins, and buttons.

The back page of the book has two tiny pockets -- one for embroidery scissors and the other for thread. Trying to stuff a whole spool of thread in here would be difficult, so I wound a length of thread onto a piece of recycled card stock instead.

The binding and back is all one piece of material, this great pink geometric print from Sidewalks by October Afternoon.

I made notes while I was working so that I could sew more of these, and I plan to try another one this weekend to see if I got all the numbers right. With all the trial and error of trying a new pattern, I don't always get everything recorded as I go along.

But wouldn't these make adorable little gifts? I'm thinking stocking stuffers, swap extras, just-because-you're-the-awesomest-friend-ever presents...

Yep, it might just be time to set up my own pocket mending book factory in the sewing room.

Happy weekend, friends!