A TILDA Swap .................... (Catch Up #2)

Greetings lovely friends & readers 💕

(Warning - Long Post & Photo Heavy)

At the beginning of this year my friend Claire & I decided to do a Tilda swap - this entailed each of us making for the other an item from the letters T I L D A .  Claire & I are both dedicated "Tilda Addicts" loving both the fabrics & the patterns.  

We agreed to have an approximate timeline for our swap as the end of May .... however once I began working on my swap gifts, I found I could not stop.  I had planned a visit to Mums at the end of this month but when she had her fall & I bought my visit forward, I decided to take Claire's swap gifts long with me in the hope that I could catch up with her on this trip. (Claire lives in Mum's town but we don't always get to catch up)

When we first decided to do the swap I purchased these wooden letters from Spotlight.  Whilst painting another item I applied some cream chalk paint to them, so to pretty them up a bit I added some small size Re-design transfers.

 

As I didn't want to drill holes in my letters I attached them to each package with double sided tape.

Would you like to see what was in each package?? 

(I will link to the patterns I used & also try to remember the fabric ranges tho' this may be a bit trickier)

"T" stands for Tea towel, Tilda pumpkin, tea coasters, tea mug & tea ... also tags 

I knew these were the colours in Claire's kitchen.

I took a plain white waffle tea-towel & patchworked a pumpkin block onto it using a mixture of Tilda fabrics from older ranges.

The pumpkin block is from this book Tilda's Sewing by Heart

While I was browsing the book I decided to make Claire a pumpkin - pattern is in the book.  I actually scaled the "smallest size pumpkin" down a bit & used matching fabrics to my teatowel block.

The Holiday Spices tea was purchased from Harney Teas.

I also made a pair of tea coasters using some white linen from my stash & adding a Tilda Yo Yo flower/Suffolk Puff.

I took a photo of my pumpkin block & then ordered a tea mug using this personalised service from Vistaprint & had Claire's name printed on it.

Lastly I cut out some cute tags using images photocopied onto thin card. (I knew Claire loved tags)

"I" stands for  "I 💗 Christmas"

(Yes I know I bent the rules a bit on this one 😉)

.  .  .  .  I made Claire a Tilda Santa

This Santa pattern is from this book Tilda's Christmas Ideas

Claire decorates her entire home for Christmas so I knew that making her anything in this line would not be out of order & was fairly sure she did not have this Santa.

Underneath all that mohair beard he does have some eyes - the white wooden stand is for him to perch on but I thought Claire may even decide to hang him.

I am pretty sure this fabric is from the Tilda Old Rose range.

The pattern book comes complete with the drum which you photocopy onto thin card & make up - his other pocket holds his drumsticks. (toothpicks with beads glued on)

I included one of the tags I made earlier in the year & a card of gorgeous Christmas buttons from Theodora Cleave

"L" stands for Lovely little linen table runner & lavender bags 💜

I used this Video tutorial from Crafts with Fee's YouTube channel to make Claire a table runner with Applique & Prairie points.  I know I frequently mention Fee's channel as she shares such wonderful projects.  I used a mixture of Tilda Maple Farm & Woodland fabrics for this project.  The grey linen was in my stash & was left over from this bunting that I made recently.

The table runner is reversible & can be used on either side.  I enlarged it slightly from Fee's measurement.

I made two lavender bags using English Paper Pieced hexagons - the linen was already in my stash & the lavender is from this years harvest.

"D" stands for Doll .... Tilda Fisher Doll with her Whale

(I had to quickly take all my photos before I left for Mums hurriedly so the light is very poor & yellowish unfortunately)

This pattern is from this book Tilda's Seaside Ideas - which I borrowed from my local Library.

The doll is dressed in Tilda Plum Garden fabrics - one of my favourite ranges.

I had no matching fabric paint for her boots so I just used my pale blue chalk paint & it worked out fine.  This particular pattern has the sweetest little cardigan that laces at the neck, the pattern of which is in the book.  I knitted up to the underarms & then just could Not figure out the pattern from there.  I even took it to my clever-knitting-friend-Shirley for advice but she found the same. So I unpicked it & knitted a tiny dolls Jumper pattern which I Could figure out.  

I made the smallest size whale, pattern also in the book - this was fun to make.

"A" stands for Angel ... Tilda Autumn Angel & her Plum

Autumn Angel is a free pattern from * Here * on the Tilda Website

I used gorgeous Maple Farm Fabrics for my Autumn Angel.    I purchased these fabrics from * Here *

I made myself this pattern almost two years ago - blog post here  & still really love my Autumn Angel. I extended the apron quite a bit & added the pompom trim, the same as I did for my Angel.  The Plum is also a free pattern on the website.

Well friends you can see why I could not post all that & wanted to hand deliver it.  I also wanted to see Claire's face when she opened each package & afterwards she may have shed a tear or two - she was so delighted with all her treasures.  Claire is one of the kindest, most generous people I know & it was such a pleasure to make this for her & bring her some Joy.  I thought long & hard about her colours & what she might like & was pleased to say I got it just right.  (If you are on Instagram you can follow along with Claire * Here *

If you made it all the way to the end - Thank You So Much !

I shall be back in a few days with my final Catch Up Post.

Have a wonderful week ahead dear friends,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0