Playing with Tilda Harvest

Today I am finally sharing my Tilda Harvest quilt in all its glory! I have been sharing some peeks on Instagram of my progress but really really really wanted to wait until I had it all finished to share properly. This is probably going to be a long post as I need to share the fabric, pattern and also amazing location. Stay tuned for tips too if like me you prefer to not use pins when piecing quilts, yes even curves!

But first, welcome to Wildfire Organic Tea.

All of you that follow me anywhere know all about my blatant and overwhelming love for coffee. All things coffee. So it may come as a surprise that it was this delightfully quirky tea shed that completely stole my heart. In fact the very second that Tilda Harvest arrived in my hands I knew exactly where my photos would be taken. How lucky am I that Jane is such a lovely accommodating friend and let me take over the place for a couple of hours to get my shots.

Jane is the founder, owner and master blender of Wildfire Organic Tea which can be found in Port Elliot. She is amazing, I honestly have no other words to describe her. She is incredibly passionate, profoundly knowledgeable and one of the most generous women I have ever been lucky enough to meet. Oh and lets not forget the adorable SooTEA her sidekick and all round Top Dog. Jane will fundamentally change the way you drink tea, and if you are a chai girl like I am then her Red Earth Chai is around the best thing ever. And I mean ever! I have come home from my day out and found myself choosing it over my standard coffee. It takes a pretty special drink to do that.

See how she tops it with all this wizardry? Honestly this woman knows her stuff. So if you want to buy amazing organic tea, supporting an amazing small business and generally drink your way to great health then please go and visit Jane’s website right here and place your order. I promise you wont be disappointed, nor will anyone you choose to gift it to. And if you are in Port Elliot then please pay Jane a visit and tell her I said Hi. It is so vitally important we support all our artisan makers, and seriously the vegan cakes will be the very necessary icing on the cake.

Time for the quilty part of the post. I feel a bit disjointed and all over the place writing tonight, there is probably a reason I try not to talk about too many things in one blog post but hey, it all ties in so beautifully at the end I promise.

I was lucky enough to be sent Tilda Harvest to play with by the Australian distributor Two Green Zebras. Oh how I love this range. Sweet florals, darling birds and such a great colour pallet. I knew immediately I wanted to show it all off together in a really striking quilt. I also knew it was time to try something new, after all I am trying to push myself this year and build my skills. So I decided to turn my hand at Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane’s latest pattern Tumbleweeds.

I have never pieced curves before and I wont lie, I panicked for the first block. I tried too hard to make everything perfect. Good news is this pattern is super forgiving. I made it a bit hard for myself by choosing directional fabric, different backgrounds per block and not using pins but nothing like trial by fire. There were mistakes, oh yes there were mistakes, but the overall effect is striking. If you are crazy like me then I will put some tips at the end of this post for how I created this quilt from the pattern.

I was so proud when I finished the quilt top I had to photograph and share it straight away. Unusual for me because I like to do the reveal here but seriously I couldn’t wait! So many hours of work so dodgy iPhone shot at the park it was.

Now on Friday last week I toddled down to Wildfire Tea with the gorgeous Yaisa of Yoga Here & There and got my photographer on. Yaisa has just come back home after three months away and it was lovely to catch up, she would have to be the calmest person I know. And she has created this amazing life for herself, one completely different to mine and awe-inspiring. Yaisa will be teaching a yoga workshop at the Brew Shed starting next Saturday so if you love yoga and you love tea then this could be the perfect thing.

Jane was quick to hand out tea and cake as soon as we arrived and I got to work on taking photos. The Brew Shed is just delightful and there were so many little spots to photograph the quilt in, even though it is not a large place. But it just has so many wonderful things for the eye to take in and adore.

Like vintage tea cups……

Walls made from tea chests…..

Glass jars filled with amazing things for you to be able to blend your own tea and take it home with you….

And of course the divine SooTEA who happily modeled in front of the quilt when I went to take a full shot.

The only thing I was sad about was I went at a time of the day when lighting wasn’t exactly my friend. Still though it is easy to see that the quilt blended perfectly with its surroundings.

Just as we were heading out the door. I took this shot and it is my favourite of all. It almost looks like someone who knows how to use their camera properly took the shot! Look at all that Tilda deliciousness in one rolled up little bundle.

Thank you so much for letting me take photos in your beautiful space Jane, next time I’m coming back with friends and drinking all the tea!

Now for anyone interested in making a similar version of the Tumbleweeds quilt to mine let me help you out with some tips, especially if you are incapable of using pins. I would love to know if you find them useful or not!

I tried to pin the first block and it was a disaster. I preferred to feel my way around the pieces. Sewing very slowly I just eased it all together as I went and 9/10 times it worked really well. But the best thing is that because this quilt is really forgiving it doesn’t have to be perfect to still be effective.
If you do find it easier not to pin then it really is best to guide the pieces slowly like I mentioned and try really really hard to not lift the presser foot. I found each and every time I lifted the foot up to readjust it ended up not lining up well and made completing the block that much harder.
Did I mention go slowly?
If using one directional fabric you need to be a bit smarter when cutting out if you want everything facing the right way. Cut half your pieces upside down.
To cut the pieces I created plastic template and folded the fabric in quarters. I then used a frixion pen to draw on the top layer of fabric and cut it out with shears. I could never trust a rotary cutter around corners. It took longer but I think the pieces were better to piece that way.
To make the quilt larger and lap size I made 16 blocks so I could arrange in a 4×4 construction. Each block took me around 1.5 hours to make but assembly at the end was super fast. I then sashed it with strips 5″ wide to make a quilt that was 60″ square.
I quilted using diagonal lines as shown in the diagram. I think it is really effective and you never get overlapping lines . I went with 1/2″ apart which was kind of crazy now I look back but I was on a role hahahaha. I really prefer dense quilting, I think I love how it restricts the fabric from movement.