Free pattern for Christmas Number 2

Today I have for you the second of my 

free patterns for Christmas. 

It is a mug wrap, very easy and quick to make and ideal for keeping your beverage warm over Christmas. The Christmas Mug Hug:

I hope you like it and enjoy making it. You can download the pattern here.

While you are over in my store, you might like to look at two other Christmas patterns I have put there.  The original version of Candle, Candle, Burning bright cushion is made from Silk Dupion, but of course you could easily use your favourite cotton fabric:

And here is something that would make a delightful gift - a 3½ inch box with some silk ribbon embroidery inset - Yuletide Poinsettia:

This blog post seems to be following the Embroidery theme, so I will show you another of my silk ribbon designs which has just been published - the Bee Hive:

It's a needlecase for packets of needles.

Can't get away from roses:

Delphiniums, super easy made from French Knots:

I just love the colour of this hand-dyed Kacoonda ribbon:

and Primula Candelabra:

You can find the pattern in Embroidery & Cross Stitch Magazine Vol 22 Issue 5:

I've been busy all week but don't seem to have accomplished much! I did manage to design my first quilt with my new EQ software. I can see that using this programme is going to be lots of fun! More than that, it is so good to be able to see what the quilt is going to look like BEFORE I start cutting and sewing. 

In the past, it was a case of "design as you go", auditioning fabrics, blocks, borders and binding on the run, until the right one was found. It is so much simpler to change the colours with the click of a mouse! I hope to make a start on the quilt this week - after I design and make your next free Christmas pattern!

Happy stitching!

Val

Free patterns for Christmas

The first of my free Christmas patterns is ready for you today.

Feel free to share the logo above on your blog, Facebook or wherever you like!

The first pattern I have for you is a Christmas Dove ornament. It's a traditional decoration, symbolic of peace, purity and love. It's a reminder to me of God's great Christmas gift to us - Jesus - the only one who can bring true peace to our hearts - and to the world.

You don't need much equipment to make one and it won't take long,  so I hope you enjoy making some lovely Christmas Doves. Imagine how beautiful they would look in white felt with gold or silver embellishment.

You can find the pattern here in my Craftsy store.

Don't forget to email me some photos of the Christmas Doves that you make.

Here's another really quick project of mine that you could make for Christmas - "Holly Rings":

They are serviette rings made or burlap/hessian with a little bit of lace, applique and embroidery.

You can find the pattern in Handmade magazine Vol 33 No 1:

I've had a very happy week - completed two projects that I am quite ecstatic about, sent off three designs to magazine editors, had a wonderful family celebration and began playing with my new Electric Quilt 7 software!

On the "To Do" list this week is to make some mug rugs for Christmas presents and I'm itching to start designing a quilt with my new programme. There's some lovely fabric in the stash crying out to be used!

Happy Stitching!

Val

Free Block of the Month Wall Quilt - Pattern 11

The last set of instructions for the free

"Shining like the Dawn"
wall quilt is now ready for you.

I hope you enjoy making this design and I'd love to see photos of what you do with the pattern. You can download the last instructions here. All the patterns for this wall quilt are still available on my free pattern page and will remain there until 31st December.

I hope to have my
Four weeks of Christmas Giving
up and running again this year. For the next four weeks I plan to give you a free pattern each week. I have one ready but I had better get my skates on and get the other three organised! Look out for a delightful Christmas tree ornament next week! 

I rather like satchels so when I was asked to design a bag with country theme, this is what I came up with - Needle in a Haystack:

It has applique, embroidery and a little bit of whimsy.

You can find the pattern in Country Threads Vol 15, No 8.

Occasionally I grow my own pumpkins like on my satchel, but we don't have a lot of room, so other vegetables are more of a priority. One of the first things I did when we moved into our new home was to buy some herb plants. My mother always had home-grown herbs in the garden and for many years I have had a few pots of my favourite herbs. At the moment, I have mint, parsley, rosemary, basil and thyme and I love the freedom of being able to go and pick some whenever I want. In honour of that, I designed The Herb Garden project a couple of years ago:

It has always been one of my favourite designs, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that it had been chosen to be featured in the Homespun So Pretty 2015 calendar.

I didn't really have any hopes, other than having an outlet for my work, when I first started designing in 2005. My dream was to find someone who thought my work was of a good enough quality to want to put it in print.  Being published in seven magazines was way beyond any dreams or expectations that I ever had. Now to top it off, we're a calendar girl! I feel so blessed and privileged to have travelled this creative journey.

Happy stitching!

Val

Making the most of the colour of the year!

You might remember that I recently wrote a post called Shades of Purple where I explained that this year I was going non-traditional with the colour of my Christmas designs.  I figure that with the colour of the year being Radiant Orchid, it was a good time to indulge in my love of all things purple!

There's just one thing that I love even more than purple and that is mixing some raspberry with it!

Let me introduce you to the Christmas Chimes Candle mat:

This design uses gorgeous hand-dyed Kacoonda felt, ribbons and threads. They are such a delight to use - the silk threads just glide through the fabric:

You can find the design in Embroidery & Cross Stitch magazine Vol 22, No 4:

I've just spent the weekend away at the Creative Craft Retreat teaching Hardanger and silk ribbon embroidery. It was such a fabulous weekend and my students did brilliantly. I have taught Hardanger before but the class then had difficulty with the technique, so this time I changed some of my teaching methods and had much more success. 

I stitched along with them so that I could show them the various steps:

Couldn't get away from the purple!

Keep an eye out next week for the final pattern in the free block of the month "Shining Like the Dawn" pattern. I'm thinking about what I can give you for Christmas after that!

I had better go and put away my stitching gear from the weekend!

Happy stitching.

Val

In and Out of the comfort zone

I admit to being a traditionalist, a romantic, and lover of vintage, so it was a step out of the comfort zone to design a modern Christmas bag in non-traditional colours!  I was also on a time limit and I never do my best work when I'm under pressure. Most of the rest of my family thrive under the stress and rise to the occasion, but I'm the odd-man out - I need unflustered time!  

Anyway, the project was born and here is the "Bells are Ringing" Christmas bag in Handmade 32/12:

It's passable but not my best project! On the other hand, what I am working on this week is fast becoming my favourite. It was percolating during our overseas holiday and as soon as I arrived back, it was time to audition fabrics:

When I'm choosing colours, I look for one fabric that will tie everything together. That's the multi-coloured fabric in the centre. From there, it was easy to find tone-on-tone, stripes, checks, and small-scale prints that would match the blue, pink, burgundy, green and brown. I tend to stick to no more than four colours in a design, so the green was ousted. The brown will have a miniscule part in the project, but it was important that it be the right brown. 

I think it was this new design that did it - I now have my inspiration back! (... No sneak peaks of the project yet, but it's cute, gorgeous and adorable and I am loving it!)  It's taken a while to get back into the groove of crafting after a month away from it, but now I have designs swimming around in my head and I can't wait to work on them. 

I'm off to Creative Craft Retreat next weekend. It's always such a fantastic time and I am looking forward to teaching Hardanger and Silk Ribbon Embroidery. The project for the weekend is the Sweet Nothings pincushion and scissor keep:

I'm right back in my comfort zone:

I love the combination of the two genres. The colour of the silk ribbon embroidery gives so much life to the cream-on-cream of the Hardanger.

Now I had better go and put the finishing touches on the pattern!

Happy stitching, 

Val