Val Laird

Bring on the needle and thread

2012-01-29T13:37:00.001+10:00

The needle and thread had plenty of work this week! We have had so much RAIN. On Wednesday we had 189 ml (7½ inches) in one day, with a total of more than 530 ml (21 inches) just this week. That's much more than the total annual rainfall of where we used to live in South Australia! Needless to say, I had a great excuse not to get out and do any gardening, and it was no use washing my floors, so bring on the needle and thread! Add to this some very late nights watching the Australian Tennis Open, and you can see it was a good stitching week. Most of the time was spent on the project I am making for a charity - but more about that another day.

This little pincushion appeared in Handmade magazine recently:

This design combines so many of the things I enjoy. I love working with felt, delight in making pretty yet practical items, and of course I can never make enough bullion roses!

Don't you love the new layout of Handmade magazine? I still get excited about seeing my designs in print, no matter how many times it has happened.

Speaking of felt, this is a reminder that I will be conducting an online Workshop at Patchwork Posse in March. The pattern is a sewing set consisting of needlecase, pincushion and scissorkeep and I'm big on the purple side of the colour wheel this year - it's called "Lilac Love".

It is very reasonably priced, and I'd love to have you in the workshop, so hop over and have a look here.

It's been lovely seeing photos of the first block of "Thoughts in Thread" popping up around blogland. Here is Melody's:

and Penny H. sent this (and told me I could share it if I told you not to look too closely!):

Fabulous job, ladies, and I'm amazed that you have already finished them and there are still two weeks to go before block 2 comes out!

Our fruit shop had peaches on sale for a great price again this week (only $1.95 a kg), so, yes, I bought another case and preserved some more. I have to keep telling myself while I'm on my feet for a couple of hours, peeling skins and slicing peaches,that it's all worth it for the benefits I will gain for the rest of the year!

Hope you have a productive week.

Happy stitching!

Val

The empty nest

2012-01-22T14:45:00.001+10:00

We farewelled the last of our family on Tuesday, so all the chicks have gone and we are back to the empty nest. That nest needed a fair bit of attention so I've had a busy week of washing, cleaning, putting things away and generally tidying up. Most of the window flyscreens and tracks have been cleaned, some of the furniture has been polished and I even cleaned the silver!

I love that doiley - one of many that my mother made me. Even the spoon collection had a spruce up:

We've started on the gardens and yard. There were much better things to do than gardening while we had family here, but I've put a reminder to self: "In future do not leave garden without attention for four weeks in sub-tropical summer."!!!

When I went to restock the pantry, our local fruit shop had some beautiful peaches at a very good price. I bought a case (10 kgs), and spent Friday afternoon bottling them. That now means I have 26 bottles of plums, peaches and pears in the pantry, so that is a good six months supply of lovely fruit to have on our breakfast cereal.

In between getting the house back in order, I started work on a project that I am designing for one of the Australian charities. I haven't progressed very far as every time I sit in my "stitching" recliner after tea, the eyelids droop and in a couple of seconds I am off to sleep! Seems the rhythm of life hasn't quite resumed after the Christmas holidays.

Now, someone who definitely has their act together is Joan. Just four days after giving you the pattern for the new free BOM quilt, "Thoughts in Thread", there in my Inbox is a photo of Joan's completed block! Joan is using the colours of her family room where she is going to hang the quilt:

And while we're talking free BOM quilts, Penny has sent a photo of her version of the 2010 "Consider the Lilies" quilt, which she has modified to fit the wall in her sewing room:

Thank you, ladies for sharing these photos. I always love to see what you have done with my patterns, so keep sending them in please.

Magazines have been arriving thick and fast in my mailbox. The current issue of Creating Country Threads Vol 12 No 8 has my tribute to Australia Day (26th January) with my "This is my Country" wallhanging.

and on the inside:

I'll show you some more next time!

I had better go and tackle some paperwork now, so that I can sit down later with some stitching and a clear conscience.

Happy stitching!
Val

Free Pattern Launch - Thoughts in Thread

2012-01-15T06:36:00.000+10:00

Today is the day!!! My 2012 free Block of the Month Quilt design is officially launched! Thank you to everyone who entered my poll to see whether you wanted the quilt to be revealed now, or month-by-month. Of the 433 people who voted, 70% said they wanted to see the complete quilt right at the beginning. That is an overwhelming response, so, close your eyes and scroll down if you don't want to see it all now!

Thoughts in Thread:

"Thoughts in Thread" is a wall quilt measuring 34 inches square and consists of nine blocks. Each month over nine months, I will give you the pattern for each block, then in the tenth month you will receive the finishing instructions. If you keep up each month, you will have a gorgeous Christmas present ready for someone special!

The concept of this design comes from a wonderful verse in the Bible: Philippians 4:8 -

Summing it all up: Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly—fill your minds with these thoughts.

You can see that it is all about Thoughts, hence the title - "Thoughts in Thread". I hope you will really come to love this verse as we stitch our way through it in 2012.

The first block focuses on true thoughts. I used a violin for this block because it is such a beautiful instrument. However, if it is not truly in tune, or the notes are not played truly, it can be quite painful to listen to! It's a reminder to me to only allow things that are true into my mind - not hearsay, or gossip or half-truth.

The applique is surrounded by some simple piecing and of course it wouldn't be my design if it didn't have plenty of stitching embellishment! I hope you like it!

The design is completely free, but I would love it if you would put my “Thoughts in Thread” button in the sidebar of your blog with a link back to http://val-laird.blogspot.com. (Just right click and Save Picture As a jpg file onto your computer, then upload it to your blog.) Or you can advertise it on Facebook, or any other way you can think of. Here is the button, designed by my lovely daughter, Janelle:

Now, over you go to my website where you can download Block 1- scroll down past all those patterns till you come to the bottom of the page. (I don't mind if you click on some of the patterns as you go past and have a good look. They are all available as e-patterns - ie you will receive them in your e-mail Inbox within 24 hours of purchasing them.)

Keep a watch in the third week of February for the next instalment and I hope you have fun choosing your fabric and starting on my new design.

Happy stitching.

Val

She sells seashells ...

2012-01-08T15:01:00.000+10:00

Today I'd like to introduce you to one of my projects which is in the latest Patchwork & Stitching magazine Vol 12/10. It's a little dilly bag for taking to the beach, along with a matching sunglasses case.

We live near the beach and I just love to walk on the sand and I always have my eyes open for any shells that might have washed ashore. Years ago, in fact when we were courting, my husband and I were avid shell collectors and we spent a lot of our time working out which shell was which and classifying them. We still have some of the rarer species of our collection and they have survived our six or seven moves! So you can see where the inspiration for this design came from. I called it "She sells seashells" - were you taught this tongue twister too?

It's hidden a bit on the front cover:

and here it is on the inside:

Thank you to those who have already entered my poll. There are still 6 days to let me know whether you want to see the new free BOM quilt at the beginning of the year, or have it revealed as a surprise each month. So far, most of you want to see it now! I might have to work out a compromise to keep the people who "like the mystery" happy! I better hurry up and finish the quilting and get some binding on this week so I can take some photos! Not to speak of the pattern writing! If all goes to plan, I hope to give you the first pattern next week.

We farewelled six of our family on Wednesday and another six this morning, so we are down to just six left now. The place is rather quiet without little children running around! It has been a very special time all being together. I'm not quite back in my sewing room yet, and I feel as if my mind is still going round in circles (forgot to make a loaf of bread this morning for lunch!), but the new quilt is top of the list this week.

Meanwhile, I hope you have a great week!

Happy stitching

Val

Please answer this question for me

2012-01-07T07:21:00.000+10:00

I decided to have a poll to see how you would like me to reveal the new free 2012 Block of the Month quilt.
The question is whether you want to see the whole quilt now or would prefer it to be a surprise each month.

I have put a poll button on the sidebar and would LOVE it if you would give me an answer on what you would prefer. It will only take a second to click one of the answers and it would help me to gauge what the majority want. So PLEASE vote!!!

Thank you ... and happy stitching.

Val

I don't do New Year resolutions!

2012-01-01T20:34:00.000+10:00

Happy New Year! I hope you have a wonderful 2012 filled with many blessings.

Years ago I faithfully used to make my New Year resolutions, only to find a week later that I had already broken them and didn't have a hope of sticking to them. So, why bother???!!!! Now I don't do the NY resolution thing and don't even have any big goals for the year. I am happy to plod along doing whatever comes to my hand to do each day, and to stitch and design as I have inclination, time, inspiration and whatever else is needed. That's one of the advantages of being retired! There is a great sense of freedom in my life and I LOVE it!!!

That's not to say the diary is empty! There are already 11 magazine commissions, a design to produce for a charity, a workshop being organised and an online workshop at Patchwork Posse. I wouldn't be happy if I didn't have plenty to fill in my days!

I have a couple of projects that came out in magazines during December that I haven't shown you yet. This one is my Trail of Roses Scissor Pillow, made from Silk Dupion. It is like a pincushion attached to your embroidery scissors with a pocket on the front to keep them in between usage.

and here it is in Australian Country Craft and Decorating, Vol 23, No 3:

We had an amazing Christmas with all 25 of our family members present. We worked out that this was the first time this has ever happened! Can you imagine the fun ... and madness!

Eighteen of us are still together so there hasn't been much sewing done, BUT I have done a bit of hand-quilting on the new 2012 free Block of the Month quilt which I will be making available in a couple of weeks. I am really pleased with it. It is one of those designs that just came together beautifully first time. The "Consider the Lilies" 2011 pattern has been taken down from the free site in readiness for the new 2012 quilt. It is now available for purchase.

Time to go and play another game of 500 - our nightly entertainment!

Happy stitching!

Val

Last few days to "get it free"

2011-12-28T07:06:00.000+10:00

Just a reminder that if you wish to download my free "Consider the Lilies" quilt design, there are just a few days left. The pattern will be taken off the website on 31st December in preparation for the new 2012 free design.

Go here to download all eleven patterns.

Happy stitching

Val

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-24T16:34:00.000+10:00

I wish all my lovely blog friends a wonderful Christmas, celebrating God's amazing gift of Jesus. I hope you are able to experience the love, joy and peace of this beautiful season.

Nearly all our family are here now and we are having heaps of fun and wonderful food. I was smart this year and prepared a roster so that each of our four families shares in the cooking, so I'm only on duty every fifth day! I'm enjoying my holiday! We have some amazing culinary talent in our family - they certainly don't get the genes from me - so we are enjoying mouth-watering goodies and delicious meals. They are so good that nothing goes to waste - except that I'm afraid it might be going to my waist! Just as well Christmas only comes once a year!!!

I hope you have some wonderful family times too this Christmas and look forward to sharing with you again in the new year.

Blessings

Val

Online Workshop - and something for FREE!

2011-12-18T08:47:00.000+10:00

This is this new project I've been working on this month - "Lilac Love". I'll be conducting an Online Workshop with it at Patchwork Posse next year. It won't be happening till March, so why am I telling you about it now in the week before Christmas??????

BECAUSE if you register for one of the workshops this week (until Dec 24th) you will get their "Christmas Spirit" Workshop FREE!!!! That means 12 new patterns that will all be finished and ready for next year's Christmas Season!

My Lilac Love set includes a pinushion:

a scissorkeep, personalised with your own initial:

and a needlecase:

All the workshops are offered at a great price ... but of course I hope you will want to do mine!!!!!! (it's only $US10). Go here for the details.

I feel as if I am ready for Christmas!!! The grandchildren decorated the tree earlier this month, all the presents are wrapped, I've worked out where everyone is going to sleep, visited the Op Shop for some extra crockery and sheets, made the Christmas pudding, written up the "House Rules" !!! and now I'm just waiting for the first lot of the family to arrive from Japan in two days' time. Two more families arrive on Wednesday, then there'll be more coming on Friday and then Christmas Day - till all 25 of us are together!!!

My dream to have the new free Block of the Month quilt ready for hand-quilting while all of our family are here took a bit of a "downer" this week. I fell asleep with it in my hand almost every night this week!!! ... like at 8 pm! That's pretty much unheard of for me as I'm usually good till 10.30 pm. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that I am usually up between 4 am and 5 in summer, and burning the candle at both ends caught up with me last week. It could NOT be that I am getting old!!!

What I have finished is looking pretty I think. Some teaser pics for now:

Now for a reminder! The Consider the Lilies quilt patterns are still available for free download over on my website.

They will be taken down on the 31st December in readiness for the 2012 pattern. So if you haven't downloaded them yet, you have just a few days left to obtain this pattern for FREE. I'm happy for you to tell your friends about it too.

Have a great week and don't get stressed about Christmas!

Val

Things are "hotting up" ...

2011-12-11T12:18:00.000+10:00

I'm sure you are finding, as I am, that things are "hotting up" in the countdown to Christmas. Maybe my friends in the snow don't think that's the best way to describe this busy time of the year, but it's very appropriate for where we live. We found out this week that ALL of our immediate family are going to be at our house for Christmas!!! YAY! All 25 of us!!! Now, I'm busy trying to work out if we have enough tables and chairs to fit everyone, counting the sheets and mattresses, deciding whether we need to buy another set of crockery etc. The interstate and overseas families will stay in our house and be around for a couple of weeks - as our daughter described it: "Fun and madness all rolled into one"!!!

Needless to say I'm going like mad trying to get the necessary sewing done. I've been working on the new free Block of the Month quilt for 2012. It is looking so sweet and turning out beautifully. I hope to have it ready for hand-quilting by the time everyone starts arriving in 8 days as that will be a good project for sitting around chatting. Then I will be conducting an on-line workshop early in the new year so I'm trying to finish a set of three designs for that.

Now here's something that was finished some time ago - my Showers and Flowers cushion. It is in Patchwork & Stitching magazine Vol 12 No 9.

I always love it when my project makes the front cover!!!

You can't go wrong with checks or stripes, can you?

We had some of our grandchildren with us last week but we only had one trip to the beach as the weather was not good. It gave Miss E an opportunity to finish a couple of projects. This girl definitely has the stitching genes. She did all the stitching on the centre panel herself and most of it before she turned seven!

She decided she would like it made into a cushion, so Grandma raided the purple box for the squares to frame it.

Miss E also finished a little purse from a kit, but it didn't come with a handle, so that called for a lesson in how to make a twisted cord. She was pretty surprised by how those threads suddenly became a rope!

One of her brothers is a pretty amazing stitcher too. He even tackles satin stitch! He has almost finished the Peace block from my 2010 free Block of the Month project, Gifts of Grace.

Well, that's enough skiting (that's Australian for boast!) about my talented grandchildren.

Have a great week.

Happy stitching

Val

Free Christmas pattern

2011-12-04T07:15:00.000+10:00

Today I have for you a free Christmas bag pattern. It's the design that featured in Handmade magazine earlier in the year:

This little bag measures 6 x 8 inches so is ideal for that small gift or maybe a gift voucher and a chocolate. It is very quick to make and there's a little bit of applique and stitchery to keep "those who love to have a needle and thread in their hand" happy! It's fat quarter friendly too and of course you can embellish it to your heart's content!

You can find the download in the Christmas section of my website here.

I've had a great week of sewing and have been busy working on the 2012 free Block of the Month quilt pattern for you. It is coming together beautifully and I am so enjoying stitching it. There will be nine blocks and I've already finished three this week! I think you're going to like it!!! I hope to have it ready to start in January -maybe I'll give you a sneak peak next week.

Do you remember the little fluff balls I showed you a few weeks ago? They left the nest recently and we managed to find them not too far away. How cute is this? That is father on the left, doing his camouflage pose.

The lovely Annette very kindly sent me a photo of her beautiful version of my Love Never Fails quilt.

Isn't it delightful with the green spot borders? I love this design because you are able to hang a different mini quilt in the centre whenever you feel like a change. Thanks Annette for sharing your lovely work.

We have four of our grand-children here (with their mum and dad) at the moment, so that means trips to the beach, grass slides, board games, lots of meals to make and plenty of hugs, smiles and laughs!

Hope you have a great week too.

Happy stitching!

Val

We have winners!

2011-11-27T05:39:00.002+10:00

It's time to pick our winners of my little giveaway ... and this is what the trusty Random Number Generator has decided:

No 37. Congratulations, Rita E in AZ is the first prize winner. Rita said: "I was just reading about a gift Megan made for her husband and shared on her blog here: http://megsmonkeybeans.blogspot.com/2011/11/fractal-quilt.html. The men in my family love to camp and hunt so I make crocheted hats with camouflage yarn which are very easy to lose and in constant need of replacement. Your prizes are great!"

And No 24. Congratulations to Michell who has won the second prize. Michell said...
"I follow you and I am sorry I have no idea what to make for a male"

Please e-mail me your snail-mail addresses so that the parcels can be on their way to you soon!

Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun. A special BIG THANK-YOU to you clever ladies who made suggestions for gifts for men!!! You were all amazing and came up with such GREAT ideas! In fact, the ideas were all so brilliant and there were so many different ones, that I have sorted them into rough sections and put them together in a file. You can download the pdf file from my website here. It is a wonderful resource that I certainly will be using in the future.

After my lack of motivation and unproductivity earlier in the month, I'm pleased to say that it's been all systems GO for the last couple of weeks. I've made a sewing set, table runner, small wall hangings and some Christmas gifts, all of which I can't show you at the moment for various reasons!

I can show off my lovely new appliance covers though. I wanted to have something with red which is the accessory colour in my kitchen which was resurfaced recently. It was "Old Mother Hubbard" when I went looking in my stash for the right colour red fabric, but I did have a very large scarf which was EXACTLY the colour I wanted. So, yards of fusible webbing later, lots of buttonhole stitching, and Ta Da - my new toaster oven cover.

I also made one the same to fit my breadmaker.

My Oriental Touch clutch and cuff is in the latest Handmade magazine.

I used some lovely kimono fabric in this project which our daughter bought on a visit to her sister in Japan and which she gave to me for one of my birthdays. I especially like the cuff which looks so sweet on the arm. Hmm, they would make a great Christmas gift ....

Here's a close-up of the embroidery on the buttons - three little rosebuds. Can't help myself with my roses!

Now, how is this for one "up to the minute" lady! Lovely Lyn Morrison has already finished her "Consider the Lilies" quilt and sent in a photo - just ONE week after I uploaded the last pattern. Isn't this just gorgeous? You have blown me away, Lyn!

I hope to soon start working on another free block of the month pattern for you for 2012. All the ideas are on paper - I just need to get it out onto fabric!

Have a great week - and happy stitching!

Val

Giveaway time!

2011-11-20T16:09:00.000+10:00

It must be time for a Giveaway, what with Christmas on the horizon, and my new Facebook page ... and I haven't done a giveaway for a couple of months, so why not?

There will be a couple of winners. Each will receive a few bits and pieces - crochet bag, cupcake pincushion, heart keyring and trivet - something like this:

Then there'll be this bundle included in the first prize:

Do you remember the design below, using the beautiful Martinique range by 3 Sisters?

and this, using Rural Jardin by French General:

I found I had quite a few Jelly Roll strips left over from these two fabric ranges, so they are bundled together and are ready to be included with the first prize.

And I'm sure you'll remember all the things I made from the delightful Garden Party range by Blackbird Designs. Last count, I had made 14 different projects.

Now would you believe there are still some scraps left??? There's enough fabric to cut lots of border squares like on my Fantasia wall-hanging above and plenty of bits and pieces for applique and mug rugs.

So that bundle will be included in the second prize.

Now for some rules. If you are a "follower" of my blog, you are eligible to enter (from anywhere in the world), so leave a comment below. If you want to be super nice, you can give me in your comment some ideas of gifts to make for MEN! I always find it SO hard to think of male gifts, so would love some help if you have a bright idea. You can have a second entry in the competition if you "Like" my Facebook site. Leave a second comment to let me know you have hit the "Like" button at the top of the Facebook page.

The competition will close on Saturday 26th November at midnight (my time).

I haven't designed many Christmas projects in the past, probably because we didn't have Christmas in our own home for much of our 45 years of marriage, mostly travelling to see other members of the family. However, I did design two small projects this year and one of them was in Handmade earlier in the year and another in Vol 29, No 8 last month:

(It was lovely to share a page spread with my friend, Jenny, with her Daisy runner.) I called my design "Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh:

I've had quite a productive week, but more of that another time.

Keep an eye out for a free Christmas pattern that I will be making available soon.

Happy stitching!

Val

Free pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 11

2011-11-13T16:01:00.000+10:00

We've reached the end of our free Block of the Month programme, 'Consider the Lilies'!

Today I am giving you the rest of Block 4 and instructions for putting it together and finishing it off as a wall quilt. My quilt was hung on one of our walls yesterday, just on a bit of dowel at the moment, but I have ordered a lovely black 'scrolly' hanger which I think will really show off the quilt. Not many websites stock these hangers as large as 80 cm, so it took a bit of looking around to find what I wanted. Now I'm eager to hear the postman's knock!

And ta da! - the finished product:

I hope you like it as much as I do.

You can download the instructions for this pattern 11

here.

And here is a photo of the completed Block 4:

I hand-quilted the whole quilt. It took a while, but I am always much happier with my hand-quilting than my machine efforts! All the patterns will remain for free download until 31st December, so make sure you tell your friends.

Well, this last week was a much more productive one - much better than the previous three or four! I was beginning to wonder whether I'd ever get back into my usual frenetic pace! The assembly line went into full production and I managed to actually get some projects completed! Woo hoo! I made a gift, completed a sewing set and have started on some appliance covers.

My Butterscotch and Roses fabric has arrived, so I hope to get started on a new project next week. I love buying fabric ranges, but it brings its own problems! It's a bit like a child in a well-stocked lolly shop, not knowing which one to choose! There are so many lovely fabrics that it takes me ages to work out which ones I will use for applique, which ones I will keep for borders, how many I will include in the sashings, what binding I will use. Oh the joys of designing!!!!

As you know, I don't make many large quilts as I'm not big on piecing. However, when I bought an irresistible range of oriental fabrics, they were crying out to be made into a quilt. It is a very simple one to show off the gorgeous beauty of those fabrics. You can find it in the current issue of Australian Country Craft and Decorating, Vol 23 No 2.

I called it "Oriental Twist":

The Prairie Points:

Some months ago, I wrote up a tutorial for using the 1/4 inch bias tape maker and included instructions on how to make this Celtic knot:

If you missed it, you can find the tutorial here.

Don't forget to send me photos of any of my projects you happen to make. I love seeing your interpretation of my designs.

Until next time,
Happy stitching!

Regards
Val

Did I do anything at all last week?

2011-11-06T17:09:00.000+10:00

It was one of those weeks! I look back and think "Whatever did I accomplish in all those daylight hours I had?" I had a 'To Do' list as long as my arm (and I have long arms!) and how many things did I cross off as done?

I paid a few bills, did the shopping, washing, ironing and gave the house 'a lick and a promise'. I did make a batch of sweet orange marmalade (yum!) and replaced the zip in a pair of my husband's trousers. The rest of the jobs were transferred to next week's list! I have to admit that some of them like, "Apply Killrust to the Laundry Trolley and repaint it" have been transferred for a few months. I have an idea that in the back of my mind I'm thinking I'm just going to go out and buy a new one!!!

I could blame spending time looking at this Tawny Frogmouth that we have been watching on a nest for a while.

That little fluff-ball on the left is a baby. We could only see one on Friday when I took the photo, but there were definitely two little fluff-balls earlier in the week.

Or maybe I was too distracted watching the spectacular aerial pursuits of the Dollar Birds which have arrived in our district for Summer.

Or maybe it was the time I spent online looking at fabric!!! I saw a delightful new range called 'Butterscotch and Roses' and couldn't resist! To justify my purchase, I decided I better have something designed ready to make when the fabric arrives and that would give me something to show for my week's work. So, it was out with the pencil and I am very happy to say I have a new design sitting waiting for the postman's knock.

Seeing I don't have much else to show, I'll share my Lily Pond Needlecase, which appeared in Patchwork & Stitching Vol 12 Issue 7 last month. If you haven't worked it out already, I love making stitching accessories. (Check the link out on the web.) This is the front:

The inside:

and the back with the heart which is a little scissor's pocket:

It's one of my favourite designs from this year.

With Christmas coming ever so closer so quickly, I hope to be more productive this coming week! Hope you have a good one too!

Happy stitching!

Val

A fabulous weekend!

2011-10-31T11:41:00.000+10:00

I'm home from the Creative Craft Retreat! As always, it was a fantastic weekend in a beautiful location, surrounded by the Australian bush and birdsong. There were lots of amazing crafts being worked on or learned.

My crochet class did very well and they managed to get lots of Granny Squares made and a few bags finished (or 95% there!).

Each year, the Craft Retreat has a stall with lots of beautiful hand-made articles made by the participants. It's a fabulous opportunity to buy some unique gifts. A few weeks ago I was thinking I didn't have much to put on the stall this year ... but then I looked in the project crate and found a couple of bags:

A Christmas Wall-hanging:

A pincushion and scissor keep:

I printed out some of my patterns and with the key rings and pincushions that I quickly got together over the last couple of weeks, I ended up with LOTS of things to sell! All the above were snatched up quickly and I didn't come home with much at all. I was thinking that I would have enough left over for our Church fete next weekend, but there are very meagre pickings left, so I will have to get my skates on again and whip up a few more things!

Ten percent commission from everything sold on the stall goes each year to a worthy project. This year, the goal was to raise $1120 sales so that $112 could go towards providing sewing lessons (check out the link) for a woman in a third world country to enable a poor family to have an opportunity for work or even to set up a business. The fantastic news is that the goal was reached!!!

Now, I had better go and put on my skates!!!

Happy stitching!

Val

It's been a year since ....

2011-10-23T14:38:00.000+10:00

Yes, we celebrated our first anniversary in our new home last week! We love our new area with its beauty and diversity, its peacefulness and its proximity to all we need. We love being close to lots of our grandchildren. The cactus garden put on its own celebration for us:

Every spare moment of my week has been spent in making things for craft stall and church fete coming up.

Some needlecases:

A couple of table runners:

and quite a few of these:

I also have set up a page for Val Laird Designs on Facebook. You can find it here.

I'll be organising a giveaway soon so keep an eye out for some details in a couple of weeks time.

Have a great week,

Hugs

Val

Free pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 10

2011-10-16T08:24:00.000+10:00

It's free pattern time again - second last one in the Consider the Lilies quilt. There's a cute little cottage with lilies in the garden.

The concept of "at home" is how we can feel as we rest in God's love and it reminds me of His wonderful provision of all our needs.

You can download the pattern from here.

Next month you'll see the finished product! It makes my heart smile every time I look at the quilt, so I hope you're enjoying making it too.

We've had a busy week with some lovely friends staying for a couple of days; then it was time to catch up on all the mail and e-mails that were happening while we were on holidays. I've nearly cleared the deck and have even completed a few more items for a stall at the Creative Craft Retreat where I'll be teaching in a couple of weeks.

Some little bee-hive pincushions

and some mug rugs.

Then I've added another pattern to the website, "Making Daisy Chains".

It's a fat-quarter friendly bag, using three fat quarters plus a bit of fabric for the appliques. The wording says "Happiness is ... making daisy chains" - makes me think of my childhood trying to make chains out of clover!

You can find the details here.

Yesterday we went to see the opera, La Boheme. It wasn't live, but the next best thing, recorded live at the Sydney Opera House and shown on the big screen with subtitles. It was fantastic and it was great to see some younger singers take the lead roles. The two main singers were absolutely amazing with the most beautiful voices. The songs are still going around in my head!

Happy stitching!

Val

Our proud moment!

2011-10-09T19:55:00.000+10:00

I'm back home after a lovely week's holiday with one of our sons and his family. As promised, I wanted to share about our happy day when my husband received his Order of Australia Medal.

The ceremony was held at Government House, Queensland. It's a place I know well as my grandmother lived opposite the extensive grounds and when I visited as a child, we used to see the then Governor walking his dog! Never did I dream that one day I would be invited inside!

The ceremony itself was a lovely intimate occasion. There were 24 medals presented, including Public Service, Police and Bravery awards. There were just seven receiving the Order of Australia Medal.

The Governor was very personable and pleasant and took time to speak at length with each recipient.

She then patiently posed so that the recipient's guests could get photos.

During the morning tea out on the lawn, the Governor went around to each recipient to meet their families.

My darling husband of 45 years.

The Governor said in her speech that less than 50% of people nominated for the OAM actually end up receiving it, as the requirements are so stringent and they are investigated very thoroughly. It has to be exceptional service to be awarded. Can you imagine how proud we are?

The medals in their gold-embossed box and velvet folder.

It was extra special to have our three children living in Australia being able to attend the occasion.

Thanks for indulging me in my proud moment!

Blessings

Val

Fete time!

2011-10-02T14:20:00.001+10:00

It's fete time in lots of places in Australia and I've been making bits and pieces for a couple of stalls coming up next month. My cupcake pincushions always seem popular, so I'm on a production line with them - cut out ten and have made four so far. This photo makes me think of the nursery rhyme line "pretty maids all in a row"!

Handmade magazine Vol 29/6 was a special Fete and Fairs issue and my Quick and Easy Fete Bags were in there - the purple and white bag on the bottom right:

I made two variations of the pattern:

You can make one in about an hour so they are superfast and great for whipping up a few for a fete or charity.

Handmade 29/7 also had a profile on me. Don't know that you would learn anything that you don't know about me from reading it, but it's there for the looking!

Here's a couple of sneek peaks at some more of the commissions that I finished this month:

not my usual colours but this one was all about Autumn.

Lots of variegated threads used in this one:

We're having a week's holiday with our interstate family at the moment. They head north and we drive south and we meet about halfway at a lovely location on the New South Wales coast. Four grandchildren to enjoy again!

My DH's ceremony at Government House was a fantastic time. I hope to share some photos next week when I am back home.

Have a great week.

Regards

Val

Some more finishes!

2011-09-25T09:26:00.001+10:00

Remember these two designs? I have put them on my website, so patterns are now available for purchase. I love working with felt and was quite delighted with this project:

Flitting Free Pincushion and Scissor Keep available here.

And here's a bright apron to lift the spirits in the kitchen:

Feeling Fruity is available here.

Our two grandsons have now gone home. There was plenty for them to do - riding at the park, swimming and grassslides at the beach, seeing the Smurf movie, making things from the recycle box, playing Bobs and making huge layouts with a train set. In between caring for them, I managed to get this completed:

Ruby and Ivory silk and red roses - sigh!

Since then, two more projects have been completed - just instructions to write up. It is so good to FINISH things - four commissions this month! However, in the process, I went looking in a crate that I try not to lift the lid on too often - and wish I hadn't because there's an awful lot of PASSES in there - (Projects at a Stand Still)! Oh well ....

Now, have a look at this gorgeous adaptation of my Gifts of Grace free pattern from last year:

Susie used eight of the blocks as the corners of her quilt:

Those blues are just lovely, aren't they!

Thanks, Susie, for sharing your lovely work.

Here's some great news - the fabulous Australian Magazine, Homespun, have gone digital! An annual digital subscription can be purchased here.

This is fabulous news for my overseas friends, as it has been so difficult to purchase the magazine outside Australia. But not now ....!!!

There's more excitement in our household this week - my husband will be presented with his Order of Australia Medal by the Governor of Queensland at Government House on Friday. Our three children in Australia are able to attend. Yeah!

Happy Stitching!

Val

Free pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 9

2011-09-18T08:22:00.000+10:00

Another month has been and gone and it's time for the next Pattern in the free

"Consider the Lilies"

Block of the Month Quilt. We're on to the first section of the last block, with only two more to go after this! You have a choice this time as to which verse you want to put on the block.

The thought we're focusing on this month is just amazing:

Your Father in heaven knows!

When our world is upside down, shaken up, totally topsy turvy and not making sense, we can take comfort in the fact that our Heavenly Father knows ... and that He IS in control.

There's just a little bit of piecing to add to it to pretty it up:

You can download the pattern from my website.

I just have to show you this gorgeous interpretation of last year's free pattern, "Gifts of Grace". Denise has done a fabulous job and the log cabin blocks and lovely border really enhance the project.

Do you want another free BOM pattern next year???????

Another project has been sent off to a magazine his week for publishing at the beginning of next year. I love it when an idea comes together without a hitch - not that it ever ends up anything like my original thoughts! I find I design better "on the run" - start sewing and see where it takes me!

A little sneak peak of the very Australian design:

I've had the designing pencil out quite a bit this week or I should probably say the eraser has been out as I seem to use it more than the pencil. I am very poor at drawing and need to study an item lots before my attempt has the faintest resemblance to what it should really look like. Just ask anyone who has ever played Pictionary with me! At least all that "looking" over the years has developed my eye for detail.

It's school holidays so we have two of our grandsons coming to stay for a few days. The weather at the moment is absolutely glorious so I expect there'll be plenty of playing on the beach and the grass slide. I can actually get quite a bit of craft done while I sit on the grassy foreshore and keep an eye on them. I've cut out some cupcake pincushions in readiness. They're small enough to take with me and don't require much concentration, but then I'll probably spend a lot of time dreaming and just enjoying the moment!

Hope you enjoy many special moments this week.

Val

Bags of all shapes and sizes

2011-09-11T15:18:00.000+10:00

You might remember I did a lot of crocheting during our Australian winter. It's time now to show you some of the bags I made. I had in mind, of course, that I had been asked to teach beginner's Crochet at the Creative Craft Retreat at the end of October.

It's always tricky catering for different ladies - some will want to do craft for every waking moment; others will enjoy having time to relax with no children, no cooking, no cleaning and just work during the lessons. I decided I would teach Granny Squares as they are a great way to learn basic crochet techniques. Then I set myself the challenge of making a bag with as few as possible, so that even if ladies only make three squares in the weekend, they can still take home a finished bag. Here is a three square bag - I worked a couple of extra rows on each square so that the bag was a reasonable size:

Then I tried a five square design:

This one is eight squares:

I rather like this ten square one:

The twelve-square bag came out an interesting shape:

Then I made a few 13 square bags. They are a really practical tote size and the colours were fun to put together:

If you live in South East Queensland and want a fabulous weekend away, I highly recommend the Craft Retreat. It is very reasonably priced, has great teachers (I have to say that seeing I am one!!!! - but the others are really experienced and wonderful teachers) and some fantastic crafts to learn ... or just come along and do your own thing.

I managed to get some projects finished this week. Hurrah!!! It seems ages since I actually finished any of my designs. There's nothing like a deadline to get some action! Here's a little sneak peak:

And I even got round to putting a couple more patterns on my website. The Garden Bows Cushion

can be found here for only $5.

With Sugar and Cream Table Topper is available here.

Hope you have a great week.

Regards

Val

The Birthday present problem

2011-09-04T21:36:00.000+10:00

In recent years, Birthday presents have been a problem in our large family. We lived so far from our children and grandchildren, and saw them rarely. It was fairly easy when they were preschoolers to find something suitable, but as they developed their own personalities, we didn't really know what they liked or what they already had. We solved the problem by giving them all money to go buy their own presents! The grandchildren especially seemed to enjoy being able to go to a shop to get something they really wanted.

This weekend we had a special reason to go and visit our daughter and her family - this little grand-daughter's sixth birthday party!

She didn't have a problem with being given money to spend!

DD2, however, surprised me a couple of months ago by putting in her birthday order: "What I really want for my birthday is for you to make me some covers for all my kitchen appliances."

Janelle and I have quite different tastes in colours so I suggested she choose the fabric so that I knew she would be happy with the finished product. Guess what she came back with!!!! - a dozen placemats and a table runner, plus some odds and sods of different materials to add so that there would be enough fabric to make all the covers!

How was I supposed to tackle this assignment??? No patterns either .... Armed with newspaper, scissors, tape measure and sticky tape, I did lots of measuring over all the protuding bits and tried to draw up patterns that would fit. Newspaper mockups, stuck together with sticky tape, were quite good at seeing whether the prospective cover would go off and on easily, and if the gussets would fit the curved shapes. Daughter lives nearly 3 hours away, so the covers were going to have to be made blind, with no opportunity to check and measure as I sewed, which is my usual method!

Last week I plucked up the courage to attack the project. First of all I had to allocate the placemats so that each cover would have some fabric in common and to make sure that I didn't run out. Then there was a lot of unpicking of the placemat hems, as I really needed that extra inch of fabric. It was amazing how I was able to fit quite a number of the patterns after that, without having to add any extra fabric, particularly for the fronts.

They came together fairly quickly, apart from sewing lots of binding down by hand which took for ever, and I managed to get five of them finished in two days.

I was quite pleased at the results, and daughter thought they were fabulous when I handed them over to her yesterday ... and they all fitted!

Toaster, Food Processor, Popcorn Maker, Grinder, Electric Jug

There's still the Mixer and the Bread Maker to go.

Now I'm all enthused to design a sewing machine cover for myself!

This week I hope to get stuck into some of the commissions that are piling up on my "to do" list. The Spring-cleaning has gone to the bottom of the list again! One thing for sure, it won't disappear - it will still be there waiting for me to do next week, or the week after, or .....?????

Happy stitching!

Regards

Val

The Story of an Orchid

2011-08-28T15:54:00.000+10:00

About 40 years ago I was given an Orchid plant. It was an Australian Native King Orchid and was a piece broken off from my grandmother's beautiful plant which flowered profusely in the Spring.

Now I need to tell you this little bit of information - I have always considered myself to have "Green fingers" or "Green thumbs", and if you haven't heard those terms, then I'll explain that I think I am reasonably good at gardening and most things grow well for me:

I have even won a couple of prizes for my gardens!

I only had my piece of orchid plant for a couple of years and it hadn't grown enough to flower before we moved house. It was an interstate move south, about 800 kilometres, and I had about 40 pot plants that I wanted to take with me. I put my orchid in a pot and duly had all the plants sprayed and certified suitable for moving to our new location.

My pot plants thrived and multiplied in the new climate.

My orchid looked very healthy, but it didn't produce any flowers.

Thirteen years later when we moved again, I whittled my number of pot plants back down to about 40 again (I told you they multiplied) ready for the move to another State 1600 kilometres away. My orchid of course went with me. We rented for two years so I didn't have my own garden, but my pot plants thrived, but still my orchid didn't flower. The next move was just across town and my 40 pot plants plus my orchid went to our new house. They all loved their new environment, but the orchid didn't flower.

By the time we moved again eleven years later, I needed to reduce my pot plants back down to about 40 again and they and my orchid moved 80 kilometres south to our beautiful retirement home.

By this time I had accumulated LOTS of orchids and they loved our new courtyard.

There were delicately coloured ones:

pink ones:

brown ones:

yellow ones:

They flowered profusely ...

and right next to them, on the same shelf, being treated with the same tender loving care, sat my King Orchid. It must have been the only orchid that I owned that didn't flower. The plant didn't thrive either in the very cold weather; in fact it actually reduced in size!

Last year, we sold our home ready to move back to Queensland where we started. I made the big decision not to take my pot plants with me this time. Patchwork and stitching have rather taken over my life since I retired and I decided I didn't want to spend lots of time looking after plants any more. Half a dozen would be enough to keep the house looking a bit green and I could buy plants more suitable to the sub-tropical climate when we moved. I said goodbye to them all:

... gave plants by the dozens away and kept just two. One was a very lovely big fern and the other - you guessed it - my King Orchid. I was nostalgic about that orchid because it came from my grandmother's plant and I had this secret idea, that maybe when it went back home to Queensland, it just might flower. The orchid and the fern sat in the back seat of our car and endured the 2000+ kilometre trip to our new home.

When we arrived, I bought half a dozen new plants and put them in the courtyard along with the fern and the orchid. All but one of my new plants died!!!!!! But guess what, in anticipation of its first Spring in our new home, the King Orchid has a flower spike on it!!! Yah!

It isn't fully out in flower yet, but I couldn't wait to show you!

Each little part of the flower spike is a tiny little white orchid:

Can you imagine how pleased I am after all those years! My orchid just needed to come home!

Have a great week,

Regards

Val

Making Daisy Chains

2011-08-21T14:29:00.000+10:00

One of my lovely daughters gave me some fabulous fat quarters for both last Christmas and my birthday. They are really good basics, being tone-on-tone fabrics. Now I know solids are the "in-thing" at the moment, but I feel much safer using fabrics that have a bit of a pattern on them, so I am finding these fats very useful.

I have made a children's project from them and the brighter colours were ideal for the appliques and borders. It will be published later in the year so a sneak peak only for now.

One day I was looking at the pretty array of colours in their boxes and decided to design a bag using just one fat quarter for the outer bag. And so was born my "Making Daisy Chains" bag which is in Country Threads magazine this month.

Here it is peeping from the front cover:

As a child, I was always wanting to make daisy chains. I never seemed to get the hang of keeping the flowers together in a chain and I was using what was readily available - clover flowers - but I have happy childhood memories of long days that never seemed to end, beautiful sunshine and the most wonderful backyard full of places to explore.

You can understand then why the wording on the bag is "Happiness is ... making daisy chains."

Now for some show and tell of what people have done with a couple of my free patterns ... Anita from Holland got on a roll and used my Threadcatcher pattern to make these for friends and family:

Aren't they lovely and colourful! I hope, Anita, you have made one for yourself now!

Sharon has shared a photo of her lovely version of The Garden Gate Pincushion. Hasn't she done a fabulous job:

You can find both these free patterns here.

Of couse, I'd love to see your finish product if you use the patterns.

Happy stitching!

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 8

2011-08-14T06:51:00.000+10:00

We'd better have first things first! I'm sure you will want to know who won my '400 Giveaway'.

The Random generator chose Number 57 - Susie.

The parcel of goodies will soon be winging its way to Melbourne.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I enjoyed reading your lovely comments which were all so encouraging.

Now it's time to give you Pattern 8 of the free BOM "Consider the Lilies".

This is the section for this month:

and when it's joined to Pattern 7, we have Block 3 complete:

and that's three quarters of the quilt done:

As usual, the pattern can be downloaded from my website here.

Patchwork & Stitching magazine decided to do a profile on me this month. It's five years since they did the last one, so they wanted to reflect on how my craft has progressed.

It was a good exercise for me to think about the last five years, where I'd come from, what I've learned, how I've developed. I quite enjoyed the process. I think my designs have improved, people tell me I have developed my "own style" (though I'm not really sure what it is!), I am much freer to think outside the square and do things differently and I have made so many friends along the way. It's been a good five years! I am forever grateful to the editor who commissioned my first project and started me on my design career. If my first submission had been rejected, I probably wouldn't have tried again!

The profile is in Vol 12 No 5 if you are interested in reading the blurb.

On the sewing front, I don't seem to have accomplished much lately. Crocheting was good while we had grandchildren to mind, as it was portable and required little concentration. We had our daughter's four lovely children for three days last weekend. We are so proud of our daughter - her sculpture was chosen to be shown at the Rob McNamara Exhibition, so she and her husband went to Melbourne for the opening of the exhibition. You can see some of her fabulous work here.

I did manage to finish a cushion cover this week. The stitchery had been done for weeks, so it was good to put it all together. It has already been commissioned so will be off to a magazine soon. Then there was another batch of marmalade made. I think we must eat more marmalade than anyone else I know, as I seem to have to make a batch every 4 or 5 weeks. I guess that's because home-made is SO much better than the supermarket one!

At the moment I have paint all over my hands (and probably elsewhere if I looked closely). I finally got round to painting our garage door. It was purple! Now I love purple, but not on my house!

Two coats later and it is now a nondescript cream blending in rather than standing out like a sore thumb! I really didn't need the garage door to be a feature of the front yard! It will need one more coat then it will be time to tackle the gates and dividing fences which are - you guessed it - also purple! I'll do an "after" photo when it's all finished.

I know you will love seeing Tracee's fabulous interpretation of my "All my Lovely Sewing Things" wall hanging. Just look at this:

I love those colours. In fact, I like it better than my original!

And Tracee has used this little fellow as her Profile Pic on Facebook:

Thanks Tracee for sharing your lovely work.

Hope you all have a great week.

Regards

Val

Celebrating 400 Giveaway

2011-08-07T16:09:00.000+10:00

I am so encouraged to know that there are people out there in blogosphere who actually like to read the bits and pieces I talk about on my blog! I am amazed that I now have 400 followers, so of course there has to be a Giveaway. I have gathered together a few bits and pieces for a prize:

"My Sewing Room" wall hanging.

A selection of 14 fabrics in 10 inch squares:

and a pretty mug bag:

(Accessories not included)

The rules are simple - no jumping through hoops, no hanging from the ceiling, no walking the tightrope -

If you are a follower of my blog, (or become one this week), then leave a comment at the end of this post if you wish to enter the giveaway.

Giveaway closes midday Saturday 13 August (Eastern Australia time). Please ensure I am able to contact you if you are a "No Reply blogger".

I made a couple of things for our daughter's birthday recently:

I won the pattern for this sweet bucket from Joy and of course daughter put her order in for me to make one for her!

Then I've still been in the crocheting mode so I whipped up a little bag for her:

Daughter has also put her order in for covers for all her kitchen appliances - food processor, breadmaker, popcorn machine, coffee grinder, toaster etc. I've made a start - sort of, by drawing up some paper patterns. Some of the shapes are quite challenging which means the sewing isn't going to be straightforward either! The things we do for our daughters!!!

Susanne from Denmark very kindly sent me photos of her version of my Fun and Fruity mug rugs. Aren't they gorgeous?

Thank you for sharing them, Susanne - I especially love those colours!

I've had a couple more projects in magazines this month, but I'll keep them till next week to share. Talking of next week, keep an eye out for the next instalment in the Consider the Lilies free BOM pattern ... which means I'd better get my skates on and get it ready for you!!!

Happy Stitching.
Regards
Val

With Sugar and Cream

2011-07-31T13:44:00.000+10:00

I feel as though I am on top of most things now, after our wonderful holiday. The magazines are still piled up waiting to be read. I like to savour every page after a quick flip through, so they are sitting there waiting for time to indulge in that luxury. The anticipation is part of the joy! Handmade Patchwork Annual has my table Topper "With Sugar and Cream" in it this month.

Here it is in the magazine:

DH saw it on the cover - I didn't even notice it down the bottom:

You can see I should have lived in the Victorian era:

Yesterday the Community Association of our local township (well, we probably are more a village than a town) held a Family Fun Day, celebrating our wonderful area. It was really well organised and lots of people attended. They held a photo competition and I entered two photos in the Nature section and won first prize for the Black-winged Stilt below, and highly commended for the other. As you can guess, I was very pleased!

And one last photo to finish. Gina very kindly sent me a photo of her lovely version of "My Pantry":

Don't you just love all those great fabrics?

I love seeing what you do with my patterns, so feel free to send me photos of anything you make of my designs.

I notice I have just reached 400 followers, so I might just have to think about another giveaway!

Hope you have a great week.

Val

Holiday Happenings

2011-07-25T14:15:00.000+10:00

We're back home, having had a wonderful holiday with a lot of variety and plenty of opportunity to indulge in our favourite activities of bushwalking and birdspotting. We hugged the coast of southern Queensland for most of the trip, stopping at Woodgate and Boyne Island on our way up to Yeppoon.

We stayed six days at Causeway Lake and went out each day, exploring the lake, wetlands, beaches and bush. We enjoyed watching Ospreys doing their fishing, and the clever way they carry their catch with their feet, facing it lengthwise for least wind resistance. This one had built its huge nest and popped out to check on the surrounds:

This cheeky little Golden Headed Cisticola came out to see who we were:

and the little Red-capped Plover totally ignored us walking on his beach:

Byfield National Park didn't disappoint us. It has lots of different habitat and while some of the roads were only 4-wheel drive tracks, it was worth it to arrive at places like this:

We did a day cruise to Great Keppel Island on the Great Barrier Reef which included an hour looking at the coral formations in a glass-bottom boat, barbecue smorgasbord, visits to isolated beaches ... and best of all I didn't get seasick, which I usually do!

We then headed inland to Cania Gorge National Park and spent two delightful days on the walking tracks, climbing up and down the Gorge:

marvelling at the colours in the sandstone:

walking through rainforest:

and relaxing at forest pools:

And now we're home - and wonderful as the holiday was, it is always great to be home. There's certainly no place like it, is there?

Thank you for all the lovely comments you gave on the latest pattern in the Consider the Lilies free BOM. We didn't have internet access for some of the time we were away, so I hope you will understand that I was not able to reply personally this time, but I really did appreciate the way you took time to leave a comment. It is always encouraging to know you like the patterns.

Now it's head down and tail up to tackle the big pile that has accumulated - washing, ironing, e-mails etc.

Have a great week

Regards

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 7

2011-07-17T19:16:00.000+10:00

It's free pattern time again - number seven in the Consider the Lilies Block of the Month design. This month we are starting Block 3. This block is all about worry ... or rather some advice about

NOT WORRYING ABOUT TOMORROW!!!

Sometimes it's easier said, than done!

.............................

But there's plenty of advice in the Bible - Matthew 6: 31-34

Don't worry and ask yourselves,

“Will we have anything to eat?

Will we have anything to drink?

Will we have any clothes to wear?”

Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things.

Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these ...

Don't worry about tomorrow.

It will take care of itself.

Here's my favourite section of Block 3:

I really enjoyed making these pumpkins. When I was designing this particular block, I had "designer's cramp" - I just couldn't find the right thing to depict the theme. All I knew was that I wanted something from nature. After a few days thinking and getting nowhere, I asked my DH for some ideas. He said, "You need something like a field of wheat swaying in the breeze!" Isn't he brilliant?!! The moment he said that, it all came together in my mind. The pumpkins and wheat remind me of God's rich provision.. We don't need to be spending our energy worrying about tomorrow.

There's an easy-to-make Shoo Fly block (don't you love that name!)

and a few squares and pieces around the edges:

I hope you like this next instalment.

You can download the file from the usual web page here.

We're having a wonderful holiday, lots of bushwalking, bird spotting, and just plain relaxing ... and we have a good signal for our wireless internet this week, so I had no trouble uploading your free pattern!

Happy stitching!
Regards
Val

Granny Squares and Grass Slides!

2011-07-10T13:58:00.000+10:00

We've had a fun week with our two grandsons. The weather was lovely so we were able to spend time at the beach, playground and grass slide, take them to a theme park and movies, and give them plenty of sticky tape and glue to make things from the recycle box of goodies. At the end of the week, when I asked them what they liked best out of the week, they both said the grass slide. They own hundreds of dollars worth of the latest toys, gadgets, Beyblades, Pokemon, Nintendo etc., but they were happiest at the beach, sliding down the steep grassy slope on a piece of cardboard!!!

Now that's where the Granny Squares come in. I used the opportunity while they were building sand castles and water dams, and sliding down grass slopes, to sit and enjoy the fresh air with, of course, some handwork on my lap. I have been asked to teach crochet at the Creative Craft Retreat later in the year, so I needed to work out a project for the class. Granny Squares are great for learning basic crochet techniques and there are so many ways they can be sewn together to make fun bags.

I used three colours in this one:

I love pink and purple together:

Here's a four-colour one:

A soft pastel square:

The blue, black and white are quite striking, aren't they:

Which one do you like best?????

Keep an eye out next week for the next instalment in the free BOM Consider the Lilies pattern. My DH and I are having a little holiday for a couple of weeks, but I hope to be able to upload the pattern as usual.

Have a great week.

Happy stitching!

Val

Lots of alliteration!

2011-07-03T12:48:00.000+10:00

Another week has flown by - where do they disappear to???

How come I never get as much done as I hope and plan? Unreal expectations - one of my weaknesses!!!

I did make a batch of sweet orange marmalade:

What else made the week go so fast? We had the car serviced and went bush walking in the nearby National Park while the garage had the car for two hours. It was lovely to be out in the warm sun. I did some work on a couple of gifts and crocheted three small bags at night in front of the TV. Crochet is so quick compared to embroidery!

..............................

Now for the alliteration. The two projects I want to show you today have lots of "F"'s in the titles!

This is my Flitting Free Pincushion and Scissor Keep. I enjoy working with felt:

Here it is in the Country Threads magazine - on the editorial page:

and in the magazine:

The other project that has just come out in print is the Feeling Fruity Apron. Sometimes I like to challenge myself to produce designs that are outside of my normal colour range and I was very happy with the way the Red and Aqua work together in this one:

Here it is on the front cover of Patchwork & Stitching:

and inside:

This week will be spent doing quite different things. We will have two of our grandsons, aged 8 and 6, here for a week of their school holidays. We have a few fun things organised and hopefully the weather will be fine to spend time at the beach.

Better go and get organised before they arrive!

Have a great week!

Regards

Val

Where has the "Get up and go" gone?

2011-06-26T13:56:00.000+10:00

I've been having one of those months where I don't seem to be accomplishing much at all in the sewing realm. Winter is never the best time of the year for me, and my "Get up and go" usually does exactly that - It gets up and goes right out the door! However, I am ever so thankful to now be living in a place with a wonderful climate that is so much kinder to my body in the cold months. Our overnight temperatures drop down considerably but most of our days are very pleasant and the sun is warm enough to take off the jacket. LOVE it! And we've now passed the 21st June and

OUR DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER!

Come Spring, hopefully I'll get my "Get up and go" back where it should be.

Just as well some of the projects that I designed in the summer months are now coming out in print, otherwise I wouldn't have much to show you!

I love to use shades of purple/lavender/mauve in my designs, so had fun with the Garden Bows Cushion:

It's in the current issue of Handmade magazine

... and here it is on the front cover:

Don't you love Kris's Lavender Lil bear with her sweet little hand on my cushion!

Then there was this little gift bag.

It appeared in Handmade's Christmas in July issue:

It's never too early to think about Christmas!

On the positive side, I have three or four projects that I have started over the last few weeks. Only trouble is they have stayed "half started" - stitcheries done and just sitting there, a Christmas present ready to be put together, fabric purchased; I even dug out some wool to do some crochet. I'd like to get some of them closer to the "half finished" stage soon - or even better, actually completed! Having said all that, we have had a visitor to entertain for five days, a mountain of paperwork to process, a few outings to enjoy the warm sun, and the garden has had some attention so that it is all looking neat and tidy again.

I guess the "Get up and go" has been a bit diverted lately!

Happy stitching!

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 6

2011-06-19T12:09:00.000+10:00

It seems ages since the last instalment in the Consider the Lilies free Block of the Month pattern. Maybe it's because an awful lot of things have happened in our lives in the last four weeks! A car accident and an Order of Australia Medal weren't on the To Do list, but we feel abundantly blessed through both of these significant events.

Pattern 6 is now ready for download on my website.

There's a little toadstool:

which is attached to a block of thin rectangles:

which is then attached to the little bird from last month to complete the lower half of the block.

Then there are a couple of sweet butterflies:

which will join on to April's block to complete the top half of the block:

Then you can join it all together:

to complete block 2 ...

and now you have the patterns for HALF the quilt.

You can join Blocks one and two if it makes you feel good!

I hope you are enjoying making this quilt as much as I am in sharing it with you.

We had a friend from interstate stay with us this week for five days, so there was very little sewing done. We were out in the beautiful Queensland winter sunshine for much of the time, enjoying spotting birds, revelling in the beautiful scenery and being constantly thankful for being able to live in my dream location.

I loved watching this little baby Australasian Grebe:

... was delighted to see a spectacular Regent Bowerbird:

... marvelled at how elegant the Black-winged Stilts are:

and found plenty of water in the waterfalls:

Hope your week is full of blessings too.

Happy stitching,
Val

Our exciting news

2011-06-13T06:37:00.001+10:00

There's a lot of excitement in our household today. My DH's tireless work in theological education and Christian ministry over the last 50 years or so has been recognised by the government and he has been awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia

in the Queen's Birthday Honours List today.

He was totally surprised by it all and can't understand why he would get such an honour but those close to him know he is a worthy recipient!

The announcement is here: and some more detail here. (look for Laird)

Can you imagine how proud I am of him?

And a special touch is that the announcement has taken place on what was my mother's birthday.

Meanwhile in the sewing department ...

I needed a new potholder and prefer the oven mitt style. Rather than go buy from the shop, I decided to make myself one. I found this very old fabric in the stash, some equally old bias binding and whipped this up fairly quickly. I used two layers of batting so it would be thick enough not to burn my fingers.

Now you know that machine quilting is definitely not one of my strong points, but these loopy swirls didn't turn out too badly.

I decided to change the fabric I was working on with my little dragonfly, so it has now become this:

I've had this pretty aqua fabric in the cupboard waiting for just the right project and there in the basket of knitting and crochet cottons was the perfect colour thread to make a matching twisted cord. I always love it when I can use what I have available - and be assured there's an awful lot stashed away to be used!

This will be off to a magazine shortly and of course I've already started the next project - in pinks this time.

My thread saver project is cut and ruled and sitting on my sewing machine cabinet ready to be used each time I sew.

There is so much that can be done with half square triangles and doing them as thread savers means they'll all be sewn before I know it.

I better get my head out of the clouds and my feet on the ground!

Happy Stitching!

Regards

Val

Thinking straight at last!

2011-06-05T14:39:00.000+10:00

I want to say a sincere thank you to all my lovely blog friends who contacted me after our campervan accident. It was just so beautiful to see your love and concern. I know you will understand that I wasn't able to reply personally this week, but be assured that I REALLY appreciated your comments.

I feel as if I am thinking straight at last! We were walking around in a daze for a few days, especially during the four days it took for us to get ourselves and our goods home. We are thankful for family members who did the thinking for us when we were incapable of it!

The week has been spent:

thinking things through. We have come to the decision that our camping days are over. We're not getting any younger and there are ways of fulfilling our passion for bushwalking and bird spotting without all that is involved in driving, maintaining, insuring and registering a motorhome. It looks as though the van will be written off, but in the unlikely event that it is repaired, we will sell it.

finding a place to put another houseful of gear (... well, a mini house). I guess having two toasters in the cupboard will be useful when we have family with us at Christmas and two electric jugs will be good when we have lots of people for supper. The crockery and cutlery have gone into the picnic port* and I'm very happy to throw out the old plastic gear that has been in there for years.

filling in forms (and all that is involved in gathering all the necessary information).

answering the phone. You realise what wonderful friends you have in times like this.

sending this little project off to a magazine.

cleaning up the garden, revelling in being in short sleeves in the warm sun in the first week of winter. It's exactly how I remembered it (and hoped it would still be) from 34 years ago when we last had a winter in Queensland.

By the end of the week, the house was clean and I even polished a lot of the furniture! Accidents have a strange effect on people evidently! I was almost ready to get the sewing machine out to work on a design that has all the embroidery done and now needs to be sewn together when one of the magazine editors contacted me asking for small projects with embroidery. Of course that is what I just love to do, so it was out with the pencil and paper and the last couple of nights have been spent happily using some gorgeous Cosmo variegated threads.

I also made time to get out some fabric for my next "Thread Saver" project. (See here for the original post). I hope to cut out lots of squares and draw the diagonal lines so these are sitting on the machine ready to make more Half Square Triangles. This thread saving idea is becoming addictive and I'm so glad I'm actually planning projects to sew this way.

Now for a little bit of Oz education for you!

* I thought you might be interested in my "Queenslandism". We have always called suitcases "ports" in Queensland and it is interesting the reactions you get when you use that word in the other two States of Australia in which we have lived - usually a look of "whatever is she talking about?" and "ports are what large ships go to". I haven't found anyone other than a Queenslander who calls them "ports". It's not as silly as it sounds either, as it comes from the French word "portmanteau" and in typical Oz fashion, we abbreviate just about anything that has more than one syllable! There are a number of instances when each Australian State has its own word for an item. You can tell where people come from when they start talking about the apparel you wear when you are swimming: it could be swimmers, bathers, cozzies, or togs, depending where you live! I'm very happy to be living back in Queensland where they can understand my lingo!!!!

Have a great week.

Blessings

Val

Not the sort of holiday you really want!

2011-05-30T09:10:00.000+10:00

We've just returned from our holiday and it was definitely "not the sort of holiday you really want"!!!

To cut a long story short, on Thursday afternoon we had an accident in our campervan, my husband's first accident in 50 years of driving (apart from being nudged behind once at a stop sign and a bit of a ding at a petrol station when he didn't turn wide enough.) It looks as though our campervan will be written off as the external and internal damage was quite bad.

We are SO thankful to God that He sent his angels to look after us and we came out of it without a scratch on us. A nano-second earlier and my husband could have sustained serious injury or worse.

The last few days have been spent trying to get home and to get all the gear in the van home. Because we were out in the country, there were no hire cars available. We caught a bus to travel the 200 kms to the coast to try to hire a car there, but without success. In the end, we were able to borrow the car of a friend another 113 kms away, drive back the 200 odd km and pack up all the gear in the van, drive home 370 kms, unpack the gear, have a sleep, and drive the 340 kms back to return the borrowed car.

So here we are at a train station, waiting to catch the Tilt Train back home! We are so blessed with so many people helping us in our time of trauma. Friends and people we didn't know have gone out of their way to look after us and we are ever so thankful. We're now starting to get over the shock and are looking forward to a relaxing train trip. We will be very happy to arrive HOME!

With thankfulness to our great God
Val

Annie's Threadsaver

2011-05-22T14:12:00.000+10:00

My husband says that I "abhor waste". And he is right! I hate wasting anything, It was bothering me that every time I sewed something on the sewing machine, I was wasting quite a lot of thread - at least 6 inches from the reel and bobbin, where you need to have plenty of thread so it doesn't pull out of the needle when you start sewing. I'd read a bit about "leaders and enders", so decided it was time I did something about all that waste and that I should actually plan a project as my threadsaver, rather than grabbing something to put under the needle IF it was handy.

I cut up lots of little green, cream and apricot 4 inch squares, ruled a diagonal line on the wrong side of the cream squares and sat them next to the sewing machine in a little box. Over the last few months, every time I finished sewing, instead of pulling out my three inches of thread, I would pop two little squares under the foot, sew the seam, and leave them sitting in the machine, with the thread all ready to start next time I sewed.

Gradually, I had lots of little half square triangles and the next step was to put them in rows to make Annie's Choice blocks ... and now I have a new breakfast cloth:

Now you all know I don't particularly like piecing and I'm not terribly good at it and I find it boring, but making this project (43 inches square so almost a lap quilt) was relatively painless! I didn't really know I was doing lots of repetitive piecing, I saved all that thread, and ended up with something that is very useful and that I really like. It's a WIN, WIN situation!

Putting this project together started me thinking about why I detest waste. I guess my upbringing was the formative factor. During World War II, my father was conscripted to the Army with the outbreak of war in the Pacific. He was a soldier for almost four years, serving in Papua New Guinea for most of that time:

Here is a photo of my dad which was published in one of the post-war books put out by the Australian government:

My mother spoke often of how scarce basic commodities were and how everything was rationed. I was born while my dad was in New Guinea and he didn't see me until I was eight months old when he was able to come home for a short leave. It was a rare opportunity for a photo:

Mum had another photo taken a couple of years later. I think the war was over by then but I know Dad wasn't able to get on a ship to get home for another 5 or 6 months:

I just love this photo of Mum and me. It's always been my favourite. See the war badge Mum is wearing. It has a little bar on it with one star, indicating she had her husband serving in the war.

We were not at all well off - never owned a car or went away on a holiday. It was a simple but very happy upbringing. With very careful budgeting, my family managed to survive and we had the occasional treat like soft drink and icecream at Sunday lunch. My parents saved very carefully so they could spoil my brother and me at birthdays and Christmas. Of necessity, Mum made all our clothes, curtains etc. And so there was never any waste ,,, and that attitude became part of my very being,

... and I don't really wish to change who I am!

Well, enough of nostalgia! We're going bush this week for a little holiday, so some of the long drive will be spent on planning my next threadsaver project!

Have a great week,

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 5

2011-05-15T15:23:00.000+10:00

Before we get to the next pattern in the free block of the month design, let's announce some winners of my pattern giveaways!

Trusty Random.org chose the following three winners:

No 14

sue niven said...

Love the Fan heart and charm quilt.

No 93

Linnie Quilts said...

Please enter me in your drawing. I love the pattern Fan Hearts and Charms ... it would be PERFECT for our new home. We're retiring and recently purchased a home for our retirement years ... after many years of hard work we're finally achieving our dream ... can't wait to spend my free time quilting! Thanks and loved your column on Stash Management ... one of my daily blog stops ;-)

No 84

Cecilia said...

I love your Hearts and Braid table runner. Thanks for showing all of your projects. They were beautiful.

Patterns have been sent off to Sue and Linnie. Cecilia, as you are a "no reply blogger", I can't contact you, so please e-mail me. You have until midday (Aust EST) on Wednesday 18th to contact me.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you so much to all those who entered the giveaway and left me those beautiful comments here and over at Sew we quilt.

..................................................

Now to Pattern 5 of "Consider the Lilies" - we're almost half way there!

Can you imagine how much delight I had in sewing this sweet little bird?

As usual, the pattern can be downloaded from my website on the wallhanging page. I hope you enjoy stitching my little bird.

.....................................

I have no idea where my week went to last week. I had a look in the diary to see what I was supposed to do to see if I could remind myself what I might have actually done to fill in my days. I know I made a batch of sweet orange marmalade, wrote up another pattern, prepared Pattern 5 for you and answered lots of lovely comments. I suppose that took two or three days. Then yesterday I cleaned out our campervan ready for a planned holiday visiting national parks, state forests and friends. Can you see my smile?!!

Another day I spent quite a while setting up a Powerpoint presentation for my husband to use in our church today. Would you like to see a couple of my photos from the Australian bush that I used?

Boronia

A Ladybird beetle on Wattle

Fringe Myrtle

Our Australian bush is magical, come August/September/October. The intricate detail in the flowers is mind boggling to me.

Have a great week ... and I hope to have some stitching to show you next time!

Regards

Val

Guest Blogger ... and THREE giveaways!

2011-05-10T06:07:00.021+10:00

I'm a guest blogger over at Sew we Quilt today!

I hope you'll pop over and have a look.
It's a fabulous site with lots of great ideas for manicuring the stash.

And I'm having a giveaway - THREE in fact.

Yes, there will be three winners. The prize will be one of my e-patterns (a pattern that is e-mailed) for each winner.

To enter the giveaway, go to my website pattern pages and see if you can find a pattern that you would like, then leave a comment at the end of this post, and another comment on my post over at Sew we Quilt, telling me which one of the patterns you would like to win. The three winners will receive whatever pattern they choose from my range.

Giveway closes 12 noon Sunday 15th May, (Aust EST).

And don't forget to keep a look out NEXT WEEK for the next pattern in my free Block of the Month "Consider the Lilies" design.

Happy stitching

Val

PS - I am having terrible trouble with Blogger at the moment (as are a lot of other Australians evidently) and have had to use the old editor to be able to write this post, which keeps on putting HUGE spaces between everything and won't allow you to do all sorts of things that I'm used to doing! Oh well ....

Breaking the rule

2011-05-08T16:40:00.000+10:00

When I started designing and having works commissioned for publication, I set myself a rule that I would not allow myself to start a new project until I had completed the pattern writing, diagrams, templates and samples of the project just finished. I have stuck to that rule quite well for years, but over the last couple of months, I was just too eager to get into the next design, that I broke my rule!

And how I wish I hadn't!

My excuse was, after having five months where I couldn't do much sewing or designing, with holidays, selling and buying houses, packing and moving, making Christmas presents and having lots of family and visitors, I really just wanted to get back into the flow without having it interrupted by all that tedious computer work!

This week, it all caught up with me!

As due dates started looming large, I knew I had to grab myself by the scruff of the neck and be disciplined, and actually sit down and work on those patterns! So, it's all my own fault that I had a boring week - four days of working out how I had put together four designs. Why don't I take proper notes as I go?????

Time spent counting how many winds I did on the tassel.

Maybe I should do a little tutorial on how to make easy tassels???

How did I put those embellishments on?

Did I sew the button on before or after adding the batting?

When did I make those buttonholes? Yes, there are some there.

So, I think I am cured. There is still one more pattern to write up and then I will NOT break my rule again!!! Ever!

On another note, Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers and grandmothers out there.

I remember with great fondness my own mother - how I miss her. She was a fantastic crafter and taught me so much, not least of which was embroidery, sewing, knitting, crochet and tatting. I'll finish off with a photo of one of her lovely gifts to me - a crocheted tablecloth.

Can you imagine the love and time that went into making this gorgeous piece of work? How important it is to cherish the ones we love while we have them with us.

Have a great week.

Val

I want fabric like this!

2011-05-01T15:18:00.000+10:00

If ever I get opportunity to design a fabric range, I want it to be like this:

deep, rich, gorgeous colour

and this:

lots of texture and sheen

and this:

intricate detail.

It is definitely MY fabric range ... but I don't know whether this fellow will allow me to have the copyright:

We met him, and plenty of his brothers and sisters, when we took our granddaughter to the local zoo. We had a fabulous day looking at animals in the beautiful setting of a botanical garden cum rainforest. Anita is now back at Uni and we're 'home alone'. It was so lovely to spend time getting to know her again.

Very little sewing has been done, needless to say, but I can show you a sneak peak of a project that is complete.

And remember the "What is Love?" free pattern from a couple of years ago? Ginny from the USA has shared this photo of her lovely version of the design.

I've put a new pattern onto my website. You might remember "All my lovely sewing things" wallhanging which was featured in Australian Homespun earlier this year. It's now available for purchase if you are unable to obtain a copy of the magazine. You will find it here.

The mug rugs pattern I showed you last week are also now on the website.

I hope you have a productive, inspired, creative week.

Regards

Val

A wonderful day!

2011-04-24T06:58:00.000+10:00

It's Easter Sunday here - a wonderful day! We celebrate every day the fact that Jesus is alive, but somehow Easter Sunday is extra special. We're off to church soon and I have the privilege of playing the organ for the service.

It's also a wonderful day too because we have one of our granddaughters with us. Anita surprised us on Friday with a phone call asking could she come and stay for a few days. It's five years since we last saw her (she lives in Japan, has been studying in Brazil, and this year is studying in Australia). We have a lot of catching up to do!

There's been a little bit of sewing done. As I've mentioned before, I love making projects for children and another wall-hanging is now complete. It's a wall-hanging with a twist - but a sneak peak or two will have to do as it will be off to a magazine soon.

I had in mind some bright colours when I went looking in the stash for fabric for this project, not something I have a lot of, but there in the cupboard was a box of fat quarters that our daughter had given me for Christmas and the bright colours were just perfect for the design.

My "Fun and Fruity" mug rugs are in this month's edition of the fabulous Australian magazine, Country Threads.

And here they are on the editorial page:

I never lose the excitement of seeing my designs in print!

I better go and get organised to go out! I hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday too!

Val

Easter wishes

2011-04-21T16:39:00.000+10:00

I hope you have a beautiful Easter

and have time to think about the real reason for the holiday.

God is Love!

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 4

2011-04-17T07:00:00.000+10:00

It's time again -
time to give you the next pattern in the free BOM "Consider the Lilies".

In block 1 we were thinking about the lilies of the field. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers, of course He will care for us. Now we are starting on Block 2, and are looking at the birds.

Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

Matthew 6:26

So, here is pattern 4:

a little stitchery surrounded by splashes of colour.

Go here to download this pattern (and the three from Block 1 are still there also).

Now is probably a good time to tell you about another passion I have and that is photographing birds. My husband and I are avid birdwatchers, so this verse about the birds is a special one for me. We are constantly amazed at the beauty, diversity, detail and habits of the birds that we see and I am always trying to capture some of that with the camera.

A gorgeous musk lorikeet. We have absolutely amazing parrots in Australia.

A sweet little rufous fantail - happy to grab the insects that we stir up as we walk through his bush.

A Rainbow bee-eater having just caught his breakfast.

It's always a good day when we see a Golden Whistler.

A Jabiru - Australia's only stork.

A delightful Eastern Yellow Robin - we always love to find a Robin, no matter what the colour.

After all my birthday celebrations last weekend, and having two grandchildren here for the week, we decided to have a very quiet day for our 45th Wedding Anniversary yesterday. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband and we have had an amazing 45 years of adventure! We were happy just to potter around the house enjoying each other's company ... with some dark chocolate for a treat!

The sewing machine has been packed away for 9 or 10 days but now it's open again and I'm working on a quick Christmas project. I had two projects commissioned this week, another published, magazine instructions to proofread, and now more instructions to write, samples to make and templates to refine. Sometimes I have to spend twice as much time on the computer as on the sewing machine!

I hope you have an inspiring week with plenty of sewing time.

Happy stitching!
Val

A Winner!

2011-04-10T14:50:00.000+10:00

We have a winner for my giveaway! The Random generator chose number 9 - Heather!

Heather wrote: I love all of your projects, and have admired them in the 'Garden party' fabrics. I would LOVE to win this !! Thanks for the free pattern, the thread catcher is one I'll make..Best wishes, Heather

Heather, as you're a "No reply" commenter, I can't contact you, so please e-mail me to let me know your snail mail address, so I can post the parcel of goodies off to you. (You have until 13 April to make contact.)

Thank you to everyone who entered. It was a fun week reading all the lovely comments. And welcome to some new followers too. I might have to start thinking about another giveaway, now that I'm on the way toward 400 followers!

Now for a look at that piece of silk!

I'm very pleased at how this little project turned out - sweet elegance with a touch of class is how I would describe it!

It will be off to a Australian Country Craft & Decorating magazine shortly, so a sneak peak will have to do for the moment.

Handmade magazine has a bag issue out this month and my little girl's Flutter-by bag is in there:

I want to thank all the lovely people who sent birthday wishes. I had a fabulous day with people I love around me. My husband gave me a gorgeous embroidery book - think he knows me after 45 years of marriage! Our daughter and her husband, our son and his wife, plus seven of our grandchildren all came to visit. We shared a great party tea with all the food I love and which I don't normally have (because most of it is bad for me!!!)

This week we have two of our grandchildren staying with us during school holidays - two boys 10 and 8. There won't be much sewing done, but we plan at least one fishing trip which will be a first for them! Can imagine we'll spend a bit of time untangling lines!

Hope you have a great week.

Happy stitching

Val

A Giveaway ... and a free pattern

2011-04-03T15:22:00.000+10:00

Remember all those little sewing bits and bobs that I made last week when I was sidetracked? You now have an opportunity to win them!

I am quite overwhelmed to think that people actually like reading all my blog ramblings, so to celebrate reaching 300 followers, I am giving away this little parcel of goodies:

Along with the threadcatcher, pincushion, needlecase, scissor pillow and sewing pouch is a little pack of 30 charm squares from the Garden Party range.

The rules are simple. This is a giveaway just for followers of my blog - anywhere in the world. So if you are a follower, (or become one in the next week!) you may enter the giveaway by leaving a comment at the end of this post. The giveaway closes at midnight (Australian time) Saturday 9 April (hey, that's my birthday!) and I plan to announce the winner next Sunday.

.............................................

Seeing there's been a little bit of interest in my threadcatcher design, I have produced a free pattern, along with photographic steps, so you can make your own. You might want to wait to make one until after the giveaway in case you win one!!!, but it would make a great gift for a sewing friend, don't you think? They are very quick to make.

Click on the photo to be taken to the download area on my website.

If you make one, remember I would love to see a photo.

Birgit in Germany kindly sent a photo of the appliques that she used from the Gifts of Grace quilt. It's great how each quilter's personality shows through in their individual quilts, don't you think? Lovely job, Birgit.

Next week I plan to show you a sneak peak at what I did when I got back on track with my piece of silk. It was mostly one of my 'night-time jobs', as it has lots of embroidery, so for some 'daytime' sewing I whipped up a breakfast cloth for our table, using left over bits from my Garden Party fabrics.

That's now 12 projects I have made from the fabric I bought from that range - but more about that another time.

Have a great week.

Regards, Val

Sidetracked!

2011-03-27T18:31:00.000+10:00

I was looking for a small piece of cream silk I had put aside for a project. Silk is such a wonderful fabric and though it is difficult to work with, the results are always so beautiful. I was picturing this piece of silk with some gorgeous red grub roses on it - total elegance!

We've been in our new house for five months now, but it isn't really long enough for me to remember where I have put all my sewing bits and pieces, especially things only used occasionally. Of course, being the super organised type, I made an index so I could find what I wanted ... so you will find my felt in the "bottom right" and the zippers in the "top left"...

I didn't consult my index for my little bit of silk, because I had a fair idea of where it should be - in the crate that has orphan blocks, unused stitcheries, fabric set aside for special projects, and of course my PASSES (projects at a stand still). Before I had a chance to look for my silk, a bag of left-over strips from a jelly roll jumped out at me, demanding my attention.

There were some unused blocks from my Fairy Floss Quilt. There was a little stitchery that didn't end up being used on this Soft Jelly folder:

There were strips of joined-up two inch squares. There were lots of little bits and pieces, not enough to make anything big, but too much to just put in the scrap box. The search for the silk was forgotten and I was sidetracked into using up these bits of pretty fabric. Two days later, they have turned into:

A needlecase

A thread catcher

A sewing pouch with a gorgeous vintage button

A pincushion

A scissor pillow

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun whipping up these quick and easy projects and using such pretty fabric. Now there are just a few tiny bits left, just right to go into the scrap boxes. And what am I going to do with these sidetrack projects? All will be revealed soon!

And the cream silk fabric... I didn't get around to looking for it, but when I opened a drawer to pull out something else, there was the silk fabric all folded neatly waiting to be used!

Happy stitching!

Val

Hidden beauty

2011-03-20T14:02:00.000+10:00

How could something so delicate come from such a prickly, spikey bunch of thorns set in such an arid, stoney landscape?

In some amazing way, this cactus in my garden, contains hidden beauty. It is just waiting the perfect time, with the right conditions, to display what is hidden in there. With almost no warning, a beautiful flower appears, then it's all over in one day!

Just look at the detail in there!

It's a lesson not to judge a book by its cover, instead, to think what beauty might be hidden inside the

"not-so-lovely-on-the-outside" person.

Having enjoyed the flower above with its fleeting lifespan, we were delighted when this one appeared yesterday. I think this flower lasts two or three days before it fades away:

Same story - lots of prickles, thorns and spikey bits - this time glistening with rain drops:

On the sewing side, this month I seem to be going through the "everything takes longer than expected" stage. I am usually quite good at estimating how long something will take me to do, but I've failed miserably with my guesses lately. Consequently I'm making much slower progress than I hoped on a couple of projects. I obviously will have to be more realistic in future. But, what's the hurry anyway? At the moment, the only deadlines I have are ones I've set myself! So I'm going to enjoy the process, rather than be hankering to finish a project!

Talking of finishes, have a look at this gorgeous version of my Gifts of Grace design:

Don't you just love the colour combinations Sharon has put together.

Have a great week ... and

Happy stitching!

Regards

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 3

2011-03-13T19:20:00.001+10:00

Another month has come and gone! Have you been able to work on your Consider the Lilies block? I have Pattern 3 for you today. Go here to download it.

A little bit of stitching and some applique are the treats for you this month.

I added some sweet little pearl hearts as embellishment here.

You might like to try some water colour pencils to add some colour to your pot of lilies.

If you have any problems making this 'square in a square' pot of lilies block, there are many good websites with lots of diagrams and photos, so I decided not to duplicate what is already there. If you need help in finding a good site, send me an e-mail and I can direct you.

Your completed block should look something like this:

which is the completed Block 1. Finish this one, and you are a quarter of the way there!

I managed to finish another of my 'half finished' items this week including the instructions etc. Yeah!!! It too was commissioned by a magazine, which always makes me happy!

So now I am on one of my 'half started' projects. It's a wall-hanging for a toddler. I always enjoy making children's designs. I do have another 'half finished' project on the go, but it is at the stage where it is ready for lots of embroidery, which I love to do at night. The wall-hanging needs lots of machine work and that's what I like to do when I have time during the day, so I have allowed myself to pick up another project, even though the other one isn't finished! You see, I am really trying to be disciplined!

We enjoyed having four of our grandchildren and our daughter here over the weekend. We love being able to see our family so much more often that we used to. Then this afternoon, the Brisbane Symphony Orchestra came to our little township and put on a fantastic classical concert. My husband and I haven't been to one of these concerts for years, so it was just wonderful to sit back and allow the beautiful music to flow over our souls. There's nothing like being there - it is always just so much better than just listening to a CD!

Now to show you what Ginny has done with the Gifts of Grace free design from 2010.

Isn't this all-embroidered version sweet?

Have a great week ... and happy stitching!

Regards

Val

A few finishes!

2011-03-06T15:12:00.000+10:00

This last week I managed to FINISH a few projects! A bag has been made, patterns have been written, templates have been refined, a label is on a quilt and I had two projects commissioned by magazines ... so all in all, I think it was a pretty good week!

One of my dreams for this year is to have a project published in an overseas magazine. Just finding a magazine that is open to accepting designs from other than their own country, is an issue in itself. Then finding an editor's contact address on the web is quite often like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Then finding a magazine that will make a decision in less than three months ... then discovering that a submission has to be by mail, not by e-mail ... (all the submissions to the six or seven Australian magazines that have published my work in the last five or six years have been by e-mail!) ... I almost put it in the "too hard" basket. But I finally found a magazine in the USA that had the decency to reply to my e-mail enquiry and I have now posted off a submission to them.

I am really happy with the way this project has turned out and it uses my favourite Robyn Pandolph fabric range. Maybe the editor will like it too?????

Don't get me wrong - I just LOVE our Australian magazines and really enjoy working with some absolutely delightful editors, and hope to continue to do so. A few years ago, I just dreamed of being published. Then I wanted to design something that was good enough to be featured on the front cover. I guess now I am feeling ready for the next challenge.

Some of the magazines are quite happy for a designer to sell or teach or show a pattern before publication. With others there is a two or three month wait after publication before the publishing and use rights revert to the designer. Why am I telling you all this? Because I developed my own policy as a result of working with the different magazines. Early in the piece I decided that I would not sell or show any new patterns before publication. I like people to find my design in a magazine and not be disappointed thinking "I've seen that before!"

So all of that big long explanation is to tell you why you are only getting "sneak peaks" today! These will be off to magazines this week:

On another note: I was honoured to be asked to be the Guest Designer at Snickerdoodle Dreams Community for the month of March. It is free to join and each month there is a free pattern exclusively for use of the members. My little free pattern is a sweet stitchery which you might enjoy working on.

I counted up the projects on my "next few weeks" 'to do' list. (I have another "longer term" 'to do' list as well!) I have three projects 'half finished' and another four 'half started', so I am trying to be disciplined and plan to gradually get them done, one at a time, beginning with the 'half finished' pile - all without adding any more projects in there! Now I need to go and get the next section of the free BOM "Consider the Lilies" pattern organised so you can download it next week.

Happy Stitching!

Val

The Fete box

2011-02-27T09:04:00.000+10:00

I have to hand over the gear I made for our Church fete today. In between everything else going on in our household, I managed to get a little box of goodies ready.

A couple of bags, cupcakes, keyrings, needlecases, pincushions, hand towel ... As I've never been to a fete in this area, I have no idea what might sell here, so it will be interesting to get some feedback later. I whizzed up this little keyring during the week:

BIG news for the week is that my husband's book has been sent off to the publisher! Woo hoo!!!! It is just wonderful to at last have it finished. There will be some final proofing later, but for now, we can tackle the long "to do" list that has been mounting up over the last few months. The front yard looks nicely manicured again ... which it hasn't for a while!

It never ceases to amaze me the creative ideas that people have in using my designs. Elizabeth used some of my Gifts of Grace blocks in this gorgeous quilt for her sister-in-law. It is quite striking, isn't it?:

Trish used some of my "What is Love" blocks to make a very meaningful wedding quilt for her son and his bride:

I am hoping to have a "finishing off" week. As I've told you before, I am a finisher and I don't cope with having a dozen things half done, as I have in my sewing room at the moment. A couple of projects are finished, but the patterns aren't written up, or the templates aren't on the computer, or I haven't made the construction samples. Then there's a wall quilt that is almost finished, but there's the binding to sew down, the hanging sleeve to be put on and a label to be designed. Then there's a bag half sewn and the stitcheries aren't even started. You can get the idea!

Have a great week and ... happy stitching!

Val

All my Lovely Sewing Things

2011-02-20T14:01:00.000+10:00

My project called "All my Lovely Sewing Things" is in the current issue of Australian Homespun magazine.

I love it when a design comes together straight away with no fiddling around! I must admit I usually only have a kernel of an idea when I start a project and then I just let it evolve from there. For me to have something all planned out on graph paper before I start, is the exception rather than the rule, and then I'm likely to change things half way through anyway!

The upside is that I have a great sense of freedom in my creativity; the downside is that sometimes there is some reverse sewing going on because something may not be "just right". This project was one of those where you might say I had not only the kernel, but the husk as well when I started, and so it came together beautifully and I was happy with it straight off. I just love being creative. I think I'm like a caged lion when I can't get to my stitching!

Homespun also did a profile on me to accompany the project, so I was very happy about that!

Meanwhile, my husband is in the very last, final, concluding, ultimate, ending stage of his text book going off for publication. This is a rework of his doctoral thesis that has been going on for more than two years. You can see that I am going to be super happy to see the end of it! I've spent a couple of weeks helping him edit it. It has to be totally pedantic, with commas, full stops, quotations, brackets etc. in exactly the right place. The process is heaps worse than writing up a pattern! My mind is in a fog after concentrating so hard and the caged lion is roaring to get out! Hopefully, only a few days more ....

I'm not good at concentrating at night, so that's been the time to get some more fete items stitched:

A batch of cupcakes

a needlecase or two

and a keyring.

I hope to get some more keyrings finished this week and I would love to make some quick and easy bags. One of the magazines is after some fete ideas, so I really should put my mind to designing something suitable ... once we get rid of this book!

Happy stitching!

Val

Free Pattern - Consider the Lilies Pattern 2

2011-02-13T15:48:00.000+10:00

Have you finished making the first pattern of the Consider the Lilies free block of the month design yet? Can you believe it's already time to download the next pattern?

Pattern 2

... A little bit of stitching, a bit of piecing and you are 2/3rd the way to completing the first block of this four-block design! It is now available on my website for download here.

I do hope you enjoy stitching this little block ... and what is under the pink fabric will all be revealed next month!

I was able to get a bit of a 'go-on' this week and managed to get a quilt finished and two other small projects. Tomorrow I'm off to the Post Office to post them to two magazine editors.

This one is a Christmas in July project.

A sneak peak at a cushion

Our Church is having a market/fete next month. I only just found out about it, seeing we are only new at the church, so I don't have much time to get a few bits and pieces made to donate. So, it was out with the PASSES box. PASSES are my "projects at a stand-still". Sure enough, there were a few stitcheries, projects half started, (or should that be 'half finished'?), and things that had been sitting around for a long time. It is an ideal opportunity to salve my conscience and get a few of them completed, so that's the plan for this week.

I had a look in my "completed" box and found a couple of things that should be suitable:

A little pincushion - click on the photo to see the sweet little daisies around the edge.

A face washer embroidered with roses.

I thought I would make some more cupcake pincushions as people seem to like them. I cut out quite a few but have only completed one. They take nearly 3 hours to make so are definitely not quick and easy! This is the one I have finished:

I'd better go and get some more stitching done!

Happy stitching!

Regards

Val

Playing with a new toy ... and a little tutorial for you

2011-02-06T14:35:00.000+10:00

Well, it's sort of a new toy - a quarter inch bias tape maker. I've had a wide bias tape maker for years and have found it very useful, so when I saw a quarter inch one available, I knew it would be great for making the narrow strips that I could use for applique.

So this week I had a play with it.

Here's the result - appliqued knot on a quilt I am making from some gorgeous oriental fabrics.

I thought I would give you some tips and insight on how I did this applique. For me, the big secret to successful use of a bias tape maker is to spray the fabric strip with spray starch before pulling it through the gadget. This ensure that when you press the made tape to set the folds, it actually stays pressed flat and doesn't spring open, as it loves to do - smiling from the ironing board saying "I liked it better before"!

Here's the sprayed fabric coming through the bias maker. Press the tape close to where it comes out before it dries and springs open again. A pin in the end stops it moving as you gently pull the gadget down the fabric.

The tape is all made.

To make these knots, I ironed some fusible webbing onto the back of the strips.

I didn't have any 1/4 inch webbing strips which you can buy these days, so had to make do with my big sheet. With my quilting ruler I used the rotary cutter to cut 1/4 inch strips. I know, it blunts the blade, but it was already on the way out anyway. It's so long since I cut webbing strips, that I had forgotten that I had kept an old blade specially for cutting paper! So I cut my first strip on my cutting mat and carefully peeled it off to find that most of the glue bit was beautifully stuck to the mat and all I had in my hand was the paper! It took a few goes to realise that if I turned the webbing glue side up to cut it, I had a lot less chance of it sticking to the mat!!! Duh!

I then placed the pattern on the ironing board under my applique mat. (You could use baking paper if you don't have one of these wonderful little teflon mats.)

Give the tape a little stretch. On top of the mat start in the centre of the pattern, leaving 1/2 inch or so excess tape. (This is a "Justin-case", to be cut off later) and slowly shape the tape, following the template which you can see underneath. Press each section as you go. A little spray of water helps bend the tape around the curves and a pin through everything helps to stop movement of pattern, mat and tape!

Cut the excess fabric off and pop the end under the cross-over bit where you started. First one I did I tucked the end under the wrong bit and found I had two "overs" together instead of the over/under idea, but that was easily fixed.

Then it was just a matter of lifting the prepared applique off the mat, all beautifully in shape. A quick fuse in place, a length of black thread in the needle, some small stitches, pleasant music in the background, and it was all done.

As always with all my quilts, it's very uncomplicated piecing and very simple quilting but I think it looks quite effective. It is going to have some of my favourite Prairie Points around the border, and I'm hopeful of finishing it this week.

----------------------

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern for us in the recent devastating cyclone. Thankfully we are 1500 kms south of the area hit so were totally unaffected. Our lovely State of Queensland is doing it tough at the moment with disaster upon disaster. I can't imagine what it must be like to see everything you own totally destroyed.

Next week I plan to have the next instalment of the Consider the Lilies free BOM pattern available for download.

I hope you've enjoyed making the first part ... or maybe this is a reminder that there's just one week to get it done if you want to keep up. ... Now I wish I had had my 1/4 inch bias tape maker when I did those lily stems ....

Happy stitching!

Val

More bits and pieces

2011-01-30T15:22:00.000+10:00

Our grand-daughters have gone home now. We had a great time together and it was delightful to teach them some of the skills that their mother said "have skipped a generation"! Jasmine took a photo of some knitting which she finished and turned into a bag. Gorgeous, isn't it?

Stephanie made a skirt for herself:

We took the girls to a theme park during the week and watched while they went on some terrifying-looking rides. DH and I braved the Ferris Wheel and mini-Golf!!! It's such a blessing to us to be able to spend some time with our grandchildren.

Seeing there hasn't been much sewing going on, I will show you some more Christmas presents that I made, so that at least there are some photos to look at!

A couple of clutch bags:

A drawer sachet. These are great for keeping hosiery, lingerie, or handkerchiefs together:

Thanks for all the sweet comments that have kept coming this week regarding the free Consider the Lilies BOM pattern. I haven't had a chance to reply individually, but be assured I appreciate the way you take time out to encourage me. Your comments and e-mails certainly lift my spirits.

Penny has already finished Pattern 1. The colours are gorgeous:

My diary is relatively clear for the next couple of weeks, so I'm hoping to get some stitching done. There are lots of projects going around in my head at the moment! I just need to make my mind focus on just one thing at a time. I really don't cope with having lots of things half finished - I am a finisher!

Are you a starter or a finisher? or both?

Happy stitching!

Val

Odds and Sods

2011-01-23T14:38:00.000+10:00

Thank you to the lovely ladies who have taken the time to write a comment or e-mail me to let me know you like the new "Consider the Lilies" free BOM design. It is always so encouraging to hear from you.

At the moment we have our two grand-daughters from Melbourne with us. They are almost 15 and just turned 13, so not hard to look after! ... and they both love craft! The younger one, Stephanie, has never knitted before, and she has now conquered knit and purl stitches. Jasmine has been knitting a teddy bear with lots of increases, decreases and casting off which she learnt quickly and has done with great aplomb. Steph made a skirt complete with pockets. Then there's the beginnings of a quilt, applique on jeans and a tile mosaic all happening. So it's been a great excuse not to do any housework and spend lots of time crafting!

I've even been able to do some of my own stitching in between all the lessons and finally finished a table topper that was begun before we moved house. I sent off a photo to an Australian magazine and it was accepted for publication later in the year and I also had another design commissioned a couple of weeks ago, so my designing is starting to get back on track again.

Now I didn't ever show you any of the Christmas presents I made, so here is a selection:

A couple of pencil cases:

Some very simple covered Journals:

And a water-bottle carrier:

This one was an ideal project to try out a new quilting stencil I bought.

Have a great week!

Happy Stitching

Val