Free Pattern for Christmas Giving - Week 1

Thank you for finding my blog post. Unfortunately, this page is something I wrote in 2013, and circumstances have changed, so I now charge a small amount for my patterns.

However, there are still a couple of free Christmas patterns available. Check them out on the Freebies page

https://val-laird.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html

You can see Christmas patterns here:

https://val-laird.blogspot.com/p/christmas_59.html

My other patterns can be accessed from the Pattern page:

https://val-laird.blogspot.com/p/shop.html

I'm excited to share our first free pattern in my

  four weeks of Christmas Giving.

This week I have for you the "Lovely in Lavender" Needle case:

It's a bit different to the usual needlecase, in that it is designed specifically for your packets of needles.  You know how difficult it is to work out which needle is which when they are all sitting neatly in a pincushion or needle case? I solved my problem by designing this project so that all the needles are stored in their marked packets - no need for guessing size and shape any more. 

 With just a little bit of embroidery, it's quick to make and would make a great gift for a sewing friend. The pattern will be available for one week and will then be replaced with the next free design. You can download the pattern from here.

 

Don't forget to tell your friends and share the Logo at the top so that everyone can join in the fun.

Some more of my Christmas designs are coming out in magazines.  Yuletide Poinsettia is a sweet little box with silk ribbon embroidery on the lid:

You can find it in Embroidery & Cross Stitch Magazine Vol 21 No 4:

I'm very fond of French Braid, which is very effective and so simple to do. It is an ideal technique for Table Runners and Jelly Roll strips as you can see in my Ding Dong Merrily Table Runner:

You can find this pattern in the latest Country Threads Vol 14 No 8:

I haven't done much stitching this week again. There were a couple of days away up country to see some of our grandchildren receive their school awards. Then I joined our Government "Get Ready" programme.  It's coming up fire, flood and cyclone weather where we live, and the idea is to prepare one step at a time to deal with the extreme weather and natural disasters that are part of living in Queensland. Each week we are given another job to complete. 

One of the things I needed to do was to scan all our important papers. Now 'important' has different meanings for different people. We have two boxes that we know we need to grab in an emergency. One has purchase invoices, warranties and all those mundane papers that are very handy to have, say if you lost everything in a fire. The other has my really 'important' papers - childhood photos, photos of my parents and grandparents, my father's war records, my children's school reports - things that are totally irreplaceable, totally worthless monetary-wise, but absolutely precious to me.  Last week I spent lots of happy hours reliving memories and sharing the photos with our children and their families.

My mum and dad (and me!):

This week I will have to tackle the mundane papers - essential but not half as valuable!

I hope you enjoy the free pattern and keep a look out for another next week!

Val