Profiled in Country Threads and new designs!

It was Mr SUDs birthday on Sunday so we all went out to dinner with his folks to celebrate. Later in the afternoon I had a conversation with Dad that went a bit like this:

Me: “Ah guess what Dad?! I had my profile published in Country Threads!”

Dad: “Ah that’s good – congratulations!”

Me, (overly excited): “Yeah I’m really chuffed! There were six pages, Dad! SIX pages!!!”

Dad: (cheeky glint in eye…) “Must have been a slow week for them!”

Me: ROFLMHO!!!!!

My Dad is very proud of me but never misses an opportunity for a little jibe! I love him for it! Don’t worry – I give as good as I get – I’m surprised I didn’t get a clip round the ear on New Years Eve when I started impersonating his gorgeous Scottish accent! “Ock aye Dad and d-y-wan-sa tatties wif ya haggis?”

Back to Country Threads – I’m delighted! I sent in a couple of new designs to be photographed…

‘Birds in Spring’ punch needle embroidery featuring gorgeous bird buttons designed and hand-painted by the lovely Barb at Theodora Cleave.

‘I heart notes’ notebook cover, and…

‘Chloe’s Christening bag’. This design isn’t new – it’s about six years old, but I have never shown it before. A friend asked me to design and make a special gift for her granddaughter's christening, so I came up with this. A personalised keepsake bag for cards and gifts. It could be used for a baby’s first birthday, too.

The patterns are all underway for these projects and will be available in a few short weeks.

The design I contributed to Country Threads is named ‘A church in the Country’…

The pattern for this project and my profile can be found in the Appliqué Yearbook issue of Creating Country Threads, Vol 11 No 7.

Back soon with some more show and tell! Ooh – and don’t forget I’m still raffling my last published project – a handy sewing travel caddy that fits to your car’s sun visor –the raffle is open until Wednesday – go visit THIS post! :-)

Catch you soon! :-) Hugs! Vikki xx

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Are we there yet?! Beach, banter and a Homespun publication!

How many times have we all heard that?!

“Are we there yet?”

I can still vividly remember uttering those words myself on family trips down to Cornwall, in England. Seven hours of driving felt like an eternity for the young Miss SUDs who wiled away the time listening to such bands as Spandau Ballet and Level 42 on her ‘walkman’! Gosh, those were the days without seatbelts too – I sometimes sat in the back of my dad’s ‘estate car’ (known in Australia as a station wagon), waving at the merry bands of holiday-makers travelling behind us. Safety first eh?! I’m very thankful that times have changed on that score.

As a family we holidayed once a year, and going to the seaside was a real treat because we lived in an English town that was furthermost from the coast in all directions. To this day I still feel the same excitement at siting the sea for the first time from the windscreen of our car; and was sharing this story with my son yesterday on our drive down to Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula.

It was a hot day, but the sea breeze was refreshing. DS was off with four other teenage friends having fun on the waves with a giant raft.

DD and I stayed on the beach, jumping in the surf, searching for shells and building sandcastles.

After a leisurely drive home to the suburbs, I picked up my mail and discovered a copy of Australian Homespun magazine.

My “Are we there yet?” travel sewing caddy was within its pages and I had to smile to myself when I looked closely at the feature photograph – for it had a tourist brochure within it depicting a house in the Mornington Peninsula – where we had just spent the day!!!

The caddy attaches to the sun visor of your car - so if you are a crafter who has outgrown 1980’s pop music *giggle* - you can pick up needle and thread and sew the hours away! :-)

It attaches to the sun visor with velcro straps…

There are lanyards for needles and thread cards, and a special pocket for housing your embroidery scissors (“Destination Points” ha ha…) The scissors are secured by a magnetised fabric strip, and have a ribbon lanyard so you can put them around your neck when in use.

There are some fantastic projects in this Yearbook issue (Vol 12.1) including 11 Aussie designs such as the gorgeous Kookaburra softie by Kate Henderson of Two Little Banshees, and the most amazing Echidna embroidery project by Betty Johnston of Betty’s Creative Threads. Not to forget part-two of a chic and stylish sewing-accessory-set created by the lovely Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom. The icing on the cake is a fabulous quilt designed by the internationally renowned talent of Kim Diehl.

If you live overseas and would like to purchase this magazine, please refer to the list of international suppliers on my side bar.

To all my gorgeous blogging buddies, visitors and family members who read my blog…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May it hold many blessings for you all!

Until next time… Are we there yet?!! :-)

Hugs! Vikki xx

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A sneak peek…and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Boy oh boy – I am loving this lead up to Christmas! I get as excited today as I did when I was five years old! I even bought myself an advent calendar this year – an ‘old fashioned’ one with pictures - as opposed to chocolates!! :-)

I have been busy designing and creating, but there’s nothing I can show on that front just yet. But here’s a sneak peek of something that I WILL be sharing with you REAL soon!

All will be revealed in a couple of weeks! :-)

I am also enjoying creating projects from others’ patterns, and have just started on this gorgeous wall-hanging by one of my favourite designers, Laurraine Yuyama from Patchwork Pottery. :-)

This is the project – on the front cover of the first issue of Quilter’s Connection – the gorgeous Canadian magazine for, you guessed it, quilters!

Isn’t it divine? I love the way Laurraine marries muted country colours in her stand-out signature style. What a talented artisan she is – and an absolutely beautiful person, to boot!

Here are the fabrics I have chosen:

Very similar to the original – but why change perfection?!!! he he…

I purchased the magazine through Laurraine’s Etsy store, together with Cotton Life – a Japanese publication featuring another of Laurraine’s patterns.

Laurraine’s parcel arrived a few weeks ago, wrapped beautifully and containing an extra gift for me…

One of her sweet fabric birds…

Thank you Laurraine for your sweet gift – and for your inspiration, enthusiasm - but (most of all) for your friendship! x

~~~

There’s something so special about hand-made isn’t there? Nothing tops it! Over the past few years I have been gifted handmade creations by dear friends, and they are so special to me. I think it’s the energy that is passed through the fabric from one person to another.

My family and I put up our Christmas decorations a couple of days ago and it was so sentimental to hold the handmade holiday decorations that have been hiding in boxes for the past 10 months. I had a smile on my face as I thought of each person in turn and what they mean to me. That’s one of the best things about this holiday season isn’t it? Remembering our loved ones and dearest friends. :-)

~~~

So! On a final note… are you all set to open the first door of your Advent calendar tomorrow???? How exciting!!!!

Catch you soon!!! Hugs! Vikki :-)

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More Christmas inspiration!!

Are you all bursting at the seams with Christmas excitement? Or are you still in the throes of celebrating Fall?

I’m a Christmas girl at heart – you know that excited butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling you get when you think about your hobbies or you’re at a quilt show? I get those same butterflies when I think about Christmas and Christmas crafting! So I am in seventh heaven at this time of year when all the Aussie craft magazines are packed to the brim with festive projects!

A friend told me that she’d seen my Christmas ornament on the front of Handmade magazine… so I promptly went out to purchase a copy!

There it is! Christmas Robins, a tree ornament that some of you may recognise from its reveal on Among the Gum Trees, last year.

This Country Christmas Crafts edition of Handmade also features a wonderful profile of my dear friend, Kerryanne English; together with sweet projects from other bloggy friends including Kris, Barb and Fee!

Here’s what to look out for in your newsagents:

Talking of Fee – have you visited Among the Gum Trees this week? Fee is offering a sweet and useful project for her festive freebie this year.

The Gum Tree gals are back in full swing celebrating the lead-up to Christmas with weekly free projects, recipes and ideas. Aren’t they a gorgeous bunch of darlings? I have taken a sabbatical from the Gum Trees for the rest of this year, and its very exciting to be on the ‘other side of the fence’ viewing all the weekly delights in anticipation of what is to follow! The Gum Trees will also host a couple of very special guest designers this year! Can my “To do list” handle it?!!!! We’ll sure give it a try!!! :-)

I’m off to a craft show tomorrow! Wa-HOO!! And I’ve got some more Chrissy crafting to share with you too!

Until next time! Enjoy the festivities!!!

Hugs! Vikki :-)

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Homespun – The Kid’s Issue!

I expect there were a few mum’s in Victoria rubbing their eyes this morning as they embarked on the first school run of this new school term! With an hour’s less sleep due to the clock’s moving forward with Daylight Savings, I sure know I found it difficult to function!

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve opened the microwave in order to get the milk out of the refrigerator!! And I really shouldn’t keep the dry dog food on top of the washing machine – it has been scooped and poured in to the washing powder dispenser of my machine one too many times! I prefer my clothes to smell like ‘spring meadows’ – call me old fashioned – but ‘beef & liver’ just isn’t my thing!

So while DS went back to High School, Little Miss Chatterbox (oops – I mean DD!) and I enjoyed the morning sunshine out in the garden. My little Miss was much more energetic than I, jumping up and down on her trampoline, but I must admit that once I’d picked up a copy of Australian Homespun magazine from my mailbox, I too joined in with her bouncy celebrations!!

For within the pages of this annual Kid’s Issue…

Is my ‘Rosie’s nappy stacker’ project!

The magazines really do style the projects so beautifully. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the stylists go out on location, gathering their nick-nacks and visiting gorgeous homes!

As with my previous Homespun project, this one was designed for my daughter (yep – the chatty one!) for her nursery some five-plus years ago. If you’re interested I posted about her room when I first started blogging – just pop over here for a tour.

If you live overseas but would like to purchase Homespun, please refer here for a list of stockists in your Country. (Una darling – I’ll purchase an extra copy of this current issue to send to you!!)

Homespun never disappoints and this issue is cram-packed-full of stunning projects! But my favourite is this delightful wall-hanging designed by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches. I plan to make it for a dear friend of mine in England who recently had her first baby.

Oh – and yesterday I purchased some fabric to make Little Miss Chatterbox this top from my recently purchased book (see last post).

I just need to get hold of some more spaghetti bias now and I’m thinking of making my own as it will be cheaper than buying from the US (because I need a vast quantity!!). I can’t find a stockist in Australia – so if anyone knows where to buy the cotton gingham spaghetti bias within Australasia (or economically, overseas), I’d really appreciate the heads-up!

Rightio – I’m off to cook some dinner! Speak to you soon!

Hugs! Vikki :-)

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A book review, new magazine and sneak peek!

As the summer months approach I am feeling more and more excited about the prospect of making some sweet clothes for my young DD. A friend of mine put me on to this wonderful book, and I thought I would share it with you. It’s called Making Children’s Clothes, by Emma Hardy.

There are 25 fantastic projects in this book for both girls and boys aged between 0-5 years old. The great thing? Full size patterns included – gotta love that!!

Gorgeous designs hey? I think I’ll be using some of my fabric stash for a few of these projects including these…

This range is called Mendocino by Heather Ross for Free Spirit.

Although I haven’t actually made any of the patterns from this book as yet, I am thoroughly impressed with the quality of the projects, the easy-to-understand diagrams and the full-size pattern sheets. Most projects look really simple to make, with just a few steps involved, but the use of gorgeous fabrics and embellishments really make them stand out from the crowd. On this basis – I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to make some bespoke clothing for the children in their lives. I’ll be sure to show you when I begin sewing the projects myself! (I purchased my copy from here.)

On the same topic of children’s clothing, I bought this magazine recently and have been bubbling with excitement ever since!

Sew Beautiful, issue no131, 2010. Don’t you just love the detail on the front cover? It is a close-up of this gorgeous little top designed by Kari Mecca… and all I can say is WOW!

I wish this picture was clearer… it is taken from the magazine. The article pictures Kari’s latest designs as published in her new book “More sewing with Whimsy”. I have ordered my copy!!! Here is another page from the magazine…

My dress-making history has seen me make two pairs of baby pyjamas, and two tops for myself – neither of which I have actually finished! BUT! I am inspired… SEW inspired!!! :-)

Do you have any favourite dressmaking books you’d like to share?

On the sewing front, I have been a stitching machine! Tuesday is my deadline for getting projects to Creating Country Threads for my profile piece in January, where I will also have a project published. Here’s a sneak peek!

Until next time – have a lovely weekend! Hugs! Vikki xx

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A house in the Country is published

What a delight it was this morning to have the mailman deliver this month’s issue of Creating Country Threads – and to see my design, “A house in the Country” published within its pages!

This simple framed stitchery makes use of a house button and was designed some time ago as part of a swap I did with the lovely Lizzie from A house in the Country. If you’re interested, you can see what I gifted Lizzie here, and what Lizzie gifted me here!

This issue (Vol 10 no 12) also features pretty projects from two of my treasured friends, Jenny and Cheryl. If you live in Australia – here’s what to look out for in your newsagents:

While I was uploading photos on to www.picnik.com (a great free site for editing your photos!) I decided to have a little play with some of the special effects and chose a ‘soft focus’ to zoom in on the button! Isn’t this cool?

I had planned to do a post on ‘Treasure Tuesday’ today… but most of my treasures are all hidden away! Hmmm… that tells me something – maybe my treasures should actually be on display?!! It also tells me I need to re-organise my house! LOL

Until next time – happy stitching!

Hugs! Vikki xx

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