A little bit of everything…

The last two or three weeks have been a hive of activity!

Cushions were made for the family room…

My little Preppie participated in her very first school performance, singing three Abba songs, and I cried with pride!

Two birthday parties meant two egg & spoon races!

Three patterns have been written – one for charity - and two for an Australian craft magazine. Here’s a sneak peek!

Unfortunately we’ve all had coughs and colds over the past few weeks, the kids have been off school quite a bit which can’t be helped. It’s actually quite nice having them around even though I don’t wish them to be ill.

I have been organising my studio space too… I’m so excited about it and can’t wait to share some pics with you! I’m all fired up! You know that butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling you get after you’ve been to a craft or quilt show, or are just about to start a new project? Yep – that’s me!

Excitipated!

What do you get excited about???

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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 day of inspiration and some progress!

I have enjoyed an industrious couple of days! Yesterday I spent the entire day working on my cot quilt - I bit the bullet and did my first FMQ! (Well, second if you count the samples I did on my course with Kellie Wulfsohn!)

It was with great trepidation I began, but those jittery nerves were soon replaced with excitement, and once I let those confident endorphins do their business I noticed a drastic improvement in the quality of my work. It’s far from perfect, but as a perfectionist I am learning not to be so hard on myself. It takes time, commitment and patience to become really good at something. Fancy another sneak peek?

I sewed the binding on last night and will hand-stitch it in place this evening so that the quilt is finished and ready to wash, tomorrow!

Mr SUDs starts a new job on Monday and has had a couple of days off work this week – so I took the opportunity today to meet up with a new friend while being kid-free! I set off in to the hilly suburbs where I met the lovely Leanne from Petals & Patches.

Leanne and I met at a quilt show a few months ago and we hit it off instantly. She is also a fabulous designer and I felt very privelledged to have a preview of her current project (yet to hit the stores) and, it’s divine! There’s nothing quite like a bit of ‘show and tell’ to get a creative girl bursting full of crafty excitement, is there?!!

What I can share with you is one of Leanne’s most recent projects – these cute little Matroyshka doll brooches – aren’t they sweet? Leanne makes up kits presented in gorgeous hand-made boxes – ideal if you need a pressie for a crafty friend or for someone starting out in the world of embroidery. You can find them here.

Too cute! :-)

After a couple of coffees, Leanne and I headed over to Mrs Martins’ Quilt shop in Monbulk, Vic. The shop is a quaint little cottage and it’s like Aladdin's Cave inside! So many gorgeous samples on display surrounded by interesting furniture pieces and vintage nick-nacks.

A true visual delight! Want to come on a little tour with me?

Stitcheries, buttons, pillows and trims… (“these are a few of my favourite things”!!!) ha! Sorry, couldn’t resist!

Check out this shadow-frame, containing a miniature quilt shop! How cute! I’m sure there is a correct name for these picture boxes. Mrs Martin runs classes on how to make them!! (please excuse the reflections in my photo!)

I bet many an hour has been enjoyed around that table – stitching, chatting and drinking tea… :-)

Ooh look what I just spotted! Leanne’s “On Freedom’s Wings” design made up in country blues – you can see a block or two! And check out that gorgeous vintage sewing machine – I wonder if Mrs Claus has an old one lying around that she could give to Santa for me?!!

More lovely samples on display!

And this advent wall-hanging humbly lay over a quilting frame. I loved it to bits and ordered a pattern (so popular, it had sold out in the shop!). I can’t remember the name of the designer at this very moment, but I’ll ask Mrs Martin so I can share it with you! Right – I’m going to get back to my binding! I hope you have a lovely weekend – what are you up to?

Until next time – Hugs! Vikki xx

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New projects

I have been busy with needle and thread recently – as well as ‘getting jiggy with it’ on my sewing machine!

Would you like to see a couple of peeks of recently completed projects?

I love those country-style heart buttons from Dress it Up! I use them all the time.

I also love this cloud fabric – you may recognise it from the free angel stitchery design situated on my side bar. I have a series of new stitchery designs using it… to be made up into something very sweet :-)

I’m making great progress on the cot quilt too! The appliqué is now complete and I plan to start quilting it tomorrow! Wish me luck! LOL

I have two other projects on the go as well, that I’ll share soon. I don’t usually have so many things all on the go at the same time, but I was invited by the lovely editor of Creating Country Threads to do a profile piece in the magazine early next year. I’ve been industriously designing and making new items to send in to the magazine so they can be shared with readers. Exciting isn’t it?!! :-)

I am also busily preparing for two very special birthdays this week. My gorgeous son turns 13 tomorrow; I can still hardly believe how much he’s grown in both inches and maturity over the past year – but to have a TEENAGER? Wow! :-) Then, three days later follows my daughter’s birthday and she will turn Five! Another milestone. Bless ‘em!

Before I go, have you heard that Judith is having a sale in her web-shop? Head on over HERE to check it out! Also, the Material Chicks are having a sale on patterns too – their link is in my side bar! :-)

Rightie-ho, I had better head off and plan for the birthday celebrations tomorrow!! :-)

Until next time – Party On!!! Hugs! Vikki xx

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Sneak peaks and special cinnamon’y business!

I have been busy making a very special quilt – a cot quilt for a sweet friend who has just given birth to her first baby – a darling little girl! Welcome into the world, baby Eloisa! :-)

My friend isn’t into pastel colours, preferring a palette of blues and greens. I was going to add lilac in to the mix (you can see the fabrics I had initially chosen here) but when it came to the crunch, I settled without those purple hues. I’m not quite finished yet – but here’s some sneak peeks!

My inspiration was the Tree of Life! :-) I’ll show you more real soon!

Have you been over to Dawn’s recently? She has a gorgeous new BOM to share with us! You can see the first block on her cute blog button!

Isn’t it gorgeous? And a lovely take on using hexagons! I’ve recently made my very first ‘hexies’ using the plastic templates I purchased at a craft show a couple of weeks ago – and it wasn’t as straightforward as the salesperson made out! So I’ve been searching the Net for hexie tutorials and think I’m going to give this one a try. I’ll let you know how I go! Do you have any tips for me?!

If you would like to stitch along with Dawn – just click on the button above to take you to the delectable world of As Sweet as Cinnamon!

Talking of Dawn, and talking of cinnamon… I made cinnamon scrolls last night for the very first time and they were delicious! Dawn had the recipe on her blog a few weeks ago (check out this post). Yummo!

Mr SUDs and DS sang my praises all night! One would be mistaken for thinking that I never offer them tasty food! I’m not renowned for my baking skills, you see! Ha ha! My DD has Coeliac disease and can not eat gluten, so I’m going to give the recipe a try with gluten-free flour and see how it pans out… it’s quite a science to cooking gluten-free and not all recipes work with a straight ‘wheat flour for GF flour’ swap. But I won’t know until I try. :-)

Okey-dokes, I’m going to head off now and finish making dinner… and then I will return to sewing the cot quilt! :-) I will be visiting baby Eloisa tomorrow evening – can’t wait! {insert the biggest grin EVER, here!!} What are you up to this weekend??

Until next time – Hugs!! Vikki xx

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Did you miss me?

It seems like such a long time ago since I last blogged, It’s weird how “time” can play tricks on you… you know, it seems to go really slow but just flies by… or vice versa.

I’ve been absent for a couple of reasons, firstly, Mr SUDs used a lot of internet so for the past week we’ve been on “go slow” speed, which was even slower than dial-up. I couldn’t download my emails let alone open a blog page!! I had no idea how much I depended on the internet… it really opened my eyes to how much of my life is both spent and enjoyed online. I’m not quite sure if that is a good thought or a scary thought?!!! :-)

The second reason for being absent was a bout of illness, but after a dose of steroids (I was a bit puffy!) and antibiotics (also bronchitis) I am now good to go!!! :-)

And a good job too – because I have this craft fair to go to on Saturday!!! If you’re local – will you be attending?? If you’re not local or unable to attend – I’ll do you a deal – I’ll enjoy it on your behalf and then do show and tell… whatd’dya say?! :-)

On to other crafty news… Have you visited Among the Gum Trees this week? We have been sharing some behind-the-scenes “goings-on”. It was so hard to keep our excitement from overflowing as we worked together on the ‘Springtime’ quilt for Fresh Hope, but all will be revealed soon :-) In the meantime we are individually sharing the photos of our ‘pincushion swap’ items made with the remnants of the Rouenneries fabric (by French General) used to create this very special quilt.

Today, Judith shared the pincushion she made and I am happy to admit that I was the very lucky recipient!

Isn’t it divine? I use it every day and it reminds me of both my friendship with Judith, and my friendship with the Gum Tree girls – both past and present – and what we have achieved together in the making of our first collaborative project, the Springtime quilt.

Here’s a sneak peek of the pincushion I made – all will be revealed next Monday on the Among the Gum Trees blog. In the meantime – can you guess what it is?!!

Catch you soon – real soon!! Vikki xx

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