New Christmas pattern - Mademoiselle Snow

There’s nothing that gets my mojo going as much as designing for Christmas… and I figured, the shops have their festive displays happening, so why not decorate my blog early too?!  Do you like my new banner?

I have been busy working on Christmas projects too, and am very happy to introduce you to Mademoiselle Snow…

She’s a little shabby chic, and if you look closely, she’s a little sparkly too, loving to adorn herself with bling when the stardust falls from the sky on those cold crisp nights!

This sweet mademoiselle measures 20cm x 9cm (8in x 3.5in) and is constructed with minimal sewing.  I only used my sewing machine to stitch three straight lines and the rest was done by hand in no time at all.  Which leaves more time for the fun bit – embellishing!

The pattern is available for Mademoiselle Snow as a PDF from my Craftsy store here, or as a paper pattern in my shop here,  for just $10USD (inc. P&P if purchasing a paper version). 

I had it in mind to make some pretty pastel Christmas decorations and was inspired to create this first one when I started sewing with faux fur.  I used fur by Tilda ™, and purchased it from Shabby Art Boutique.  You only need a fat eighth to create one snow-lady… but can you just stop at one?  I couldn’t!

I hope you have a fantastic day!  I’ll be back tomorrow with some more news!!

Until then – snowy hugs!

Vikki xoxo

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Show n’ tell!

Hi there! A warm welcome to those of you who are new to my blog… and a warm welcome to those of you who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for quite some time!

Thank you for the uplifting feedback you’ve given me about both my chat over at Stash Manicure, and the giveaway! I’m still in the process of visiting new blogs and replying to comments… just when you think you know where the borders of the blogosphere lay, there are new doors opened and more creative people to meet! If only we didn’t have to sleep!!!

As promised, the kettle is on, would you like a cuppa?

I usually drink Earl Grey tea, really weak with milk. But just recently I’ve been introduced to Chai tea with milk and honey… so lovely on a cold winter’s day! What’s your favourite brew?

~~~

We’re on the second week of school holidays here in Melbourne and it’s been cold and rainy for the most part. A good excuse to cuddle up indoors with a movie, or have friends over for play dates!

I’m working on a mystery BOM called ‘Christmas Fun’ by Lynette Anderson. Here’s my progress on block Two!

Needle turn appliqué and itsy-bitsy Ohio Stars blocks!

Lynette has just posted a pic on her blog of the progress so far. It’s great fun!

Her new fabric line, Scandinavian Christmas, has just hit the stores so I had to dash out and buy some! (Someone really had to twist my arm! *giggle*)

Even the selvedge is adorable!!

I plan to use the fabric for a new Christmas design… or two… or a few! I think this is going to be one of my all-time-favourite fabric lines. Sometimes you can just feel it in your bones, can’t you?

On to some other show and tell… do you remember this birdie pincushion I designed a while back?

Well, the pattern is now available to purchase under the Fresh Hope Patterns label.

I’m so proud to be supporting Fresh Hope! This is what the charity is all about (excerpt from website):

“Fresh Hope is an association which offers a loving and caring family environment through an eighteen month residential program to mothers and their children suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. Fresh Hope’s aim is to provide, through education and suitable programs, the opportunity for mothers and their children to find their destiny in life and achieve their goals in a healthy, drug free environment, thus breaking the generational cycle of addiction and abuse for the children and future generations.”

I find it hard to put in to words how I feel when I think about the mothers who are courageous enough to look for and accept help. But most of all I find warmth in knowing that their children will find security in a safe haven alongside the women who matter most in their lives. Children are such a blessing - innocents that deserve the very best that life has to offer – as we all do! It’s so wonderful that there are people out there – like Fresh Hope – who help people to step on to their paths of happiness…

Bit profound for a Tuesday night eh?!! Okay – best head off for now – but I’ll be back on Thursday to draw the winner of my giveaway. Have you entered yet? Head on over – and Good Luck!

Warm wishes! Vikki xo

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Happy Easter & some finishes!

HAPPY EASTER MY FRIENDS!!

I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful weekend?!

This morning saw the awakening of young Rosie along with the dawn… it took a while for these bleary eyes to focus on the shiny wrappers of the Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny had very kindly left hidden inside the house.

The sun is shining and I am sat here listening to my family enjoy the fresh air outside in the garden. I’ve left them to it so that I could pop inside and say Hello!

Hi!

I have some finishes to share with you! Do you remember the ceramics that Rosie and I painted last week? This is what they looked like before they were fired:

And after…

I also completed painting the little crib that I picked up for Rosie at the op shop. It went from this:

To this…

I made a little mattress first, then a sheet, and a double-sided blanket, topped with a teeny weeny pieced quilt using fabrics designed by Lynette Anderson.

It has been a very busy week in the SUDs household. We had an old friend from Blighty stay with us for a couple of days and I can’t tell you how good it was to hear a London accent! Love it! The lovely thing about having guests from overseas is showing them the local sights. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but we frequented some of my favourite ‘burbs’ up in the Dandenong Ranges.

I also went to the AQC last Saturday which was as inspirational as always! I didn’t take any photos, there were quite a few signs up at the stands requesting no photography. But I had a lovely time with my ‘painting buddies’ Anne and Karen. (They’re busy gals – but I might get them blogging one of these days!!!)

I was thrilled to bits to meet Lizzie from A House in the Country. We got time for a hug, and will hopefully meet up at the next show! Lizzie is just as I imagined her – as vibrant and gorgeous in ‘real life’ as she is in her written word! Lizzie was with the wonderful Jodie and Annie. I have to tell you that Jodie was sporting the most amazing red polkadot-with pom-pom trolley that I drooled all over (Sorry Jod if it got wet… thank goodness you made it from oilcloth!!!)

I was very refrained – unlike me I know! But I did buy these fabrics from my favourite stall, Thread and Ginger.

These are Tilda fabrics. I also picked up these romantic fabrics by Quilt Gate, it’s the Mary Rose Collection.

I have been stealing a few moments in between kids play dates and general holiday-activities, to write a new pattern too… burning the midnight oil as it’s the only time of the day where there is complete peace and quiet! Aaaahhhh the serenity!!!!

I’d just like to take this opportunity my friends, to apologize for not responding to my comments of late – time has just run away with me and it really prays on my mind that I haven’t replied even just to say “thanks for dropping by!” I really appreciate you taking the time to stop and leave me a note – so please forgive me and know that I sincerely enjoy reading your messages. I shall give myself a wrap over the knuckles on your behalf!

Lots of love to you all and HAPPY EASTER!

Hugs! Vikki xo

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Sweet baby Eloisa…

Tiny fingers, dinky toes

Rosebud mouth and button nose…

My friends’ first babe, a pure delight…

A happy, healthy little Sprite!

Six months old and each day cuter…

Your daddy will battle the queues, for your suitor!

May this quilt comfort you day and night…

in to your future, oh so Bright! :-)

Dear sweet baby Eloisa, thank you for your sweet smiles and gorgeous giggles! Love you to bits! Auntie Vikki xxxxx

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My little Preppie & a ‘Pure’ lap quilt

The school summer holidays sure did fly past quickly and I can hardly believe that my baby is now a school girl… Where, oh where, did that time go?

I would never have thought in a million years that one day (when I was a ‘grown up’) I would live on the ‘other side of the world’ and have a little girl who looks like she could walk out of a set from Neighbours or Home and Away!! I always think of those two infamous soaps when I see the Aussie school uniform. How cute is that dress???

As for me on the home-front… listen to this…

… can you hear it?

Yes my friends – I believe that is the sound of silence!!!

Did you notice I said, “believe?” That’s because It’s been so long since I’ve heard nothing, that I can hardly remember what nothing sounds like. But I tell you what – nothing sure sounds GOOD!

Ha ha! Okay – you got me – yes I’m missing my little Preppie and her big brother like crazy! But what is a girl to do? Yeah you guessed it… SEW! :-)

A simple lap quilt, lovingly made for the husband of a dear friend in England.

I absolutely adore this fabric range – Pure – by Sweetwater for Moda. Got to love those inspiring positive affirmations… pure grace… pure elation… pure love… pure joy. (My friend’s name is Joy.)

I took inspiration from one of the fabrics – which reminds me of a coffee-cup-ring-stain. I sewed circles of chain stitch around some stitched words, using variegated thread. Then I quilted the finished piece in circles, using a CD as my template.

Washed, wrapped and on an aeroplane to England…

Wherever you are in the world and whatever your plans for this weekend – I hope you have a good one! :-)

Hugs! Vikki x

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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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A special ‘shabby’ apron, sneak peek and other goings on!

I thought you might like to see a (relatively) recent finish?

Before I left the branches of the Gum Trees, us girls had arranged an apron swap for Christmas. You can see the bright and cheery (and very ‘me’) apron that Vicki made for me, here.

My swap partner was Fee – and she really is a shabby girl at heart! She’s always repurposing furniture and finding vintage goodies at flea markets… and she’s no stranger to a pot of white furniture paint!!

This is the gorgeous shabby chic apron I made for her!

I designed the actual apron with long wide ties and a flower-pot-shaped-pocket - but the standout is obviously the painting design!

I can not take credit for this (although I wish I could!) as the design is the amalgamation of two painting patterns by the talented Kerryanne English of Woodberry Designs! The Victorian boot design is my all-time-favourite and it is Christmas themed, but I wanted to use the same design with roses so that Fee could use the apron all year-round. The roses were the second design of Kerryanne’s, featured in Handmade magazine a year or two ago. Mine look nothing like the original – try as I might! LOL!

Here’s a close-up. Although it’s difficult to see, I used a bit of crystalina sparkle on the finished roses… and the buttons are sewn on, not painted.

I think it’s the prettiest project I’ve ever made, although Rosie’s nappy stacker came close! :-)

I’m working on a new design at the moment – fancy a sneak peek?

Mysterious? This project has been designed for a special friend, I hope to finish it next week, while I also work on some special sewing kits for THIS good cause…

The Gum Tree Designers are collecting sewing kits to give to those affected by the flood disasters in Queensland and NSW. Just click on the button above to see if you’d like to help – you don’t have to be a sewer – there are other ways of donating – whether it be purchasing needles and threads, or donating money for postage costs.

I am going to make up a few kits and was going to use fabric already in my stash, until I headed to my local craft store yesterday and picked up this fabric at half the usual price…

It is called ‘Stitches’ by Lynette Anderson Designs for Henry Glass Fabrics. I thought it was PURRfect (sorry couldn’t resist!) for making up sewing kits… will show you more as I progress!

On the subject of Flood Relief – I have put a list of favourite auctions and raffles in my side bars and will no doubt keep adding… the more exposure the better!

If you haven’t done so already – I am raffling my recently published travel caddy, and also auctioning a complete set of the ‘Springtime’ BOM designed by the Gum Tree Designers… I think it retails for around $160… so you never know your luck – you could grab a real bargain! Details at the top of my right-hand side bar – or just head here and here!

*Please feel free to use the pictures/blog buttons of my auction/raffle to post on your blog*

Until next time – enjoy the sweet fragrance of those shabby roses!

Hugs! Vikki xo :-)

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Flood Appeal – My Auction - ‘Springtime’ BOM

I am sure that the majority of people now reading this post are fully aware of the devastation that has been caused by the floods in Queensland. It is mind-blowing to think that 75% of the state has been declared a disaster zone, and that equates to an area the size of France and Germany, put together.

It is beyond comprehension, so many people’s lives have been affected, or worse still, lost.

I have been in silent prayer the past few days, but mourning isn’t as effective as action. Toni at Make it Perfect has organised a huge on-line auction and all proceeds will be going to the Premier’s Flood Appeal.

I am auctioning a complete set of patterns for the ‘Springtime’ quilt, designed by the Gum Tree Designers for Fresh Hope Patterns.

There are nine patterns for nine stitchery blocks, with comprehensive instructions for how to put the quilt together.

The winning bidder will also receive a bespoke quilt LABEL made by me, which will have EACH GUM TREE DESIGNER’S NAME SIGNED on it.

Here is how it works…

1. Bidding will start at $50 Australian

2. Place your bid by leaving a comment on this post with the amount you are bidding, together with your email address

3. I will pay for postage anywhere in the world

4. The Auction will start NOW and will END midday (12 noon) Tuesday 25th January (Melbourne time)

5. I will notify the winner at closing

6. Winner will pay direct to Premier's Flood Relief Appeal

7. Once proof of payment has been received the BOM will be posted. The label may take a few days longer to post, due to some of the gum tree designers living in states that have been affected by the floods, and therefore not receiving or being able to post items themselves. But it WILL follow!

Remember that every single cent goes to those people who need it in Queensland.

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your generosity.

I’ll be back in a short while as I have another special item to offer as a giveaway/raffle… see you then! x

Hugs! Vikki xo

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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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