March 27, 2016

The New for Old Policy

In all our years of married life, I can't remember having to make a Home & Contents claim on an Insurance company apart from when the motor burnt out in our freezer. So, going through the process of making a damage claim when the neighbour's airborne trampoline crashed on our house has been a totally new experience.

I really had no idea how a New for Old policy worked. It seems obvious, but what happens in reality? Our experience - Only half the ceiling in the garage was wrecked, but they pulled the whole lot off and gave us a brand new ceiling and cornices. Only the new work needed painting, but they painted the whole garage, walls included. 

One panel on our large patio roof was damaged, and you guessed it, on Thursday they replaced the whole roof with brand spanking new roofing! Needless to say, we are very happy with our Insurance Company!


I've been thinking about this in the light of Easter and I'm ever so thankful that God has a New for Old policy too! He's in the business of making everything new ... and it's all possible because of what Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection. I'm very happy with God's policy too!!!

We're having a very quiet Easter without family, as they will be travelling to us in a couple of weeks. It's quiet in the sewing room too, as there is still no Bernina in sight. I had hoped it might be back with me by Easter ... sigh!

That means it's a good time to put some more of my patterns in my Craftsy Store.

Dancing in the Rain bag here:


Frou Frou Coat Hanger frocks here:


and Life is a Symphony here:


 I've also drawn up a couple of new designs and have already finished one of them. Not only did it not need a sewing machine, but it was actually much easier to hand-stitch. Maybe I should think more creatively in future and make more 'non sewing machine' projects!

Happy Easter!
Val

March 20, 2016

Down at the Pond

When we planned to move back to our home State of Queensland five years ago, we knew we would be happy, but never dreamed of how perfect our location would be for us in our retired lifestyle. Everything we need and love is at our fingertips - 200 metres walk to great medical services, shops nearby, the beach a short walk away, parks and conservation areas in abundance, 150 species of birds to be seen and enjoyed. We are thankful everyday for the blessings of living in such a delightful location.


Some of our favourite delights are our Ponds just two houses down the road. Our morning stroll around the water rarely fails to bring us pleasure - a Rakali darting under the bridge to its burrow, a Moorhen keeping a close eye on her four chicks, an Egret showing off its beautiful breeding plumage, a Darter drying its wings. 


You can see how easy it was for me to be inspired to make my "Down at the Pond" quilt.


There's always beautiful butterflies flitting by:


and their cousins, the dragonflies:


Some days the frogs are quite noisy: 


At the moment there are only a few ducks on the ponds as the lotus leaves are so huge they have covered nearly all the water. Once the cooler weather comes, the leaves will die back and all our ducks, grebes, cormorants, moorhens, and swamp hens will be back.


We don't often see fish and turtles, but there are tell-tale signs of their presence.


This quilt was another collaborative effort with my artist grandson who did all the drawings for me.


The waterlilies are stunning, mostly purple, white and yellow.


We always stop to lean on the bridge and have another look.


It wouldn't be a pond without bulrushes. I had fun stitching these. I didn't want to leave them just with an outline, but filling them in with satin stitch didn't turn me on. I had a brainwave to work rows of stem stitch until they were covered and I just love the effect. I did the same on the leaves. It's now my "Go-To" technique for filling in stitching areas.


Country Threads magazine has featured the design in Volume 17 No 5.


and it has pride of place on the cover:


 Still no sewing machine (sigh ...). I had hoped I would have it back before Easter! Maybe ........    We have a big milestone to celebrate soon, so I have spent time putting together a photo presentation with some digital scrapbooking. Next I'll work on a pretty invitation for the party we have planned. I prepared another hand-stitching project, and have been spending more time on my volunteer work, so I guess time without Bernina hasn't all been wasted.

Happy stitching!
Val

March 13, 2016

Free Block of the Month Wall Quilt - Pattern 3

Here we are with yet another month gone by!  Today is the day for you to download Pattern 3 of the free quilt
You Are Blessed

This month's verse is
You are blessed when you’re kind and merciful for you will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:5


That's really another way of saying “You reap what you sow”. You are blessed when you care, because that’s when you will find yourself cared for.



I love the colour variations in the Anchor 1344 multi-colour thread.


I hope you enjoy stitching this block. You can download Pattern 3 in my Craftsy Store here.

My tail of woe continues with my Bernina sewing machine! My worst fears have come to pass! The part that has taken so long to come, finally arrived ... and yes, you guessed it, it didn't fix the problem!!!  So now we are waiting for yet another part to come.  At least the technician seems to think this part will fix everything because he had another machine in the same as mine and he was able to swap parts around and work out what is needed .... I hope! My husband keeps telling me I really have to find somewhere else to have my machine serviced, but that's not so easy when you live up country. Meanwhile it's good for teaching me patience!


Easter is just around the corner and my Easter Eggsploits basket has been published in Handmade magazine Vol 34 No 8.  Cute chicks:


More butterflies:


I'm on a bit of an aqua and red roll, aren't I?




The pattern is for sale in my Craftsy Store for those of you who don't have access to our fabulous Australian magazines.

Life just seems to be drifting along at the moment and again I have very little to show for my week. I finished a cute stitchery and it's now in its frame and I've started another project but it's very hard to be focussed when your tools of trade aren't around! It's not good for the bank balance either - I am spending way too much time browsing the internet and pressing the "Add to Cart" button!

Happy stitching!
Val 

March 6, 2016

Making everything shipshape - bargains included

My tail of woe with my sewing machine continues - no part yet, which means no Bernina! I decided it was a good time to get everything "shipshape" in my store. The Australian Dollar has been going down, down, down for some time which means the price of my patterns in my Craftsy store in US Dollars has been going up, up, up if you're an Aussie.

With that in mind, I went through all my patterns and reduced heaps of them by 30% to 50%. That should make it more equitable for my friends 'down under' and if you live elsewhere, you can grab yourself a bargain!

I also took the opportunity of uploading another new pattern, "Leap Frog" - isn't she a cutie?

You can find the design here.

Talking about making things 'shipshape', I had in mind to show you my latest children's game:


It's a memory game for toddlers, teaching them about different shapes and pairs in a fun way. I decided to call it "Shipshape".


I think I'll ever be a child at heart - just love making children's projects!



The pattern is in Handmade Vol 34 No 8. If you decide to make it, unfortunately the magazine left out a number of the shapes and also the whole of the box pattern, so email me and I will send you the missing templates.

I decided to get my sewing room shipshape also. I was able to rearrange some of the furniture so that I could fit another set of drawers in the room. All those bits and pieces, cottons, light box, folders, that had to be moved every time I wanted something (and of course what I was trying to find was always at the bottom of the pile!) are now sitting happily in a drawer.  Wonderful!

It's been lovely having two of our grandsons stay with us this weekend. It's a joy to see them growing up into delightful young men. Family is so special!!!

Keep an eye out next week for another block in the free You are Blessed BOM quilt. I should have plenty of time to prepare it for you while the Bernina is absent!

Happy stitching!
Val