In the garden… a sneak peek!

As I sat having breakfast in the garden I started reflecting on how I’ve become more and more interested in gardening over the past six months. 

The mother of my son’s girlfriend is a real enthusiast and gave me loads of cuttings from her front yard, and I think that’s where it all started.  Realising that I CAN actually nurture these wee plants and they grow and thrive gives me such a great feeling.

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The above picture is my inspiration!  Thanks to recent hard-rubbish collections I have obtained two more out-of-use wheelbarrows that I’m going to plant-up with my young fledglings. 

One is ear-marked for a herb garden that I hope will be as lively as this one: 

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Don’t you just love all the moss and ground-covering plants between the paving stones?

The reason for my initial lack of confidence?  I seemed to kill everything I planted when I had a garden in England and thought I was destined never to grow flowers!  How silly!  Okay – even sillier – I propagated buttercups!  I had no idea they were weeds at the time, before they flowered the plant looked so healthy that I thought I’d spread it around!! Ha ha!  Lesson learned… now I learn what the plant is before I start sharing the love!

I have always been a nature lover and with my new-found interest in making a garden of my own it has been a pleasure to work on this garden-themed project for one of my favourite magazines.

It will be available later on this year, I’ll let you know when!

Till next time – happy creating!

Vikki xo

 

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A beautiful Springtime quilt

 

Once upon a time, a gaggle of creative women came together to share their passion for sewing with like-minded ladies.  During that special journey, they each designed a stitchery block for a very special quilt.

The Springtime quilt was made and donated to a charity in Queensland that runs a non-profit programme for the rehabilitation of mothers and their children who have become dependent on drug abuse.  The charity is Fresh Hope.  Such an inspiring and fitting name don’t you think?

Each of us designers – Vicki, Dawn, Jenny, Cheryl (no blog but as nutty as ever!), Joy, Fee, Judith and young guest designer, Blossom, were given a Block of the Month pattern-pack by Fresh Hope. 

Then, in 2011 came the devastating Queensland floods.  With great tragedy comes great kindness, and in an attempt to raise money for those who had lost everything, Toni Coward of Make it Perfect had an ingenious idea and organised a huge on-line auction.  Being the most valuable craft item I had at the time, I put my complete pattern-pack up on the site for prospective bidders.  And that’s when I met the sweet, generous and gracious, Debra Schefe.

Here she is!  Debra made the successful bid and set to work soon after on her stitchery blocks.  How lovely it is to see her version in all its glory!  As part of the auction I made a quilt label including a signed square of fabric by each of the designers. 

It turned out as big as a block, itself!  Debra changed the quilt pattern design in order to incorporate the label on the front, and I feel very humbled that she has done so. 

What a wonderful rendition!

Thank you so much Debra, for sharing your photos with us!  There is nothing more rewarding for a designer than to see your versions of our designs.

Debra is an avid quilter and also a fellow collector of vintage toy sewing machines!  She has a vibrant, friendly disposition and is always sharing her joys and her creations on her blog. 

If you would like your own copy of the Springtime BOM, or would like to browse the full range of patterns offered by Fresh Hope, head on over here.

There you will also find the pattern for the Bird of Hope pincushion I designed for the charity.  It has pieced wings and a pieced tummy so I guess you could describe it as very peaceful!

Until next time – whether it’s Spring or Autumn in your neck of the woods – enjoy!

Vikki xo

PS.  I’d also like to credit Vicki with the beautiful quilt design for the Springtime BOM.  It’s still one of my all-time-favourite quilt layouts

 

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Planting and sketching

With school holidays well underway in to the second week, I’m getting quite accustomed to having the kids about me during the day and time just seems to fly.  I won’t want them to go back to school!  Shall I let you in to a little secret?  When I’m working away in the studio during term-time,  I will quite often put on a Disney movie as background noise… and sometimes even the kids channel on TV… because it makes me feel closer to my own children.  Even though one of them is a young man now (and is more in to Zombie movies!), the kids-movie-melodies still bring back the nostalgia of when he was a babe.

The Autumnal weather in Melbourne has been glorious of late; the skies blue, the sun shining and the temperature absolutely perfect – neither hot nor cold.  I’ve been working in the garden a fair bit, re-potting plants and taking cuttings, and sawing branches off the humungous lemon tree.  One afternoon I sat with some paper and pen to work on a new idea involving a sweet Deer.  I flicked through a couple of magazines passed on to me by a friend while young Miss Rosie bounced away on the trampoline next to me.

Another embroidery design is underway in my sketches and in my head…

The sketch isn’t finished and it makes me think of the very, very corny joke:  “What do you call a deer with no eye?”  Answer:  “No idea!” (insert rolling of eyes, here!)

Back to the garden…

I purchased this old rusty wheelbarrow on eBay recently with a view to using it as a rustic planter in my front yard.  It has some rust holes in it already but needs a few more drilled for drainage.  Then I will plant it up… I think it will look great with Nasturtium and Alyssum, but I’m not sure that they’ll flower during this time of year so I might be better off planting some ornamental cabbages during winter – what do you think?  (Please excuse the weeds in the background, even though I have weed-mat down under the mulch they still find their way through!)

I bought these purple Cordyline from a closing-down garden centre in Narre Warren.  If you are local click here for details.  Most plants were 50% – 75% off retail price.  Two of these will add some sculpture to my front yard and the other will go in to a ceramic pot in the back yard.  I’ll show you when they’re in their new beds!!

What have you been up to this week? 

I’ll be back at the end of the week to show you a gorgeous quilt made by an equally gorgeous lady.  But now I’m off to play Barbie’s with Rosie!

Catch you round like a fruit loop!

Vikki xo

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