August 19, 2012

A small Milestone


I reached a small milestone this week, I had my one hundredth design commissioned for publication.  I won't actually have 100 projects published until some time next year, but I'm quite excited to have reached the one hundredth commission.  A milestone, no matter how big or small,  is definitely something to be celebrated, so of course I'm planning a Giveaway. I have something pretty and practical in mind to make this week as a prize, so look out for my next blog post when I hope to be able to show you what is 'up for grabs'. The giveaway will be for my followers so if you regularly read my blog, it would be great to have you as an 'official' follower. (It would also help me to get to another milestone - 600 followers!)

I resisted the lure of patchwork and quilting for quite a while because I knew I would never be happy painstakingly machining little bits of fabric together! I am first and foremost a hand worker! It was only when I saw how embroidery could be combined with the craft that I became interested ... and ultimately addicted! Since then, most of my 100 designs have included stitcheries of some sort:


Then I fell in love with applique, particularly fusible web applique, so heaps of my designs feature both applique and embroidery.


However, sometimes the call of embroidery is just too strong and I have to drop everything and do some serious stitching with beautiful silk ribbons, fancy cotton, silk and rayon threads, elegant guipure and plenty of pretty beads. 


That's how "Fan-ciful" was born and featured in Embroidery and Cross Stitch magazine Vol 19 No 12. You can see I didn't drop my love of applique but instead worked out a way to showcase it!


These burgundy and pink spider-web roses are super-easy to make.  Of course I couldn't do embroidery without including my beloved grub roses.  (... a reminder that I have a free tutorial on how to make these, the link for which you can find here on this page.)

 
The lovely editor phoned me to see if I had any more embroidery projects I could give her!  I didn't need a second asking!  I like to do hand stitching at night and drawing, cutting and machining during the day.  Serious embroidery takes a L-O-N-G time to complete so I've had plenty to keep me occupied in front of the TV lately!

Happy stitching!
Val

19 comments:

Quilt Kitty said...

Congratulations Val, a wonderful milestone. I agree with you completely, I always say I only quilt so I can make something with my stitcheries. It's grown on me now but always include some stitches. Tracee xx

Rosa said...

Congratulations Val,that`s a great news and fantastic milestone and more to come!!



















Anonymous said...

congrats Val on a marvellous milestone,loking forward to many more projects.xx

Rian said...

Congratulations!
I am still working on my COnsider the Lilies. I hope to finish it soon after some sad months. If it is finished I send you the pictures of i t.

Greetings from a very warm Holland (36 Grad Celsius, too hot for us)

Vesuviusmama said...

A small milestone? You are much too humble. That is fantastic! And your work is beautiful, so I completely understand why they keep wanting MORE!

Buttercup said...

I enjoy looking at your work. Congratulations!

VickiT said...

Oh how exciting for you, even if it won't be until next year. Congratulations!

Those fans are just beautiful.

Christine M said...

Congratulations on reaching this amazing milestone Val. Hopefully you'll meet your other milestone of 600 followers soon.

quilterliz said...

G'day Val. That's wonderful, good on you. I too love applique and embroidery. Take care. Liz...

Allie said...

WOW Val that is a huge milestone! Congratulations, girl! I love all of your projects so much, you do exquisite work! I'm the same way, love to do embroidery at night, everything else during the day.

Sisbabestitches said...

Massive milestone, congratulations! And thank you for a lovely pictorial wander down memory lane, your work is so beautiful.

Vicki said...

Hi Val, congratulations that's a huge achievement. I think I'm a follower but I'm not sure because I always read your blog by going through Jenny of Elefantz list of blogs. How can I tell if I am a follower of yours? Vicki vickilorraine at hotmail dot com

Janelle said...

Wow, that's amazing Mum! Great achievement... not so small!

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

What an honor! congratulations

Lyu Tuykova said...

Very nice!

Shirlwin said...

I have followed your blog anonymously for sometime; today I made it official.
I love your fan work; they are quite gorgeous!

Rhonda Cafe said...

Congratulations Val, that is truly a great milestone. You are an inspiration and I am always excited to find one of your designs in a magazine. Thankyou for your beautiful work and generosity <3

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

Congratulations on this amazing milestone!! Your designs are lovely. I just printed out the most recent block to your free BOM. I plan to begin when I have all the blocks and just want to say THANK YOU for sharing!

KaHolly said...

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so please accept my belated congratulations on this milestone! I'm very excited for you. ~karen