Category Archives: Sewing

Welcome to Two

Posted on June 3, 2008 | 9 comments

The big day. It dawned misty and magical, so after packing Daddy off to work and Finn off to school, Niamh and Mummy walked down to the reserve to get some Birthday Girl photos.

But. Hmmm. There was a lot of this:
Birthday-Grump
(She’s about to yell!)

And this:
No-Wotos
“No Wotos Mummy”

So Mummy took a photo of Niamh’s beautiful Soulemama-birthday-crown on a magical and mystical log, instead.
Birthday-Crown
(Note – I made this yesterday. So much fun – It took me about an hour (and only that long because I was messing around with elastic casings). Niamh does like to wear it about, honestly. At her convenience, not mine!)

Then Niamh had to try out the very wet playground (of course she did):
Birthday-Playground
(At least we got to show off the new shorter ‘do’)

Then we found out Mummy forgot to pack a playground snack. (Ouch). Whereupon we went home, and Niamh had a nice long kip:
Sleepy-Doll

And Mummy got the kitchen ready for this afternoon’s cupcake fest:
Kitchen-Doll

Finally… proof that there was both smiling and crown-wearing yesterday:
Birthday-Crown-Tryout
Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

9 Comments

Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing, The Kids

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Hearts & Flowers

Posted on May 13, 2008 | 6 comments

There’s no escaping it – excluding January, 2-oh-oh-8 has been a pretty lean year for me, crafting- and stitching-wise. I’m a bit bummed about that, but as usual, when I’m feeling a lot of stress about other things, I find the urge to create falls in a heap. Instead, I’ve been doing a lot more reading than usual (the highlight of which has been the very beautiful Girl with a Pearl Earring – how, oh how have I not read this before?) More recently, I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction to Packrat on Facebook (and I’m going to go ahead and blame Annette for that, even though I know she will protest!)

All has not been completely lost though. Way way waaay back in February, I did actually do a wee bit o’ cross-stitchin’ 🙂 Can’t for the life of me remember where this cute heart is from (DMC??), but it was a freebie chart, and I stitched it with a pretty pink hand dyed silk from Jo.

Heart-Freebie

Then, in March, I became a joiner-in-er! I sidled into a Brown Owls meeting one night, had a bit of fun stitching up my name and Tweenie panels, decided that a room full of crafty strangers wasn’t quite as scary as I thought, and became a Seconder that very night. What is Brown Owls? Why it’s ‘Brownies’ for Crafters, of course :giggle: (or ‘my weird cult’, if you believe my sweet husband!) Bunches of crafty chicks sitting around the clubhouse drinking tea, eating bikkies, chatting, and learning and sharing bits of crafty goodness. All thanks to the Good Lady Pip.

I’ve been to another two meetings since – in April we played with hooks and yarn. After the crochet class, inspired by Lara’s collection of flowers, I came home and puzzled my way through a few online tutorials to create this bunch:

Crochet-Flowers

At last night’s meet we had a bit of a Mix-up – everyone brought in whatever they liked to work on, plus some Show & Tell. I was so worried I was going to be the daggiest crafter there – because it has always seemed to me that even in this atmosphere of crafty revival, cross-stitch is still stuck firmly in the ‘Nanna crafts’ category. But surprise! and yay! I wasn’t the only one who brought cross-stitch. I know… I worry about the silliest things 😳

Oh yes, and on the weekend, one of my red flowers made its way onto a last-minute handmade gift for my Mum for Mothers’ Day (makes me feel like I’m back in kindergarten… in a good way!)

Mothers-Day-Bag

Pretty!

But the thing that is making me happiest of all today is a small but significant breakthrough in the Finn situation. We’ll get there yet 🙂

6 Comments

Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished, Other Craft, Sewing, Yarncraft

January Dump

Posted on March 4, 2008 | 7 comments

This is a bit of a filler post, I apologize. It’s a bunch of stuff I made in January but never got around to blogging, perhaps because I was busy with the making, and with all that other stuff. So here you go:

I made this little artist-tote thingummy for Marita’s daughter Heidi’s birthday. The inspiration came from several places, but in the end I sat down and made it up as I went. Despite a few dud calculations, I think it turned out okay.
Mini Artist Tote outside
Mini Artist Tote inside

My sister stayed with us for a couple of days in January, and asked if I could make her a pouch for her new digital camera. The camera is shockproof and waterproof, so the pouch didn’t need to provide super protection, just a barrier against scratching. The first attempt came out a bit small (bonus for me, as it’s now my coin purse), but number two was a winner.
Zipper pouches

Next up, bibs (same spotty fabric!) for a friend’s baby. This is where I shamefacedly admit I haven’t sent them off yet, d’oh! Suzie, if you’re reading this, I’m so sorry, and pretend to be surprised when you (finally) see them, okay?
More bibs

Then, Finn’s school library bag gave me the chance to use up some more of that mushroom fabric, plus co-ordinating colours picked by him (hence the yellow, of which I am less than fond):
School library bag

But wait. That’s not all! I also made a green stripy grocery bag – no pic, but it’s from this craftster tute. It was easy peasy, and I plan to make a bunch more. Aaaand, then, squeaking in on the last and second last days of January, I de-and-reconstructed a men’s green shirt to make a school Art Smock. Yay!

And just in case you think I wasn’t busy enough in January, guess what else I did? (This will make you fall down in disbelief, I promise)… I read FOUR books:

  1. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
  2. Other People’s Children (Joanna Trollope)
  3. I Choose To Live (Sabine Dardenne)
  4. Dandelion Soup (Babs Horton)

(Of those, I heartily recommend the First and Fourth, but reserve merely a ‘meh‘ for the others).

So now. I think you can guess what two of my New Year’s Resolutions were!

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Posted in Other Craft, Sewing

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Pre-Christmas Crafting

Posted on January 12, 2008 | 12 comments

I didn’t pledge handmade this (past) Christmas, but as it turned out, many of our gifts were handmade anyway. First there were these, next up were a couple of bags for some more small friends of ours. This one:
Library bag for Mr G

using that ubiquitous mushroom fabric, was for a five year old boy, and was given as a Library bag, complete with new book inside. The other:

Bag and Bunny for Miss A

I made for his sister, who is three months younger than Niamh. The bunny pattern came from here; the bags I made up as I went along. I was quite pleased with these, and I think the recipients were happy too 🙂

Next came a wild burst of kitchen activity (mostly by Dermot, I do admit), and some playing with my new toy for labelling and packaging, to create the fabulous boxes of goodies for our families:

Christmas Goodies

All boxed up

Gocco Printed Xmas Cards

(Inside: Orange cordial, Spiced nuts, Mexican drinking chocolate, Dried Mango, Cranberry & Pistachio biscotti, Orange spiced tea blend – all handmade; and a teatowel – which we did not make ourselves!)

Finally, at the eleventh hour (the night before Christmas Eve), I managed to squeeze in some homemade goodness for my own kiddos. I finished up the stitching of ElfGirl and ElfBoy, and made them up into a couple of simple drawstring bags. In hopes of starting off a new Christmas tradition (which I kept hearing about on various blogs), these held brand new PJs for Christmas Eve. Here they are under the tree:

Xmas PJ Bags

Oh, and lest I forget, somewhere in there, I also managed to whip up Finn’s party cake:
Bowling Party cake

I made up a packet teacake for this, as everyone knows kids only eat the (hideously sugary buttercream) icing and leave the rest. For his actual birthday, I made a more grown up cake – a rich, moist, dark chocolate cake covered in ganache and silver cachous… but forgot to take a photo, d’oh!

Next up, post-Christmas crafting 🙂

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Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing

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Windows, Lights… Pillows?

Posted on December 18, 2007 | 4 comments

‘Tis late. We’re not long back from ‘doing’ the Myer windows and the Boulevard lights – two Melbourne Christmas institutions if ever there were. With a stop off at Haigh’s on the way. Yum. Two happy but tired kids fell asleep on the way home. I thought I’d show you a couple of recent finished objects before I do the same.

This cushion:
Finn's Cushion

which is a long awaited finish (remember the work in progress?) from Finn. He finished it in time to show his teacher last week at his (sob! sniff!) last Kinder session.

The proud boy (since having a new camera – early gift from Mum, thanks Mum 🙂 – necessitated taking new playground shots of kids):
Finn

And a finish from me, which I probably shouldn’t really be showing off yet, since it’s still en route to the recipient:
Ornament Exchange 2007

This was for an ornament exchange on the Aus Xers yahoo group. I joined up before I realised what a slump in stitching I was about to experience. Blah. So I have to confess… I probably broke the rules a little bit. This stitched piece (a Drawn Thread freebie) was sitting in my ‘to be finished’ pile already(!) When I realised I had zero chance of getting something new stitched for the exchange, I picked this out and finished it up as a pillow ornament. Is that bad? Anyway, I’m not counting it as a finish for the year, but I do plan to restitch it for myself, because I think it’s really pretty. If I manage to kick myself in the butt after Christmas is over, I might just get it done before ’08!

4 Comments

Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished, General Ramblings, Kid Crafts, Other Craft, Sewing

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No-vember

Posted on December 8, 2007 | 5 comments

So. While I was out…

It turned out that No-vember meant not only (almost)No-blogging, but also (almost)No-stitching. Not a single cross was stitched with these hands in November (shock!), but I did get to and finish the girl-elf I showed you back here, and made a good start on boy-elf. Pics when they’re both finished.

Also, I did some crafty gift making for a couple of the small people in my life. I don’t think either of their mums read my blog, so I can show:

First up, I made a kitty version of Sara Bear, who will go to sweet Lilly. I hope she likes her. Finn has named her ‘Heart Love Kitty’ on account of the hearts in her shoes (uh… which you cannot see… so I guess that makes little sense to mention!)

Heart Love Kitty
(Pattern by Hillary Lang)

Next up, a crayon roll for Mr A, Dermot’s nephew. This was fun. I made two – the other one for Finn and Niamh, and it had mysteriously vanished by the time I came to take these pics.

Crayon Roll

Crayon Roll
(Based on the tutorial at Skip to my Lou, via Sew, Mama, Sew).

Finally, I whipped up a last minute (11pm, November 30) advent calendar-ish thing to round out the month. We’re also doing the Lego advent calendar this year, because we just looooove Lego around here (except notsomuch when coming across it with bare feet in the dark.) The one I made is simple little felt bags of chocolate goodies, tied with a pretty ornament which goes on the tree (or will, at least). Ornaments from Allsorts.

Advent Fun

Oh oh, looks like there’s an imminent break-in!
The Break In

Hope you’re all having a great weekend 😆

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Posted in General Ramblings, Kid Crafts, Other Craft, Sewing

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Felty

Posted on November 5, 2007 | 4 comments

Sunday morning cuppa. (Milo, for the curious. Best with honey.)
Donut-cuppa
Mmmm… Donut.

Fooled? No? Look closer:
Donut - closer look

Niamh followed her own tradition of absconding with the crafty goodness:
Donut-thief

Don’t worry, I saved her before she managed to stick the needle in her mouth 😆

PS. Should you feel the need to make your own delicious pincushion/kiddie playfood – mine is based on the Craftster tutorial found here. Enjoy!

4 Comments

Posted in Kid Crafts, Other Craft, Sewing

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Makin’ Stuff II

Posted on October 19, 2007 | 7 comments

Until a few days ago, we had in our house this scary looking thing:
DollPram-before
(I refer to the one on the right, not either of the others, though the one in the middle scares me a little too!)

That weird koala-headed thing is a doll stroller from years back – best guess is it belonged to my sister. The frame is still in good shape, however the cover has never fitted well, and, though I don’t think you can make it out clearly here, has been held together with string, rubber-bands, a nappy-pin and a big wad of blutac. When Finn started trundling his teddies around in it a couple of years back, I promised I would try and make a new cover. So… now you see how bad my procrastination can really be! 😥

When Niamh started getting interested in Baby Jack (Scary Doll), I idly thought of buying a new stroller. A quick trip through Toy Kingdom assured me that I could have a new dolly pusher, as long as I wanted it in, lets see… pink, pink, or, oh yes… PINK! Anyway, I bit the bullet and decided it couldn’t possibly be that difficult to sew a new cover, after all. Oh yes, and some bright spark decided it might be fun to have a reversible cover, what’s more. (That would be me. D’oh.)

Some time and many curse words later, after staying up until midnight on Monday finishing the thing… and then finishing it some more on Tuesday while Niamh was napping… aaaand then finally finishing it some more after picking Finn up from pre-school, we have one super-dooper swanky new cover (and one cute boy who isn’t too cool to be photographed with his teddybear):

DollPram-after1-lg

(yes, I know. It’s pink. Oh well.)

But wait, that’s not all:

DollPram-after2
DollPram-after3-lg

Ta da! It’s also green and blue. Hooray! (See – I’m not really anti-pink, I’m just pro-choice 😉 )

I tried to convince Niamh to take it for a test drive, but she decided to go with a mechanical inspection instead. That’s my girl!

DollPram-after4-lg

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Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing, The Kids

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Sick of Bibs Yet?

Posted on October 3, 2007 | 5 comments

Applebib
The examination of a freesia she picked moments earlier from our front lawn. (Yes, lawn – they’ve gone wild, can’t get rid of them… thinking of just strewing more seed around so that it looks purposeful!)

This is my favourite of the bibs I’ve made for Niamh – the Spotlight lady astutely observed ‘you must be a green person’. Well, yes, yes I am. I love this little apple print, I should go back and buy more for a summer dress. There was rotary cutting and piecing involved with this bib… d’you think I’m getting ever more closer to that ‘quilt within’?

Before I made the sewing machine give up its place at the kitchen table (having no permanent sewing spot is a bit of a bummer), I made a half dozen more bibs – a couple for a friend of ours and more for Niamh. She came out yesterday morning to discover the pile, and was most distraught when she couldn’t wear one immediately – I hadn’t hammered in the press studs the night previously for fear of waking the kids. Life couldn’t continue until I banged in a press stud and popped it on her – I think we had six changes of bib yesterday, the little fashion fiend!

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Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing, The Kids

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Bounce Bounce, Zzzzzz

Posted on September 29, 2007 | 4 comments

I’m an Auntie! Well, a step-Auntie if you want to be a pedant, but I don’t. My sister Imogen had her first baby in the wee hours of this morning. A beautiful baby girl, Lilly Jessica :love: Niamh and I made the four-hour round trip to see her this afternoon. Mog looked thoroughly exhausted (bub was born by c-section after a long and arduous labour), but I’m sure she’ll be fine, and Lilly was just lovely. Niamh was well behaved and even let me have a few baby snuggles.

I spent last night making a few more bibs – three for Lilly (cute gender neutral ones, since I still didn’t know which variety of baby she would be at that point), and another for Niamh. (Marita and Karen, I will definitely try and get you an action shot, soon. Niamh was being a most uncooperative model the other day, and courtesy of all the dribble, all the bibs are currently in the washing pile!)

And now… I’m exhausted myself. I’m off in search of a better night’s sleep than last night, then tomorrow I’m off to Tannia’s to chill out for a little while.

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Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing

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