A top for me

I made good use of some free time yesterday to make myself a top. The pattern is Simplicity 4589 and was pretty easy to make. I misread the instructions so fudged the neckline a bit, but I am happy with the fit. I think I will be making a few more of these.

Heading in the right direction

Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas. We had a great day, although it took the kids a few days to recover. I am really enjoying making these little dolls - a nice change from monkeys as they are very quick to do. The one on the left is for my aunt - she saw the one I made bub on Christmas day, and wanted one for her neighbour who has just had a baby. Not sure what I am going to do with the other one yet as I just made him for some practice. Yesterday I summoned up all my courage and made a head for the 16inch doll I want to make the boy for his birthday (I have till 25th Jan to finish it - will I get there?). I have the book Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealy that I got from Winterwood Toys, and combined the head making method in that with the one on the Sarah's Dolls dvd (did I mention I have wanted to do this for a while).

I am pretty happy with how the head turned out. I am not sure if the muff is big enough, but will see when I put it all together.

And a profile shot as well. I hope the nose is big enough - I think it will be.

I have got some tricot here but I am not sure if it is the right colour for the hair I want to use, so have ordered a sample pack of colours. Now I need to be patient and wait for that to arrive, then possibly wait for the new skin colour to arrive. I have already got the yarn for the hair - a gorgeous slub yarn that Elissa from the Yarn Cafe custom dyed for me.

She also did a blonde version for me, so I can make a doll for the big girl.

The big kids have gone fishing with their dad today so I should get some uninterrupted sewing time when bub is asleep. I have had some material and a pattern to make myself a top in the queue for ages. Of course, now that I may actually have a chance to make it, I can't find the pattern anywhere.

Off to keep looking. Enjoy your day.

Merry Christmas to All (and a winner)

I am not tech savvy enough at the moment to grab a screen shot from the random number generator, but the winner of the giveaway is 2 - congratulations Lou's mum. We are finally all organised for Christmas here. Here are a few more photos of things I have managed to finish off in time... A few applique tees, a strawberry skirt,

the doll is finished, and even has two outfits.

And I actually found time to make a little something for myself - a skirt to wear tomorrow. I love this fabric - it is from the Olive Rose range by Valori Wells, and the skirt was inspired by Sew What! Skirts by Francesca Denhartog - a great book for pattern free skirts. I have had the book on my shelf for a while so am pleased that I finally got the time to make something from it.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas.

And to all a good night!

The elves have been busy...

Not finished yet but getting there. The santa sacks are done and ready to go under the tree.

This as in the latest edition of Mixtape and we made one for the big girls best friend. This is the outside,

and the inside.

And the last thing I can show off at the moment is this little sock buddy I made for the bub from a pattern from Fern & Faerie. I even gave her a little nose, but it doesn't show up to well in the photo.

And a full lenght shot (which I couldn't rotate no matter how hard I tried.)

My waldorf dolls are getting closer and closer - I have now done hair and a head, the two things that worried me the most. This head is a long way from perfect - the nose is a bit small, and I don't think I tied the eye-line tight enough, but is still a head, and looks pretty cute if I do say so myself.

All I have left on my (much revised) list is a noughts and crosses game for the big girl, and some clothes for this doll. I have made a fabric photo album for bub, which I forgot to photograph before I wrapped it, and a tool belt for the boy (which I can't get a photo of till tonight when he is in bed). At this rate, I may even get to put my feet up on Christmas Eve!

Don't forget the giveaway here.

I don't know what I was so afraid of!

Please excuse the gloomy photos but I can't take photos of these while the kids are around so it is night light only here. For a long time I have wanted to make a waldorf style doll for each of my kids but have been very very intimidated by the hair. Last night I started to make this pony for my niece, from the pattern by Melly & Me. The pattern said to use wool felt for the tail, mane and fringe but I decided to use actual wool instead. It worked really well, and was heaps easier than I thought. All this meant that the poor Wee Wonderfuls doll that has been languishing around both bald and naked, finally got some hair tonight. Her hair is far from perfect but I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. She did not want to be photographed naked, so I had to whip up some underclothes for her. She still needs a dress and shoes but hey, there is plenty of time between now and Christmas for that.

Those waldorf dolls may not be that far away...

And if anyone has tips for cleaning the iron after you accidentaly get some iron-on interfacing stuck to it, I would love to hear them .

Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the giveaway here.

Toy Society Christmas Drop

This was so much fun! I will definitely be doing another drop sometime soon. This is the little fellow we dropped... at this park...

he travelled in this basket (which sadly isn't attached to my bike - can you get baskets like that for adult bikes? I want one)

and was left on this swing.Check out the Toy Society blog for all the details, and all the other drops that are taking place this weekend as part of the Toy Society Christmas Drop. There are about 100 happening all over the world.

100 posts and a giveaway

When I started this blog back in June, 100 posts seemed a long way away (although probably not such a big deal to some of you seasoned bloggers!) This is my 100th post and to celebrate that, and Christmas I am having a giveaway.

I am a member of the Quilt Fabric Delights Pincushion of the Month Club, and I think I am probably the most delinquint member - despite my best intentions I still have not made any of the beautiful kits I have received, and still stick my pins in my shirt when I am sewing.

The kits are slowly piling up and making me feel a little guilty, so to share the love (and ease my guilt) I am giving one away - this cute button pincushion from Crab-Apple Hill.

The kit contains a pattern, material, ribbons, beads, embroidery floss and a gorgeous pin with topper designed especially for the Pincushion of the Month Club. Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on Christmas Eve.

I need a barrel

I have been overwhelmed (in a good way) with orders for sock monkeys for Christmas. The last one left yesterday. Here are just some of the cuties that have left here in the last few weeks.

As well as a stack of custom orders, I am almost completely sold out in the shop so it has been a pretty successful Chrissy here. I will be working on building my stock back up in Jan, with a restocking in Feb.

This is post no 99 too, so I will have to organise a pre-Christmas give away for my next post. I promise it won't be a sock monkey!

Christmas craft-along Week 4

Where have the last four weeks gone??? I had planned to have so much more done by now! I have finally finished the last of my customer order monkeys and am just waiting to hear from the new owner before I post it off. I have also managed to get a few other things done, including presents for the kids teachers. They each got two Christmas decorations, hand printed by Prints Charming on linen, and embroidered by me. I really enjoyed doing the embroidery on these. Along with the decorations was a gorgeous cupcake soap from Sunshine 'n' Lollipops. And for my son's playschool teacher a Hide and Seek bag which she was thrilled with. I had planned on having knitted some face washers to go with the soaps, but that did not happen. I think I am going to have to revise my handmade gifts list a bit. It took me a lot longer to finish off my custom orders than I had planned so I am not sure that I will get everything finished now. Will have to revisit the list and see what I can get done. Another thing I did achieve today was bottling 5 kilos of cherries. I even pipped them first! Enjoy the evening.

Christmas craft-along Week 3 (a day late)

Apologies for being a day late with the post, but I am making some progress. Four 'Hide and seek' bags were finished yesterday. Back view

and front view. There should have been five but when went to fill the last one, the items I had to put in did not match the list on the back of the bag. Not sure what went wrong there but I thought it might be a bit cruel to fill it anyway.

And not really helping my Christmas list at all, but these two guys were made for a friend to give her boys for Christmas. Spaceboy from the Wee Wonderfuls pattern, and

Fido from the Melly & Me pattern.

I am starting to be a bit deadline driven with my Christmas craft. I still have two sock monkeys to finish for custom orders, and plan to have these ready to post by Monday. Then I have to have presents for the kids teachers done by Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The Hide and Seek bags are for friends we are seeing on Saturday so need to fix the last one by then. We are seeing other friends the following weekend, so need to finish something for their kids by then. Everything else is for Christmas day (except for the things I should have already posted to friends in Abu Dhabi - oops!)

Enjoy the day!

This mornings harvest

I will be back later for the Christmas Craft Along, but just wanted to show off my haul from the vegie garden this morning:

• our first red tomato
• a handful of carrots that actually look like carrots
• one pea (mainly cause I pick these and eat them every time I walk past)
• and a strawberry (the kids usually nab these as they walk past)

Delicious!

Lovely Fabric Mail

I got a lovely parcel in the mail yesterday from Sarah at Quilt Fabric Delights. From bottom left - some Valori Wells to make myself a skirt, a reading pillow pattern (I will be making a few of these for Christmas), some cute fabrics to make a photo album for bub, and some gorgeous Amy Butler prints to make cushions for my sister.

Now all I need to do is clear the house of people for a few hours so I can sew.....

Christmas craft-along Week 2

Slow progress this week. I have been inudnated with orders for sock monkeys for Christmas, which is great but leaves very little time for other sewing. We have decided this year to use fabric to wrap presents rather than paper, so this is what is going under our tree this year. The plan is to salvage as much of the fabric and ribbon as we can to use in future years. The gift tag was made by my big girl using swing tags, stamps and scrapbooking paper. She did a great job. Onto some sewing.... The Christmas skirt is finished and ready for the big girl to wear to her Christmas concert tonight. And the first of a few 'Hide and seek' bags that I am making (so christened by Mr 2) as presents - a shot of the list on the back...

and a front view. This one was a bit too full of plastic pellets so the plan for the next one is a bit bigger, and a few less pellets.

Does anyone mind if we have Christmas in January this year?