group photo

Finally... the group photo of the mermaids heading up to Queensland for Hope Softies. Packed in like sardines, and looking very colourful all together. For those that are curious, the pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love. I did change the instructions slightly to accommodate sewing with felt, and that in turn cut down my sewing time quiet significantly- a big bonus when sewing in bulk. Goodbye lovely Mermaidens, I do hope you all find wonderful homes! 

passing it on

Let me take you back to the late 80's, I was in primary school. It would have been a hot December evening and the school hall in our little country town was packed with noisy children and parents ready to watch the end of year presentation night. I knew in advance that I was recieving the award for my class, and I was ever hopeful that the prize would be a voucher for 'Angus & Robertson'. They had done that in previous years, and I was eager to recieve the same. As the night wore on, my name was eventually called out. I couldn't have been more excited- the award for 'outstanding progress' also came with the $20 book voucher!
I probably had to wait a month or so before spending the voucher, as we lived in a very remote town and travelling to a bigger shopping center was not something we did very often. The waiting seemed to make the eventual trip, seem even more exciting.

Lovable Mini-Dolls was the book I carefully chose after making a quick bee-line to the craft/sewing section. It was one purchase I would never regret. This book was the one that I poured hours and hours of time into as a child and it helped develop my love for sewing and handicrafts.
I remember making all sorts of bugs, critters, birds, animals and people. None of which I have kept, most (or all) were gifted to friends.

Recently Grace has been showing an interest in sewing toys after watching me put together the mermaids. I pulled this book out to show her today, and instantly she was charmed. She picked out her first project, and while Jude napped we sewed together.

It felt so good, passing on a book, but more importantly passing on the skill that goes with it.

She listened intently, and to my surprise stitched away with ease. If the thread fell out of the needle, she licked the end of it and carefully threaded it back in, then continued on. "It doesn't matter if it's a bit messy to me Mum, because I am keeping it, and I don't mind... I will try my best though" she excitedly chattered as she mastered her new skill. "Now I can knit and sew!"

I stitched the face on for her, as she thought that might be a bit challenging for day one of sewing, but she stitched around all the edges and had a good go at stuffing it. We didn't get around to the hat or flowers bit, but she wasn't fussed.

It was the perfect project for a quiet Sunday afternoon, and time well spent with my precious big girl.
Love you Grace x

more mermaidens

A little update on the mermaidens. I got a little carried away with the felt I purchased and realised I had enough to make 25. Yes, that's twenty-five. I know. So the production line is taking a slightly longer than I originally allowed for.
It has actually worked out rather well, as I was planning on making a bunch of these to give out at Grace's 7th birthday party as well (not until April- its an 'under the sea party' she tells me). So we will send off 10 of these lovelies to Hope Softies just as soon as they are finished, and keep the rest of these for the party. It feels so good to be forward planning for once.

Here is the first Mermaiden I made for Maeve's 4th birthday. It has taken a while for her to bond with this pretty, apparently I got all the colours wrong. She wasn't pink enough. Typical. She has her eye on the Mermaidens in progress, and thinks we should send her mermaid to the flood children and keep one of the felt ones. Hmmn...
The pattern for these can be found in this amazing book.

In other mermaid news, Maeve was given the Playmobil Mermaid set for Christmas, and both girls think it is just magical. It gets played with every single day. Well worth every cent. Does any one else have little girls with mermaid love?

hope softies

For those of you that like to sew, and love to help those in need, why not pop on over to mon petit poppet and join in Hope Softies. The Queensland floods have been just so devastating and so many families have lost their homes and belongings. Sewing a softie for a child that has lost most (or all) their possessions is a great way to show that you care, especially when you can't be there personally to help. Its something small we sewers can do to help bring some joy back to flood affected children! Mermaiden (above) is my first softie for the cause. The pattern came from Hillary Lang's book Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love. I have a ton of felt left over, so hopefully tomorrow I can get the production line going, and the sweat shop sewing!

monkey

Some things really do seem to take forever don't they? This guy here being one of them. Say hello to Monkey, Jude's new friend! You may remember when I was in the piecing-together-stage back here, well I am glad to say that is over. He was one tricky little monkey to stitch together! Monkey was suppose to be ready for Jude's 1st birthday, but unfortunately got rather delayed. Somewhere along the way I lost enthusiasm for the whole project. But let me say how nice it is to finally have him out of the knitting bag, outfit complete and all! He is a hit with Jude, who calls him 'eee eee'. Boy am I glad I triple stitched his limbs on! He has been swung and pulled this way and that on many occasions, and I can only imagine there is far worse to come.
Pattern is from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague. The linen overalls were not in the book. They were made with my own simple pattern.

Izzy's new skirt

I came out of bed this morning to see the girls sitting at the table fashioning a new skirt for Izzy. Held together with a hair tie and looking anything but modest. I had to have a laugh! I am sure the skirt was inspired by some we made recently for a disco party the girls were invited to.  They did try and make her leggings to go with the skirt, but that was most unsuccessful!

right now

Right now I probably should be in bed... but I'm not. I am working my way through the pile of unfinished objects that crowd my sewing desk. This is a softie I knitted for Jude's 1'st birthday, but never quite got around to piecing together. I am sure the 'knitting bit' was way easier than the 'piecing together bit'. So sure. This is going to take days to complete!
See that bowl of wool on the left? That is part of a fleece I purchased from a garage sale. Straight off the back of the sheep, burs, dirt and all. I hand washed it all in small amounts, spun it on low in the washing machine (in pillow cases), and dried it in the sun. It has come up so beautifully and there is so much of it! Prefect for softies. I have two more fleeces here that need washing as well.
Will be back soon with the finished photo's!

playtime

Izzy and Lucy

The dolls are finally finished: dresses, boots and all.

They have been such a fun project, but incredibly time consuming.

Lets just say I have the greatest respect for all the wonderful doll makers out there.

So many hours of sewing and deciding on fabrics ect,

but most importantly trying to create a doll that a child will fall in love with

and want to play with over and over again.

I am now dreaming up other outfit for these girls:

knitted cardigans

smocked top

chambray pants...

and the list goes on!

boots

Izzy and Lucy got a new pair of leather boots last night.

Sewing leather is not as easy as it looks.

They couldn't have been done without my trust walking foot on the machine!

Loving the softness of the leather.

Loving the colours.

pretty faces

Thanks for all your encouragement with the dolls!

They have come along quite nicely are are now just about finished.

I couldn't wait for them to be finished before I showed the girls,

they absolutely love them and gave them names straight away.

Say hello to Izzy (formerly know as Sara, then Judy), Maeve's doll (of course).

 and Lucy, Grace's doll.

I found it so hard finding the right wool for their hair and choosing the colours for their facial features.

But in the end I am happy with how they turned out.

I wasnt sure about the colour of Lucy's hair, and was ready to redo her hair the same as Izzy's.

But as soon as I showed her to Grace, she fell in love and wouldn't let me change a thing.

The dolls are made made from a natural linen,

filled with wool stuffing.

Their hair is mohair.

We have been away for Easter (photo's are from mum and dad's house).

I finished off most of the sewing there, including their dresses yesterday.

I will update with more photos soon.

Now all that's left is to sew their leather boots!

Some of you asked about the pattern for the dolls:

Mum made a kit doll for my sister (back in the 90's?) and the girls just love to play with her when we go to visit.
Mum still had the pattern pieces (without instructions) so I based the dolls on that. 

I am glad they love their new dolls as much as the original!

This is the original doll Mum made. 

Sorry about the dark photos, but we left at night and I didnt get around to day light photos.

 Check out those puffed sleeves!

The girls love her dress, so I copied the pattern for that too.

Will be back with more photos soon...

1am

Excuse the bad lighting in the photo's... it is only 1am.

I have entered the wonderful world of doll making which is surprisingly fun,

but incredibly (crazily) time consuming.

We have a birthday coming up, and I thought leaving myself a week to make these would be ample time.

However I am coming to terms with the fact that the dolls may be bald.

They do have the prettiest of petticoats and bloomers, that must count for something?

I am still trying to work out why I spent tonight making their underwear when I should have finished embroidering their faces and giving them hair. 

I never seem to be able to complete a task in logical order.

And incase you are feeling peckish at this hour of the morning,

here is a photo of the birthday cupcakes that went into school today yesterday.

I managed to overdose on butter cream icing, and spent the day feeling rather poorly.

Lets hope I can make it to bed before the next hour passes.

today

 

Todays objective:

• To find the floor in the sewing room (I kid you not)
• relocate all the fabrics, sewing supplies and sewing machines strewn throughout the house, to their rightful place
• claim back the dining table to be used for what it was designed for. Yes, we are all a tad sick of eating our dinner surrounded by piles of my stuff!
• by the end of the day, having a room I can actually sew in

 And to achieve all this with a crawling babe underfoot (yes, the boy can crawl!), will be nothing short of impresive.

Wish me luck!

 ['mousie' is a childhood friend of mine. Trust me, her picture is much prettier than my sewing room right now. Isn't she cute!]

little jenny wren

Thank you so much to Jenny from Little Jenny Wren, for this fantastic giveaway on her blog. Isn't this baby just the most precious of prizes. Both the girls love this little baby, and she gets plenty of motherly cuddles. My favorite bit is her delicate little woolen cap. What a treasure!
And if you haven't yet wandered over to Jenny's blog, you really must. Her dolls are just perfect, made with the most beautiful natural materials. So much time and effort would go into each one. Thank you again Jenny, we are all thrilled to have this latest edition to our family!

home

Sorry for the big break in blogging, but we are home now and all rested up. Such a great holiday! Even the girls didn't want to come home and when we pulled in the driveway, Maeve got rather distressed and said 'no, no, no...holiday!'. She didn't want to get out of her seat.

The only bit of crafting I did all holidays was to sew these monkeys for the girls. Thanks to my friend Ansia for the link and inspiration!

The only thing I changed was to shrink the pattern to 75%. It made a very nice sized monkey.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and new year.

little bear

Back in my infant and primary school years I use to be mad about hand sewing. For some reason I thought 'hand made' items were literally something sewn or made entirely by hand- no sewing machines please! I wanted to make and sell my hand made things even back then, but started out by making them for friends. 

I remember finding a book in the school library that was full of patterns for miniature bears. One look at that book and I was completely hooked! This little bear was one I pieced together from fake fur that I clipped right back. Even his tiny arms and legs move. I am pretty sure I made him for mum.

I wish I had photos of all the other ones I made. Some I even sewed tiny outfits for and made them beaded necklaces. In the bottom photo he is sitting on Grace's tiny hand, so you can picture his size. I would guess I made him in about yr4-5. I do have a small selection of other soft toys I made as a child, so hopefully I can get some more photos up soon. 

cloth dolls

These soft dolls were made for both my girls last birthdays. They are their cuddly dolls to take to bed. I made the smaller one first for Maeve and she is affectionately known as 'bubba'. Grace took rather a liking to bubba and decided that she too needed a soft doll, and would steal a cuddle with her whenever she got the chance. I recently finished off the second doll for Grace who was so excited to watch and be involved in the whole doll making process...especially when it was for her! She was very specific on how she wanted her bubba's hair, it had to be dark brown and very long. At the moment we are platting her hair down to get it to settle, because it is so bulky. Grace hasn't yet settled on a name for her baby, however she often gets named after a special friend we have seen recently. We are yet to make her doll proper clothes (she is wearing a shirt I made for Maeve that didn't quiet go according to plan!).



The dolls are made in the traditional Steiner (Waldorf) way, not that I follow this philosophy at all...but I do love the way they encourage the use of basic, natural toys that require greater imagination from the child. The pattern came from the book 'Toymaking with children' by Freya Jaffke, thanks to my amazing friend Rachel. The smaller doll is the flopsy doll, and the larger one is the formed doll. If you are creatively inclined and have children, then this would be a great book. This lady here is especially talented when it comes to Waldorf dolls. Check her stuff out if you are interested.