Toys for Your Delight

I thought I'd share some pictures from a book I found recently called Toys for Your Delight. It's not a great pattern book, but has wonderful embroidery ideas for decorating toys.


I thought I'd also share a great project with you. My friend Emma has recently started a project trying to make 1000 fairy ducks to send to Africa. Check it out here.

Orange

Why is it the more I seem to clean the more I seem to make little piles of things to do? And why does there seem to be orange in every pile? It seems to be my favourite colour at the moment and it seems to go with everything, although I'm not going to start wearing it, the one thing it doesn't go with is my skin.

A couple of finished things from this week, another alien/giraffe.
A bag from some very cool canvas I found at Spotlight last week.

Fixing sewing machines

I finished the dress/smocks/tops yesterday. Typically the test buttonhole was perfect and then somehow the first one on the dress messed up. So no dress close ups. The girls weren't in the mood to be photographed yesterday afternoon. Amelia is wearing the pink and Grace is wearing the blue and green one I made from a thrifted old sheet which unfortunately didn't get softer with age.

I think both my sewing machines need a service. I managed to fix the tension on one yesterday after reading this article. I know though it will be so much better once it has a proper clean out. I know that they will be gone for a couple of weeks so that is why I have two machines, one can go now and one can go when the other comes back.

Smock Tops

I think the girls will be wearing a lot of smock/tops/dresses this winter. I love the idea of making something that can be worn as a dress and as they grow it can be worn as a top or over shirts depending on the weather. Thanks to a friend Emma for this inspiration.

Here is my first one, sans buttons. I always get stressed about buttonholes and put them off. I'm telling myself I am really waiting to get a few more done and then I'll do all the buttonholes together. This is made from an Ikea pillowslip in hideously bright pink and red. I love it.

My Aunty Irene made these wonderful quilts for the girls when they were born and the girls just love them. The back of them is minkee dot and the girls love to read and play wrapped in them. It doesn't really matter to them that it has been hot all week.

Minifashionista

Minifashionista has opened and you can find these creatures and dolls there. I just love the twins/multiples section, such a good idea.

Yummy Yarn

It's going to be another really hot day today, it seems funny knowing that as I sit here in a jumper, but I guess that is March for you. We had a pretty relaxing Sunday - can't say the same for Saturday, we went to Bunbury and freakily enough had as much fun as Amanda did. I am just really glad I didn't go by myself earlier in the week like I was going to.
I did discover another good thing about twins though. If you are carrying one screaming child around people just look at you like you are a horrible parent and have a horrible child, but if there is two of you carrying identical screaming children people smile at you and say "aren't they cute".
So here are some lovely pictures
Sock yarn from The Knittery.

Roving from Ewe Give Me the Knits. Both in Australia. Yeh!!

Zinnias

I thought I would try something new yesterday and do the shopping without the pram and use the leads/harnesses we bought ages ago. Might not do that again for a while. A friend described walking with his twin grandaughters as like herding cats and that desciption was so apt. They would not both go the same way and it rained yesterday morning so they both had to jump in every little puddle. We managed to buy the milk and went home. I was exhausted. It was one of those days when I felt like I was waiting forever for a respectable time so I could have a scotch.
Luckily the zinnias have flowered which made me smile.

There has not been much crafting this week. I have spent a bit of time downloading music for my Dad for his birthday - way easier than teaching him to use itunes as this would involve teaching him how to use a computer. So then I had to find some music for me which ended up being a lot of dodgy 80s stuff. I really needed some more Neko Case and Sufjan Stevens, but don't think I'll admit to the rest of it. I did finish this little bag though for a 2 year olds birthday. Hopefully there will be some sewing time over the long weekend.

Finished Gloves

A pair of finished Fetching gloves. Using one skein of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.
A few pictures from the weekend. My Nan Noma proving she can still play mini golf.
Amelia and Grace helping out.

Noma's Bag

This is the bag I made for my Nan Noma who is 90 today. You'd never guess it. She lives by herself, drives the car - her mind is as sharp as ever, maybe its getting sharper with age - she doesn't miss a thing.
We had a great day with her yesterday and my parents to celebrate Dad's birthday. The girls were so excited to see her, they were so hyped last night they wouldn't go to bed and they were straight out of bed looking for her.
This bag is very Noma, we seem to come from a blue loving family, we all like and collect blue china and pottery. So we'd better go and get ready as we are all off to a winery for lunch.
I just noticed this on ebay. Pamela Peake's Dragons and Dinosaurs. I have only seen this book once before and I bought that copy. So if you like Pamela Peake have a look.

Knitting, sewing and mail

It was 4 degrees here the other night - and I'm sitting here in the air conditioning now which I think is pretty normal for this time of the year, but I felt the need for fingerless gloves the other morning. So I started on the Fetching gloves from Knitty. I'm using Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed - my favourite combination of wool, silk and cashmere and very warm. So far so good, I think the thumb might be a bit tricky, but I think I can do it.

I have seen some very cute wristlets around lately and thought I'd adapt my bag pattern to make one for myself. I really love this fabric - I'm glad I bought a huge bit of it so I can use it for lots of different things.

This weeks mail has been good! I first read about Fabric Tales from Melly and Rosie and held off as long as I could, but I gave in and I'm so glad I did.

I have definitely saved the best for last. Celine and I organised a magazine swap and this is the amazing parcel I recieved yesterday. I love these little stuffed letters for the girls - such a cute idea. This magazine collections is amazing, what is it about French craft magazines that makes me weak at the knees. Thankyou so much! I think I could burst with inspiration. Check out her Celine's very cute sheep quilt.

More Wombats

I wasn't planning on making wombats this week, but we are off to a first birthday this weekend and all one year olds need a wombat and this Freshcut Fabric keeps screaming wombat to me. So now I need to go and make a bag for my Nan as she is 90 this Sunday and coming down here for the weekend. My Dad's birthday is also this weekend so we are all off for a big Sunday lunch.

I think I'm beginning to have a computer problem and think I'd better take it to be fixed before it becomes really serious. So hopefully it won't be away too long.

Alice Starmore

I can see why this book sells for lots of money on ebay. The instructions and pictures are excellent. No, unfortuanately it is not mine, well it is for the next couple of weeks. I love the library..

Second Hat

I had to finish the second hat as there were arguments over the first one. It was quite tricky as Grace kept trying to put this one on as I knit - a bit dangerous as I was using double pointed needles.

The girls had a great weekend with their grandparents - outside in the garden and down at the park.

Luckily I saw this last night as Etsy went down after and the front page had changed when I woke up. Here is proof my bug was there.

Flowers and New Bags

We have had a busy few days. My sister Jane and my niece have been staying and the girls do not want to sleep if they know they are here - much more fun to try to play with their cousin. Mum has been asking for a photo of all three of them together. They would not stand or sit still to have photos so this is the best we could do today.

I am not really a big fan of Valentine's Day - it is up there with Father's Day and Mother's Day as days which have been destroyed by the commercialisation of them and how they have become all about buy buy buy rather than really showing how much you care, But I love these! Totally unexpected. Thanks Chris. Chris was out umpiring basketball last night so I made him his favourite - homemade pizza, I even made the base for the first time in ages and Jane made one of her fabulous pavlovas.

Some new bags that I have finally finished. I am not sure why these took forever to make. I think the more I try to make things perfect the more things tend to look wonky and the more I have to go back and redo. But they are done and in the shop.

Tuesday

I guess 1.00am is as good as time as any to jump on the bed. I hadn't really thought about it before, but obviously Grace had. Luckily she was tired quite quickly and went back to sleep.
I have been in a bit of a craft frenzy lately as we are having quite a few visitors over the next couple of weeks which means no sewing room and no craft and I'll have to clean up so people can sleep somewhere. So I have been trying to get stuff finished so I can move some of the piles.
I finished a few more bugs and listed them on in my etsy shop as well as some books (the new rule is that the books have to fit into the bookshelf). I thought I'd put them on etsy instead of ebay - them I won't be distracted to look for just one bargain when I know fabric bargains are near impossible on ebay these days.
Is any one having issues with comments after switching to the new blogger. More comments than before are not linking to where they came from. Or more people are becoming mysterious. Mmm. So I'm sorry if I haven't replied to your message, this is probably why.

One Finished Hat

One hat finished. It didn't matter it was quite hot here yesterday. Milly had to wear it. When she was finished she let Grace have a turn.

Itty Bitty Hat

I think I'm in love with the Itty Bitty Hats book. Lucky I have a lot of little bits of Jo Sharp DK left over from this rug I made my sister.I had to immediately cast on a stripey hat even though I couldn't find a circular needle so I'm doing it on dpns. The wool is so soft - I love this stuff and the colours it comes in. It is going to make such a warm little hat.

Tomorrow's Friday!!

Thankyou all for your lovely comments about my animals especially the echidna. I'm feeling a lot better about him now and will try and make another one with a couple of small changes.
Yeh for Fridays!! I can't wait. It has not been the best week around here. Here's the rundown

• The girls have had little colds.
• The odd tooth has popped through.
• Grace would not sleep the other night, except if it was on top of me which meant I didn't sleep.
• They have learnt to climb, Grace fell off the kitchen table yesterday after climbing up there.
• Neither would nap yesterday and they were revolting.
• You can bounce the muffins I made like little balls.
• I have no idea what we are eating tonight.
• The underwires in my favourite bras keep coming out.

But tomorrow is Friday and I'm going to the hairdressers on Saturday so I can sit in peace and skim through crappy magazines. I did manage to finish few things including this wombat last night and a pig which has been half done for a while as I think her eyes make her look a bit surprised and I'm not sure how to fix this for next time.

Some sewing

Today was such a nice day, a complete relief from the heat yesterday. We have had a pretty quiet weekend. I went to a great Cuban theme dinner on Friday which was great fun and and the food was delicious and it bought back great memories of a week Chris and I spent in Havana 3 years ago. Other than that it has just been housework, mowing the lawns, sewing, playing with the girls and some cooking and a bit of reading. I managed to finish The Emperor of Scent. A really interesting look at scent, perfume and the search for how we smell.
A few pictures of things I have finished that will end up in my etsy shop soon.
Margareta the Alien Giraffe.
A new Australian animal - a koala doll.
A wombat.
This is the latest in my echidna prototypes. It looks kind of dolphin/dinosaurish. It looked so good in the picture in my head, it definietly didn't look like this. Back to the drawing board.To finish on something happy. I am not very good at thrifting but I managed to find this great purple sheet at the new vintage shop in town and the pillowcase was a gift from a friend.

The Alien Giraffe Doll

Another Alien/Giraffe/Doll. This one has gone off to Melbourne where it seems he will make some new friends. And you should see more of him later this year.