Frog Stitchery

I have been inspired by the work of Jean Ray Laury. My doll was inspired by her book on doll making and now I'm being inspired by her applique and stitcheries. I keep seeing the body of animals with stitching.
So last night I tried to make a new frog. If you are familiar with the children's books such as "That's not my train" "That's not my teddy" etc you will understand my thinking when I finished my frog and had a look. "That's not my frog. It's arms are too long". Underneath it is a frog body stitchery in progress. How could you resist some yarn from a place called Beaverslide?Some good things about today.
1. Being inside with a fire when it's cold and rainy.
2. Making it down town in between rain.
3. Going to the little local library and discovering it has amazing craft books.
4. Grace and Amelia not eating all the playdough at playgroup.

Perth

We have survived the trip to Perth and managed to see people and get a fair bit done. I went to my first craft fair on Saturday. I haven't lived close enough to Perth to get to one in the past so I made a big effort this year. It was great to go and fantastic to see the Quilts on display and the Japanese Quilting Exhibition, but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of variety and different crafts represented. Having said that I did manage to get some lovely fabric and a skein of cashmere.
After the craft fair I wandered into the city to the new Borders and stared at book shelves for 2 hours - I kept collecting books until I sat in one of their nice chairs and could narrow it down to a sensible size.
The girls had a great time in Perth visiting my Nan and then spending Saturday with Chris' parents.

I have been dreaming of new softie frogs so I am off to try and see if I can translate my dreams into a 3D softie.

Hats

Grace and Amelia looked so cute with their hats on before we went to playgroup this morning. This lasted about 5 seconds and then they ripped them off and had hissy fits when I tried to put them back on.

Fabric

Chris thinks I have a textile fetish and I can't find any evidence to prove him wrong. It was all beginning to creep into everything and he hadn't seen the kitchen table for weeks. So I had to have a bit of a clean up. Here is some proof that I do use it, some little dresses for the girls.
Some bargain retro fabric I just couldn't live without.
My current favourite pile - Liberty lawn.
There is also still a big pile of little bits of Indian silk, but can't work out how to take a good photo of silk, it never looks as good as it does in real life.

A New Doll

These have been cut out, waiting to be sewed for the past week. Last night I had the chance to sew them up.

I have never made a doll before. I just drew out a pattern and I am quite happy with it. The hair was freaking me out, but I am happy with that too. Both are in the shop.

Backtack Completed

I finished my bunny for backtack. I think it has worked out well. I am quite happy and the pain of turning and stuffing little bits has faded. I don't think I could have done it without some hemostats. I don't know how I used to manage without them. I have collected a few bits and pieces to accompany the bunny on its journey to the Netherlands. For now though I just have a teaser shot.
Chris and the girls went on an adventure to the toy library this morning. Our living room now looks a bit like a fun park. Grace is sitting on top of the slide. Both of them can't seem to be without their soft dolls at the moment. They are meant to be just for bed, but I find both of them sneaking into their room and getting their dolls from their cots.

Amelia rocking on the angel fish.
Just a cute bath picture from tonight.

Backtack - new plan

This was a pretty easy quick knit. It just needs a button and a wash but it is pretty much finished, so Rose you can have the baby.
I have a new plan for backtack. I am just not a pointy kitty person. I love the way everyone elses look, but I can't do it, so I have a new plan and some new fabric. I was playing around with some fabric flower tutorials so there might be some of them. Hopefully the girls will sleep so I can create.

A little bit of craft

I had great plans of a quiet Mother's Day doing my own thing. It didn't really go to plan, but I got a little bit done. Two more pouches for the shop and I ordered some labels to put on my finished things. I tried washing some fleece. Mmmm not sure about the result. I may have felted a bit of it. The thought of carding it is not enticing. The words drum carder are echoing in my head.


Chris turned the girls car seats around yesterday. I am not sure they were much help. Grace annoyed the dog so much she ended up in the prison. I think they will be a lot happier in the car though being able to see where they are going and that we are still there.

Good Mail

A warning for non crafty people - this post is all craft.
I have been knitting for a my good friend, Rose, whose baby is due very soon. It is the little jumper from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and despite the mess it looks in the picture, it is not that hard and is quite a quick knit.
The best thing about getting rid of stuff on ebay, beside cleaning up some piles around here, is the extra cash. And that didn't last long. On the right are a couple of books from Amazon Japan. On the left is my first issue of Ottobre. I discovered it last week. It is a sewing magazine for children's clothes. Very cute designs.
Lorna's Laces in Daffodil. I think I can see some Jaywalkers in my future.

Glasses Case

I have been meaning to make something for my grandmother for ages and I have finished this in time for Mother's Day. It is a glasses case. The outside is silk left over from my sister Gemma's year 12 ball dress. (I have been hoarding it for a while!) and the lining is left over silk from the dress I made for Jane's wedding. The button is a spare one from the top I made for Mum for Jane's wedding. So now I just have to get to the post office.

Thinking Backtack

My plans for backtack have changed so many times. I was going to do the bunny, then the other bunny and now after seeing lots of pointy kittys I need to do one of them. I had a go last night and think I can manage it. It is just going to take me time to turn and stuff it right. here are some potential colour and fabrics, but I am sure they will change again too.

Good Mail

I have been eyeing off one of the prints from little flower for a while and was looking for an excuse to buy one. I just love them and had a hard time choosing which one. So my sister Jane is getting this for her birthday.

The girls are seem to know where we hide everything and this morning they were after the footy. I saw two little bottoms disappearing into our room and there they were up in the corner with Chris' footy. So I bought it out and they played with it and each other.

I think I can feel one of Grace's teeth coming through. It doesn't seem to be worrying her that much.

A Finished Klaralund!

It is finally finished. I am glad I blocked it well as it doesn't fit too badly. A nice comfy warm Klaralund for winter.
The girls are starting to interact a lot more with each other. They are playing together more, always follow each other around and tonight they rubbed their heads on each other and cracked themselves up, just sitting there laughing at each other for ages.
Spinning news. I am finally making some progress. We took the girls to the Balingup field day yesterday to see all the animals and a lady from the Melanian Sheep society was spinning. She offered to teach me and in 10 minutes I learnt so much. It was quite relaxing and not frustrating.

Autumn

It is definetely looking like Autumn here (feeling like winter already to me though). We have had a few rainy days and I am starting to get a bit panicky about being stuck in the house all day with the girls. They are not going to be happy if they can't get out and see the world. My frog sold!! I am pretty excited about my first etsy sale. So I finished another and also finished a bear and a rabbit which I have put in there.

I have been playing around with stuff for backtack. I have made piles of fabric, had decided on what to make and then I saw some finished pointy kittens and they didn't look as daunting as before so maybe I'll change my mind. I am totally stuck though on adding the buttons and embroidery. Once I figure that out it will all be ok.

Froggie

I finished another frog. He can be found with the elephant at my new etsy shop.
The Bartlett yarn in Lovat finally arrived for the Sunshine Circle Jacket.

A New Elephant

I have been trying to improve the elephant I made here, as it had some balance problems. In the end I redesigned the whole thing with a bit of inspiration from the girls' mobile.

After making many many scrap material elephants I ended up with this.
Chris has been amusing himself this week on his holiday watching old episodes of Scrubs. I would say annoying the girls, but they think he is funny.

Wedding Anniversary

Today Chris and I have been married for 5 years. Chris and I aren't big on celebrating special days so I was more excited about going to the hairdressers and reading in peace for an hour. So I was a bit surprised to have this delivered in front of everyone at the hairdressers.

So I've just made him yummy chocolate self saucing pudding. Here he is reading the girls a bedtime story.

I spent the rest of the day organizing and sorting stuff to go on ebay, trying to decide what to do for backtack and planning to make stuff for an etsy shop.

Easter

We are back from out trip to Perth for Easter. We caught up with lots of family, saw lots, went shopping, ate too much, had a great time, but it is nice to be home. A trip to Perth used to involve packing a few things and going. It is now and all day expedition to get there and one to get back and I can't believe how full the car was with crap and we needed most of it. I did do some shopping. I went to the woolshop and there was a 10% off sale and drooled over the fabric in Calico & Ivy.
My best finds weren't at the shops though. Chris' Mum had some boxes of material and I found some great brown wool and this excellent flannel that reminds me of my Grandfather's pyjamas.
The winners were these vintage sewing magazines.
Even though I haven't finished a book for ages I had to buy these two books by Victoria Finlay: Colour and Buried Treasure.
I've signed up to be a part of backtack 3. I'm excited and a bit apprehensive having seen what people have created in the past and having seen who i am creating for, but I'm up for the challenge.
Sorry Mum and Jean somehow we didn't manage to take any photos, but we will try to take some soon.

School Holidays

School Holidays started yesterday. It just makes it so much easier to have Chris home. It is easier to shop, get the housework done, have a cup of coffee that is actually hot, sit for 5 minutes. Sometimes I do this anyway, but when I turn around the whole house is destroyed.
That's why i love this swing. One can swing, I can hang out the washing and there is only one baby eating dirt at a time. Here is Grace.
Amelia's cot faces the living room so if we don't shut the door now she won't go to sleep and we look up to see this little face asking to be let out and play.Klaralund blocking. I have measured and it is definetely going to be too big. We'll see after it is seemed. I have read about people fixing this by putting it tin the dryer for a few minutes. Maybe after a few glasses of wine.

Beginning Spinning

My first attempt at spinning and after doing some research I've found this looks pretty normal for first time spinning - fairly crap.The picture actually makes it look only half bad - the colour is more dark disgusting green. It can only improve.

You've gotta love autumn sunshine. Don't panic no Chris wasn't actually gardening, he went to chop me some kindling as it's getting cold at night.