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March Softie

Just squeezing in at the last minute with my self portrait for Month of Softies. I'm afraid this one was a rush job and didn't really turn out as I'd hoped. I ran out of felt, so decided to use a heavy cotton for her body and it puckered and frayed and was the cause of much consternation. I probably should have stopped there, but I persisted and then ran out of time to knit her a jumper (still half finished, I used trusty old felt instead!) I sped through her pinafore today whilst Audrey was napping and the machine kept tangling the thread so it's a bit lumpy too! Oh dear...

Anyhow, here she is, a likeness of me as a little person. I used to have very long hair which seemed to always be in braids (with wooden baubles at the ends of course, it was the '70s!) Also, my Mum used to always dress my brother and I in combinations of denim and red. Always. The denim I used for this wee pinafore was leftover from a skirt that Mum made me when I was pregnant with Audrey, so obviously her clothing choices for us have rubbed off on me more than I thought.

Happy (belated) Easter!

A day late, but I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter weekend. We've had beautiful autumn weather and have been out digging and weeding to try to tame the unruly mess that our garden has become. Matt and I are very sporadic gardeners, and shouldn't really be the proud owners of our large yard; we both enjoy gardening, but never seem to make the time required to maintain the sort of garden we aspire to. Currently we are trying to clear large sections of garden beds filled with things we're not too fond of (mostly miscellaneous overgrown, brackish, spiky kind of things inherited from previous owners that are reasonably dangerous around running toddlers!) I've also neglected the herb garden since Audrey was born, so we've made space and hopefully next weekend will plant some good winter herbs.

I've also eaten way too much chocolate and fit a bit of sewing in, too. I started my Month of Softies doll, finished those cats and made the easter rabbit (above). If only every weekend went for four days!!

The good, the bad and the beautiful

I have been intending to post more this week, but unfortunately it's been one of those weeks when the little things have gotten in the way. I'd love to say that over the past few days I was able to overlook life's minor annoyances (whining toddler with nonspecific illness, difficult client, perpetually messy house, lack of sleep, you get the picture...) and get on with it, but this week I've been, I'd have to say, a fairly grumpy camper. There has been some good, though: the news that our very-noisy neighbours will soon be moving on (hooray!!), hearing Audrey's giggle whilst playing with my Dad, and the restful promise of a long Easter weekend.

The 3 cats I started last weekend have been slowly progessing. Plus, I've been doing a bit of nosing around the internet and enjoying lots of beautiful things:
- These fantastic feedsack fabrics (scroll down) from Fabric Attic
- Martha's cool monkey applique over at Naive Knitting
- These great idea cards from the Small Object (via the equally inspiring and beautiful Angry Chicken blog). Yay internet!

18 months (and more pelicans)

Audrey turned 18 months old yesterday. Eighteen months ago that seemed like a long way off, but here we are - from tiny little baby to all-walking, all-talking, animal-obsessed little girl. I'm really enjoying this age and her rapidly developing speech. Being able to have a mini conversation with her about what we've done or seen is an incredible thing. It's like gaining a window into what's going on in her little head. And I love that she can ask for what she wants using words (mostly!) now.

I think I've mentioned her fondness for pelicans before... well, this week pelican-frenzy hit fever pitch as we did the pelican tour of Adelaide. Yup, we saw a lot of them. I was even thinking I might try to make a softie pelican until Matt came home this morning (from a trip with Audrey to Cleland) with a sweet little pelican toy. She's tucked up in bed with it now.

While they were out this morning, I had a great couple of hours of sewing in an empty house. I finished off this kitty with a ric-rac dress, and got halfway through 3 more cats. Uninterrupted blocks of craft time like this are rare and wonderful - it was lovely!

Hoot and toot

At least now I can cross one thing off my out-of-control to-do list! This owl is promised to my friend Justine, but it was fun to make so I think there will be a few more to come. I hope it does actually look like an owl. Matt looked puzzled when I showed it to him and suggested that it looked like some kind of "ghost angel" (not too sure what that is). But then I showed Audrey this morning and she said "owl" straight away. So, sorry, but so I don't feel like I've wasted my time, I'm going with the 18 month-old on this one!

Plus, good news... I got a call yesterday from the shop where my several of my softies are residing and most of them have been sold! They want more, too. Please excuse me for tooting my horn about it!

Craft to-do

Is it Friday already? I haven't posted all week because we've all come down with yet another cold! This morning I was snuffling around the supermarket picking up every cough-drop and fresh, healthful-looking vegetable I could find - I'm sick of being sick!

I thought I might post some of the items on my craft-to-do list, in the hope that if I put them out there it will jog me into action:
1. Winter pjamas for Audrey.
2. A quilt for our bedroom.
3. An owl softie (this should be no.1 - I've already got the fabric sitting out waiting)
4. My 'self portrait' project for the next Month of Softies.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, too! The list just keeps growing and growing... Anyway, on a positive note here is a bear I actually did finish. I also made her a little orange jacket, but she looks too frumpy in it! I'll hold onto it for a more svelte softie, perhaps!?

Fat quarters and a clean desk

After a recent spate of frenzied crafting, my desk was left looking like a tornado had hit. Patterns hiding under felt under cotton reels under fabric scraps and embroidery thread. It was bad enough that I continued to work amongst this tumult, but my desk also sits in the corner of a large-ish open plan area in the middle of our house for all to see. So, something had to be done and on the weekend I sorted buttons into clear plastic boxes, and packed away unsightly polyfill bags (the state of the craft-cupboard is another story entirely!!) The result of my efforts... (very dark photo taken too late in the day)

Now I'm feeling re-enthused and started sewing up a little grey bear while Audrey napped today. Then, this afternoon we went with Mum over to Riverlea Quilts. I was after some Amy Butler but unfortunately they were all out. Of course I couldn't leave a fabric store empty-handed, so I bought a few fat quarters. My favourite is the solid turquoise fabric by Kaffe Fasset. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it has a very slight yellow thread shot through it - just beautiful! So now no more excuses, time to get sewing.

A little bit of this and a litte bit of that

The weekend before last I took some of my little chaps and chap-esses in to start their adventure in retail. Here they are before they got packed up. So, now they are available at the very wonderful Closet on Elizabeth St in Croydon, for anyone in or nearby Adelaide.

While I'm feeling parochial, here's a link to one of my favourite local artists, Marnie Wark - if only I had the funds to support my love of her beautiful paintings!

Since our weekend away, I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of things craft-wize, but I just got an order from a friend for 4 little kittens, so back on the horse I get whilst Audrey is still napping.