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handmade home

I've had my copy of Amanda's wonderful new book Handmade Home for a couple of weeks now. It will be no news to any of you, I'm sure, but this is a beautiful, inspiring book, full of projects that look not only fun to make, but that will mean something to you & your family, too. 

There are a ton of beautiful ideas in here, but as soon as I saw the pattern for the sweater hats, I knew that it would be a keeper. An old felted cardigan of mine and fifteen minutes later, Henry has a new hat. Perfect for the freezing, wintery walks to school and back we're taking at the moment. As an extra bonus - he's actually keeping hats on, now (hallelujah!) - as if I needed any extra impetus to make any more (Audrey has one lined up, as well). I think this pattern would work equally well using an old t-shirt for a milder Spring-type hat, too.

Oh, and the arrival of this book was doubly exciting as one of my cat dolls is on the cover, hugged by sweet Adelaide, none the less. Yay!

friday inspiration (on a saturday)

Folded paper. This photo (from sem on Flickr) could tip me over the edge into paper crafting, or at least a spot of paper crane making. A string of these hanging in a corner would be very nice indeed. I also love these paper crane mobiles by Red Berry. Happy weekend!

thankyou!

Thanks so much for the amazing response to my doll pattern. I've been overwhelmed by how lovely you have all been about it. I can't wait to work on the next one now (probably the kangaroo, but maybe the monkey). I've had a few questions that, if you don't mind, I might answer here just in case there are more of you wondering the same thing.

A few people asked about the difficulty level of the pattern. On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is easy, I'd give this pattern a 2. The directions are very thorough, and I don't think there's anything terribly tricky in there.

About sourcing wool felt and flannel. In Australia, beautiful wool felt is available online at Winterwood. I buy my wool flannel locally, but have heard that Spotlight generally stocks pure wool Doctor's Flannel (white, but it can be dyed). They also often have some pretty nice wool blend flannels that work well for dolls too. I'm not sure about sourcing wools outside Australia, but Hillary's very informative post here is sure to help.

For toymaking, I'd recommend not using fabric with stretch or that is too heavy (thick, blanket or coating weight wool will may lead to cursing if you try to turn inside out doll pieces made from it) - flannel weight has definitely yielded the best results for me. If you can't find wool flannel, then linen would work well, too.

This doll up top is one Audrey and I made together one day during the last school holidays. She has a very fetching loud, pink dress that I wanted to photograph her in (guess who selected that fabric?), but I couldn't find it in the abyss that is my children's room earlier, so she has come as she is.

Thanks again, especially if you've made it this far today. I'll be back tomorrow.

poppy doll pattern

Thanks to everyone who has emailed recently about the doll pattern I've been working on. Finally, it's ready. Twelve pages of patterns and directions to make a doll like these, plus two different smocks/dresses and a pair of trousers. I decided to go down the PDF route, and it is available right here. Once you've completed the checkout process, I will email you the digital file within 24 hours. So you can print it out at home and get sewing sooner. Quick, and easy. That's the plan, anyway.

Oh, and one more thing. I have fussed around like an old chook trying to get this just right, but 15 years as a graphic designer has taught me that no matter how much fuss, now and again something sneaks through the proof reading. So please let me know if you find a mistake or if something doesn't seem quite right.

Ok, that's it for the shop talk for now. Promise. And thanks again.

friday inspirations

The River Cottage Family Cookbook is my favorite at the moment. I love their chatty, informal style & that it is as good a book to read as it is to cook from. Every time I go back to it just gets better and better. I baked the banana bread this week & it's a cracker of a recipe.

I have been sorting through some bookmarks and rediscovered the beautiful quilted blankets made by Rie Elise Larsen. That long, chunky hand (?) quilting looks so good. Very inspiring. 

Love the different patterns & textures of these beautiful tea cups from Samantha Robinson.

I think I might try to make this a regular Friday thing here as I'm having a hard time getting motivated to blog at the moment. I would love to hear your Friday inspirations if you feel like blogging about them - please leave a comment & let me know if you do!

Oh! And a warm welcome if you're here for the first time via Soulemama. If you are interested, more of the toys I make can be checked out here and here.