For the First Time In Ages

I thought it was about time I started to refine my bear pattern. I like the shape of the wing-a-me-jigs and little bears that I have made for previous craft fairs, they are lovely and cute but I would like these little guys to be developed a bit further and maybe begin to look a little more sophisticated, if that is actually possible for a soft toy! I guess it is going to take me a bit of time and a lot of errors to get something I am totally happy with but hey I won't get anywhere if I don't even start.

This wee man is quite cute, I am happy with the ears and arms. The arms being sewn and stuffed separately to the body gives them a lot better movement than before and I do like the eyes and nose (but oh my god how annoying are safety eyes and noses to get on, especially ones this small!). I think the white face doesn't help too much either, he is looking a little bit washed out and pale.

Not sure if I've got the energy to try out another, it is very cold downstairs in the sewing room, hmm maybe a cup of tea and a biscuit will help me decide.

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Crafting With a Friend

As I mentioned previously Danny and I had our niece and nephew staying with us this weekend which was lots of fun.

Danny, Sean and Sean's friend Josh were mainly making music and recording some tunes upstairs and so myself and Rachel decided to do a bit of crafting together. Last night Rachel thought about what type of creature she wanted to make, we looked through some of my other toys and through some books for some inspiration and Rachel got doodling to see what ideas she could come up with.

She decided to make a little love heart person (quite fitting considering it was Valentine's Day yesterday), so we chose the fabric this morning and got on with sewing. Rachel did really well and managed to cut out the pattern, the fabric, make the face and sew it on and then sew the whole thing together. We then turned it inside out and stuffed it before stitching the last part closed. Voila - the Love Bug was born!

Rachel - you did an excelent job for your first toy, well done! (and you have a cool t-shirt too!)

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First February Blog - oops!

So it's the 15th of February already and this is my first blog post of the month - disgraceful - I am ashamed of myself!

So where have I been, what have I been doing when I should've been on the old laptop typing away well not too much actually. It was my 32nd birthday on the 7th and I spent a lovely evening out the night before with some good friends and my actual birthday was spent with my husband, parents and sister. I was taken out for an Italian meal which was lovely and got the best prezzie ever, so suited to me you wouldn't believe - a tape measure in the shape of an elephant, you pull the tape measure out of his tail and squeeze his belly for it to wind back up inside, love it - thanks Molly and family :)

This weekend (well I generally get a Sunday and Monday as my days off work so class that as my slightly delayed weekend), was spent looking after my niece and nephew and the remainder was spent watching the winter Olympics. At this point I see the rest of February disappearing in much the same way - in front of the box watching snowy sports of some description, don't get me wrong I cannot ski or even stay upright on a pair of ice skates at all but love to watch it on tv all the same.

I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get my new website up and running so keep your crafty peepers peeled because it WILL be here soon and it WILL be worth the wait!

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Drawings for Make Your Own Project

I'm still patiently waiting for the yards of fabric with the Ruby Loves Red birdie design on them to arrive from Spoonflower. When they do actaully arrive the masterplan is to make up some Make-your-own birdie kits, with 2 bird panels and stuffing and to sell them in the shop (new and vastly improved shop is in the making and will be up and running soon).However It has only just occurred to me that I haven't even started to write out the instructions for the kit yet and it would just be highly organised of me to get going and start to do just this. So guess what I've gone and done, yip sirree, I've written some out - only in note form but for little old disorganised me that's pretty good going!

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Gifts For A Giraffe Lover

It's exactly as it says in the title, gifts for a giraffe lover!

A friend (Sharon) turned 30 today, and I couldn't think what to get her so in support of all things handmade I decided to make her something instead of giving my hard earned cash to yet another large high street company! Sharon likes giraffes and I have had this bit of Japanese fabric in mind to make something for her for a while now but just wasn't sure what. She got a new I-pod Touch for Christmas so I managed to make a cover for that for her, Giraffes on the outside and a nice burgundy cotton inside and with a little bit of wadding in the middle to make it slightly padded to stop any bumps.

I also made a little padded applique square with the Giraffe fabric and sewed it onto a cushion (picking up a few tips from yesterdays quilting attempts), It looks quite cute. So I will take them into work tomorrow and hopefully she will still like giraffes and not have decided she now likes penguins or elephants instead!!!

Sorry the colours came out a bit weird in the photos.

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First ever attempt at Quilting

Today I went all out out and decided to go ahead and have my first real attempt at making a quilt. The plan a couple of months ago was to venture out to Borders Books and buy a beginners guide to quilting (this never happened) and follow instructions, but as Borders has since closed down and since the urge took me today to have a go I went with it and gave it my best shot.

The end result is quite small I'm sure in terms of real quilts but would be more than suitable for a pram, cot or play-mat. It is nice and soft and would be more than suitable for a child to sit and play on. I do have a particular special wee boy in mind for this one but won't say his name on here or I may spoil the surprise. The trick is most definitely in the fabric selection and I can see why some people find this so enjoyable, once I started laying out fabrics together it gave me ideas for other colouways and patterns, I can see that this may not be just a passing phase in my swing learning curve! So Olive greens and girly pinks next I think.

So, I am quite interested to know what you real quilt makers think, does it look right? Is this going even roughly in the right direction? I would love to know what you think and get any hints or tips to put me on the right track - or maybe I should stop being lazy and just go ahead and buy a book anyway!

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