Mermaid Ragdoll

Having finished the laborious task of making our Christmas cards this morning, I ventured into the unknown this afternoon and made my first ragdoll. The pattern came from my mother-in-law's copy of Jane Bull's Crafty Dolls. It was really straightforward to follow and was fabulously easy for a beginner like me. I sewed the tail and the doll by machine inside out and stuffed the two pieces separately before sewing them together and adding all the details by hand. I can't wait to give her to Jess in the morning and find out what she's going to be called!

Socktopus

Jess loves playing with socks so I thought I’d make her a socktopus. I followed the tutorial on Cut Out and Keep. David claims it needs a more elaborate face but I’d got bored by that point. I suppose I might break the felt out another day but here’s the socktopus at the moment. Most importantly, Jess loves it.

 

  

Princess Holly

The pattern for this character from Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom came from a copy of Woman’s Weekly earlier this year and was spotted by my Mum. Now, I have to admit to being a big fan of this programme so I sneaked the pattern away from Wales, laminated it and kept it just in case I had a baby girl (I probably would have requested it for a son too mind you!). So, when Gran and Grandad came down to visit four weeks ago I shamelessly asked if Barbara would make this fabulous knitted princess for Jessica’s collection of soft toys. She arrived this week when Auntie Ruth came to visit us and what a beauty she is. We (honestly it’s not just for me) absolutely love it and will be keeping our eyes open for patterns for Ben and Gaston too. Thank you, Gran!

A Growing Menagerie

Jessica is blessed with lots of talented friends and relatives who have already been busy making things for her. In particular, over the last few days her collection of handmade soft toys has been growing. Her Auntie Ruth delivered the fabulous crocheted giraffe on Sunday and then Gran gave Jessica the amazing knitted dog along with the customary knitted mouse (David has lots of these himself). We were also very cheeky and had Katryn’s knitted mouse repaired on Sunday, which is why it made it into the moses basket for the photograph below. We’re very grateful for the gifts and I’m sure that Jess is going to absolutely adore them for years to come.

     

Bunny for the nursery

I somehow neglected to share this magnificent creation in yesterday’s blog post. I had everything else together in the cot but this toy has already found its permanent home in the nursery and it deserves a whole post of its own anyway.

Created by the incredibly talented Lib Haigh, both David and I commented on it when we were up there a few weeks ago so she happily (I hope) let us adopt it for the nursery. We love it and I’m sure that Baby B will too. Thank you Lib!

Mum’s Monkey Business

Archie is really pleased with Mickey the Monkey now that Mum has finished her first (& quite probably last) knitted soft toy.

She spotted this pattern in Yours magazine and was brave enough to give it a try. You can see what she was aiming for and you’d have to agree, she did a pretty good job of it.

She twisted my arm to embroider the facial features but Mum did everything else. Sorry about the quality of the photos, I only had my phone with me up in Wales this weekend but here he is in all his glory…

What a lot of time and effort

With two days left until Year 13 leave Woodford for study leave and exams, I have finally finished all of the girls and cards for my 22. The 9 owls, 13 wooden implements and 22 cards are packed away and all that is left to do is make my baked cheesecake tomorrow night. I was very ambitious this year and I’m relieved it’s all done now.

Good luck Owls

This is always an odd time of year for me. I usually make things as one-offs but as the exam season approaches I always make a few pieces in bulk. This year I have a small Year 13 group so I’ve been more adventurous than usual. I have another four owls to make but I’ve now finished the first five. They don’t actually go on study leave until the end of May so I have plenty of time. Actually, my Year 11s go first so I’d better crack on with some good luck cards for them pretty soon.

Anyway, here are the good luck owls (with the bunny from yesterday’s post)…

    

Easter Bunny

I’ve been working hard making soft owls on Mum’s sewing machine this week. They’re for my A-level Further Maths group when they leave in a few weeks and I will post them later in the week when I’ve finished the trims. Anyway, upon seeing these sat on the mantelpiece, Katryn asked if I could make a bunny for her. I enthusiastically agreed and set to it immediately. My first attempt (designed by us on paper) was not very successful so I decided to get on the internet to find a real pattern. I used a tutorial on sew4home, which was relatively straightforward to follow until I got to stitching the face and neck together. I found that I had to stitch the pieces together in a different order and my rabbit’s face does not look exactly as it should. I also avoided too much hand stitching by machining the head onto the body before stuffing the bunny from the bottom. As usual, it’s not a perfect piece of work and it has taken me hours and hours but I think Katryn will love her…

         

Patchwork Tortoise

I was supposed to come home and go straight to bed today. I have had a week of disturbed sleep and wanted to catch up. Well, it’s now well past my normal bedtime, I’m listening to Graham Norton and feel in need of sharing what I’ve been doing instead of looking after myself this evening.

I desperately need to get on and try to patch up Mum’s trousers before I see her next weekend but I wanted to get on and finish Nan’s presents first. I’ve decided to give her the patchwork cushion that I made a few weeks ago as well as the cross-stitch, which I am still yet to frame. However, I wasn’t very happy with the finish on the back of the cushion so I have made a very basic pillow out of one of David’s old t-shirts and slipped that inside. This means that Nan can remove the pillow and wash the case if needed. A much better idea than having stuffed it directly and haphazardly stitching up the back.

Next I wanted to try a rather more challenging patchwork piece. Again, it’s really not perfect and it took me a while to work out in what order I should stitch the patches together but it’s definitely good enough. I have no idea what she’ll do with it but I think Nan will like it. I’ve recycled trimmings from a dress, two of David’s old shirts and one of my old bras on this little critter!

I drew a pattern on the computer initially and then cut each of the pieces out of my chosen fabric. I used the machine to stitch the patches together, which worked quite well, even with such an irregular pattern. I then made a head, tail and four legs before stitching it all together and stuffing it. I wish I’d stuffed the head more but it’s way too late now!!

Anyway, here’s my pattern…

I suppose I could have kept it quite a bit simpler, 11 pieces on the shell may have been excessively complicated. Nothing wrong with a touch of ambition though ;¬)

Sewing machine heaven

Amongst writing 24 reports and checking over the odd UCAS application this weekend I’ve spent just a few hours on the big kite project and have been busy on the sewing machine. It’s just possible that I’m becoming a little obsessed and will have to invest in a much better sewing machine in the not so distant future. The one I have is a total beginners machine from John Lewis, can only handle thin material and doesn’t do anything clever but I can still have fun with it!

I should probably admit that the idea to crack out the sewing machine and try doing something other than hemming came from watching Kirstie Allsopp’s Homemade Britain last weekend and then again on Wednesday. She’s too enthusiastic for David but I really like this programme and only wish I’d started watching it from the beginning of the series. The cushion that Kirstie made on Wednesday was amazing and convinced me to have a go at making my first ever patchwork cushion. One day I’ll make one to rival Kirstie’s best in show creation. My patchwork is definitely not perfect. The corners don’t meet exactly at the centre and the border’s not exactly the same width all the way around but I’m learning all the time and this is my first attempt after all…

Yesterday I was chatting to Dad on the phone when spotted a picture of a fabric hippopotamus on my notebook that I thought I’d attempt to copy and make my own stuffed hippo. I have made a mistake by doing the whole lot in the same material because it’s hard to distinguish the head from the body but again, I’m learning, and I am generally happy with the result. David says he can’t take the fabric seriously so I think he’ll like my cushion better when he eventually makes it home tonight.

Crafting after a long day at work

Tuesday’s are my only full teaching day, with three tutorials and a supermarket shop too I was pretty exhausted this evening. I always need something to do to keep me busy though so I thought I’d have a go at using up some of that spare stuffing I mentioned a few days ago and have a go at improving my skills on the sewing machine. If I’m ever going to make a quilt on it I need some experience doing things other than hemming. So, I fished about on the internet for a while looking for inspiration and stumbled across a fantastic blog New Green Mama and Jen’s Hootie the Upcycled Owl. It’s a gorgeous soft toy made with some great fabrics. I suspect Hootie is much bigger than my version but I’m really rather pleased with mine. David’s not sure about my eclectic fabrics from ikea but, ah well, it makes a great computer buddy for him!