Thursday, March 29, 2012

A few more things...

I should be doing bookwork & cleaning my house - but I thought I'd write up a quick post first!  Here are a couple of things I made recently.  The first are some pyjama's and dressing gown for my daughter's kinder girl doll.  This is another pattern that goes with the Kinder Girls pattern by Jodie Carleton from RicRac.  I have had this pattern for a while - but have only just got around to making these for her.

The next photo is a spider I made for my son to wear for Creepy Crawly day at school today.  All the preps and grade 1's had to come dressed as Creepy Crawlies - so he wanted to wear a spider.  But it had to be the Spiderman spider (the one that bit Spiderman and gave him his spidery powers!).  My son was very specific about that!  So here he is wearing his Spiderman spider.  He was very happy with it.

Now - better get back to my bookwork and cleaning!
Happy sewing!
Jody

Saturday, March 17, 2012

FNSI Results

Last night was Friday Night Sew In again.  I find this is always a good excuse to get a project finished off - so last night I managed to get these little bean bags completed.  These are actually for an assignment that I am doing at TAFE as I am studying my Certificate III in Children's Services this year.  These bean bags are part of my Quiet Time box I am putting together for pre-school children.  They can stack them, count them, it helps them recognise numbers and they can also use them in a game of toss the bean bag into a box.

I made these from a tutorial put together by Holly Keller of Beeper Bebe.  She has some great tutorials for babies and children on her site so it is worth checking out.  
Also pop over and see what the other participants of Friday Night Sew In got up too. 

Earlier in the week I also finished this Kinder Girl.  I do love this design by Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac.  I have made one of these before and I love using the doctors flannel wool fabric for the body as it's so soft and warm and the reversible dress and jacket are just great.  Great for a baby or child of any age.

Sorry the photos of her aren't the best quality - it was early in the morning when I took them. 
Happy sewing everyone!
Jody

Saturday, March 10, 2012

A mouse in the house!

As you may or may not know, we live out on a farm out in East Gippsland, Victoria.  Over the last week or so we have had heaps of rain - no flooding thank goodness - but definitely a lot of rain.  One of the common problems we deal with living out on a property is rats and mice.  Normally they stick to the machinery and hay sheds - but with the season we have had they have multiplied so much and they just seem to be everywhere.  It is not uncommon for the dogs to leave me 'presents' of the odd dead rat, mouse or hare near the clothesline. 

Well, on Tuesday morning I opened the door to the laundry to let our cat out (she sleeps in there at night) and she presented me with a 'present' of a lovely (dead - thank goodness) mouse.  I was extremely proud of her - as this is the first mouse she has caught (and she is only 6 months old) - and then also a little worried as she had obviously caught it during the night INSIDE the house in the laundry.   I can only imagine that it was trying to get out of the rain and find a nice dry spot to live and it somehow squeezed under the outside laundry door.  I looked around but found none of it's friends or relatives and so left it at that. 

I did not expect, however, to open the case on my sewing machine this morning, and open the compartment that holds the sewing tools, sewing machine feet etc and find that THAT was where the mouse had been living!  How dare it!  I could not believe my eyes.  I was - and still am, very upset that the little mouse had camped out IN MY SEWING MACHINE!   I had only put the machine on the floor in the laundry on Sunday when I was cleaning up as we were having friends over for tea.  Normally it lives on my dining room table.  So in two days a mouse had set up camp there - I couldn't believe it!  I haven't done any sewing all week - so today was the first chance I had to take the machine out.  I have just finished cleaning and disinfecting now.  Thank goodness we have a cat and that she caught this mouse before it did any more damage or got into the rest of the house.  So a big cheer for our cat Mittens!



Well done and keep up the great work!  And here's a warning to any other mice - stay clear of my house and especially my sewing machine - there is a cat on patrol! 
Jody

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Mini Monsters & Cuddly Bears

The last couple of weeks I have been busy sewing these little guys and getting them ready for our local Makers Market that was on last weekend.  I made all of these from polar fleece which makes them soft and cuddly.  The first photo shows you my Mini Monsters that I made.   

These next three teddy bears I've called Cuddly Bears.  I designed and made my first cuddly bear last year for my friends daughter who was going to hospital to have her tonsils out.  I thought it would be nice for her to have a little friend to take, so Cuddly Bear was created.  She named it Cuddly Bear and I thought it was a great name - so the name has stuck.  The first photo is the original cuddly bear and then the next photo shows the other three that I made for the market.




I then also decided to make a mini Cuddly Bear too, which I thought was really cute.

The market went really well, and we had quite a good crowd through despite the rainy weather.  It's always great to see so many stall holders that make such wonderful handmade items.

Happy sewing!
Jody