Kids Clothes Week Challenge

At the very last minute, I have decided to sign up for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley. 

I have nearly joined in every time since it began, and I don't have decent reasons for not doing so.

Photo by ESJAYcreative in 2010

If I get a simple pair of denim pants made for little Eve, I will be happy! I have heaps of cherry fabric left over from this dress (above) I made Jemima a few years ago now. I am thinking of doing something with that, maybe with knee patches and pockets? Better get thinking, it starts tomorrow!

FIVE!? Disbelief and a Doll

Jemima turned 5 last week! It feels so different having two kids at school who really aren't little little anymore, and Jemima turning 5 really emphasized this for me!

Wow, where did those 5 years go? *sniff* Happy Belated Birthday Jems, love from Mummy's Blog.

We celebrated the day with a toilet paper birthday crown I made the night before, after reading this blog post, and the giving of a handmade-by-me doll (and various other presents including a bike-with-purple-streamers!)

I love this pattern. This is the fourth one I have made! Now, each of my children have their own doll. Caleb's is the zombie variation, and Eve got hers for Christmas 2010. (Eve has a somewhat perplexing fluff addiction, so in recent times she has picked holes in the doll's bonnet to eat the wool felt fibres.... so her doll needs a new, thicker wool felt bonnet.)

Jemima requested that her doll have hair rather than a bonnet, so I used instructions from one of the dolls in the Wee Wonderfuls book.

I really love making dolls. And I really love giving them to my children.

First Day

I can hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday we sent the boy to school for the first time. It seems like yesterday she was little!

She was excited, but not over the top. She was awesome.

Pillows for the man

I saw this tutorial for personalised pillow cases a long time ago over at Handmade Romance. I don't keep a coherent list of tutorials I want to try, but this one stuck in my head. I finally got onto it for Christmas as a gift for Chris. I imitated Evie's style but tried to make them look like us. Chris' one has ginger facial hair because we both find it amusing that while he has brown hair, he grows orange stubble.

I thought I would include the above pic too as it has a couple of crafty projects I hadn't documented yet. The "You don't make me spew" artwork is trying to be in the style of Rachel Castle whose work I love. The letters are felt on linen, but I hot glued them on rather than stitch them, probably because I was in a hurry. The quote was something I said to Chris when we first got together about 14 (?) years ago in a "we need to clarify our relationship" talk we had very late at night in my parents' driveway. Kinda awkward, but exciting at the same time as I recall!

The "love" sign perched above I made using this tutorial from Giddy Giddy. Such an easy little project, you could make any word you like.

Ah there we are. I have been writing this post for 3 days! Good to finally have it out there. Hats off to those who blog regularly!

A bag for the littlest lover of accessories

Eve loves to tote around a tote. She likes to put them around her neck rather dangerously, straps all strangle-y-like. I made her a little bag for Christmas. The pattern for the bag was from Bend the Rules Sewing and the idea for the animal applique was based on a fox softie project in a recent issue of Mollie Makes (my intention was for it to look more like a cat- Eve's favourite creature). The straps on this little bag are not long enough to easily get them around her neck which is a plus in the safety stakes!

The cutest zombie evah!

The computer game/app/whatever of the year around these parts was Plants vs Zombies. I don't usually get into games, but this one is a lot of fun. It isn't too hard which helps!

I had planned to make Caleb a zombie doll for his birthday but never got around to it, but I have done it in time for Christmas. I made him using the Folkster Wee Wonderfuls pattern, and purchased the wool felt from Winterwood (which is deliciously thick and awesome- none of this happening here!)

I used some scrappy off cuts of one of Chris' old work shirts left over from Jemima's skirt for Mr Zombie's shirt. I guess I could have made him more like the zombies on the game, but I really wanted to use stuff I already had- my stash is a *little* out of control.

I love this pattern, and it really isn't too hard to make. If course with no hair or bonnet, he didn't take as long as Eve's doll.

Hot Diggety Dog!

I started making Christmas presents for the kids in June. So organised, and very unusual really. This Sausage Roller from Craft Schmaft was the first project that I started, but I only finished it last night. If I had all the materials at hand, I think I could have made it in a few nights watching TV, but it took me a while to accumulate everything I needed. As is the Craft Schmaft way, it is surprisingly easy to get a nice result. I'm glad this little pup is staying in the family.

I made him for Eve thinking that she would be walking by Christmas, which in June, seemed so bizarre somehow. But yes, she is indeed toddling about and has been for about 3 weeks or so. On Day 3 of full time walking, she tripped (on flat ground) and hit her head so hard she actually passed out for 30 seconds. Terrifying! But she made a quick and full recovery, and we were given the all clear by the medicos 4 hours later. It wasn't the first, and I know it probably won't be the last time we end up in the Emergency Department with one of our children, so I try enjoy each incident free day to the fullest!

++On the day of her spill++