Monday, December 28, 2009

PJs and Cush


How was your Christmas? Good I trust. With Chris' family bash on Boxing Day, and our church service on Christmas Eve, we had the most laid back Christmas in my adult memory. We weren't due anywhere on Christmas day until about 3pm which meant a lazy day. We had BBQ burgers in the backyard which was awesome!



This was the gift I made for Chris. He really loves TV. We all do. As much as it frustrates me sometimes.

Chris gave me an overlocker! I have to admit there have already been some dark times with this overlocker. Honestly, now I have successfully threaded it I feel like I could be a brain surgeon. I spent a good number of hours reading the manual, watching the DVD and mucking around with scraps until I got a workable stitch. I suspect the tension still isn't quite right, it looks a bit sloppy, but it does come with a free lesson, so sometime in January I will get onto that. It has been great I must admit to stretch my brain a little and learn a new skill, and I look forward to lots of makey with my new machine.


This afternoon I made Jemima a nightie using my new overlocker and good ole sewing machine (how lovely and simple she seems after struggling with the serger). I used the same pattern as with this dress. I just used the 4 thread overlock stitch rather than muck around with rolled hems at this stage.

Must get back to some more relaxing. 'tis the season after all.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Caleb wrapped his present for Jemima (a cardboard creation) using recycled paper and his crafty tool of choice, masking tape. Lots of it!

Merry Christmas! Have a great day celebrating with family and friends

Thanks for reading and for every comment and email. It's been fun.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Crafty monkey off my back



I am a bit bummed I haven't been recording all my craftiness of late, because there has been a lot of it! Unfortunately Chris and I have lost our camera argh! which makes posting quite difficult. Mum has come to the rescue as usual and lent us her camera so that I can take pictures of the kids on Christmas day (and of some of my crafty pursuits).

Remember this angsty wedding quilt post? Well months upon hours later here is the finished product! I will finally give it to my brother today (he got married in October... oops). I hope it fits in with their minimalist, trendy, brand new apartment!

This was a true labour of love in that if I didn't love them, this quilt would not be finished! It turned out OK in the end. There are a lot of dodgey bits, and I could have done a lot more quilting on it, but I did as much as I could without experiencing crafty burnout. I ended up hand sewing on the binding, which I actually quite enjoyed, so the project finished on a high.

This will be the only single bed I attempt to machine quilt on my machine, so it is a one off in more ways than one.

Friday, December 11, 2009

For Sweet Baby Amber



One of my dearest friends had her first baby a month ago and she is just beautiful. Oh so little. Little dark pink lips, often shaped in a little "o" and a little covering of dark hair atop her little round head. Ahhhh. I am not as clucky as I once was with just any baby, but this little miss is special.

So a special gift was in order. I bought the vintage chenille squares precut on ebay, sewed them together and popped on a cotton back. I tied the "quilt" together. While making it I sort of grew attached to it a lot which happens from time to time, but I am more than happy to pass it over to be spewed and probably pooed on by my new little friend.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Makey Crazy



Here is most of the stuff I made last weekend. Gifts for some little people in my life.

2 necklaces from this tutorial by cakies (I have since made another for Jemima, and I think I will do one for me too!). I kind of made up the flowers a bit as I went a long, but I did use this tutorial as a guide.

A doll softie made from a download that came with Parasol Craft magazine. There is also a little brunette one in the works.

A dinosaur softie. I had this idea to do a softie like this a little while ago, and then I saw these by redmag, I thought I'd finally make one because hers look so rad.

Plus a purple "princess skirt" for Miss Jemima, because she only has about 3 tutus... (I am on a mission to crack some tutu code I think. This is my favourite so far, but there are still some glitches I want to eliminate... so I think there will be more tutus in my future.)



Friday, December 4, 2009

Pretty plaits


I went makey crazy last weekend and possibly induced a migraine that chased me all week and finally caught up with me last night. So today I have the sunnies on and am moving a bit slowly.

I don't have any pictures of all the weekend productivity, so I am posting something I happened to have on hand. Jemima's first plaits. *sigh* Seems only yesterday I was posting this.