Wee nest

Here is a pic of the nest with all the wool wrapped and secured and another pic of the nest after it has been "furnished" with feathers and eggs.

Wee nest tutorial

Okay, here is my wee nest tutorial for anyone wishing to make a funny little nest to put a bird and some eggs in.

1. cut 25cm lengths of wire (I used plain old hobby wire from bunnings ) until you have 6 lengths.

start with 2 pieces and make a cross. twist the pieces in the middle so they are joined.

Get your next 2 pieces and place in between the cross to form an X and bend and twist these together with the first 2.

Take the final 2 pieces and place in between the other wires so they are opposite each other and twist together. You will have to bend the X pieces around a bit so the next to can fit in evenly.

You should end up with something like this-

Don't worry if the bit in the middle is a bit messy as it will be covered in wool.

2. Grab some interesting looking wool ( one was sort of nobbly and had different colours throughout and the other one was a bit feathery looking) in one or two sorts.

Tie the main wool onto the centre of the wires and start to wrap around going in-out-in-out (remember those paddle pop xmas decorations we made when we were little?) until you have gone around a few times.

3. take a length (1m or so) of the other colour wool and wrap the 2 wools together til it runs out then keep wrapping a bit more with just the no 1. wool. Then take another length and do a bit more with the 2 wools again.

4. As you start to get further out start to bend the wire upwards to form a shallow bowl shape and keep wrapping until you have the desired size nest you want. Tie off the wool on one of the wires.

5. bend the wires over and loop the end around the next wire to form the rim of the nest. Go all the way round and reshape the rim if needed to be nice and round. (if your nest is quite little, cut the wires down a bit before bending and looping)

6. grab some more wool and weave it around the top to conceal the wires going in and out of each loopy bit a few times til all the wire is covered.

7. find some cute little eggs and some speckledy feathers to put in your nest and hopefully a lovely bird will decide to call it home!

Random stuff

I just finished these little projects for some people I know.

the journal cover is for a friends birthday and the Giraffe is for a swap I am in.

On the go at the moment are some pants for 1 of Stacey's little friends.

Tabitha Pattern

I am so very delighted in my little toadstool girl that i wanted to share the drawing with you so there can be lots of Tabitha's out there. If you like the look of her please feel free to use the picture to make your own creation, I don't know how to make things into a pdf file yet so copying my photo is the best I can do at the moment until I get more computer savvy.

I made her head out of some fabric but you could just keep her all a stitchery if you wanted to.

Happy Stitching!

Tabitha Toadstool

I started doing some random scribbling in a book the other night, and amongst other strange things came up with this-

I thought she had potential to become a stitchery so I traced the picture onto some white cotton and stuck some red dotty fabric on for a head with a cut out for a little face.

Then ta-da! she became Tabitha the Toadstool and now I think she might be going to live with some other woodlandy type critters in a new project I have in mind for Stacey's room.

I think she will look lovely in a little wall hanging with some friends and some pretty colours. What do you think?

3 little ladies, 2 card holders and 1 lovely rose.

Here's a couple of projects I have just finished. The little dolls are a stitchery I started doing and halfway through I thought they would make cute little doll fronts instead. So when everything was stitched I cut them up and backed them and voila! The pattern is one I traced off my fabric panel from Kristen Doran designs and I loved it so much I wanted to make a stitchery.

The little card holders are from a free Amy Butler pattern off her website. I made two as one of them is for a friend and I wanted to try the pattern first before I made hers up, so I got one as well. It was very easy to make and the instructions are easy to follow.

I didn't get time on the actual day but HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! to all the mamas out there.

I hope you all had a lovely day and lots of fun/relax/whatever you wished for. I got some lovely things from my girls (I took them shopping) and a brilliant card from oldest little fish. There was also a lovely rose Stace picked from nanny's garden that smelt like musk lollies.

Birdy Mobile

Okay, I finished the bird mobile I wanted to make for littlest fishes bedroom. It was a bit trickier than I thought it would be to balance the sticks and have everything hanging nicely but i got there in the end.

Making the birds was easy as I used the free pattern from Spool sewing's website and just added some felt wings as I thought they looked a little bare. And I actually managed to make a nest though the one I put on the mobile wasn't the one I made from the fabric scraps.

I decided to use wool for the mobile one as I liked the way in which the first one was made but wasn't happy with the finished look. So I made up the wool one in exactly the same way but it looked a bit more like a nest. I might put on a quick tutorial on how to make the nest as it was really easy and is fun to do.

I lined the nest with some speckledy feathers and put some "eggs" in the nest. (they were actually silk worm cocoons that were dyed a nice bright red.

I started off using wire to attach the birds to the sticks but that got a bit messy and they weren't staying put in their spots, they kept slipping around the stick.

so I tried the hot glue gun instead and that seemed to work quite well. I still used wire to string the branches together and hold the nest on. All in all it was a good project to try and it looks pretty hanging in her room.

Some fabric finds

The 2 little fishes, myself and Nanny fish went for a bit of a drive today out to a town called Marian where a little craft show was on. It was part of the River rock to Mountain top community festival that happens along the towns up the range. it was only little but there was some great craft work on display and some interesting stalls. I managed to come home with a little bundle of material and oldest little fish scored herself a stubbie cooler with Thomas the Tank on it and a set of ice block holders to match (all made of wetsuit material to keep things cool or warm I guess depending on what it is!)

My very favourite is the very cute looking print with the old looking toys on it. It is very retro and lovely. And you can never have enough small dots. And we had to get the digger material as we are reading a book called The little Yellow Digger at bedtime and it was absolutely essential that we purchased this.

I have finished the birdy project and am pretty pleased with the outcome. There was a little bit of fiddling and removing of wire and playing with the good old hot glue gun but the end result is pleasing and looks pretty good hanging up.

Finished and Started

I actually got a bit of crafting done yesterday as Mr fish was home to help with the child wrangling. I finished the latest quilt of love that has been waiting for the binding to be put on. So I'm managing to keep up with my goal (so far).

I also got all these fabrics out and cut out some shapes that will soon be little birds for littlest fishes mobile. I've got ten cut out so I'm hoping that will be enough for a decent looking display.

This jumble of offcuts has plans to become something too. I'm not sure exactly how but a little nest is in my head and i'm going to attempt one so if it works i'll let you know!

I'm thinking some wire and some little feathers scattered throughout as well as some bits of thread. I can picture it but whether it comes out like that or not is a whole other story.

Rori's birthday pressies

After a very busy weekend setting up 5 weddings i managed to get a bit of sewing done this morning. One of little fishes friends is turning 2 this week and I thought a cute dolly was a good idea. the pattern is Maisie by Kate Henderson and was in the More Softies book I got a while ago. I haven't made her up before but she was very easy and came together nicely.

I also made a cupcake skirt as her mum likes them and of course had to make a little bag to put her pressies in so they could be carted around.

I also was trying to take some pics of the little fishes in some chenille pants I have been making so I could have some shots of the pants "in action" to put on the Made It website when I get around to it, but alas they were not very model like with their posing. Couldn't resist showing this pic as it makes me laugh to look at it. I had said to her "now, make a pose and smile" and this is what she did. Oh well, we will have to try again later.

I have finished my latest quilt of love except for the binding so will post a pic when that's finished.

I am thinking I might like to make a mobile to hang in littlest fishes room next. There is a simply gorgeous pattern on spool sewings website for a little bird and a few pics of things they have done with the birdies made from the pattern.

No more chair covers to iron (double YAY!) so I am itching to get sewing.