Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree....

Apart from wrapping pressies and put decorations back on the tree after littlest fish has pulled them off, I've been making some little stitchery decorations for the girls.

Last year I made two little ones for them and thought it would be a nice idea to make them one each year. This years are a little deer and a little penguin, both the designs were from here and were quick and easy to make so this could become a tradition.

Oldest fish also has a half dozen pairs of new shorts as she has grown so much since last summer that we had to make some new ones.

And i've traced out a few stitcheries to take with me to do over Christmas (going to the inlaws for a holiday) as it is nice to stitch at night once the kids have gone to bed. they will be for littlest fishes wall hanging which will be similar to the woodland hanging I did for oldest fish. I had so many lovely designs left over that another one is needed to use them up. I started on the first one already and have a few more ready to go.

The seamstress and the calendar

Just a quick post to show you two things we have at the moment that are lovely to look at. I got an advent calendar panel from Kristen Doran and made it up for the little fishes. We managed to find a 24 piece puzzle and put a piece in each pocket with a couple of xmas stickers (it is waaaayyyyy too hot here to put chocolate in the pockets). So far it has been a success with a bit more puzzle put together each day and a sticker stuck to something in the house. The other lovely thing we have is a print I got for my birthday called 'the seamstress' by thepoppytree which is in the sewing room so I can look at it when I get the chance to sew. Oldest fish and I just made some haybales for littlest fishes barn that she is getting for xmas. We made them out of matchboxes and covered them with some thin pellon and then some hay looking material. Now we have to figure out how to build a fence and it will be all done!

Two more T's

Just finished these two t's for two special little people. The pixie is number three in a series of pixie type creatures that I've been playing around with and Rudolf is for an order from a crafty mama. I've actually managed to get all my intended xmas sewing done and am now contemplating making some things for me!

Rudolf and the pixies

I had a spurt of enthusiasm and got these shirts finished yesterday. The rudolf version of antler boy turned out pretty well and the pixies got the thumbs up from oldest fish. I bought the pinkish shirt a while ago but couldn't figure out what to put on it as the red capped pixie had the wrong colours to go with the shirt. Then I noticed the stack of other coloured dots that have accumulated in my cupboard and realised there was a reason I bought them! I have little dots in quite a few colours as they are just so cute and now they have a use!

It's a bit hard to see but green pixie has a little frilly lace collar that sits over her neck and looks rather fetching. We are off now to see some baby horses in a paddock down the road and then to go find some tiny buttons.

Antler boy trial 1

There wasn't much on tv tonight so I got stuck in and had a go at my first trial of antler boy who is disguised as rudolf for the purpose of me needing a christmas shirt for littlest fish and him being vaguely christmas looking with the addition of a nice red nose.

He looks quite nice with a chenille body though for non christmas versions cotton fabric would be fine too. I haven't stitched him on yet so will post another pic of the finished shirt soon. I have also been playing around with some little mushroom people and will try some appliques of them as well.

one little Doll

One little doll sleeping in the grass. And she even has her own blankie to keep them warm. I used a doiley for the frill around little reds face instead of sewing lace around and a little button made a nice dummy.

I like making the blankies to wrap the dolls in so they are nice and snug til they reach their new home.

Next on the neverending list is to finish a baby quilt and make a couple of pairs of shorts and maybe if i get time before it's too late there will be some little tiny tree house accessories for the little gnomes to furnish their house with. (I'm thinking a rug and some blankies and maybe some sleeping bags). Am in the middle of trying to draw a reindeer kid for a t-shirt applique so if that works i'll post a pic and let you see!

Shirts and some wee little people

Here's some pics of some things that have recently been completed, Christmas is creeping up ever so quickly so I am trying to get everything at least started so I am not sewing madly on Christmas eve!

These shirts are for a couple of boys I know and boys like monsters and robots, don't they? I hope they do as that's what I've been told (my very tomboy like girl thinks they are great, along with dinosaurs and trains) so hopefully the boys receiving the shirts like them as much as she does. (otherwise they will no longer be for the boys!)

The little gnomes have been sitting on a shelf looking at me for a while, waiting patiently to be placed ever so carefully in a box for their long trip at Christmas time to their new home. They had to be up quite high so other little people would not play with them beforehand, despite a few efforts to reach them. Hopefully Poppy Bob has their new treehouse home nearly ready for them to move into or there will be trouble of the 5 year old kind!

On another note, I went to kindy night at my little fishes kindy she is going to next year to get all the info needed for enrolment. I know she is going to love going but it is a bit sad too. I can't belive she is going to kindy already, the time has gone so quickly and she will really be grown up then. But at least there will be chickens to feed and paintings to paint and songs to sing and I will get to hear all about them when littlest fish and I pick her up at the end of each day. (That's a platypus in case you didn't know.)

The McClymonts Rock!

I went to The McClymonts concert last night and boy was it great! Those girls are amazing , not only can they sing (beautifully) but they can also play instruments and are very funny.

And after the show they hung around and signed autographs and had their photo taken with everyone. It was a great show and I hope they come back. Their new album is out next year in January and it should be awsome if the new songs that we heard are anything to go by. And they even spelt my name right on the photocard! You girls rock!

Just listed some things!

I just put my first listings on madeit.com.au! After much umming and ahhing about Etsy or madeit I decided to go with the smaller local site to start with as the whole thing is a bit overwhelming. Made it is getting bigger day by day as more people check it out and it was very easy to go through the listing process.

So now I'm all excited and want to make more stuff to sell!

I have only listed a few things and will hopefully add a few more each week as I get the time to get on the computer and not have little fishes trying to 'help'.

Market round up

Well, I had my first market stall on the weekend at the baby and toddler market run by the lovely Christine. It was a bit scary setting up and wondering if anyone would like the stuff I make but I got some lovely comments and a lot of "wow, did you make these?" so my confidence got a bit of a boost. The only thing that was a bit annoying was that people seemed a bit preoccupied with looking for pre-loved goods and some commented that they didn't realise there would be new stuff there. It was mentioned on the flyers that there would be a few handmade and new product stalls but I guess people don't always read the details.

Apart from that I had a good time and got to chat with my stall neighbours who were lovely and had beautiful things to sell. I think selling online will be a good way to go in the future as it was a lot of work to get ready for the market and I can just sew at my own pace if I put things online. If there was an art and craft market in our town it would probably be worthwhile having a stall as people would know what to expect but most of them are flea market type set ups so they're not ideal for handmade stuff.

Silly me forgot to take my camera so I only have these pics that I took beforehand of some of the stuff I had.

P.S. if you like softies check out 'theneedle's' blog for some amazing creations!

Noddy and the doll quilts

Over the last few months I have managed to find these Noddy figures at the local op shops. They are soooo cute and remind me of when I was little and loved to read Enid Blyton books. I have no idea if they are just a cheap cereal box type toy or one you can actually purchase but they are all in great condition and I love them for the memories they bring to mind.

These two doll quilts have just been finished, they were super quick and easy to make, I didn't even bother with wadding as they are not needed for warmth. I top stitched around the blocks once they were turned right side out so they look a bit 'quilted'. They are for xmas pressies for two little girls but I won't mention names in case their mums read this.

Market day is tomorrow so wish me luck!

Dum Dum Da Dum

The cake is all finished! This is the fabric cake I made for the girls I work for in the wedding business. I left it plain so they can decorate it with different colours and themes depending on what display it's in. I ended up using polar fleece instead of felt as the felt at our local SL is pretty crappy and the fleece had a slight stretch in it so it came out nice and smooth, The lace and ribbon were just stitched on around the seams to hide them and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I got some foam from Clark Rubber and Mr Fish was conned into cutting out the rough circles for me before I cleaned them up with the scissors. Not too keen on their complex calculations to work out how much off cuts of foam are though.

I took a piece up to the counter which looked about the right size for what I wanted to do and asked how much as there were no prices on any of the pieces. Here's me thinking the guy would just glance at it and say "oh, ten bucks will do" , when he gets out a tape measure and calulator and takes five minutes to work out some kind of magical way of pricing an offcut! It was dearer than 10 bucks but by that stage I just wanted to get out of there before he found another surface he forgot to measure.

On another note I ordered these lovely season cards from thepoppytree on etsy for my birthday (yes, I buy my own pressies, at least I get something I like!) and was trying to think of what to do with them when I found a pattern for a wall hanging I am determined to make sometime next year from the book 'material obsession 2'. The wall hanging has 4 blocks of a tree with the seasons determining the colours used in each block, much like the cards I got. So I thought the cards would be a nice piece to have in the room where the hanging will go to show the seasons in various ways, one on paper and one on fabric.

More sneaky peeks

Okay so I might have forgotten to post the picture of the bag I made in the last post, I had a wriggly fish on my lap 'helping' to type and the other one explaining to me where quolls live! (I'm glad someone in this house knows). The bag is from a Janelle Wind pattern called 'Thelmas day out' which also has a journal cover pattern included. It was really easy to make and the instructions were pretty straightforward and easy to follow.

I finished the fabric barn as well, once I got started I couldn't stop so it's all ready to go. I really love this fabric house tutorial as you can turn it into anything you like. Biggest fish now wants a house for her little animals (sylvanian families) so maybe if she behaves herself we might work something out. She loves to help whenever I'm in the sewing room so we may do this one together as a project for when littlest fish is asleep.

Sneaky Peeks

I've been rather busy of late, last weekend was full of work and I even had to work Thursday and Friday nights (haven't done that in a while) and littlest fish and I had a lovely night on the lounge on Tuesday night as she decided she was sick and therefore could not sleep in her cot but would instead recline on me. I have managed to get a few things finished in the last few weeks and will give you a look as I like to share.

I have been a bit forgetful and am behind on my quilts of love challenge of one a month for a year so I made 2 this month and if I do 2 next month I'll be caught up again. This should probably be an ongoing thing and I will endeavour to keep it going as it's really suprising how many the hospitals need (we only have 2 in our area) as they are regularly requesting more. Makes you thankful for what you have.

I have also ticked a few xmas pressies off the list including a bag and a little needle case and made littlest fish a shirt with some babushkas and a cute little crochet flower that Aunty Jude made. (thanks Jude!) The little hair clips are the start of lots of little hair clips that I am in the process of making for the markets. I wanted some little things to have on the stall and my girls like them so I thought others might too!

Works in progress

The latest bunch of things I have started are a quilt for Mr Fish's cousin who is having a baby next year, a new doll that sort of looks like a butterfly (that's what it will hopefully turn out like) and despite having other stuff that I should be doing I couldn't help but to start on the barn house that's made from the same tutorial as the gnomes home 'cept I did it 1.5 times bigger to fit all those farm animals in (they like their space apparently).

The butterfly doll is being made because oldest little fish informed me that her doll called Sabine (that is taken to bed each night for cuddling) needed a cuddle doll of her own so she wouldn't get lonely when she is lying on the bed during the day all by herself. (This actually makes sense to me, I don't know whether to be worried by that or not???!!!) And a butterflyesque doll was picked because Sabine likes butterflies. So there you go.

The barn is coming along nicely and I am now putting the windows on (if only real housing was this easy to build). The animals are waiting in the linen cupboard til they can move in, though oldest fish did find them and sneeks a peek at them when she thinks I am not looking. The barn is for littlest fish so this is okay as she can't actually open the linen cupboard door yet. Plus she is only 1 and doesn't seem to care.

The quilt has been fun to do as it required actual sewing on the sewing machine, which I haven't done much of lately so it was nice to take it for a spin. Anyway better get back to sewing on barn windows!

More Gnomes Home Pics

Ok my lovelies, I went a bit snap happy this morning and took some more pics in the nice morning light. The gnomes have met their new neighbours who happen to be a cute little fawn and a nutty squirrel as well as a resident duck who has taken over their pond. I will put the rest of the pics up on flickr if anyone is interested as there are probably too many (told you I went snap happy!) to post. I am itching to get going on a barn now but have a few other things to get done first. Must say a big thank you to uklassinus for posting such a great tutorial on her blog, check it out if you haven't already.

Also if anyone has ever made a wedding cake out of foam and felt (obviously not to eat!) please feel free to give me some tips as I volunteered to make one for my friends wedding decorating business, for display purposes, and am kind of winging it. Eeeekk!

I am trying to get a bit organised now and work out what xmas pressies I need to get started on so they get finished on time as I am trying to make most of the gifts this year. The kids are easy, it's the adults that are tricky.

Also I just found out that we are having a big baby and toddler market here (finally) and it is on the 7th of November at the seniors hall near the entertainment centre. I am finally going to be able to try and sell all the stuff I have made for it so hopefully it will be a success!

The gnome cottage

It is finished! Finally I have finished making the gnome's home. I have been working on this for a while and am pleased to say it is done and the new tenants have moved in. The tutorial for the house is on this blog and I am going to make a barn for littlest fish for xmas.

I really liked making this and decorating it and am going to keep it for me though I'll let biggest fish play with it when her sister is asleep (it has some tiny bits in it). The teeny tiny kitchen wear is from bunnysdesigns on etsy and is possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen, it really is soooo cute.

And you can't go wrong with mushrooms can you? The light wasn't the best when I took these so I will try to get some really clear close ups tomorrow of the little stuff.

Some more shirts and a funny softie

Here's some more shirts that I have been busily making, they are getting a bit addictive now. I love this deer applique that is from an ottobre pattern and Stacey actually liked it! And she has already worn this toadstool shirt that I based on Tabitha the toadstool softie. It's quite strange that she actually liked all the shirts I made her as she hasn't liked anything for ages. Maybe the 'I don't like it' phase is over? I surely hope so.

Can you guess which remote isn't real? I really hope so! I finished it the other night and have to say even Mr Fish commented on it and he NEVER says anything unless forced to (except grunting, but thats just a male thing isn't it?) So now I have to keep it safe and try to get littlest fish to not chew on it.

Some T-shirts

Here's a couple of pics of some shirts I have just done for a friend of mum's grandkids. I love the mushroom one so much I am going to make another one for one of my fishes and will probably end up making the others up again too. I really enjoyed doing the appliques as I haven't done any for ages and got a bit sick of making pants so it was nice to have a change. Am slowly getting myself ready to put some creations on Etsy and will work up the courage to do it soon. It's a bit daunting thinking about it so i'll keep not thinking about it and it will be fine!

more shirts to come soon!