Handmade dolls

I finally caved and bought a great doll-making pattern. I usually enjoy the challenge of working out how to make things on my own - like my mermaid pattern or my babushka dolls but this time I just couldn't get the result that I wanted.

My dear friend Jo and I sat down a couple of afternoons in the holidays and cut and sewed some dolls for our daughters. It was really fun, and the pattern from Dolls and Daydreams was super easy to follow.

This doll was mad for a first birthday with a ladybird theme. I hope she likes it! You can definitely buy a doll a lot cheaper than making one, but I enjoy the process of creating and gifting a one-of-a-kind item to someone special (especially someone who has two older sisters and loads of toys at her disposal).

I can't recommend these patterns enough - even for the beginner sew-er. They are simple, have full colour instructions and they arrive via email very quickly.

Brown paper packages, tied up with strings...

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure in participating in a craft-swap. It was both nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time.

I started several projects for my mysterious swap partner before settling on making a soft woollen beret, a decorated scarf and a notecard set.

In return, I received a covered notebook, a headband and a cute little wristlet made from babushka fabric. What a treat to receive such a beautiful package in the mail :)

Thanks Karen from Sew Me Something Special for my lovely gift!

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So.... have you ever participated in a craft swap? How did it go for you?

Simple Quilt: Beginner Tutorial - make in an afternoon :)

One of the things I love about craft blogs is the tutorials. I get excited when I find one! Recently I've noticed I'm also getting a bit of traffic on this site (quite a shock to find I'm not just talking to myself).

So... in the interest of giving something back, I thought I'd give writing a tutorial a go. Please bear in mind that I have three small kids (sometimes literally) hanging from my shirt tails, so it might not be the most comprehensive tutorial ever, but hopefully it might help someone (somewhere) out :) Please feel free to tell me how many holes I've left in the instructions, ask me questions or berrate me for confusing you!!

*DISCLAIMER* I am by no means an accomplished seamstress. I think anyone who really knows what they are doing will look at my work and shudder. But hey, it's functional, simple and does the job :) Mr Z's quilt is now five years old and still going strong, no repairs have been required :)
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THREE HOUR QUILT

You need:

* fabric strips (for a cot sized quilt you'll need approx a dozen strips measuring 12cm x 85cm)
* bias binding (buy or make your own, see here for a tutorial)
* polar fleece - you'll need a piece that's slightly larger than the quilt you are wanting to make


Step 1, lay your fabric strips out to find the combination/pattern you'd like to end up with

Step 2, Sew the strips together to form the top part of your blanket/quilt. Iron the finished piece. I hate ironing, but trust me, it's worth the effort to press this top part thoroughly :)

Step 3, Lay your pieced together strips onto your piece of polar fleece. I bought a new Queen sized polar blanket for under $10, and then trimmed it down to size. I will be able to get two more cot quilts from this same blanket :) There might be some left for some softies, too.

Be sure to leave at least an inch around the edges of the top part - polar fleece stretches slightly as you sew it and you might need to allow for this.

Step 4, Starting at one corner, pin along one of the long sides of your quilt. Pin along one of the short edges of your quilt. You will start sewing at the corner where your two rows of pins meet. Don't use too many pins as you will no doubt have to move them as the fleece stretches. I used 12 - 15 pins along each side and it was pretty perfect :)

The dots are where I put my pins.

Step 5, Now sew! Starting at one end of the quilt, sew along the top (shorter - pink dots) edge of your quilt. Then sew the joins in your strips. As you go, add an extra row of stitching along the middle of each strip (see picture).

My apologies for the wrinklies - I actually went and took this photo after I had put the blanket through the wash. I like the wrinkly/cuddly feel, but it makes it hard to photograph those (once straight) lines of stitches clearly.

*NB* The polar fleece will stretch, just go with it. It is more important to ensure that the fleece does not bunch up under your fabric strips. Keep it lined up as best you can, but remember you will be able to trim off excess polar fleece. You might need to move some pins as you go.
Step 6, trim off excess polar fleece.

Step 7, add bias binding to the edges. You might find a better tutorial on youtube, but here is how I do it (it's quick)

Pin along the side til you get to the corner

Turn the corner tightly with your tape

When you fold the tape down over the edges, it will bulge slightly at the corner. Do not panic!

Use your finger to shove the bias tape all the way into the corner - see arrow. Sorry, I can't really explain it any other way! Hopefully it makes sense when you are doing it.

The corner should now easily fold as above. As you can see it may wrinkle slightly. This means that you'll need to adjust your pins so it all lies flat. Sew right the way around your binding, adjusting as necessary. Remember, imperfections mean character :)

Step 8, if desired, add applique.

Step 9, enjoy! This snuggly blanket will keep little legs warm in the winter, long after they've outgrown their cot.



If you decide to make this easy quilt, I'd love to know :) When I made my first 'blankie' I couldn't find a simple tutorial for basic quilting that would be easy and cheap, so I hope this tutorial might help someone, somewhere to create something for somebody they love.

A blanket for baby...

I've got the mother-guilt today... bad. A few weeks ago (when it started getting cold), I quickly whipped up a quilty-blanket for the Small Boy. I didn't have time to run to Spotlight, so I just used up bits and pieces I had around the house.

The front part went fine - we recently went to a toga party, so I had loads of plain coloured fabric lying around, and I had some nice robot-y pieces left from making the bunting - but the back part was a bit tricky. I tend to back my quilts with polar fleece or flannel, but I had only small pieces of each left over from Mr Z's quilt (see here). In keeping with my new year's resolution (Why not... today), I thought I would just go for it and see how it went.

The result is a (slightly hourglass shaped) long, skinny quilt that I'm ashamed to photograph!!! Oh well, I can actually wrap him in it and the colours are nice enough that he seems to like looking at it! Maybe next year I'll unpick it and make it into something much nicer :)

Anyway, here's where the guilt part comes in. I have a very dear friend who is expecting her second baby - another little bundle of blue :) Some time ago I made her number one son a (similarly wonky and amateur) quilt. Now that I've had so much more practice (and developed more patience which I use occasionally) I was able, this week, to make a really nice bright cot blanket to send to her. I'm really happy with how it turned out. The best part is, it only took around 3 hours (and that was including stopping for biscuit breaks). I'll have to make Small Boy another to make up for the fact I was so slap-dash with his blankie!!!

Here is the (perfectly rectangle and nicely finished) gift quilt:

Tomorrow, I'll add a mini-tutorial of how to make your own :) It's not the grandest gift ever, but how nice to give a gift made with love :)

Finally jumper weather :)

Yay! Finally the cooler weather is with us. The kids have been playing outside in the afternoon sun wearing jeans and jumpers for the first time this year. I love being a mum - her crooked piggy tails and his dimples always make me smile.

Here is the latest 'project'. Last term we had a couple of people come into the school to talk to my class about Antarctica. The kids thought it was great - especially because the guest speaker brought photos of machinery, wildlife and offered a bag of dress-ups to complete the presentation (ie something for EVERYONE). To say thanks I thought I would give them a cup filled with lollies and chocolates and (because the talk was on a place that was cold) I decided to make jumpers for the mugs... Inventive.. or just plain Crazy..? I'm going with cute! Will see what the reaction is when I drop them off this week...