We made mermaids!

Miss Piggy has this fascination with mermaids at the moment. Along with mermaid stickers on her walls, she has a mermaid DVD and a collection of eight shop-bought mermaids. When I mentioned we might make a doll over the holidays, she immediately jumped in with a mermaid suggestion.

So worth sacrificing my TV time to finish them at night -

she opened her eyes after I took this picture, looked at

the mermaids and went back to sleep with a smile on her face

We lined up all the mermaids we could muster from around the house. They range from tiny $2 toys to a Dora version that swims alongside you in the bath. We then had a look at patterns for mermaid dollies on the internet (here's one by Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls) but we couldn't quite find what we were looking for. Soooo with Miss Piggy's bossing me around careful guidance, I drew a picture we both liked and set about making it in fabric. She chose all the fabrics, helped to cut them out, pushed the sewing machine pedal when it was safe to and generally watched the whole process with anticipation and patience.

And when I'd finished one, of course I had to make her a friend. You know, so we could play mermaids together.

I made the red mermaid a wig which I later sewed on, the blue mermaid had her hair sewn in before I turned the project inside out for stuffing. Like the Wee Wonderful pattern, I sewed the doll in two pieces (body and tail) before stitching together and embellishing. I did most of the sewing by machine and it all came together really quickly. I'm looking forward to making one of these with my niece next time she comes to visit.

If you'd like a copy of my pattern pieces, please leave me a message below and I'll get back to you with it :)

Babushkas are one of my favourite things ...

I found these on the Deals Direct site today... they are measuring cups! Aren't they gorgeous?

I just love Babushkas, can't explain it, but I do... I had a lovely handpainted set from Russia for a friend for my 30th

and here are some I made around this time last year for Nat's bookshelf

People have liked my little "dolls" so much, I've had some custom orders... this one is hanging in an old people's home here in Bundaberg and I've sent a little set of Babushkas to London and Melbourne...

I'm still working on a few Babushka related things... a painting, a photostory and a few other odds and ends... I'm not sure about this particular obsession, but I never seem to get tired of looking at them....