softie sewing day

softie sewing day
Originally uploaded by djbebe

Three sweet little softies for three sweet little children. On Saturday I organised a sewing bee with my sister in law and cousin in law, and we made these softies from the Softies book. I got the book for my birthday in August but this was my first project from the book. So, two Devil Cosmonauts - though the vinyl one didn't get horns - and one Mabel Monkey. Each one was given to a special little child on the weekend - and each was well received. Especially the yellow cosmonaut, he got lots of hugs.

I was really impressed with how the faces turned out - not bad for two hand sewing newbies!

As for making a softie out of vinyl - it's not easy, not least because you can't use pins - but the effect is almost worth it. And he went to this newborn, so his super drool proof powers will come in handy!

Christmas cards

selection of christmas cards on cream
Originally uploaded by djbebe

We're having a pre-Christmas mini craft market at work - it was meant to be today but it seems I was the only one organised enough so it's now next week. So I got all seasonal and made some Christmas cards and gift tags. It's fun to play with gold thread and sparkly fabrics - and I thought the musical paper (last seen here) made good trees. It would have been perfect if the music was Christmasy but unless you can decipher the tune from that tiny fragment you'd never know it was just random olde tunes, right?

I also got carried away and made about a million furoshiki. I've been practising the various wrapping techniques, wrapping up empty boxes, wine bottles, boxes of tissues, wallets etc. If nobody buys them HandyMan will come home one day to find everything in the house festively wrapped up. Now which one of these contains the tv remote...

pink elephant quilt

pink elephant quilt
Originally uploaded by djbebe

This is a closeup of the hand-quilting I'm doing on the baby quilt (my third - quilt that is, not baby) for my brother's second baby, due in February. Aren't I organised?! Should be finished in another week or two. I'm quilting it from the back, using the print as the template. So I'm stitching around pink elephants, and tigers, and flowers and giraffes. Easier than drawing templates! I went to visit my nan for lunch and went with her to the retirement village's "craft ladies" group; I took my quilt and did a bit of stitching, while listening to the ladies chatter in the background. What are you doing there Madge? Ohhh, I'm just crocheting around the edge of this hankie, the cotton hankies that my Cheryl used to get for me down at... Oh here's a pattern for 3 ply, you can't get that any more, it's all gone 4 ply... Yes it was all Azalea and do you remember when Jet came in? Oh yes it was 12 ply - that was fast knitting! Ohhh, and have you been listening to the news? My Beryl's in Phuket but thank goodness I got a text message from her yesterday and she's ok... And how about Dulcie, she shouldn't be still living on her own in that house...

A very relaxing soundtrack to hand quilting!

I also spent some time in Brisbane on the weekend with Kim and did some ironic? satirical? handquilting while sitting next to a machine-quilting frame. I can see the benefits of machine-quilting, especially for large projects, but I still prefer the more forgiving, meditative approach of handquilting. I'm about a quarter of the way to being finished!

blue dandelion kimono vest

blue dandelion kimono vest
Originally uploaded by djbebe

I decided to have an internet-free weekend - amazing how much you can get done! So I made a list of all the things I should be doing - starting the baby quilt for my brother's impending second bub, sewing brooch backs on the mountain of denim-backed brooches I've churned out, etc etc. And I decided to do something completely different - namely, make a couple of new shirts for myself - we have 3 weddings coming up in the next month and I've got nothing to wear! I got this blue dandelion fabric from Gardams (I love that shop not only for all the gorgeous fabrics but because they wrap your purchases in brown paper and tie it with string) in Brisbane last year. It's cotton with a subtle herringbone weave which gives it a really soft texture. And, from the leftovers I made this darling little "vest" from a thrifted vintage pattern - thought I should start trying them out instead of just collecting them... Kim it was going to be for you but I really like it! Still deliberating! Not that I even have a bub, or would ever dress myself and bub in the same fabric...? Would I? Maybe I should just make another one.

And then I was on a roll with the vintage baby pattern thing so I churned out a couple of sets of bloomers with matching singlet tops. I even appliqued, though I skipped the part where you iron on interfacing to stop the stretching. But they didn't turn out too bad. Baby clothes use hardly any fabric - this still isn't helping thin out my stash much!

platypus for Henry

platypus
Originally uploaded by djbebe

Inspired by the lovelies I saw at Two Little Banshees - go check out her etsy store - I made a platypus for my nephew Henry's birthday - he'll be 2 in 2 weeks. Think he'll know what it is?

cover for a dvd player

cover for a dvd player
Originally uploaded by djbebe

I whipped up this cover for my little nephew's portable dvd player - he's almost 2 - that keeps him amused on long car trips. On their last trip up this way they said he was very concerned by the viewing - chewing his fingernails, frowning etc. I asked what he was watching, they said Chicken Little - now I remember seeing this at the movies and there were aliens and big spaceships and scary stuff - so I said they should stick to Tractor Tom for the moment.

Anyhow, they said the player was getting dusty in the car so I said I would make them a cover for it. I just hope I've put the holes for the cords in the right places. You know when you measure something and then when it's not in front of you any more you're can't be absolutely sure that you wrote it down right? Well they're back coming back tomorrow so we'll see.