FO Friday: Baby Owl

Happy Friday everyone!

For those of you with children who've been off for the Easter holidays, I hope you've transitioned back into normal life without too much trauma. For me it's been a trying week, my daughters very much like their sleep, so they haven't been very happy about being woken up early each morning for school. 

As a make peace, I made my eldest a little friend to go with her doll (who she has finally named Kay Kay)

It was a really quick make. I didn't start it until  after 10pm last night and finished the crochet side of it by 11.45pm. Had my yarn been more cooperative (it was very splitty) it would've taken even less time.

My daughter (who is very creative herself) set about making her new toy a nest. Isn't that just so cute!?

The pattern is Owls two ways. There is a knitted version for anyone that prefers 2 needles to 1.

In other news, I think I've settled (temporarily) on a fabric for the chair. I say temporarily because I will cover it again when I decide on a theme for her room, but I can't really do that until I move the younger one in with her.

So for now, what do you think? It isn't fixed on yet, I'm hopefully doing that tonight.



Other things I've finished this week...I've already blogged the following, but incase you missed it here they are again.

P.E. bag for my biggest, full post here


and a crayon roll for one of her friends' Birthday


I had hoped to have the little sister dress finished today, hopefully next Friday huh?

Sharing with Tami's Amis, Fibre Arts Friday and Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday

WIP Wednesday: Little Sister Dress

It's Wednesday again, it seems to have come around really quickly. 

I'm still working on the Little Sister Dress for my youngest daughter. I'm really enjoying the mindlessness of this project. Apart from a couple of increases every 7th row, I'm just knitting round and round. It's growing slowly due to the yarn being quite thin, but it means it'll be nice for the coming summer months. 

The book I'm reading is "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult. I'm not very far in but it's reminding me a lot of "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. In fact some bits of it are almost exactly the same :\ 

I'm also having a fabric dilemma if any of you lovely crafty people would like to help me out. I've had some wonderful ideas through Facebook and will investigate some of them shortly.

I've been getting back into sewing recently, I've made 2 things this past week, they can be seen here and here.

Lastly I'd like to thank everyone for your kind comments. I'm in a bit of a migraine minefield at the moment so haven't been able to be as active as I would like at replying and commenting on your blogs. I have been flicking through and commenting where I can...please bare with me. 

Sharing with Tami's Amis and Ginny's Yarn Along.

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A little help?

Hello crafty friends, I was wondering if I could pick your brains a little.

Today I acquired a beautiful little chair that I plan to recover and put in my daughters bedroom.

I picture it in the corner of her room with some pretty fabric covering it, a crocheted pillow and a crocheted toy of some sort*, but I'm having trouble picking fabric for it.

Do I keep it simple with something like this or do I look for something brighter to go with the crocheted items I have in my head?

I really like this, it's thin cotton but I can always change it if it wears out.

There isn't really a theme in her bedroom right now, the only thing in there that I want to keep is her handmade quilt

and eventually (soon I hope) her sister will move in with her with her handmade quilt (she's a lot bigger now, this was the only picture I could find of the quilt - must remember to tag photos)

Maybe I should make a patchwork cover? But I suck at picking fabrics to complement each other. I didn't make these quilts, they were made by my very talented friend, Katie.

Heeeelp!

*links are only to show the kind of things I'm picturing, not actual things I'm going to make/own.

Crayon roll tutorial

My eldest daughter has been invited to a Birthday party so naturally I decided I would make something for the Birthday boy. 

I didn't have much luck getting out of my daughter what her little friend is into, so I'm playing it safe with a crayon roll. I did think about an craft apron but thought a little boy might turn their nose up at an apron.

Since I'm making this up as I go along (based on the many many crayon rolls I've seen and owned) I thought I might as well make it into a tutorial. 

Supplies

Main fabric

Contrasting fabric

Ribbon

Scissors

Rotary cutter (optional)

Cutting mat (optional)

Ruler

Dress pins

Dress maker pencil, or other washable pencil/pen

Sewing machine

Iron

1. Cut two rectangles 17" x 5" (one from main and one from contrasting fabric) - this will form the outer layer and inner layer of the crayon roll

2. Cut one 17" x 6" from main fabric (this will form the pockets for your crayons)

3. Wrong sides together, fold the pocket fabric in half and iron

4. Place on the right side of the inner/contrasting fabric, folded edge in the middle. Pin in place

5. find the middle of the roll and draw a line on the pocket. Draw the pockets 1" apart starting from the middle line (I didn't do this and have learnt from my mistake)

6. Sew down each line to make the pockets

like so

7. Fold your ribbon in half and pin folded edge to one end of the crayon roll

8. Sew into place. I went back and forth a few times to make it secure

9. Fold and tuck your ribbon into the middle of your crayon roll (pin it if you must) this is to keep it from being sewn into the edges

10. Place your main/outer fabric (right sides together) down onto your pockets/inner. Pin into place (I've turned mine over because the inner was slightly smaller, but you don't need to do this). 

11. Beginning 1" below the ribbon and sew all side together, stopping an inch above the ribbon so you can turn it the right way out.

It should look like this

12. Trim any excess fabric (leaving 5mm) and snip corners

13. Turn right side out and press

14. Fold your open edge in

like this

15. Starting on the ribbon/opn edge, top stitch around your crayon roll

and you're done!

16. Fill with crayons or pencils

17. Roll and tie

I hope the new owner likes his crayon roll. 

Better late than never right?

Just before the Christmas break, I was handed a school newsletter that warned me that, upon returning to school in the New Year, my eldest daughter would require a P.E kit (and drawstring bag to put it in).

I purposefully didn't buy a drawstring bag, fully intending to make her one before she returned to school. 

Since the start of the new term, my daughter has been taking her gym gear in a plastic princess swim bag. Her teacher politely tried to hand this monstrosity back to me but I insisted she would be getting a "proper" gym bag soon enough.

Three. short. MONTHS. later...BAM!

Reverse side

complete with lining...just like the professionals do, only without the unpicking because I sewed the outer to the inner the wrong way round. 

The ribbon drawstring is temporary until I order some cord, but it should hold up for a little while.

and kindly modelled by my husband, but maybe I can replace these tomorrow with my daughter modelling it.

FO Friday: Doll dress

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet due to a bad head.

I finished the doll dress I was making. She still needs a belt making, but I have no idea where to get a tiny belt buckle.

and this is what I'm going to be doing just as soon as I hit "publish"

I'll catch up with everyone's posts hopefully tomorrow when my head is better. xxx

I'm sharing this with Tami's Amis, Fibre Arts Friday and Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday

WIP Wednesday: Little Sister's Dress and a Doll dress

It's Wednesday again and I seem to have my knitting mojo back. 

I'm currently reading "Before I go to sleep" by SJ Watson. I'm not very far into it so I can't yet tell you if it's any good yet. My girls and me should to visiting the library either today or tomorrow morning so I'm hoping to pick up another Jodi Picoult.

On the needles this week we have Little Sister's Dress and a dress for the doll I made (sorry the pattern isn't on ravelry)

The Little Sister's Dress is a lovely mindless knit. I love things I don't have to think about.  I'm making this for my youngest daughter.

The dress is a basic garter stitch dress

To give you an idea of how it will fit

I just need to find a tiny dolls belt buckle so I can make a belt to go around it.

Oooh and did you notice my new needles?

I'm slowly moving over to symfonie's because I have a nickel allergy and I suspect the metal needles are nickel based. 

I'm also happy to report that I caught my daughter playing with her doll the other day. 

She's very much looking forward to having some clothes for her :)

If you want to follow me on twitter or facebook, I can be found at Twitter and Facebook my pinterest and ravelry account can be found in the bar to the right.

For more WIP's please head over to Tami's Amis, Frontier Dreams and Ginny's Yarn Along.