Crafty weekend

Some friends and I snuck off last weekend for a crafty retreat in the country. We rented a little cottage that was as cute as could be, and crafted away with just each other and some red wine for company! It was heavenly.

I started making an advent calender for little m, the idea came from this advent calender, and I'm making mine pretty much the same, I've just changed the Christmas tree a little. And all the ornaments are my own...I managed to get quite a bit done. It's amazing how speedy I can be without a little one hanging around me!

But there are still 7 ornaments to make, and all of the assembling to do, and 24 buttons to sew on. And only 5 days to go until the start of December, so I better go while little m is still sleeping and make a few more things....

Fabric from Spoonflower

And here is the latest of my projects on the go at the moment. Another quilt for my little one.

But this time to be made from my own design. My fabric has finally arrived from Spoonflower! And I'm so very excited about it.
Lots of Woodland animals, and a raccoon, posing as a robber. Playing police and robbers is one of little m's favourite games, so I knew he would love this.

(You can see it at Spoonflower here.)

It's been a while.....

 It really has been a while since I've been around here.
And it's been a while since I really did any kind of crafting or sewing or drawing. I had a bit of a dry spell, and started back at work, and found myself with not a lot of time to do anything...

There are still piles of unfinished quilts, one of which was begun way before Little m's 2nd birthday, (he was 3 two months ago now) and has sat unfinished for nearly 18 months!

I went off it a bit, thought it looked a bit busy and crazy. And wasn't sure how to go on with it. I put it away for a time, and having looked at it again recently, thought that it's probably worth finishing.

And another quilt has begun for Little m, been cut out, sewn together, and now needs to be finished...

Inspired by a baby quilt a did a while ago

I'm starting to feel a little inspired to be creative again.

Birthday Cake

How did this come around so quickly? I can't believe another whole year has gone by...

Based on my little one's favourite book, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, it was a bit of a rush job. (Following an entire day spent in emergency, with his second broken arm...) I managed to decorate the whole thing in just a couple of hours, but I was quite pleased with it in the end. And my little one just loved it, and ate all of the sugar food for his own tea.

Unfinished

Birthday present making for Little m's second birthday.

This is teeny tiny Bebo. Much loved bear and best friend of...

Percy. He's a little bit shy.

I've made Percy for little m. He's not quite finished yet, by Thursday (hopefully!) he should have a coat and a little pair of boots to keep him warm. And a bed to sleep in. It's one of little m's favourite games of late - getting his toys dressed and putting them to bed. And I'm hoping he'll adopt this little bear. I made him just for him, with love.

Boris

Hello.

This is Boris.

Handmade by me yesterday, and I'm very pleased with him. My first attempt at needle felting.
I seem to spend hours browsing around Flickr looking at things I could make, but always feeling like I'll never have the time.... I've been obsessing over needle felting for the longest time, ever since buying this book for a friend. So on a whim I popped into Spotlight yesterday and bought a few supplies, quickly looked at a youtube tutorial and started making.


I have ideas for many more things, and with Little m's birthday coming up, I can feel my craft fire re-igniting....

Paper dolls

Over a decade ago, I saw this idea in an English magazine, way before I had children, or even knew any. I tore it out and somehow managed to keep it for all this time, despite now living on the other side of the world. I don't think I've seen it or thought about it in all that time in between, but I came across it a few weeks ago whilst tidying some drawers out. Just in time for my niece's birthday.
Paper dolls, joined together with paper clips, with moveable arms and legs. The original idea used tissue paper skirts, but I thought using some of my collection of cupcake cases would be cuter. The bodies, arms and legs were all painted with watercolour on watercolour paper,



cut out, pieced together using tiny paper fasteners and then the cupcake paper skirts attached. A pretty little paper doll garland for my neice's bedroom. I think I may add some wings to turn them into fairies before I send them off to her tomorrow...



Looking at this one, I think you can tell that I've been obsessively watching all 3 seasons of Mad Men in the last few weeks....