A new day, a new face...

Meet my new monsta, Anne... 

Isn't she just the bee's knee's with a smile like that?!

I decided that something must be done about all the sad faces appearing on my monsta creations...  Enough is enough, can't some of them be happy?!

She's now up for adoption over in the sewfunkyshop, and I'll be bringing her along to crafternoon tea on Saturday too!  If you're anywhere near Kingsland, don't forget to pop on over and meet us!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway extravaganza, you have like 10 more days or so to enter...

D.

new kittens!

Last night our beautiful cat, Clementine gave birth to four equally adorable kittens...

Unfortunately, one died. I'd named this one Smudge because it was white with a smudge of grey on it's head and had a little grey smudge of a tail.  It was very cute, but I was worried right away when it seemed sluggish to want to feed.

It died overnight, and so now there are three beautiful kittens!  It always amazes me at how completely cute a kitten can be.  So perfectly formed and unique!

I also just love how naturally Clementine has adapted to the role of Mum.  When they miaow and mew she just purr's and snuggles them and they calm right down.

I guess spring has sprung! :D

And look some new monsta's;

Though I really don't think they are nearly as awesome as the three new additions currently living in the bathroom upstairs!

Postscript;
Interesting that this is what was on my desktop calendar for yesterday... did they know something I didn't? ;)

D.

something new...

Red is for my good friend's son, Sean, Purplo will be up for sale when I do the local markets in a fortnight! :)

These are addictively fun to make, and since this photo was taken this morning another monsta, Bluebleo has been born too!

what softies get up to, when we're not looking...

 

source | meet me at mikes

Some matroyshka doll fun...

As I said in yesterday's post, this weekend we are going to be having a houseful of girl fun! Well, actually that's our house all day, every day. There is an overabundance of estrogen in this home with 4 girls and ONE guy! hehehe!

But, I digress, I need to occupy four little 8/9 year old girls on Saturday for a sleepover. I had decided that making little softies was a great idea, but then was left with the "what kind!" thought. I'd always wanted to make a matroyshka doll, and wanted to make something really simple that the girls could "own" for themselves. So without further ado, here she is...

I got Hope and Briahna to make one as well, just to make sure it's not too hard to organise little girls into making them. :)

First, we embroidered their faces, which I think 8-9 year old's would be okay to do themselves. It was Briahna's first time doing backstitch, and I'm so proud of how well she did!

I chose the fabric, and sewed two different kinds to go together, and then I sewed the faces onto the fabric...

I then made a little pattern to cut them out with...

Because I am so protective/possessive of my janome, I'll be doing all the machine sewing ;) But, I figure they'll bore easily anyway and so while I'm sewing up the dolls, Hope will be doing makeovers on the girls!

Aren't they sweet?

I even sewed our names and the date they were made on the back with my fancy dancy sewing machine...



Sew Mama Sew Fat Quarter Swap;
All the kiwi quarters have gone, the international ones will be sent today... The email with all my international swapee's on it got lost in cyberspace, but I'm onto it!

what I sent... (I hope they like batik!)

Blogging Goodness;

Paisley Jade received my parcel, and has posted about it on her blog! I forgot to take photographs of what I sent, but head on over to her blog to check it all out!!!

When I found out about the flannelgraph book review blog her hubby's been organising, I knew I could help them out... Mr Sew Funky works for Manna Christian Stores here in NZ and so we have access to good christian literature. It was nice to pass on the blessing to others by giving some books away.

Kristy also won the fat quarter giveaway I had on here earlier in the month, so what better way than to courier them all to her together.

It actually took a while from conception to giving, but I think they were understanding. Mainly it was because we had to wait for a little while for one particular book I wanted to send - The Pawn. Mr Sew Funky lent it out to a workmate who took a while with it. I just love the title of that book - tickles my sense of humour, to be able to tell people when they ask me what I'm reading, that I'm reading porn... hehehe! ;)

I just love being part of the blogging community, it has allowed me to "meet" such neat people and gives me opportunities to connect with others in a way that I wouldn't otherwise be able to do! :D

What do you think? Has blogging made your life more complete?

And do you like the little dolls we've made?

D.

Fifi arrives!!!

Fifi arrived packaged really nicely,

you can see Paisley Jade puts a lot of effort
into making her customers feel really special!

A glimpse of the cuteness that is to come...
my cast looks really ugly, though!

Going through my mind... "She's so sweet! :D"

Look...
You can see why I couldn't resist buying her!

Aimee want's her all to herself!
Don't worry, she's mine... ALL MINE! (evil laugh interspersed!)

Look at the neat note that was inside the parcel!
Thanks Kristy - she's awesome!!!

If you want to adopt your own Paisley Jade creation you can find her shop here and her blog here!

Introducing my newly adopted softie; Fifi

I am so excited, that I'm jumping the gun a wee bit to show you a wee someone who's coming to stay with me...

Fifi

She was created by Paisley Jade and, after seeing Cherry on CurlyPops blog, I knew I had to have one all for myself.

I thought she could be considered an early birthday present. Especially, considering what an awful year I've had. But instead, I've decided she can be a "cast-off" present to myself. I have one week to go till that happens, and 2 months till my birthday... I think it's best to have her sooner rather than later!

If you want to adopt one of Paisley Jade's lovely softies you can do so here and here. Good luck, her creations are becoming very popular!

chooklet pincushion

Today, I made my first log cabin patchwork square and then made two of them into this cute little chooklet...

so cute, and easy!

softies; meet petunia pig

Ellie the Elephant meets Petunia Pig...

Hope has been doing a lot of research about party games, because she is in charge of the games for Briahna's Birthday. She discovered a really neat alternative to "pass the parcel", called "Poor Piggie". Basically the children pass the pig around whilst the music plays, when the music stops that child gets to have a prize from a basket and on it goes until everyone has a prize. So after deciding it was a cool game, guess what Mum had to do, that's right, we needed a pig!

I based the pattern on the one I made for the elephant, only changing the nose and ears, and of course adding a cute little curly tail!

softies; meet ellie the elephant

My daughter, Briahna, is going to be 8 this time next week - eeek! Anyway, she loves elephants and so I am busy making her lot's of elephant themed presents. I've made an elephant finger puppet, a knitted elephant (what I learnt double pointed knitting for!) and now this cute little softie. I am going to make an elephant facecloth and a appliqued bag too!

an idea is formed
(this will become the applique for the bag!)

a softie is created

This idea has been brewing in my head for about a month now. I think it would make a great baby softie (without the button eyes!). Speaking of the buttons, they are some really old vintage buttons I got from my grandmothers collection - aren't they gorgeous!!!

I will post more pics of my elephant creations next week, when a certain someone is at school!

thing a day; two

white rabbit & brown bunny
- from my new Aranzi Aronzo Book (The Cute Book)

with the book - aren't they cute!

new baby monsta!

Here's a newbie to my house, made just last night!


Hope and Briahna were so excited to meet him, that they wore the shirt I cut him out of! - "Where's the baby?"

Harrison's present

I was wondering how I could pull Harrison's gift together - how could it be packaged?! When, I had a lightbulb moment - a drawstring bag, that could carry dirty nappies when Liz was out and about! So here are Harry's gifts in all their glory...

the bag

I am pleased with how the bag turned out, I sewed across the corners to make a squared bottom, and used some cool american crafts ribbon to match the cute fish I appliqued onto the front.

the gifts
(booties, fish & bibs)

the complete package!

Having a whale of a time!

It all began when I looked at the scraps of fabric left over from making this mornings bibs. Something looked a little fishy about them…

I drew a picture of what I thought a great softie would look like based on my fishy thoughts. Excuse both the quality of the pics and the quality of the drawing (I’m not an artist!).

I really like my pincushion – I made it when I was about 10 and it’s a monogram of my initials (maiden name, of course!).

This is the result; having a whale of a time! It’s made out of denim, recycled from Jonathan’s favourite jeans. They were so favoured that they were falling apart major time, so he made them into cut-offs for Parachute Music Festival this morning.

Having fun with the whale!

Now only if we had good lighting at night!

Jaymee LOVES her bag and Ruby Doll!

her face says it all!

meet the girls; ruby dolls

I decided it was time to make one of the ruby dolls from the tutorial that one red robin provides. Instead of making just one - I made two!

This is the result...

I still haven't got a name for her....

introducing a new monsta!

closeup's; monsta's

KyleXY - Briahna's

Fuzzyskin - Hope's

Heartbroken - Aimee's

As you can see in the close-up's Heartbroken and KyleXY have been given lot's of loving...

I was sure that I had photographed them before Christmas, but when I looked for the photo's I couldn't find them anywhere!