Day to Day

Baby Annabell's winter coat.

I finished the jacket only it was slightly too big for Baby Born.  Baby Annabell was just the right size though and seems quite happy with her new winter coat.  I've had the red apple buttons in my stash for quite some time, so it was nice to be able to use them up.  

The pattern is available for free, either from HERE (on Ravelry) or via Shelley's blog (on the right hand side column), Waldorf Mama.  It was a very straight forward pattern and easy to follow, I'd definitely recommend it if your dolly is feeling a little chilly this winter.

Tahune Airwalk.

Yesterday we went down to the Tahune Airwalk with a couple of good friends.  It was a nice afternoon and there was even a spot of hang gliding by James and Bella (WAY too high for me to even contemplate having a go).

It was quite cold ... and yes, Bella is wearing no socks! I did tell her to put some on before we left but forgot to double check until we pulled up at the Airwalk.  There was also a little bit of knitting happening in the car on the way down.....

....and on the way back home (before it got so dark that I couldn't see).  I know I promised myself not to start any more yarn projects, but I really needed something to do in the car and I don't seem to be able to crochet without looking at what I'm doing.  Car + looking + crochet = car sickness.  It's going to be a jacket for Bella's baby born doll using some leftover wool that I had stashed from Bendigo Woollen Mills.  I'm hoping if this turns out okay that I can also make one for my niece Bonnie (ready for her birthday).  It's knitting up quite fast so hopefully I'll be able to share a finished photo over the next few days.

Zet monsters (by Sheree).

The lovely Sheree just emailed me these cute softies that she sewed up using the zet monster pattern in Australian Homesewn.  They look so gorgeous and lovable!!  Their names are Belly, Racer and Jed and you can take a look at Sheree's post on her blog HERE, which also includes some pictures of a gorgeous crochet blanket that she's just started working on.

Thanks so much for sharing the photos with me Sheree :))

The knitted scarf.

A little while ago I ordered some yummy hand spun yarn from my friend Lynne.  My plan for the yarn was to use it in James' blanket and seriously the colours were just perfect for this plan.  But, I crocheted a square and couldn't stop thinking that it would be so nice for a scarf.  I crocheted the second square and realised that I was unpulling everything and searching on ravelry for a cute, easy scarf pattern before I could blink.

Goodbye blanket yarn, it was nice knowing you, if only for a short time. 

 

Hello warm scarf for my husband.  You shall be lovely to wear under a coat when we go out in the chilly upcoming months.

I really love the little splashes of colours here and there.  I think I've just become a big fan of homespun yarn, it's so beautiful and soft!  The pattern is HERE (scrunchable scarf).  You'll need to be a ravelry member to follow that link and if you're not - join up, it's free and really cool.

Fabric hopscotch.

Another one of the projects inside Australian Homesewn that I sewed and designed is this fabric hopscotch.  It's Bella's most favourite item from the magazine and she was so excited when it finally arrived back home for her to use a few weeks ago.

 

We're really looking forward to some sunshine in the upcoming months so that we can unroll it on the grass and play.  It's also perfect to play indoors on a carpeted surface (so it won't slip) but we only have floorboards, so inside play is out of the question for us.  Roll on summer!

The hopscotch is a mix of fabric and felt and quite an easy project to sew.  What I love most is that we can roll it up and pop it in the cupboard at the end of the day.  Here's the sweet shot from the magazine of the hopscotch:

While I'm talking about some of the magazine projects, the pattern for Kim's gorgeous finger puppets was accidentally left out of the issue.  Derwent Howard are currently working on a PDF for this and it will hopefully be up on their website soon (hoping very soon because Bella and I are dying to make a set!!) including the correct materials list for the puppets (thanks Cass for letting me know).

 

Boris the glove bear.

 

Yesterday I came across these two books at the library - Sock Monkey goes to Hollywood and Sock Monkey rides again.  Since Bella is a monkey collector and sock toy lover, I knew that she would enjoy reading each story after school, which she did.  As soon as the stories were over Bella wanted to look at our lovely Sock and Glove book and we started talking about making another sock character together.

After some thorough sock searching, we ended up finding a spare pair of gloves hidden away in the cupboard.  Perfect!  It was already 7.30pm, so we had to work really fast to get something created before Bella's bedtime. I cut and handstitched while Bella stuffed the mittens and chose the buttons.  Then, our little bear was born:

He's quirky and crooked, but very lovable!  Yes, that's a pink and chocolate ribbon around his neck, but Bella chose the name 'Boris' and it seems to suit him.  I do love his curvy bottom and sweet, teeny tail.

And here he is hanging out with our original sock monkey that we made together back in March 2008. 

P.S.  If anybody else is a sock monkey fan, you can go to Cece Bell's (author of various sock monkey books) blog HERE and learn how to draw a sock monkey, join the sock monkey fan club and also play some lovely sock monkey games.

Amy Butler pattern winner.

That was fun!  I used a random number generator to choose the winner of the Amy Butler Pattern:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

79

Timestamp: 2009-06-26 00:44:43 UTC

Congratulations Kelly!!  I can't seem to find an email address for you, so could you please contact me with your address details so that I can post you out the pattern. (goodsellmx@internode.on.net)

What a great giveaway. I like all your posts but my favourite ones would have to be all the crafty things you do with your kids. Very inspiring. Thank You :)

Posted by: Kelly | June 26, 2009 at 08:53 AM

Amy Butler pattern give away.

Let's have another giveaway!  This gorgeous mini dress, tunic & tops pattern is a new design by Amy Butler and just arrived in my letter box today.

The pattern starts at a girl's size 7 and goes right through to an adult's size XXX large (22).  Cool hey!

Leave a comment and let me know what type of posts you enjoy reading (or just looking at) most on my blog - perhaps you don't have a favourite - that's okay too, you can still say hi and enter the give away :)))  I'll close off comments in a day or so and announce the winner at the same time.

***COMMENTS are now closed for this giveaway - I will announce the winner shortly***

Lollipop dishcloths - crochet.

Inbetween my crochet blanket responsibilities, I've been making up a few dishcloths to use in the sink for washing up the dishes (the one in the photo is only half way through being completed).  I can whip one up in about an hour and they're so lovely and soft to use.  When they're dirty I just throw them in with the washing with everything else to reuse once they're dry. 

Because I only know one crochet stitch to do, the design is pretty simple!  But, that's okay because it means I will probably lose interest in them soon and move back onto James' blanket.

Yarn: Milford Satin, Perle No.5 - 100% Double Mercerised Cotton.  40 stitches. 17 rows.

Jam drops

Bella came home from school on Friday requesting jam drops.  The cooking group had made some in her class at school and apparently they were 'so awesome' (Bella's words).  I searched high and low for a recipe and finally settled on this one from HERE.  The recipe was so good that we've already made three batches!

Speaking of Bella, I created this drawing book for her a couple of weeks ago.  She spends hours sometimes drawing pictures in her sketch books and I wanted to make her a homemade version that we could add and remove pages from as needed.

I included some nice thick papers inside which are always so much nicer to draw on than thin reflex paper.  The drawing book is part of post that I did for Aussie Scrap Source.  You can see the rest of post HERE including a couple of page layouts that I scrapbooked using a yummy Pink Paislee sticker book.

Oh and another project that I created for Australian Homesewn - a set of 4 coasters and placemats.