Category Archives: Kid Crafts

Pip and Loggin

sock-puppets
Ha… lured you in with the promise of ‘fascinating’, didn’t I?! Well, maybe it’s not fascinating so much as ‘quirky’. Finn and I had a great time making sock puppets yesterday. Well, when I say we made them, I of course mean I made them. Finn was the project co-ordinator, and made all of the important colour decisions. So may I introduce to you ‘Pip’, on the left (otherwise known as the ‘trial run’, in which we discovered that glue didn’t cut it, and I was in fact going to have to use needle and thread), and ‘Loggin’, on the right, who has pointy ears “just like you Mum”! (Yes, I do indeed have a pointy ear… just one though. I must show you sometime :giggle: )

Small joys like sock puppets and a three year old boy who plays ‘pretend’ all day are helping to make my week better.

See you when I’m a ‘Master’ 🙂

My Machine And I

My sewing machine and I became reacquainted this weekend. It’s not like an old-friends-reunited kind of thing, nor do we have a love-hate relationship. My sewing machine and I have at times through my life merely tolerated one another for long enough for me to run off some simple crafty thing, or even try my hand at sewing my own clothes – sometimes with wearable results, sometimes notsomuch. I’ve given up on the clothes thing, at least for myself, though I do fully plan to try sewing up some children’s clothes when I have more time (ha!). But my latest little venture was into the world of patchwork. I give you… my first block:
TealBlock_

See, my mother has decided recently she’s going to take up another hobby… I’m quite sure it’s just another excuse to spend money like there’s no tomorrow :giggle: As luck would have it, we have a nice little quilting store not 5 minutes from here (actually, it’s awfully lucky there isn’t a different kind of needlework store 5 minutes from here, or my budget would be in serious danger). Anyway, while we were browsing in there the other day, I forget how it came about, but the proprietor of the store announced that, as a cross stitcher, I would never make a quilt. Hmmm. Odd way of drumming up business, that. Anyway, I decided to scramble up some various fabrics to make up a block or four, basically just to prove I could. And I can. And no, quilting is definitely not for me. Too much messing about with measurements, too much precision, definitely too much ironing (ick, ack, ptuey!) But hey, I can do it, so there, lady! I made four blocks – one more identical to this, one the same in pinks, and a random-ish block made up of leftover half-square triangles and whatnot. I doubt they’ll ever find a home in a quilt, so perhaps she was right after all. Though I did rather take a liking to these imperfect squares that I found – they seem more my style 😉
LibraryBag
I decided while the machine was out (since it is a fair ordeal to haul it out of the top shelf in my wardrobe), I would run up the drawstring bag Finn needs for borrowing books when he starts 3-year-old Kinder in a week’s time. Much less precision, much more fun, and I love this harlequin-y fabric?! This is 30x45cm as requested by Kinder – can’t wait to see the giant books he must be going to bring back with him!
Apart from that, the closest I got to stitching this weekend was also hauling out the overlocker to edge some various pieces of fabric for upcoming projects. I’ve finally decided on the fabric for my planned Lilly Conversion – Sapphire Sky from Silkweaver. Whether it will be my next new start though, I can’t say. Lots of my stash is screaming at me to be stitched, and I Just. Can’t. Decide!

O Tannenbaum

Christmas-Tree

Christmas for me is always so much more about the anticipation. After 3 days of family craziness, by the 27th of December, I always have something of a ‘Christmas hangover’, and not in the normal way. Yesterday, we took down our tree – we don’t waste any time around here! Finn was quite dismayed that ‘Christmas is over’, but easily placated by a ‘sleeps-until-my-birthday’ countdown (2 more sleeps).

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, I give you… our tree, circa 2005 :giggle:

FinnWhiteBoard

Also, because I think it’s cute, and because it needed preservation (darn the transitory nature of the whiteboard), here’s a self-portrait Finn drew with his new markers from Santa:

Just Call Me Smokey!

Angels_lg
My needle is on fire! Another finish, and this time you get photos 🙂 This is Little Angel Birth Sampler by Sisters and Best Friends. It’s not something I’d usually stitch, and I kind of lost interest for a while, but I think the parents-to-be will like it. I stitched almost all the lettering today, plus 3 of the stars, half an angel, and attached all the charms. Obviously the baby’s name and birth details are yet to come, but that’s only a little bit of backstitching below the house. The babe is due in a month, so I’m pleased I’ve finished early. The image links to a closer look. But wait, there’s more! Check out who actually did the stitching. What a cutie!
finn-stitching-angel
There’s not likely to be much stitching going on in the next day or two. I’ll be doing the finishing on Annette’s gift, and then planning for our camping trip next week. I don’t think I’ll be taking WFS away, but I might treat myself to a new start – something small perhaps.