The kitten twins have a picnic

The Kitten twins are having a picnic today.

They've invited their girlfriends, Blossom and Flora.

And Snuffy the sausage dog.

Pattern design for the dog and kitten by the very talented Sarah of Bit of Whimsy Prims.

What a beautiful day for it! It's going to be a beautiful day for The Devonport Craft Market tomorrow too. Why not come along (and take a new friend home with you!)

Things for babies

I've been a busy girl over the last couple of days making things for this Sunday's Devonport Craft Market.

The lovely (and very kind) Sarah of Songbird Designs gave me a huge bag of fabric yesterday which I was thrilled with. I made the onesie for her little boy as a thank you. He's so gorgeous and really into his cars at the moment so this was quite appropriate.

I finished a new baby gift too. This is for good friends of ours in Sydney who are expecting their first baby in a few weeks. They have a gorgeous pooch called Mario so I had to make this doggy set for them. If you are reading this J&P the outfit is on its way to you!

New Friends

I am a very happy girl. I got to spend most of the day sewing yesterday. My girls were great at playing together all day (I discovered after a short but scarey period of quietness that they had painted themselves with felt tip pen but aside from that they were GREAT and let me sew!).

I'm thrilled to introduce you to my new little friends. These gorgeous creatures, designed by Bit of Whimsy Dolls, will be appearing on my stall at the next Devonport Craft Market.

I love them. They are beautifully designed and I loved picking gorgeous fabrics for their bodys. They are all totally baby friendly so look out for them on 14th Feb.

Devonport Craft Market tomorrow!

Hip hip hooray! Its another Devonport Craft Market tomorrow and I really can't wait. One of the benefits of organising the market is being able to set my stall up the evening before whilst our fantastic "Table Boys" set up all the other tables and sort the venue out. There was such a beautiful light coming through the windows whilst we set up today that I couldn't resist a photo of my stall.

Putting the markets on every month is an awful lot of hard work for Sarah and I but I really do love it when they come around again. Its a chance to see a whole bunch of friends and like minded peeps and I get to see all the beautiful things they have been working on all month. I don't have too many new things this month but I do have this lovely wee elephant who I'm rather fond of. Her name is Rosie. I sold my other elephant, Wilfred, at Kraftbomb last week and I felt the need to replace him. Let's hope she gets a lovely new home tomorrow.

The best thing about tomorrow is that my wonderful parents and my Nan will be visiting the market for the first time. They are in Auckland for one day on a cruise. Fantastic timing! I can't wait to see them. Lots to look forward to. See you tomorrow.

This little piggy went to market

How cute is this little piggy? He not actually going to market at all even though its the Devonport Craft Market this weekend. I made him for Maddy. She has book week at school next week and is going as Fern from Charlottes Web in the favourite book parade. I got the tute to make him from here. It's a really easy to use tutorial and I love how he turned out. Now I have to decide if I'm brave enough to make a Charlotte spider.

I also finally finished my knitted zebra. I bought a Wild Friends kit when I was on holiday in Australia recently. They are really easy to use but I am a really not a knitter so he's taken me a while to finish. Here he is anyway:

I think he's going to end up as a new baby gift. He's rather squashy. Just perfect for little cuddles!

No Time, No Time!

I am grabbing a sneaky five minutes while the girls are watching after school TV to update my blog. With school holidays, visitors and a flooding basement I hardly seem to have had a moment to get on this blog to update it. I have been busy in the sewing room though.

This gorgeous sweater bear is a commission for the lovely Stephanie of Liberty Lane. The sweater was hers at university and was definately a tricky one to felt. I had to put it through the machine 3 times to get it to felt and the black and white fairisle stitches on the bear's face didn't felt properly at all. I ended up zig zagging round the whole bear before I put him together to give it extra stability. The bear is for Stephanie's son's first birthday. I love that something she wore is going to her son to cuddle.


I also made these groovy monkeys for the 2nd August Devonport Craft Market. I LOVE the purple disco monkey. The disco arm was actually an accident but I think I will make a few more in this way. Friends on Facebook are coming up with names for them at the moment. Most popular names at the moment are MJ/Micheal, Elvis,Britney,Stevie and Justin.

These monsters are big favourites too. I need to make a few more and I'm hoping they will be popular with the little (and big) boys who come to the Devo craft market. They are made from wool felt and stuffed with toy fill and beads to give them a little weight. They are basically squares with arms and legs. The ears on the orange fella are made by pinching out the corners until the seams match and putting a few stitches in. I might make a few owls in this way too.

This is my favourite dessert at the moment

Its a gorgeous lemon cheescake tart. I will post the recipe another time as I've promised it to half a dozen people!

We had our first crafty get-together a few weekends back. Several stallholders from the market got together on a Sunday evening to eat cake and do crafty stuff. We have a challenge/swap for the next meeting. The theme is 'Green' (any interpretation of the word is fine) and the plan is to make something, bring it along to discuss and then we'll put our names in a hat and do a draw to find out who gets to take which handmade goody home. I can't wait. I have a minor obsession with felted sweaters at the moment so I think the little something I make may be made from one of those.

I made these button shaped cupcakes for the first crafty get-together.

They are from the Australia Womens' Weekly Easy Cupcakes by Colour . I adore this book and I know it is going to be very well used over the coming years. I can see my daughters fighting over who gets to take my copy with them when they leave home! There are some beautiful cupcake designs in it and everything is stunningly photographed. Go get yourself a copy! There are some gorgeous polka dot cupcakes that I am planning to adapt to make toadstool cupcakes for Eloise's 3rd birthday fairy party. She had her first ballet lesson this week. Isn't she gorgeous?

She inherited her ballet outfit from her big sister but I made her the headband from this super-easy pattern. It's a great project for a beginner sewer and is really really quick. The kids have lost all patience with my computer time now so best go and play yet another game of Candy Land.

There are no new ideas

Its true. I learn so much from old magazines and craft books. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to score 5 complete binders full of 1972 Golden Hands magazines. I spent a very happy couple of hours pouring over them and taking in all the handy hints and sewing tips. Right at the back of the last binder was a double page spread all about reworking adult clothes into kids clothes with some great advice about what items work best and how to do it.

I've been spending a lot of time recently felting old wool sweaters from op shops and cutting them up to make kids clothes and toys so this was a great find. I love the kid on the bottom left in this picture. His outfit is made from an old sweater and the sleeves have been turned into little trousers with the cable going down the middle. They have then knitted new cuffs and sleeves on to the old sweater. Incredibly ugly but a great idea! I found an old brown sweater in the opshop the other day and turned it into something a little cuter.

I used the reverse side of the sweater to make him look less like a knitted bear. I'm really pleased with how he turned out. My 5 year old critic has suggested some open eyes next time so he can look around. She continues to develop her own creativity on a daily basis. Yesterday, the creativity was expressed in the form of love graffiti to her little sister over the front of their wendy house. "To Eloise. I Love You. From Maddy"

Sunshine

Its a stunning day today and my very thoughtful friends have taken the children off my hands for an extra few hours this afternoon. I'm making the most of it by painting the market signs and getting some photos of my plushies done.