Felt food ~ from the garden to the kitchen

My friend's little girl turns two on Thursday and her daddy is building her a beautiful wooden kitchen.
I wouldn't want her pantry to be bare so I spent a few hours on the weekend 'growing' some carrots, potatoes and strawberries for her cooking adventures.
The big girl and I ducked down to the local Sunday market in search of a little basket to gift them in and found this one ~ perfect.

Of course the wee girl is very fond of both the basket and the food so I guess I'd better go 'grow' some more!

Because every little girl should feel like a princess on her birthday

I made this for an extra special little one who just turned four

Unfortunately I don't have a model the right size for a picture but I hope that when it arrives her mum might send me one of her twirling in it.

These little skirts are super simple to make and only a little bit fiddly. They do involve quite a few metres of tulle but tulle can be fun if you don't have to actually sew it!

Special thanks to Grosgrain for not only the inspiration but the know how in her midsummer night's dream tutorial.

Here is my little edit, to add pictures ~

A girly, girl apron

A very dear friend's little girl had her birthday the other day, she was five.
I've been thinking for a long time what I might make as a gift and I had so many ideas (girls are so easy!) Eventually I settled on a little apron for cooking adventures. I don't have a pattern, I made it up and used left over bits and pieces of Amy Butler fabrics from a quilt I made my wee girl last Christmas. What do you think?

The wee miss birthday girl loves it!

Phew! talk about taking it to the line....

I finished this little fellow this morning ~ a birthday gift for a friend in my big girl's class ~ she was literally standing at the door with her bag on her shoulder (and then i said Noooo... let me take a picture!)

His party is this afternoon and she is going straight from school, I do hope he likes it.

Of course I didn't follow the instructions at all (typical me) and I am pretty sure I have sewed his chest section between his legs and vice versa - so he has a broad chest!

Thank you to Angela who shared her talent and pattern for this project in the Autumn issue of Rhythm of the Home ~ Michaelmas Dragon

More little birthday gifts

How cute are these? My friend's daughter is six tomorrow and I found this little owl hair clip pattern over at ysolda. I was so taken by their cuteness that I bought her friend Kates' most adorable Owl and Owlett jumper pattern which you can find amongst her other stunning designs here.

Party Day

Happy birthday, happy birthday to you today

Happy birthday, happy birthday her friends all say

Happy birthday, happy birthay we'll sing everyone

Happy birthday, happy birthday 'cause birthdays are fun!

The poor wee girl was quite overwhelmed with the gathering of people ~ just family and a few close friends ~ but as it turns out, quite a few squealing, laughing children having a wonderful time. It took her a few hours before she would leave my arms or those of her sister or dad so I didn't get many pictures and by the time she was happy to run about the sun was going down!

her cake was banana, pinapple and coconut with raspberry and white chocolate butter cream (a variation from the wholefood for children cookbook) - she loved it, tho i didn't give her any icing - bit early to hit her with pure sugar!

And try as I might, once her feet hit the ground in her new ruby dancing shoes there was just no keeping still.

One dance around the sun

One year ago today, today

my baby slid down the rainbow to stay.

She came to bring

laughter and joy to the earth.

good people and midwives

attended her birth.

So let us all join in singing,

with joyful birthday bells ringing.

Happy Birth Day to my girl

Happy Birth Day to my girl

What a glorious day. My cup is overflowing with happiness (and a bit of champagne). I am still stunned that a year has passed since her birth ~ such hard work ~ such reward. 10lb 1oz of pure joy and all before morning tea!

Today I woke to her smiles and sang her the little birthday ditty above (I changed it to suit us from a song by Diane Tatum on her album the magic garden) and gave her Annie, her very own cuddly doll, who has been wrapped and waiting in a swaddling cloth since I finished her last week.

Then she unwrapped miles of tissue paper parcels that have been arriving all week - she enjoyed that quite a bit.

so many beautiful gifts... the photo stream would go forever! but I wanna show you what else I made her ~

these stacking/nesting blocks from the book Handmade Beginnings which my sister gave me for my birthday. Amazon had a promotion when the book was released and you can get the free pattern and instructions here.

We are having a small afternoon tea and cake on Saturday so I will take some pictures of her wearing the birthday crown her big sister made for her...and she will possibly be wearing the 'ruby' slippers her aunt sent. but for now I leave you with my smiling girl dressed in the overalls her mama made specially.

Happy birthday sweet heart xx

Last night I cast off the second sock

and wove in the ends, then sat back and felt pretty pleased with myself. I tried to slip them on, just so I could feel the softness of the beautiful hand spun merino and silk yarn against my feet - alas it is like the story of Cinderella, try as i might they are an inch too short! (I knew they would be, they were not after all made for my feet).
This morning my big girl modeled them for me so I could show you all a picture. They fit her feet quite nicely...but they are not for her either.

Happy Birthday Mum!

they are not perfect (quite like me) but every tiny stitch was made with love.

Today is the beginning of my 38th year

I had a wonderful afternoon with family and friends sharing devonshire tea and lemon syrup tea cake... i was given some glorious gifts but the light is too poor for photographs tonight so i will post some tomorrow. Happy day!

I've been making little gifts

for a couple of little girls. My big girl is off to a birthday celebration tomorrow, tis not really a party because at nine years old they are now awfully grown up and don't 'do' parties I'm told. She looked through this book  and picked out what she would like me to make.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out...was quite fiddly with all the turning of tiny ears and paws, and to be different I didn't use felt but rather some furry stuff we found at the local op shop. The play mat that i used as a back drop for these pictures is a WIP that my big girl is making for herself - a bit of sewing and a bit of needle felting - she is so clever. i will take some pictures to post when she is finished.

I also stitched together a couple of little rose hair clips for a friends daughter who turned eight yesterday - we had to post them, so small, light and unbreakable was perfect! The pattern is from the purl bee the photo looks quite pink..they are pink, but not that pink!

And still in progress are the socks! I have finished the first and am well on the way with the second - almost ready to start shaping the heel. Here is a picture of me the other week when my car battery died. I made good use of my time waiting for a friend to come with jumper leads -

seriously i have been knitting these things since late March - I bet they are the slowest work in progress ever!

Wet Wednesday - gone fishin'

No craft group today because the big girl is on school holidays, no Wednesday washing either because it was pouring with rain most of the day so we went fishing, well sort of.

'tis my wee nephew's third birthday on Sunday (I still remember anxiously waiting for news of his birth...being a midwife and at least 1000km away was not good for my stress levels over that couple of days - I knew she was in labour but after 30 odd hours and no news the panic set in! Anyway he arrived safe, his mum a little bruised and very tired, his dad much the same).

I've been busy over the past couple of days making him a fishing set. I am really pleased with how it turned out - the big girl has surprised me with how much she loves it; i think mostly it is the magnets. She has been round the house a dozen times finding new metal things in quite odd places and unconsciously learning about polar opposites, forces and magnet strengths. She, her dad and I have also had quite a few games actually catching the fish; the wee girl just tries to eat them!

If you would like to make your own fishing set it is very simple. I adapted templates that I found for aquarium magnets at the purl bee and seahorse and other sea creatures at future girl's blog. I enlarged them all - the purl bee ones about 200% and then got cutting, stitching and stuffing. I inserted a small metal washer inside at the mouth end or top of each fish/creature.

I made fishing rods from bamboo sticks - the kind that often come as stakes for young plants you buy from the nursery - the fishing line is linen thread, knotted and glued at the stick end and double knotted and looped at the magnet end - give it a good tug to make sure it is very secure.

Finally, I made the little pond by cutting two 50cm/20" circles and sewed them into a drawstring bag:

First make two buttonholes - measure about 2" from the edge on the inside piece of fabric and sew the buttonholes directly opposite each other - one each side of  the circle.

Then pin the two circles right sides together and sew 1/2" seam all the way around, leaving a two inch opening. This is so you can turn the two circles of fabric right side out. Trim and clip the seam, then turn the bag inside out through the opening. Iron the circle flat and hand-stitch to close the opening.

To form the drawstring casing, mark 1/4" (1/2" total width) either side of the centre of the button holes and sew a line of stitching around the circumference on each of these lines.  Using one length of cord, pass it through one of the openings and feed it through the casing all the way around the circle and back out of the same opening. Tie the ends. Then, thread the second length of cord through the opening on the opposite end of the bag and again pass it all the way through the circle and back out of the same opening and tie the ends to secure. To close bag, pull both ends of cord.

A hand crafted gift for my big sister

Quite a few moons ago my sister and I were madly sending silly emails back and forth the 1000 odd km (630miles) between Sydney and Brisbane. In them we were attaching pictures of weird and wonderful things we had found on etsy and either squealing with delight or recolling in horror and what people could make (...and had made) from felt.

 My sister quite likes mice; I found this little house:

of course she wanted it, but resisted the $100 odd dollar price tag, afterall she is a grown woman with no children and sometimes coveted things cannot really be justified sensibly. The original was made by MuddyFeet see their fabulous etsy shop here (~thank you to Luckybeans for your help to name them~ )

I said to myself, said I, ..I think I can, so I did!

Tis pumpkin season here - seemed a fitting mouse house.

While I was felting and fulling and stitching and sanding and painting I kept remembering the story of Pumpkin Crow...

"And what?" asked Tiptoes. She was curious now.

"And Pumpkin Crow." croaked  Mr Crow in a hoarse whisper, peering around nervously.

"Pumpkin Crow!" cried Tiptose surprised.

"Yes," said Mr Crow, looking embarrassed. "He got his head stuck inside a pumkin last fall. That's how he got his name. And now...well...." Mr Crow did not want to finish the story. It was such an embarrassing thing for his family.

"I see'" said Tiptoes, who knew how proud crows were of their kin. "So why are you telling me all this?" she asked.

"Well.... now.... it seems..." he hesitated nervously. Mr Crow blushed bright red. ( A blushing crow is really a horrible sight!) "Well ...... now......" he continued, "Pumpkin Crow has his head caught in another one."

Tiptoes tried not to smile.

"It's not funny," said Mr Crow. "He's really stuck!"

"Okay," said Tiptoes, "I'll come," and off they flew.

excerpt from The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly by Reg Down

It is my sister's birthday today

so Happy Birthday to you.
I am quietly squealing with delight because I spent much of the weekend and a little bit of yesterday creating the most wonderful gift for her - I drafted a pattern or two, felted, sewed, cut, sanded, drilled, painted and even did a little bit of beading... but i can't show you yet.
The girls and I are off to Sydney on Friday morning and I will see my sister on Saturday for lunch - so I didn't post it; I will hand deliver it..she (and all of you) will have to wait until then.

A Birthday for my First Born

Oh my.. brings tears to my eyes. She was so delicious, the most beautiful thing we ever saw -

...the next baby born was truly divine,

a sweet little child who was mine, all mine*.

Happiest Birthday wishes my darling - I'm so very glad you slid down the rainbow to me.

wanna see the cake?

  

It was over the top and quite delicious...

A little peek at some of the gifts she was sent

this from her Mama - hand made and hand smocked (I want one too...)

and these for her doll's house from my sister (they are quite a bit fancier than the exisiting furniture)

Ahh and the cross stitch? well it is not quite finished but it will be soon (she has so much hair and the beads are so tiny) She loves her!

*From ten little fingers and ten little toes by Mem Fox