After many years of wishing for heirloom rag dolls and alternating between ideas of purchasing them and making some myself, we are now the owners of two of the sweetest dolls imaginable. Beautiful both in craftsmanship and design, and especially because they are the handmade work of Michelle Housel, whom operates creatively under the name […]
I was inspired last week with an image I saw by friends at Papeir Mache Magazine and so I went to work making a collar for my girls. I combined this idea with hand painting fabric – another idea that had been floating in my mind. I started hand painting fabric when some of our screen prints […]
This week (in the midst of our bathroom renovation process) I made a quilted vest for Maya. I drafted the vest pattern off the little red vest that you may recall Elle wearing. The vest was once a coat (see photos of the girls wearing it when they were little) that I made into a […]
I have had a busy and exciting week, and feels good to be able to say, I have been getting things done! The first goal I set myself this week was to turn some screen printed swatches into small tote bags. The second goal I set myself was to market them. Now the third goal, […]
Some things I make for decoration, some things I make for utility…this falls into the later category. Any parent I know is familiar with the perfectly timed phrase “I’m thirsty”…once you are more than a block from home…sometimes you will quench this thirst with a water bottle dug from deep inside a bag, but other […]
Today I finished sewing this tee for Maya. I brought this knit fabric home with me from cleaning out Mum’s house. I recall this fabric being in our green sewing supplies chest of drawers when we lived at Darcy Drive, which makes it maybe 20 -25 years old. I am not exactly sure if this […]
With some zippy sewing – and the added ease of repeat production, I finished Maya’s Matryoshka hot water bottle cover yesterday. As you can see it is identical to Elle’s hot water bottle cover in design, but with different fabrics. This one is as trifty as the last, using another old change pad cover […]
You may have noticed last week was quiet on my blog – it was because I was busy fulfilling my New Year’s resolution to sew more for the Girls. You might recall the folk skirt I completed, as well as two other skirts I have not yet shown, and now this – Matryoshka hot water […]
No, it is not quite that time in our house yet, although it wont be long! I made this little tooth fairy house pillow for a friend’s daughter for her Birthday. We have been incredibly blessed with new friends since moving to Montclair, and yesterday we to a really fun party to celebrate a sweet […]
Jump, spin, dance, sing, skip, twirl, laugh… This is what you do when you get rainbow ribbon wrist bands… Here is the next item for Maya’s Rainbow Halloween Costume – rainbow ribbon wrist bands – you will see I followed her design exactly! Created in much the same way as the fancy Wrist Bands I […]
I was able to spend some time at the sewing machine this weekend, something I feel like I do not get to do enough! Cam took Maya to swimming lessons and Elle tagged along and so while they were out, in a sewing frenzy I made this personalised garland for Elle, and something else for […]
I can cross another item off the birthday party list – feeling happy with the completion of this task. I ordered the fabric last week, it arrived Thursday and I got to work sewing this weekend. Such an easy and satisfying sewing project. Double sided flags sewn between bias binding. Sticking with Maya’s Fancy Rose […]
We had a productive weekend of sewing – Maya and I worked on pretty things for her 5th Birthday party that is now less than two weeks away. Hard to believe my first baby is turning five! As you all know I relish the creative opportunity of a Child’s Birthday party. We had so much […]
Giving a special gift, something thoughtful and handmade means a lot to me. This time of year when you can easily spend a fortune on junk, I am pleased to come up with a cute, useful, educational gift, that has my personal touch! Our Niece Sami, whom I am easily inspired by (you might recall this […]
Here is the tree skirt that I made for the Girl’s Christmas tree. Some of you may recall I actually made the majority of the tree skirt last Christmas…then this week when I dragged out the Christmas boxes I was inspired to work on it further. We have a felt dot garland that floats around the […]
Sadly we missed out on Halloween and did not get to dress up, so I suggested to Maya that she put on her Midnight Fairy costume anyway, and we go in search of a haunted house. This idea appealed to Elle too and so out the door we headed, looking for the spookiest looking house […]
With a little over a week until Halloween, it is time to get sewing! I started this project six weeks ago and have done little since I first posted about the deconstruction of the dress I picked up at salvation Army. Today, bright and early while still in our PJ’s, Maya, Elle and I were […]
Maya came to me and said “I want to sew Mummy”. It had been a while since she had said this, and so I said “Ok”. We went to the craft cuppboard and I dragged out the scrap felt box. “What would you like to make?” I asked. Maya started rummaging throught the small pieces […]
While I said in my previous post that on Sunday I did nothing…this really is not true. I did quite a few things, one of which was to start Maya’s Halloween costume…..So here it is, my new project, Maya’s “Midnight Fairy” costume for Halloween. Maya has been talking about being a Midnight fairy for a […]
This weekend I made an old skirt into a decorative pillow to go on Maya’s bed. A beloved skirt of mine that I bought about 15 years ago, and wore and wore, and wore. So much so that the seams at the sides were frayed and the seat was wearing thin. The front of the […]