Meet Trevor

I've been playing with photoshop

I sat down on Saturday afternoon and actually made a list of all the things that I need to get finished this month. I hate having to rush to finish things on time, so I'm hoping (and praying) that the list actually works!

One of the items on the list was Trevor.

Trevor is the Softie for Mirabel that was in my creative space earlier in the week.

Trevor in his natural unphotoshopped habitat

If you would like to make your very own version of Trevor, you can find the pattern and some super quick instructions right here on my tutorials page.


There is still plenty of time to make a Softie for Mirabel - Pip is taking donations up until December 7th, so get cracking!

PS - A quick tip - although fuzzy hairy fabrics are a bit more difficult to work with, they're very forgiving, especially when trying to hide the spot where you've hand stitched the filling gap!

My Creative Space & A Book Launch

In my creative space today is a project that I was supposed to get finished yesterday, instead of spending the entire day faffing around (somewhat due to my lack of patience and interest in computer hardware).... Oh, yes, and I  might have gone out to have lunch at a nice little cafe too.

But anyway, I digress....this is going to be my Softie for Mirabel. It's just a simple little fuzzy bear softie that I designed yonks ago to use for Toy Society drops.

I had grand plans of having a proper tutorial written for making him, but I'm not going to have time, so I'm just going to share my pattern, and some super basic instructions. You can download a pdf copy here if you're interested, or I've also added links via my tutorial page.
It was written in a huge hurry so if there are any glaring errors, I'm apologising in advance!

Lovely photo used courtesy of Kate

In other crafty news, I was very lucky to be able to go along to Pips book launch for Sew La Tea Do on Tuesday night. I forgot to take my camera, so lets just pretend that Pip is signing my copy of her lovely book in this photo, shall we.....


The home of My Creative Space....

Mirakitty

Inspired by this post, I quickly whipped up another Softie for Mirabel yesterday afternoon. If you haven't read Pip's post, then please do....

Mirakitty will be living in the high chair until I have time to drop him off at Meet Me at Mikes...

Mirabunny

I was just checking out the Softies for Mirabel auctions over on Ebay and found my Mirrabunny.
She's a very happy bunny and he doesn't eat much, so please make a bid so that the Mirabel Foundation can help out some lovely little kiddies....

Thankyou Pip....you put a smile on my dial.

Have you heard the news.......

Thanks to all the hard work and organisation from Pip over at Meet Me at Mikes, the Softies for Mirabel auction has begun.

Click on the picture to go directly to Ebay and make a bid!

Today I.........

.....baked some banana bread using the recipe that I found on Jen's Blog........

......stopped off at Mikes and dropped in my two Mirabel Softies........

......took my banana bread to Footscray and had a scrumptious afternoon tea with all of the lovely ladies that I used to work with.........


.....arrived home to find a package waiting patiently for me at the front door......


It was my Art Swap piece that Shellbells had made just for me! It's a gorgeous functional piece of art because it doubles as a letter holder. She has even added the little Into The Woods logo at the bottom. This is going on my kitchen wall (once I search the house and find some picture hooks). A big thanks must go to Cath for organising the swap...yah!


In other news, Michelle has received her Peter Rabbit pillowcase. I posted it a little bit later than I had expected so sorry about that!

And in more other news, Steph has finally received her 100th post giveaway prize.

The bag took me a little longer than I anticipated because I couldn't stop stitching and adding buttons. I was having fun sitting on the couch, watching tv and adding the embroidery.

I used Jodies tutorial again (I'm going to have start sending you commission Jodie.....maybe you would accept selvedges as payment).

I'm a little pedantic about the length of my bag strap, and I wasn't sure whether Steph liked long or short straps, so I decided to make both. They are detachable and each has multiple buttonholes so that the length can be changed.

The best thing about making this bag is that it forced me to actually read the instructions of my sewing machine manual. I now know how to make buttonholes.....yippee!

These are the little crafty bits and pieces that I added to the prize........

Keep you eyes peeled for another giveaway later this week (especially if you're a knitter).

Mirabunny

I finally finished my next Softie for Mirabel.
The original concept was to make something that looked like an astronaut......but this is what I ended up with........I have christened him MIRABUNNY (that's short for Mirabel Bunny).

I'll be popping him in the mail to head off to his new lovely home today!

Mirabel Softie

Yah! I finished my first softie today.......

I was going to embroider the "M" for Mirabel on her foot but my sister suggested adding a heart with the "M" embroidered.......the heart was a great idea!

I decided to give her some plaits just to make her look a bit more girlie because her legs look a little bit like golf clubs (whoops)!

If you would like to join in and make a softie, then go for it!

Thanks to Pip for organising such a great fundraiser for the Mirabel Foundation.

Buzzy, Blankies & Softies

The Buzzy bag was finished off lastnight. I threaded some ribbon through the top pocket and made some fabric pulls for the ends so that the ribbon doesn't fray. I also sewed the ribbon inside the pocket at one side so that little people can't pull the ribbon all the way out (I learned that lesson after giving gifts in drawstring bags last christmas).

Thismorning I cut up fabric for nine more blankies for the twins. I just need to make some more bias tape and attach it to finish these off!

I had to babysit my nephew Moo Moo today so I didn't want to get out any sewing supplies while he was here. We did manage to sing and dance to the Wiggles (I had it on in rotation and I still have Hoop De Doo playing in my head), and we had a little picnic on the rug in the front yard with ginger nut and choc chip biccies. I did actually feed him real food for lunch first!

I've seen lots of cute little things in blogland over the last couple of days. Firstly 'Softies for Mirabel' is back again this year over at Meet Me at Mikes. I missed out last year because I was just lurking but I'm going to get into the swing of it this year.

I saw this cute little book weight over on A Spoonful of Sugar. I was making a banana cake last weekend and my recipe book kept flipping shut so this would be perfect!

And I finally managed to send off my last pay it forward gift all the way to New Zealand to Sew Funky.

I've found lots more cool blogs over the last couple of weeks so I really need to update my side bar, maybe I'll save that job for the weekend!

Oh and last but not least, an update on the ladder (that is still sitting in the front garden bed), Mr CurlyPops likes the idea of installing it somehow in the laundry to use for clothes drying (thankyou Drewzel). This is a great idea because it will be much more environmentally (and financially) friendly during the winter instead of using the tumble dryer. The house where we stayed in Bellbrae over the Christmas holidays had really high ceilings and they had a clothes drying rack in the loungeroom that worked on a rope and pulleys system so you let it down to hang the clothes and then raise it up out of the way until they dry. It was really cool, but I only have 7 foot ceilings so that isnt really going to work.

I wish I had a huge craft room so I could also use a bit to hang gorgeous fabrics for inspiration (I can dream can't I)! One day!