Shmerpi!

I bought this pattern a while ago because it was so darn cute! It is a Shmerpi and the pattern is by One Red Robin, or Jhoanna Monte. I love that she is Australian too - she lives in Melbourne. Have a look at her blog - it is full of lovely goodness.

Anyway! I made a Shmerpi for one of my beautiful nieces who is turning 8 on Sunday.

I used op-shop purple fleecy backed tracksuit material for the body, acrylic felt for the face, heart and pocket tabs. The lovely clothes were made from some lovely fabric I got in a Crafty Mama's swap from Lissylou.

Here is the Shmerp looking pensive and bit nervous about meeting her new owner. Or that could just be my still-to-be-developed embroidery skills :)

Although she does look kind of happy in this shot, don't you think?

Arms crossed and very nonchalant.

Just hangin'.

I really enjoyed making her and I hope that Miss O loves her to pieces. The clothes were really easy to make and go on easily. This is such a lovely pattern. The only thing I would change in the instructions would be to stuff the legs AFTER sewing the front and back together, as instructed for the arms. The pattern pieces actually imply this, but being the stickler that I am, I followed the written instructions, not the markings on the pattern. Do you know how hard it is to sew the front and back of a softie together with two incredibly well-stuffed limbs sandwiched in between! It took me many, many, many goes to get it right. So if you have this pattern, are going to buy this pattern, or borrow it from me (Julie ;) ) then heed my warning!

Thanks for looking :)

Some recent sewing

I have a lot of things on my to-do list and finally, finally I am nearly finished a gift for somebody special who gave me a heap of flannel last year so I could make lots of raggy quilts. I don't think she reads my blog so I think I'm safe posting he pics here.

So I made a pair of warm winter pyjamas for both of this lovely Mama's boys - I'm a chicken when it comes to sewing stretch, so the tops are just from Big W and I appliqued (quite badly) their initial on each one so that they can tell whose pj's are whose! They are quite close in age so I made them the same size. The flannel is from spotlight.

Along with each pair of pj's I have a sock monkey - I have yet to make them - they are almost completed but just need their limbs sewed on. So I've added a photo of a sock monkey (same socks but different colours) that I have made as a special order for a friend overseas. I wonder if she'll read this and think "Oh it's mine!!" :-)

He was so lovely to make - I didn't use the machine - and it turned out so much nicer than my machined sock monkeys. For some reason (it's that stretch fabric thing!!) the seams just always seem to split :(. I never have a problem with the ones I've hand-sewn. Any ideas on what I"m doing wrong?

Haven't posted for ages so I just thought I'd let you all know that things are happening - I just don't have 36 hours in the day. I wish!

Bushfire Toys

While the crafty Mamas forum was out of action I was quite busy. It's amazing what I can achieve when I have no distractions :) Here are some lovely little chickens - I made four - they are so cute and they fit into the palm of my hand. They each have a little stuffed heart in their front pocket. I got the pattern from here. It is so cute and very easy to whip up. I thought they might be good for kids as they are small enough to put in pockets. Thinking of putting a little note in each pocket too. What do you think? Sort of treat these little chickens like they're "worry dolls" - a little friend for the kids to talk to.




I also made a few sock creatures. The grey, stripey one was from bits of sock left over so he was just made up with what was left. Mr O did the eye placement and mouth placement - he loves it and I think is a bit sad that he is going. The black one was just a design I'd wanted to try. He was going to be a cyclops but DH thought he looked funny with only one eye. I am thinking of doing adoption certificates or info/care booklets to go with them - this is what I did for my nieces/nephews ones. Do you think that would be alright?




Here's the black one - what do you think I should call him? I'm stumped on this one.


and here's the grey one




Stripey McStumpyton? Ideas?

Thanks for looking!