Been a while

Ok, so it's time I tried to keep this updated. I'll start with these mini albums we made for the Mother's Day stall at school. The kids didn't like them so I thought I'd make some up.



What's in the kits? This is an example... some paper, embellishments, lace or ribbon.



I made the top one using the kit pictured. The bottom one is another example of a kit I put together.

Long doll

Yes, this is one very, very long doll. She is 109cms, or 43 inches. The pattern says she should be 47 inches, but I made her legs shorter, I thought with her arms not so long the legs looked odd. Anyway, I made this because my craft group bought the pattern for members to try. I think 3 others made the same doll. I'm not good with faces, so forgive her if she looks a bit strange. Most of the fabric was from my grandmother (anyone would think she has too much since she keeps giving it away LOL) I did get a comment about how old the green florals must be, I think her skirt fabric is around the same. I did buy the green gingham for her legs, and the maroon. Her hair was only $2 at the local crafty shop.
Anyway, she is the first doll I've made from a pattern, and I have another now I might try next. The strange thing with this pattern is that her arms and legs aren't attached to her body, they are glued in to her sleeves and knickers (I sewed them instead)

Pram blanket

I made this last winter to carry around in the car with the pram. The pattern was in a Spotlight catalogue earlier in the year and I loved it so much I had to make one especially for my partner's brother's first baby. It was a little different to this one with all the squares blue in the centre, then rainbow, then yellow, then blue. (Didn't know whether they were having a boy or a girl) And the original size was 5 x 6 squares I think. This one fits pretty nicely in the nappy bag so I can carry it around this winter as well.

Craft Group

I go to a craft group once a week, which sometimes gives me the opportunity to make stuff I mightn't otherwise. Last term we were supposed to make bags, only I was slack and didn't want to buy pellon and lots of fabric, so I ended up making mine in the school holidays. (I ended up using calico instead of the pellon too)

I'd found the floral fabric for this bag on special at Spotlight for about $2mtr. I looked everywhere for something to match the aqua flowers with no luck - everything was too blue or too green. The plain panels were actually from an upholstery swatch my grandmother gave me years ago (she used to work in a furniture shop) I even remembered to put an inner pocket before I sewed in the lining. Because this was a first go I just used the stripy fabric I found for $1, but it looks ok as a lining.


I told mum about not being able to find the right aqua colour for the other bag, so after going through her fabric she had the exact colour I was after. I'd like to make another brown bag, but first I made this one. Mum also bought the cool ric rac because the colours went with the other bag, and the patterned fabric was from another swatch from Nanna. I love the retro 70's look of this fabric and had to use it!


And finally, I didn't make this, but the wonderful ladies that make up the craft group each made a square for this quilt and another made it up. It was given to my baby girl around her first birthday, and I just love it!

Hats

I saw a hat similar to this that had been store bought, so I decided to give making one a go.

I liked the white one so I made another for my sister which just had to be black! She went to the UK and was leaving it behind because it wouldn't be warm enough, so I added a band (you can sort of see it in the picture) but didn't get it to her before she left the country (sorry -d-)

I think I got this idea from a catalogue last year. I actually bought pure baby wool and made one for my then almost 1 year old, then I made this one for my 12 year old which is in acrylic (sadly I have lost the woollen one)

Crochet

I thought I would put up some photos of the first things I crocheted.


This is my first attempt at crochet. I got the idea from Couch Potato (there was a small one over the back of the couch) I told my mum about it and she said she wouldn't make it for me but would teach me how to make it for myself... I just kept going, it is on my king sized bed, just to give you an idea of how large it is.


This was the second thing I crocheted. I saw the pattern in a book my mum had and just had to try it... it took me about 4 years to finish, I only worked on it in the winter months.


This was the next afghan I made and was for my eldest daughter. She had mermaid curtains and matching doona cover which is why I chose those colours. I made it up as I went, and it only took a few weeks to finish.



After making my daughter a blanket my son wanted one as well. He was 4 years old at the time, so when I asked him what colours he wanted he said "all of them"! As a result there is also a bit of pink, which he regrets now that he is 10! This one took longer than my daughter's.

OMG I've started a blog

Well, the title says it all really.
I've started this to put up all the hand crafted things I do, and maybe even some of the things I have made in the past that I think are pretty nice... now I just need to sort myself out to take photos of stuff ROFL.

Now I've started it I hope I can keep it fairly up-to-date.