First 4 months of Melly and Me's Once Upon a Time BOM

First 4 months of Melly and Me's Once Upon a Time BOM, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

This is a project I've been working on since May last year, I started the first one at SIT. I've been slowly making my way through the stitcheries, these are the first 4, I'm working on month 7 at the moment. I was convinced I was having a girl so really wanted to get the whole quilt finished. When I found out I was having a boy I didn't slow down but I did try and make it more masculine, working with different colours etc but it still looks like a quilt for a little girl. Oh well, I will just have to complete it for me. It was a good project to work on while pregnant, I had just started month 7 when I went into labour!!

Back soon with a completed project, shock horror!!

TTFN

Introducing the latest Mandy Made

Please meet Oliver Lee born 2 weeks ago today (3 days old in the photo). He weighed 3.63 kg (8lb) and was 54 cm long. We are so happy to have him finally with us. He's settling in really well and I'm really looking forward to getting to know my new little guy. Now what to make first for him.....

Little Gabby's 1st birthday softies

Little Gabby's 1st birthday softies, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

We have a very special little girl in our lives, one that wanted to come into this world way too early, about 15 weeks too early. She's doing really well now and is such a happy little girl. So for her 1st birthday I thought and thought about what I could make her. Not being in a making mood on her actual birthday I waited a little while and then luckily came across these 2 softies, well Aidan came up with the snail after he saw me flicking through moda bake shop. She had a celebration on Australia day for her due date so the Kookaburra by Kate Henderson was also a perfect choice.

The snail was designed by Angela Yosten and found on the Moda Bake Shop website. This was a really great softie to sew with Aidan. All it requires are 2 strips from a jelly role, which I had left over from another project. Aidan sewed the 2 pieces together and I took over for the rounded head, he's getting really good with the foot control, not as many racing incidences. We found a pole to turn it inside out then stuffed it with small pieces at a time, this was probably the most time consuming. I hand sewed the role up. The original pattern didn't have eyes but Aidan insisted.

The kookaburra was in the latest Homespun Mag 12.1 and designed by Kate Henderson of Two Little Banshees. I love making Kate's patterns. I made her platypus for Gabby's big sisters 1st birthday. It was quick to make, I took longer choosing the material!!

I finally made a trip out to Gail B's patchwork shop. I've been meaning to for a long time. My friend Leah warned me that I need to have a goal in mind when going there, and when I got there I knew what she meant. So much fabric to choose from, I was in heaven. Unfortunately I took Aidan with me who soon got board and wanted spider man to hide in the fabric, I'll go back, definitely!

Not sure what my next project will be, I've only got a couple of weeks to go till the little one arrives. I've been working on Melly and Me's Once Upon a Time BOM, I think i'll concentrate on that again, hand sewing, yay. Not up to sitting at the machine anymore.

School goes back this Friday so I'll be getting some time to myself, for a couple of weeks at least. The baby's room is still in disarray, converting it from the study/sewing room has proven to be a bigger project than we first thought, at least we have now settled on paint colours, fingers crossed it will be finished but it wont be the end of the world!

Happy Stitching

Mandy

Enjohn the 3 headed monster

Enjohn the 3 headed monster, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Meet Enjohn the 3 headed monster. It's school holidays at the moment and Aidan was itching to make something, he'd exhausted lego building so turned to my sewing machine. So we looked through all of my softies books. He came across Tri-Plod from "Invasion of the Plush Monsters" by Veronika Alice Gunter. He was designed by Ian Dennis.

We had to enlarge the pattern (one of my pet hates about some of these books) so had to visit dad at work so he could enlarge the pattern. He printed it on a thick card so we could use it as a template, very handy, then a trip to spotlight for the materials. The pattern asked for 1 metre of felt, total over kill, 30cm would have done it, so we now have plenty of red felt to make something else. The blue fuzzy material came as a fat quarter so that was handy, more monsters can be made of that. I think the eyes could have been smaller, it was a bit tricky inserting them, there wasn't a size in the pattern so I had to guess.

This book is supposed to be for beginners, I thought this pattern required more than a beginners knowledge of how to make a softie.

He's been on lots of adventures, especially with the first softie I ever made, Tu Tu, and will go on lots more, until school goes back I think.

Happy Monster making

Mandy

A year in Review 2010

It was a bit's and pieces year last year, I made all sorts of things from different crafts. I attended Sew It Together and joined the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild, attended heaps of craft fairs and bought way to much fabric. 

I had a bit of a bad health year, not just me, it seemed like all of my family had a bit of a bad year, I won't go into details. Then I got pregnant again, yay. 6 years after being pregnant with Aidan, what can I say, sometimes these things take time!! I thought if I got pregnant again I'd be all about craft and I'd be making heaps, the opposite happened, I completely lost my crafty mojo. Unless something had to be made it was just too hard to think about. So my list of things I wanted to make just didn't get done. Oh well, at least everyone is now healthy and I've finally got my mojo back, some might say it's nesting!!

So last year I declared 2010 as the year for domestic projects, well I guess that is now going to be carried into 2011 on a larger scale as there will be another little person to make stuff for.

I'm going to make another make wish list that I'll keep in my side bar and hopefully cross off this year, but who knows, I may get a baby this time that wont let me get any time to myself, so I'm going to play it by ear.

There are a few things that I want to do though:

• Comment more on others blogs - I've been too much of a lurker, I want to change this
• Get more involved with quilt or sew alongs - there has been heaps I wished I have joined
• Complete the quilts I've started
• Look into craft markets to have a stall - I want to have something original though so I need to come up with something while working out the pros and cons of having a market stall.
• Sew from my stash before shopping - my stash has got out of hand, I want to weigh what I have and maybe 1/2 it, but that also depends on how many projects I'm able to make!!

Ok so just a few goals for the year, we'll see how we go.

So this year is going to be full of changes with the introduction of new little person in our lives and also not working at my career for 12 months, I think that is going to be the biggest adjustment!!

I know this is a month into 2011 but happy new year and may you get all of your crafty wishes for 2011.

TTFN

Mandy

A late birth present for Eva

I know it has been a while between posts but I have been very busy building a baby (now 35 weeks) and haven't felt too crash hot about sitting at a sewing machine let alone at the computer to blog about it. Well now I have finished work (since Christmas!!) I've had a bit more energy to sew and sit at the computer so we'll see how we go now.

Above is a gift I finished a while ago (November to be exact) but haven't written about, I wanted to give it to baby Eva first. So before I do a year in review post I thought I better write about this one first. I had ideas of what I wanted to make Eva but none seemed to get made through the bit of a sewing slump I had, until I saw "Once Upon A Time - Girl" in Homespun Mag 11.10, designed by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches. It was perfect. I was home sick with a cold so whipped the stitchery up in no time. I had a few problems with the kind of thread that Natalie suggested but just ended up going through my extensive dmc thread stash and used that. I used a jelly roll from spotlight and trimmed it to the correct width, it would have been ok if they sold honey buns as well. Anyway, I found that the material wasn't cut straight at the fold which was very annoying, if you are going to use one of these rolls watch out for this. I also found that my 1/4 inch foot isn't, nothing joined up. I found that the gauge is out but the metal part is ok so from now on I ignore the gauge, very annoying. I'm happy with the finished product and had no problem with the pattern at all, just need a boy to stitch the other one for now!! More close up picks on flckr.

TTFN

Mandy

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas 2010, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year.

TTFN

Mandy


Half-Eaten Gingerbread Man design by Meg Spaeth
Handmade by MandyMade

Gift for Little A's teacher and Big Buddy

Lily's Fabric Toadstool

Lily's Fabric Toadstool, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Another Christening gift, this one for my other niece. You may remember the toadstool I posted about back in May. Well when thinking about what to make Lily I couldn't go past this fabric toadstool to match the toadstools at her house. The original idea was for Little A to help me make it but it didn't end up that way, he chose the materials but we ran out of time (and maybe patience). It was quick to make and I ended up putting an empty thread spool in the stalk, worked great. I could see a whole forest and maybe some little visitors in the future.

Pattern by Amy Adams from Sewing Calendar 2010. Handmade by MandyMade

Niah's Whale

Niah's Whale, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

When my niece was born Little A wanted to make something for her. We eventually settled on this whale from the book "Softies". He chose all of the materials, helped cut out the pattern, sat on my knee when sewing it up and helped stuff it. With my guidance he then over sewed the edges. We eventually gave it to her for her Christening a couple of weeks ago.

Pattern "the lookout" by Michelle Valigura from the book "Softies". Handmade by Aidan and MandyMade.

Ewok's on an adventure

Ewok's on an adventure, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I made these two little guys for Little A's friends (brothers) for their birthdays in early November. They are Star Wars fans along with their Mum (I made the yoda for her) so now they have their own star wars amigurami. The pattern was a free tutorial found here. I can't believe she gives this tutorial away for free. It was very easy to follow and gave two options for the face, which was handy so I could make two individual ones. Little A is now obsessed with watching the Ewok movie. Lucky I haven't been asked to make one for him.

More stuff made in the last couple of months to come. Now I have the photos off the hubby's camera they will come sooner rather than later. I love the new lens he has on his cannon, perfect shots. I want a new sewing machine before I splash out on new lenses for my camera.

Only 3 weeks of work to go and only 3 weeks to start and finish making stuff for christmas. It's been so muggy in Melbourne that I haven't felt like sewing. Need to crank up the air con.

TTFN