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

Dad's Mug Rug

Dad's Mug Rug, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I'm still here, I haven't totally disappeared!! Just part of my brain seems to have turned to mush. So I haven't been in the mood to write anything. But I have been doing some crafting. Gifts mainly so I can't post pics. I do have some to show though. But I wont do it all at once.

This is my latest. Mug rugs seem to have exploded in blog land and on flickr, so I thought I'd have a go. My Dad had a birthday on the weekend so I thought it a perfect time to make one, or two as it turns out!! I couldn't think of any designs and I've had this fabric for ages, only a small piece, he's into wood, so I thought i'd just have two plain pieces, no piecing to worry about, then quilt so it kinda looks like wood. So this is what I came up with. I made one with a spiral of circles and the other with a spiral of squares, he can use either side. He always puts his mug on a speaker next to the couch with a biscuit or two, now Mum wont have to wipe up after him, just chuck the mug rug into the wash.

So there you have it.

On the baby front, I'm now 26 weeks, 3rd trimester, yay. I had a scan on friday and it's around the 80 percentile so it looks like i'll have another tall one, Little A is currently in the 97th percentile!! Can't really keep calling him Little A. All is going well and I only have 4 weeks of work left, yay, then i'll have lots of time for crafting!!

Until next time

TTFN

PS. For more pics of the mug rug go to my flickr page.

Made a yoda I did

I recently made this little guy for a friends 40th, star wars fan, can you tell? I've got plans for her kids birthday's this year, shh. I got the pattern from a crochet tutorial by Oh so happy together. Go check her other stuff out.

My mum's been busy again. Another tea cosy, more to come, she's not stopping here.

My Creative Space

You may be under the impression that I have actually made something this week, or in fact month. But alas no. Not of the crafting variety at any rate. But I have been making something, of the human variety. Yes that's right, I'm 3 months preggers, and I've lost my crafty mojo, please tell me I'll get it back.

I did finish the man scarf I started for the hairy bloke. Sitting still and knitting or crocheting is all I can stomach at the moment, feeling better now though.

For more, crafty, creative spaces head over to kootoyoo