Thought I would post something up as it’s been quiet here lately. Christmas with the families was filled with fun, laughs and lots of food. However, my two little cherubs both came down with a virus on Christmas Eve and so were not in a very jovial mood :-( They’re still recovering so we’ve been house-bound this last week. It breaks my heart to see them so sick. They’ve been getting lots of cuddles and their Christmas presents have brightened them up a little bit.

I received Manda’s delightful swap package just after Boxing Day (you can see what I sent her here). The cute little rabbit now sits in Aurora’s room (alongside this gorgeous giraffe that I purchased from Kate’s shop). Click on the picture below for notes on all the wonderful bits and pieces.

My husband surprised me with a Graphire for Christmas. It’s basically a digital pen and drawing pad and is going to be a huge help for some of the digital drawing/sketching/illustrating I dabble in – much better than trying to accomplish such things with a mouse! I suppose that is one of the advantages of literally being married to Australia’s Mr Gadget :-)

I’ve also found some time to declutter this blog. There is a new page dedicated to all the links I love. I have also set-up a Mailing List for those of you who would like to be notified when new items are available in my shop or in The Great Green Room (see details in left-hand column).

And speaking of new items, after tidying up my studio the other day, I found a pile of unfinished elephant pillows waiting to be stuffed and embellished. The others are still being stitched up along with some new Shmerpi to be available in the next few days or so, but the little pink elephant below is ready to be given away!

She measures approximately 31cm x 22cm and is made of wool-blend suiting, wool felt and cotton patches. She has floppy ears and a little quilted square on her back. She can also double as softie :-) and is safe for all ages.

So if you’d like to be included in the draw, please leave a comment (with your email address – which is not published on this site) on this post between now and midnight on January 1st (Aussie time). A name will be drawn on January 2nd and will be notified on the same day.

Hope you have a wonderful New year!

Wow – finally reached the 100th post!

This is probably the 5th time I’ve tried writing this post – each time, the post just didn’t seem to really say what I wanted to say.

So I’m going to skip the flowery words :-) and simply say thank you. Thank you to all of you for your friendship, encouragement, inspiration and support. I started this blog unsure of where it would take me and whether I had it in me to keep making stuff and to keep blogging. Through this blog, I have met so many amazing, talented, and generous crafters who have taught me much through their blogs – not just about crafty things but about life and motherhood as well.

A very heartfelt thank you.

I’m looking forward to a very crafty 2007 (despite the fact that I will be back at work at the beginning of Feb). I’m looking forward to getting to know more about you crafty folk and to making new crafty friends. Thank you for welcoming me so kindly into the awesome crafting community.

From my family to you and yours, wishing you a very merry Christmas, filled with much peace and love, and a safe and very happy New Year. I will be on a short blogging holiday and will be back here in the first week of 2007.

Thank you for your comments on the three little spaceboys and the patchwork notebook & pencil holder! They are now all wrapped up and posted off so hopefully they will bring much joy to their new owners. I did manage to make it down to the local shopping centre and emerge from it unscathed :-) Surprisingly, it wasn’t as busy as I had envisioned . . . perhaps it was because I got there just as the doors were opening for the day? :-)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that you may have noticed a new button in the left-hand column of this blog. It means that some One Red Robin items will now be available from The Great Green Room.

I am excited about this new development and am looking forward to working on a few things that will only be available at this fantastic online store in 2007. Hope you get a chance to ‘wander through the virtual aisles‘ – you will find that there are wonderfully unique pieces for both little and big kids alike :-)

Ola! How are you?

Me? Well, let’s just say I almost fell right off my chair this morning when I looked up at the wall calendar and realised it’s only one week until Christmas!!!

It was a good thing then, that I decided last night that I was finished with gift-making for this Christmas. Don’t get me wrong – I love making stuff! But the reality is that I was trying to make too much stuff in such a short amount of time, and I was starting to feel a little jaded. And we all know that when you’ve lost that passion, motivation and drive, it’s better to just stop than to keep at it half-heartedly.

So here are the last of the handmade gifts I’ve managed to complete.

Here is a patchwork Notebook & Pencil Holder. To make this, just cut 10 strips of fabric measuring 5cm x 28cm and join long sides together using a 5mm seam allowance. Then put the holder together as per the tutorial. The inside lining is a plain lavender cotton.

And although this was not the original plan, upon receiving the Wee-Wonderfuls Put-Together Book #2, I just couldn’t resist making a few for a nephew and the sons of friends. So here’s Spaceboy Adam, Ethan & Noah (all named after their future recipients).

(Thanks to Coryn for the cute fish-in-bowls fabric!)

And here they are together.

I love Hillary’s patterns. These spaceboys were very easy to put together and seriously, I don’t think it’s possible for Ms Lang to design any softie that isn’t downright adorable. If you follow the instructions, you really can’t go wrong. Plus there’s just so much scope to play with fabrics and colours. Since these spaceboys are off to toddlers, I gave the button on the belt a miss and went with felt letters for the initial of their first names.

And now I shall gird myself for the battle that is Christmas shopping at the local shopping centre. Wish me Godspeed :-)

Thought I’d share a little bit about my latest eBay win. I’ve been trying to bulk up my small soft toy book collection, in search of inspiration and ideas for new soft toys and help on the finer details of soft toy making.

“Soft Toys” by Sharon Welch (ISBN 0 600 58169 1) includes over 50 full-sized patterns for soft toys (plus a few clothes patterns), ranging from rag dolls, to furry soft toys, and felt toys. There are colour photos of all toys with very clear instructions, including helpful tips on all aspects of soft toy crafting. Just what I was looking for!

Here are a few of my favourites from the book:

A) Baby Twins in a Carry Cot

B) Felt Appliqued Soft Balls (another great gift idea for girls AND boys!)

C) Snowman Family

D) Robin Redbreast :-)

E) Felt Toadstool Wall Hanging

F) Miss Muffet Doll & Her Spider

G) Felt Christmas Egg Cosies (I think these would make cute tree ornaments too!)

There are some good tips on attaching yarn hair to dolls (which has been a complete mystery to me until now!), and lots of cute furry creatures that I think would look great made with patchwork fabric :-) I’m excited to try a few patterns out in the new year.

P.S. Craft Apple has posted up a tutorial on another version of the Pencil & Notebook Holder that allows for applique embellshments on the inside and out. Her Little Drawing Artist Cases can be seen here, and tutorial is here. So cute, and so much more professional looking than my version :-)

Thank you so much for your lovely comments about my 2 latest dolls and my little living doll :-)

I’ve completed 2 more gifts from the list. The first is for my Mum (I know she doesn’t read this blog :-) plus she specifically asked for a table mat). This is what I came up with – a little bit of patchwork, some lace, and some hard-wearing cotton ‘duck’ from the upholstery section at the local fabric store.

It was a little tricky to photograph – you can see a slightly larger version over at my Flickr account. It measures 100cm x 40cm.

The other gift is a bag made from various cotton fabrics and the same cotton duck used above. The pattern is from Machine Made Patchworks. I’ve used red gingham for the lining. The other side of the bag has a simple butterfly applique.

Both were fairly easy to put together and very satisfying as they were each completed during 2 nap times :-) I’ve just got another bag, another pencil & notebook holder, and perhaps a few more softies and the list will be done. I can’t wait to move onto Christmas decoration crafting!

Hope you are all well!

I forgot to mention in my last post that if you are looking for a seller of Japanese Craft Books, I highly recommend Simply Pretty Japanese Beads Books on eBay. I buy my Craft Books from her and she is willing to help you look for a particular book if you can’t find it in her shop, as she lives in Japan. Good prices, fast delivery and excellent customer service :-)

I’m still working through my Christmas gift list. I was hoping to update my shop before Christmas, but that seems highly unlikely now – hopefully I’ll be able to work on a few things for the shop over the new year period.

I’ve completed these two Happy Chibi Girls, Giselle & Rozette, named after my two god-daughters (and future recipients).

I’ve stuck with the open-eyed look but have used smaller versions of the eyes I usually make for the Baby Chibi Dolls. As I’ve mentioned before, the original Happy Chibi Girls were based on my eldest daughter. These two have a new hairstyle based on my youngest daughter’s unruly mop top.

Aurora is is almost 6 months now and she’s got one crazy head of hair! It’s quite tame in the picture above – usually it’s all sticking up and over like a fountain :-)

You may also notice that the design of the doll’s shoes is courtesy of Wee Wonderfuls Put-Together Book #1 :-) Speaking of that book, I couldn’t resist ordering Book #2, which has the patterns for a Spaceboy and a Robot (finally, something I can make for little boys!). Don’t you just love that Thank You postcard?!

I’m really enjoying the “Four Things” meme popping up on all my favourite blogs! Such a treat to know more about fellow crafty bloggers :-)

I’ve managed to get my Christmas presents early this year :-) All I really wanted were a few Japanese craft books and these are the ones that have been added to my small collection:

1) “Simple + One Children’s Clothes Patterns”

After admiring all the wonderful children’s clothes that crafty mums have been sewing over the last few months, I have decided to take up a new challenge next year and that will be making clothes for my 2 girls. It’s something I have been putting off for a while now since it seems so difficult and complex. I purchased this book with the hope that I will learn the basics and will be able to make some simple outfits. I think this is a great starting point – there are 8 patterns, which are the basis for a variety of clothes. And it comes with 33 full-scale patterns.

2) “Bags and Specials with Applique Accents”

The bag on the cover of this book caught my eye. It contains patterns for 48 bags and purses plus the templates for some very cute applique. I’m really looking forward to making a few things from this book. These are a few of my favourites:

3) “Natural Taste Small Fabric Zakka Patterns Book”

I’ve always wanted a book on Zakka and this one has patterns for 74 Zakka items – all of which can be made of fabric scraps. I think it’s another good source for gift ideas.

And before I go, I just wanted to draw your attention to the wonderful work of a few crafters that have kept me smiling all week:

• Kup Kup
• Bags & Pouches by Qpatchwork
• Tsk Tsk Blog
• Telas by Sara Mota
• Mixed Media Paintings by JMC Designs
• And this by Delicious Coma (a different kind of Japanese craft :-))

Enjoy!

It’s been an interesting weekend . . . my almost 3-year-old decided to throw a weekend-long tantrum. I’m starting to think that she may be coming down with the flu (that I am just getting over) since her behaviour is certainly unusual. Thus little crafting has been achieved – just these two t-shirts that I appliqued (for me :-)). A shirt with some orange pears, and another with a red robin :-).

So it was a nice surprise to find out that I’ve been tagged by the lovely Linda. Here goes:

Four Jobs I’ve Had:

1. Research Assistant
2. Children’s Online Bookshop Owner/Operator
3. IT Business Analyst
4. and that’s about it! I’ve been an IT Business Analyst for the last 9 years – my first real job straight out of Uni.

Four Movies I Could Watch Over & Over:

1. LOTR Return of the King (I like the other 2 films as well but the 3rd installment is just beyond brilliant)
2. The Fiddler on the Roof (The music can linger in my head for weeks)
3. Emma
4. And a whole bunch of comedies.

Four Places I Have Lived (Apart From Where I am Now):

1. Sydney, Aus
2. Clearwater, Florida, USA
3. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
4. Manila, Philippines

Four TV Shows I Love:

1. House
2. This year’s Australian Idol
3. Everybody Loves Raymond (even re-runs still crack me up)
4. Northern Exposure (when it was still on TV)

Four Places I Have Been For a Vacation:

1. Fiji
2. Greece
3. Hong Kong
4. Singapore

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

1. Bloglines
2. Flickr
3. Etsy
4. Ebay

Four Favourite Foods:

1. Japanese food – my ultimate favourite!
2. Thai
3. Seafood – mostly Prawns & Oysters
4. Rocky Road – whether it be in the form of chocolate, a slice, or ice cream – it’s all good :-)

Four Places I Would Rather Be:

1. I love spending time with my family in the USA
2. Sydney – it’s where I grew up and most of my closest friends live there
3. New Zealand – so much natural beauty to experience!
4. Japan – I’ve always wanted to visit for so many reasons (food, culture, fabric – haha!); perhaps when the girls are older :-)

Four People I’m Tagging:

If you feel like it :-)

1. Coryn
2. Shell
3. Belinda
4. Debby

Oh, and Rhelynn, Vera, Brooke & Ellia too :-) Would love to know more about you!