So I walked into my studio the other day to be greeted with this sight:

Noting her frown, I asked Sian the Shmerpi why she was unhappy.

“Well,” she began, “I’m not quite liking the fashion you have us Shmerpi folks sporting. Look at Isidore – she gets to wear such a pretty dress. And how about Ramona with her head scarf and dress with pockets? And don’t get me started on the Chimp – I mean, he’s wearing a tie! A tie! Seriously – why does a Chimp need a tie???”

I nodded – after all, she did have a point.

“Listen, the quirky tops and mismatched pant-legs you make us Shmerpi creatures wear is cute but, you know, it wouldn’t hurt to have us in – well, prettier clothes.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to empathize – because, really, how do you empathize with a Shmerpi? “Do you have an idea of what you would like to wear?”

“Let me show you,” she quipped. So I set her up with paper and a pen, and she happily sketched her ideas.

Then we spent some time checking out the fabric stash. She initially couldn’t decide between florals and novelty patterns.

However, once she saw the new floral number by Denyse Schmidt from her Katie Jump Rope line, Sian quickly made up her mind.

So I spent the next hour sewing her up a smock with pockets (while she impatiently drummed her stubby fingers on the table). And when I thought we were just about done, she requested some matching bloomers.

“Bloomers?” I said, “What do you need bloomers for?”

“Well, unlike the other softies, kids actually like to make us Shmerpi creatures do silly things like hang upside down. And when that happens, I would like to . . . you know . . . protect my modesty.”

“Riiiiiiight,” I said. “Of course.”

So I then made her some matching bloomers.

She hastily put them on and after a few little adjustments, Sian was finally one happy Shmerpi. She found a spot next to the window and immediately day-dreamt of new clothes and new outfits.

Before I walked out the door, she did ask me for one more thing.

“And what’s that?” I replied.

“I’d like some sisters – just like me.”

Hmmmm, looks like it’s back to the sewing machine. (Who knew Shmerpis could be so demanding?? And so fashion-conscious too.)

It’s been a good week for fabric :-) My wonderful bundle of fabric goodness finally arrived from here. Thanks to the glowing recommendation by Leslie, I decided to go and have a peek at their online store. It didn’t take much convincing for me to start adding stuff to my cart – the prices are fantastic and the shipping is very reasonable.

The photo on the right is not from Z&S but are some Japanese-themed panels I picked up at the Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fair yesterday. I managed to get the afternoon off from work so took a stroll down to the Fair. The Quilt Exhibition was amazing – I must have said “wow’ at every single quilt I saw! And there were stalls and stalls and stalls of fabric. I even bumped into Melly & Rosie! I came away with a few fat quarters and the panels above, plus this bag pattern and this bag pattern, which I’m hoping to make as gifts for Ava’s pre-school teachers towards the end of the year.

At the moment my studio is full of WIPs as I try to finish up some wholesale orders by the end of this month. The pace has been slow (the girls haven’t been sleeping well – Aurora is sick, and Ava has suddenly developed a fear of the dark and insists there are monsters in her room), but these two softies are ready for some picture taking.

Sam the Cheery Chimp (and as you can see, I am still loving that house-&-quilts fabric!):

And this is Happy Chibi Girl Ramona. I still have to embellish her scarf and shoes but she’s all ready for some adventures in the garden, with small pockets to hold tiny treasures.

I tried a different hairstyle with her. I’ve used wool felt (instead of wool-flannel) with a fringe (or bangs) like my Baby Chibi dolls. I also used strips of wool felt to make buns and as a result she has this ‘Princess Leia‘ vibe about her :-) I have to admit that out of all of the dolls I have made so far, Ramona is the one that reminds me most of my girls.

And in other news, Jan was my doll quilt swap partner and finally received my doll quilt. I am still awaiting mine – the suspense is killing me! Can’t wait to see it and to find out who has made it!

And Corrie has opened up an Aussie online shop stocked with Japanese fabric and craft books. Oh joy!!!

I’ve been working away on a few wholesale orders for softies and even though I thoroughly enjoy the softie-making process, I’m the kind of person who needs to switch focus for a little while so that I can maintain the motivation to keep making softies.

So in between the softie-making, I’ve been dabbling in a little scarf-making and tote-bag-making.

These kid-sized scarves are now in my shop – please see the separate listings for details. (EDIT: All have been sold except for the first one, which is the scarf in the top left-hand box).

And these “Take ‘em” Tote bags (coz you can take ‘em anywhere!) are also in my shop – the third one features a gorgeous print by Aunty Cookie. (EDIT: the first one (blue) on the left has been sold).

My long-neglected cafepress shop has also been updated with postcard packs of Happy Chibi Girl Isidore and of the 3 Owls (8 postcards in each pack), and a notecard pack featuring Baby Chibi Doll Gigi (includes 10 notecards and 10 envelopes).

Please drop into my cafepress shop for more details.

I received my pack of 3 silk-screened PataPri tea-towels in the mail this past week. Gorgeous stuff! Check out her etsy shop here.

And please check out this delightful Ruby Doll created by Mirabo.

Hope you are all having a sweet weekend. It’s now back to softie-making for me :-)

Here are the five Shmerpi creatures that are finally on the way to Aspects of Kings Park in Perth (WA) for the kids display. All of the little softies that accompany the Shmerpi creatures were special requests.

Sigmund the Pirate Shmerpi and Snail

Schafer the Pirate Shmerpi and Elephant

Spring the Shmerpi and Monkey

Sequoia the Shmerpi and Owl

Siona the Shmerpi and Koala

Please contact Aspects if you are interested in any of the Shmerpi above.

And this here is Sullivan the Shmerpi. His shirt is from a vintage children’s fabric.

He’s actually going to my sister-in-law who currently teaches Grade Prep (5-6 year olds). During this term (Term 3), Sullivan will be going home with a child at the close of every week and the child will then return the following week with a story or two on their adventures with Sullivan over the weekend! I can’t wait to hear some of their stories :-)

I managed to make it to the Stitching Night at Mikes last night – I enjoyed it so much that I am hoping to go again sometime next month! Pip was indeed the hostess with the mostest :-) We snacked on cupcakes and Tim Tams and sipped on Champers, tea and even some lemon cordial. Pip made the most gorgeous little pear softie/pin cushion for each of the participants and I came away with a door prize – “Bon Voyage” by Sublime Stitching! (And I picked up a few more vintage fabric pieces).

Super-crafty Belinda was there with her charming sister Nicole and it was a treat to catch up with Belinda face-to-face (after knowing her only through her blog). We also got to catch up with Dana who brought with her a fresh new batch of delightful Market Baby clothes. And I met the very talented Pei Pei, whose embroidery blew me away!

Speaking of embroidery and stitching, I chose to try out an illustration generously supplied by Shannon. I did some very simple stitching (i.e. back-stitch) given my clumsy fingers and thankfully didn’t make too mistakes. I was hoping to finish it up on the night but as we neared 11pm, the migraine that I thought I had chased away earlier on in the day, returned and I had to make a quick exit before the pain became too much to bear. (Migraines are truly a thorn in my side – I get them almost every fortnight . . .)

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic night overall. I just wish I had more time to get to know many of the other talented ladies who also attended. I rarely get the chance to mix and spend time with crafty people so events like these are always refreshing, inspiring and just downright fun!

More stitching happened today – this time hand-binding the doll quilt. I used Heather’s tutorial, plus this one. It actually went faster (and smoother) than I had expected so I am very happy to say that I finally have a completed (doll) quilt. Granted, it is slightly wonky and I really need to practice binding corners but I sincerely hope the recipient will find some charm in it :-) It roughly measures 53cm by 53cm.

And here’s the back (as mentioned previously, I used vintage fabric from my Grandmother’s stash).

So now to package it all up and throw in a few little goodies too! And then onto more softies. Have a great night all!

P.S. The Made It Shop is now up and running! Go check it out! Happy Chibi Girl Isidore will be one of the competition prizes up for grabs next month :-)

Hope your weekend was all that you had hoped it would be!

Mine was fairly productive. Perhaps it had to do with my new little helper -

Ava (3 years old) decided that she wanted help me with my “biznez” (as she pronounces it) so she pulled up a chair and asked me to teach her how to stuff a softie. She did a great job – although I had to keep reminding her to be gentle :-) Of course, I suddenly had visions of us sewing and making things together in the distant future . . . that’s what I’m hoping for anyway!

So thanks to Ava’s help, these little gals and guys are just about ready to travel to Western Australia.

They will be participating in a kids display at Aspects on Kings Park, Perth (and will also be available for sale in their store).

The order of scarves is also almost ready too and I was about to start on binding the doll quilt but got a little side-tracked with this Happy Chibi Girl:

But I’ve put her aside so that I can really, really, really start on the binding (so I keep telling myself).

I also got distracted by this wonderful surprise package I received from Tracey and Rebecca.

They sent me a sweet drawstring bag which held some cute ladybug stickers, a super-cute pair of crocheted lady bugs, and a delightful handmade book to store birthdays in. Thanks so much Tracy and Rebecca! The surprise made my day. Your kindness and generosity is overwhelming. Thank you! (Read more about the handmade book here).

More sweetness came my way in the form of gorgeous greeting cards that I picked up free with the latest issue of Frankie magazine. I think there’s a different mix of cards with each copy of the magazine. The one I picked up had cards designed by Jen Corace, Katherine Brickman, Eveline Tarunadjaja, Beci Orpin, and Kat McLeod. I love them all and don’t know if I’ll be able to give them away . . .

And finally I wanted to share with you Happy Chibi Girl Isidore. She was completed last month and I almost forgot all about her! A new Australian online store is opening very soon and Isidore is one of the many prizes that can be won through competitions that the website will be running. I’ll provide details once the online store is open for business. I really love the fabric I used for Isidore’s dress – it’s amazing what gems you can find hidden in the discounted section of Spotlight!

Thank you for the Shmerpi love! :-)

It’ll be a rainy weekend over here in Melbourne, which means staying indoors and working on some WIPs:

>> More Shmerpi creatures for a wholesale order -

>> Get started on hand-binding the doll quilt -

>> Finish off a wholesale order of scarves (and hope to get started on some kid-sized versions too!) -

>> Complete a simple tote bag made from some vintage brocade (I think that’s what you call it) fabric that I picked up from Mike’s -

But best of all, it means catching up with these 2 girls after a fairly crazy week at work :-

Wishing you all a lovely weekend (rain or shine)!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post regarding progress on the doll quilt. And thank you for the resounding agreement on Heather’s continuous quilt-binding tutorial :-) It is indeed a fantastic how-to and I have printed it off and will keep it handy as I attempt to bind the quilt over the coming days.

For now, just wanted to introduce a few more Shmerpi creatures (all custom orders) that were completed during my blog break last week:

Shadrach (and a rather stunned pear-buddy):

Sydney (and owl-buddy):

Sherwood (and monkey-buddy):

And Sumner the Pirate (and owl-buddy):

And also wanted to share my new favourite necklace that arrived in the mail yesterday. Love the seahorse and the muted colours!

It’s handmade by Nico – check out her etsy store bursting with gorgeous jewelry here (I bought another necklace but will have to keep it out of view since it’s a birthday present for someone special!)

Happy Independence Day to all our American friends and family!!

I have been just itching to get started on my doll quilt for the doll quilt swap – but had to finish off some orders first. After sewing a number of softies last week, it is refreshing to change focus and work on something completely different for a little while.

I consider myself to be a quilt-newbie. I did try my hand at making a quilt for Ava a while back. It’s all sewn up and remains half quilted, but it’s been put to good use anyway! Meanwhile, my swap partner recipient is a total quilting expert! So after the slight panic that set in after I was sent details of my swap partner, I decided that instead of trying to go for something a little more complex, I would endeavour to do my best with a quilt pattern I was very comfortable with and loved – the log cabin!

I got started by drawing up a quick sketch of the quilt, deciding to go with 4 log-cabin blocks. Then I took the calculator out and figured out the measurements. I know that most people can do the log cabin without the measurements but I really am quite the dork and was happily working away on it during a team meeting at work (hope my boss doesn’t read this!).

I calculated that I will need about 63 strips in total and because I would like the strips to be accurate (in addition to the fact that I am quite lazy), I finally bought myself a cutter and mat – I just couldn’t imagine having to cut out 63 strips with scissors!

The piecing of the blocks went rather quickly (I think the right measurements helped). I used a range of Amy Butler fabrics, some vintage fabric and Japanese fabric. Here’s the first block with the other 3 ready to go:

I then added a white border around each block, hoping that it would make the colours jump out a little more.

I then added some red sashing and a grey border. Each block has been put together the same way – I just rotated each one when I positioned them into the quilt.

Since taking the photo above, I chose a vintage bed sheet from my grandmother’s stash for the backing and have quilted the sandwich together – lots of straight lines! I am now thinking about the binding (which will be red to match the sashings) – but I have never yet attempted to bind a quilt. I can already feel a sense of dread at the thought of actually starting it!

The whole process has gone relatively quickly and smoothly – I guess that’s the advantage of working on a small quilt. But now I’m going to quell my fears and find some tips on how to bind this baby! (Any suggestions?)

I know it’s only been eight days since my last post but it sure feels like a very long time to me! I have been checking email intermittently so if I owe you an email, thank you for your patience – I hope to respond very soon! The break from the computer has been a good one and has definitely lead to much productivity. I’m sure this week will see quite a posts from me as I try to catch up :-)

This past week has yielded a batch of delightful gifts and good finds.

Firstly, I received a swap package from Jade. I hadn’t been involved in a swap for some time and after seeing the gorgeous smocks that Jade was making, I offered up a swap and was so happy that she agreed! Happy Chib Girl Eloise went to live with her cutie-pie 1 year old daughter, and I also sent some fabrics that Jade will hopefully find useful.

In return, I received this awesome red corduroy smock:

I cannot tell you how impressive the workmanship is on this garment – it is seriously flawless! It’s also a good weight for winter and roomy enough so that Aurora will get a lot of wear out of it. Jade also generously included these goodies – love that fabric!

Thanks so much Jade! I look forward to seeing more of your lovely smocks available in your etsy shop (which is coming soon??)

A lovely package of Japanese books also arrived this week:

They were bought from my favourite Japanese craft-book seller. I’ll leave you with the covers for now and will share some inside photos later on when I decide what I actually want to make. I mentioned earlier in the year that one of my goals this year was to actually make something for Ava to wear – it’s July and I can’t keep procrastinating any longer! I won’t be taking any custom softie orders this month so that I can actually concentrate on making a few clothes (amongst other things). All the clothes within these books are gorgeous – it’s going to be hard to choose one to get started on. But no more procrastinating for me – hope to at least get the pieces cut out this week!

I also managed to get out during lunch time later on in the week and have a wander through the Hub/Royal Arcade on Little Collins St. I stumbled across a tiny shop called “Anonymous Posh“, which was selling second-hand clothes. However, my eyes were quickly drawn to this -

It’s an enamel owl brooch, handmade in Spain. It promptly came home with me :-)

As did this little one:

I have been bidding on Kokeshi dolls on eBay for a while now and always lost out. What a delightful surprise it was to find one in this tiny shop! I smile every time I see her, perched happily on my desk. And I’ve started sketching out a softie based on her too . . .

Other things I wanted to share:

- Crafty Bits and Bobs shares the sweet Baby Chibi Doll Ana they made from my pattern!

- Shula tells it like it is.

- I’ll be at the Stitching Night at Mikes on July 13th – looking forward to the good company and getting more stitching practice (oh, and the delicious catering! :-))

I’ll be back tomorrow with some actual craft stuff I’ve been working on, starting with progress on the doll quilt for the Doll Quilt swap.