One of the things I love about making gifts is that it gives me a good excuse to try something new with an existing pattern. I have always wondered what my Happy Chibi Girl doll would look like with a simple bob and small, round, plastic eyes.

The eyes and the hair were the only things I changed on the pattern (plus I added a small nose) but it has completely changed her look. The fleece vest was originally meant to be a jacket but I decided that jacket would cover up too much of that cute apple fabric on her top.

She was gifted to one of Ava’s classmates this morning at a birthday party. Hope her new owner has many memorable adventures with her :-)

Spoonflower swatches of my “Woodland Cut-Out” pattern arrived a few days ago:

I’m very happy with how they have turned out. I’d like to try out a few other colours. I am also looking forward to getting this pattern screen-printed locally in the near future :-)

Also on my cutting table, a little snippet of a new doll I’m working on and hope to complete by the weekend:

You can find more creative spaces over on Kirsty’s here!

Also, you might want to check out Angela’s blog – she has been sharing the most delightful blogs and websites. I’ve been enjoying every single one of her recommendations. Angela also has a beautiful new blog called “Open” filled with snapshots of indie shops and cafes in Melbourne – well worth bookmarking too!

Still making samples. It’s been a while between Shmerpi creatures so it was fun to work on these two (I love the cold weather but it’s hard to take photos when it’s so gloomy!):

Still daydreaming about sewing up clothes and finishing up the dress I started a few weeks ago. Sigh. I blame Burdastyle (who have revamped their website – so much good stuff, you could lose a few hours in there) and the Angry Chicken who keeps posting up great dresses and dress patterns.

Started running again this morning after a few days off. Feels good. I read somewhere that a good cure for sinus problems is to “sweat it out”. So I’m going to try and kill this pest of a cold with exercise :-)

** Update on the Run for Mirabel goal of reaching $1000 – it’s currently at $185. Anyone want to push it up to $200?? :-)

** EDITED: We have hit $200! Thanks so much Tracy (please check out her lovely blog over here)! Now, who is able to help us start the climb towards $300?? :-) If you can, please click here.

Here’s a free stitchy pattern for download:

She’s based on a sketch I did of this other Little Bear. I haven’t stitched her up yet but I was thinking of using fabric applique for the skirt and balloons, satin-stitching the snout and shoes, and using tiny buttons for the eyes :-)

Feel free to download your copy right here: One Red Robin’s Little Bear Embroidery Pattern

All you need to do is print it out, use transfer paper/pencil to trace the pattern, and iron-on to your chosen fabric.

I’ve fallen ill again. Bleh. I miss being able to smell and taste food!

Please excuse the shorter posts this week. I will be going back to full-time work next week and there is a still a heap of stuff to sort out and complete before then.

Wishing you a lovely (and healthy!) week.

Currently finishing up a pair of Shmerpi samples but I thought I would post up some One Red Robin softies made by other crafty folk using my patterns:

Happy Chibi Dolls made by Inkie Mummy – love the fabrics and detailing on the accessories and clothing (she has made more – see her blog for pics!):

Cheery Chimps by Peta (a lovely crafter I met at the recent Melbourne Stitches & Craft show) – again, love the contrasting and textured fabrics and how she has made them unique to their recipients:

Have you made a softie or doll using one of my sewing patterns published by Pattern Press? Please let me know! Better yet – please upload them to a new Flickr Group I have created: One Red Robin Sewing Patterns: Softies and Dolls!

If you have made a softie/doll using one of my patterns that has been published in a magazine or book, please feel free to upload these in to the group as well (and in the description, please note what magazine or book it has come from so others will know where to find it if they would like to make one too).

Some of you have asked me where you can buy my sewing patterns and what patterns will be released in the future. If you go to my “Where to Buy” page, scroll down towards the bottom of the page and you will find a list of current stockists (both online stores and bricks-and-mortar stores).

In regards to patterns to be released in the future, the Mama Matryoshka and Baby pattern are now available for purchase by wholesalers/stores so hopefully they will soon be available at retailers. Also planned for release this year are Springbean the Bear and Bubbly the Owlette.

If you are making one of my patterns and encounter a glitch or problem, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am really more than happy to help and provide any guidance you may need – I want you to be happy with the process as well as the result! All feedback is sincerely appreciated.

The one tip I would really like to stress is to take time with the stuffing – use small quantities at a time and stuff firmly into all corners and curves. You don’t need fancy tools. I like to use an old paintbrush to push stuffing into the small, hard-to-reach spots. I know that it may seem like a trivial step in the whole process but I do believe that it has a huge effect on not only the look and shape of the end product, but its durability too.

Thank you to those lovely souls who have donated towards my fun-run goal of $1000 for the Mirabel Foundation :-) We still have quite a way to go to reach the target – I hope you’ll consider donating here :-)

Wonderful softie-related stuff from this week that I’d like to share:
>> A preview of Melanie Hurlston’s (of Melly & Me fame) soon-to-be published book: “Kaleidoscope” (what a great name!)
>> Brilliant photos of Jodie’s Pachyderm cuties

Hope you all have a fun Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead!

A few more samples done:

And just a few more to go before I can work on other things (for a little while and then it’s back to making samples again).

In other news, I think I am going slightly crazy because I have signed up for another fun run :-) This time it’s the Run Melbourne on June 28. I will be doing the 5km run and have started running that distance twice a week in preparation. It’s a bit of a struggle at the moment but I think it will get a little easier over the next few weeks (I hope!).

With this event, the participant can choose what charity they want to support. After A LOT of thinking and debating (it was so hard to decide as there were many charities I wanted to support), I chose to support the Mirabel Foundation.

You may have heard of the foundation through Pip’s annual handmade softie donation drive. I only found out about the foundation through Pip and I really believe in the work that they do. Having two kids of my own, you cannot help but want to do whatever you can to support an organisation that helps children (and their kinship carers) who have been neglected or orphaned due to the drug use of their parents. It is important work.

My goal is to raise $1000 for Mirabel through this run. I would really appreciate any donation of any amount that you are able to give towards this goal. All donations will go straight to the Foundation (not through me) and all donations over $2 are deductible (you will be provided with a receipt).

To sponsor me, just click on the link (the one with my cheesy photo) in the right-hand side bar or simply click here. (Sincere thank you to those who have already sponsored me!)

For this run, I have joined the “Melbourne Makers” team, which has been set up by super talented artist/crafter Anna Laura. If you are a Melbourne artist or crafter and want to participate, please join the team! The 5km event is not just a running event – there is the option to walk it too. I know some of you wrote to me to tell me you were thinking about joining one of these walk/run events – now is the time!

So stop uhhmming and ahhing, sign-up and join the team! According to the Run Melbourne slogan: “Anyone can” :-)

Thanks for the get well wishes from the previous post :-) We’re definitely feeling much better than we did last week.

The girls and I spent yesterday afternoon painting:

I ended up painting a little bear. Not sure what do with it yet:

But it was fun to be playing with paint again. Should do it more often. Now that my nose isn’t running like a tap, hope to get back in to sewing some stuff tonight.

Hope you had restful weekend ♥

The cold I had last week has bloomed into a full can’t smell/can’t taste/hacking cough/incessant sneezing/feverish kind of cold and the youngest has it too. I stayed home today and caught up on some much needed sleep. I even managed to cut out some softies during the Little One’s nap time, but not much making besides that:

Two mail parcels did cheer me up this afternoon. One is a very generous thank you gift from the lovely and talented Julie of Juicy Roo designs – a craft kit of felt and stranded cotton, and three really cute and colourful greeting cards:

Thanks so much Julie! Love the little details on the cards and the felt kit will definitely be put to good use :-)

The other is a fat quarter of fabric that I snapped up from Heidi featuring one of her many characters. I heart it big time – it will be very hard to cut into!

Enjoy more Creative Spaces over here.

Back to watching some vintage Sesame Street with the girls before getting dinner ready :-)

P.S. I’ve finally set-up a proper Mailing List/Newsletter solution so if you want to recieve the Newsletter you can sign up here. If you were already on the Mailing List, you would have received an email asking you to confirm your subscription – please follow the instructions in order to subscribe (if you don’t click on the link it provides, you won’t be added to the list – thanks!).

Finishing up the sample patchwork seahorse (apologies for the poor photo – gloomy weather):

Tinkering with a dress I am sewing up for myself:

Indulging in a Filipino treat called “Yema”, which is made by cooking milk, egg yolks, and sugar in a pot until it thickens, and then putting it aside to solidify. Not very healthy so one or two at a time is enough :-)

How’s your week been so far? I’m so glad it’s Wednesday tomorrow and that the weekend is only a few days away!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas! I do hope you were spoiled today and enjoyed lots of extra attention, kisses, cuddles, treats and gifts :-)

I got up nice and early this morning and made my way to the city for the Mother’s Day Classic fun-run. A friend and I met up and made our way to the starting line for the 4km run. Wow – there were HEAPS of people. The turn out was amazing (I think they estimated about 5000 people for the 4km event – there were kids as young as 7 running with their parents and there was one 70-year-old runner too!).

I’d never run that particular course before (The Tan track at the Alexandra Gardens) but it was easier than I had anticipated. The gorgeous sunshine emerged just a few hundred metres out from the finish line and I was stoked to have discovered that I had beaten my personal best time :-)

I highly recommend the experience to any of you that have been thinking about participating – good for your health and for a wonderful cause. You can make donations at any time to the National Breast Cancer Foundation here.

Thank you to Monique for the Eye Spy theme this week – Eye Spy What I Am Reading Now. I must admit that like Cindy, I have not had much time to spend on reading lately. Recent reading has consisted of property investment articles, how-to-sew clothes articles,  a huge amount of blog feeds and recipes :-)

And speaking of recipes, I tried out this recipe for Banana and Choc-chip bread. I didn’t have all the ingredients so I improvised – hence it turned out like a cake rather than bread:

But seriously, so delicious!!! I’m certain I’ll be making another one very soon as this one is quickly diminishing in size :-)

On the sewing front, there has been a little here and there but nothing finished just yet. I finally got started on the scrappy quilt I’ve been wanting to make for at least a year (ha!). I rummaged through my scraps last night and joined a few together. I have no quilt pattern in mind – I’m just going to keep joining scraps together and hope it doesn’t end up too much of an eye sore :-)

My plan is to spend 15 minutes on this a couple times a week and hopefully I will have a single-bed size quilt top soon!

Okay, off to make dinner. Hope you have a great week ahead!