Finally finished up the green fawn over the weekend:

He’s off to a good friend’s newborn son. I hope he brings the little guy many smiles and giggles :-)

It’s good to be back into the routine again. I’m looking forward to starting a new softie project this week!

Hope your week is filled with happy things too!

I’ve started packing up my sewing room and trying to finish off some projects, like this little Piggy (apologies for late-night poorly-lit photos!):

Just a little progress since the last pic - she’s got legs now (button-jointed to the body) and a cute little skirt. I still can’t make up my mind about the eyes and the collar. Hopefully more inspiration will hit me this week :-)

Thank you to all of those who participated in the Moose Toys Crafty Kids giveaway! I enjoyed reading through all of your favourite childhood crafting memories or your child’s favourite craft activity. It is so wonderful that we hold such a special place in our heart for these moments of crafty goodness and can build these kinds of memories with our children (or nephews or nieces or god-kids).

Unfortunately there can only be one winner of the awesome prize pack and Random Number Generator says that the winner is *drumroll* . . .

Comment #17 - Anna, who wrote:

Do I really have to choose just one?! I love squishing clay! I love making collages with scraps of delicious fabric! I love making peg-dollies! I love using glitter, “special” textas, paint… you name it! The more different colours of paper you can find, the better! I love doing kiddy-crafty stuff! As do my kids! We’ve got quite a collection of materials these days but we are always looking for more to try!

Congratulations Anna!! I will be in touch soon to get your postal address details. Thanks again to Moose Toys for providing a fantastic prize pack!

Have a great week everyone!

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Don’t forget to join in on the Honda Odyssey Perfect Family Day Out giveaway by May 30 over here!

Trying something different (for me) in softie construction. The result is a new Piggy that is slowly coming together:

Eyes and collar are just pinned in place for now as I experiment with different shapes and sizes.

Also, I’ve been admiring my daughter’s new shoes (gifted by her grandparents from a recent trip overseas) . . . is it too weird to be slightly envious of your kid’s shoes? :-)

And how’s this for creativity? My cousin-in-law painted this gorgeous woodland scene as a gift for my girls!

Bad weather means I can’t seem to take a good picture of it - this photo seriously doesn’t do it justice. The detail up close is stunning. Just have to find the right wall to hang it on now. Thank you Ariadne!!

Please drop in on Kirsty’s to find more creative spaces.

It’s amazing what an immovable, non-negotiable deadline can do :-) This Bubbly the Owl sample was whipped up over two nights, which - judging by my recent low levels of productivity - is a new record for me!

It will be joining my other softie samples in the Pattern Press booth at the Spring Quilt Market next month in the USA. I wish I could travel with it! I keep telling myself one day . . . one day I’ll get to experience the awesomeness of those massive Quilt Markets in the USA. All those new designs! All that gorgeous fabric in the one place! The possibility of meeting and chatting with the designers! It’s definitely on my list of goals.

Be inspired by more creative spaces to be found at Kirsty’s here!

Finally, after what seems like a really, really, loooong time, I’ve actually finished up some softies! :-)  You’ve seen a couple photos of these bunnies already over the last few weeks, but here they are all done and ready to travel to new homes:

These are large dolls that are about 56cm/22 inches from their feet to the tops of their ears. I had a lot of fun choosing different fabrics strips from my new and vintage fabric piles for their bodies (which have also been quilted). Their limbs have been made of either wool or wool blend flannel. I’ve used faux fur for their heads, despite my sewing machine protesting many times :-)

Each one is one-of-a-kind and you can find them in my shop now (in addition to some fawns that are also awaiting new homes :-)). You can find my shop here: One Red Robin Shoppe on etsy

I’ve got one more week of leave left before I go back to work. It will be an interesting week - a deadline looming on Friday, I get to test-drive and review a family car for a few days too, plus I’m working on a very cool giveaway for crafty kids :-) Hope you enjoy the new week ahead!

In my creative space today there are the three Woodland Girl bunnies that are just about done. All I need to do is sew some buttons on the other two and I think that should be it. I think these bunnies have taken the longest to make (apart from the life-size Woodland dolls I made 2 years ago) - so many distractions and a lot of indecision as to what to do with them. So it feels great to know that they are almost done :-)

I’m preparing to move house soon and there has been a lot of sorting and throwing out/giving away over the last few days. I dropped off a whole heap of stuff at the Salvos yesterday with the intention of doing just that and then getting on with other errands. But I just couldn’t resist and stepped inside - and I came away with a few goodies for the girls!! My sweetest find for me was this cute little vase -

By the way, every time I step inside the Salvos shop at Deer Park, there is least one beautiful crocheted blanket (about 1.5m x 1.5m big) in excellent condition hanging in the bedding section. I actually found two yesterday but didn’t take them home with me as I think I have enough already :-) But seriously, if you’re looking for these kinds of blankets, visit this store - amazing at only $8!

The girls and I are heading off interstate tomorrow to hang out with a bunch of wonderful, long-time friends. I CANNOT WAIT!!! We’re also excited about watching Wicked on Saturday :-) So this blog will be on a little break and I hope to be back here mid-next week.

Now off to enjoy a few of these :-)

More creative spaces over at Kirsty’s here.

. . . Woodland Bunny #2 in progress, whilst Woodland Bunny #1 waits patiently for the rest of her outfit to be made and for her bunny friends to emerge . . .

I was hoping to have all 3 Woodland Bunnies done by now but I’ve been feeling so ridiculously exhausted and just bleh this week. Thankfully, I’ll be on a few weeks leave from work starting tomorrow - it could not have come at a better time!

To those of you who celebrate this time of year, I wish you a happy and safe Easter - a time to celebrate new birth, second chances, un-merited grace, and enduring hope :-)

Happy long-weekend everyone and enjoy those Easter eggs!

More creative spaces to be found here.

I always enjoy seeing the softies that other crafters create using my patterns. I love seeing what kind of fabric and prints they use and reading about how they found the pattern itself. Here are a few creations:

Mandy’s owl - he looks so genteel and dignified :-)

{image credit: MandyMade}

Antmee made Myrtle the Turtle (which was published in Sew Hip Issue 6) from recycled materials - she’s so sweet!

{image credit: Antmee}

And a good friend of mine made her first softie - a Baby Chibi doll. She made it as a gift for a friend who is a very talented cake-maker, so she added a little apron and wooden spoon. I love it!!

}

{image credits: Jen C.L.}

You can find more One Red Robin softies made by crafters in the Flickr Group here. And of course, a really sweet range of Ruby dolls here.

Some of you have asked for details in regards to where my patterns have been published - the list is here. And all current stockists of my softie sewing pattern range with Pattern Press can be found here.

Thank you to those of you who have picked up one of my patterns (whether from a shop, a magazine/book, or one of the freebies on this website) and given it a go. I truly appreciate your support and I hope you enjoyed the process as much as the finished piece!

Woohoo, actually progressing on some softie-making!!

Hope to have this one and two more of these little Woodland Bunny hybrids done by the weekend.

This is the original Woodland Bunny hybrid (Anouk) that I made 2 years ago and I’m adding a little twist to the new versions :-)

And speaking of softie-making, after an extended hiatus, I have finally begun updating my other blog for 2010 with links to free softie patterns and helpful tips and tricks. Check it out here: Softie Making

Apart from finishing up a few softies, I look forward to spending my lunch breaks this week savouring the latest issue of Peppermint that I received in the mail today - yippee!

Three Ruby Dolls ready to go to The Abundant Ground Foundation’s Haitian Orphanage.

Thank you to Dolly Donations for organising this dolly appeal. Remember, dollies are required by 31st March (and you can make your own Ruby Dolls using this free pattern!).

I headed off early this morning to the Run for the Kids fun run in the city. It was my first fun run for the year and the first time I’ve participated in this particular run. I really enjoyed it! I am so thankful that there has been amazing weather on every fun run I have done so far - even in Winter. This morning was no exception and Melbourne looked gorgeous!

I really love the atmosphere of the fun run. People of all ages and backgrounds, out there to punish their bodies for a little while for a good cause :-) I must say I also ran next to some interesting characters. 30,000+ people turned out for the run this morning and raised over $1 million for the Royal Children’s Hospital.

I usually go to these fun runs on my own, which means I don’t have anyone to take photos. So this is the only momento I have of the run :-) The first thing the girls asked me was, “But Mama, where’s your medal?”

It’s been a wonderful weekend. I took the girls out to the city yesterday and we enjoyed a busy but fun-filled day together:

My girls love to write notes. We have little bits of paper all over the place at home. I am not exaggerating. You can even find a few notes left in the bathroom. Or maybe under a pillow. Even in the fridge. This afternoon, my youngest (3.5 years) wrote me this note. I helped her with the spelling but she wrote the letters on her own - I was so surprised as it’s the first time she’s been able to write a note unaided!

(It reads: “Dear Mama, love from Aurora”)

Hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend and ready for the new week ahead!