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So I did have good intentions of blogging while away, and the app was there on my phone, but nope I was having too much fun! We crammed quite a bit into a month including camping and two trips to the mountains. Hazel had two extra weeks off school in addition to the two weeks term break, so I felt I had to make things at least mildly educational.

A rock circle we built in the Pembina River (engineering, hydrology, public art)


The girls playing down by the river near the campsite (engineering, environment)

On the train to Jasper with Jess and the girls. Instant noodles for breakfast after a 6am start - class all the way! (transport, nutrition, cultural differences)


Inukshuk at Angel Glacier pond (it was tiny, about 15cm high tops). I have totally fallen in love with inukshuks and plan to make a big one asap (cultural heritage, climate change, environment, engineering)

We picked lots of raspberries in the garden (food, sustainable living, foraging, eating what you grew)



Visited the Tyrell Museum (dinosaurs! evolution, fossils, teeth, general coolness)


Admired the prairies...  (landscape, crops, transport, spending hours in a car and not driving your family crazy)

 ...and the badlands... (landscape formation, not hiking before a violent thunder storm, how flash floods develop)

...and the Rockies again up at Lake Louise (environment, finding the nicest hotel in the world, hiking without whining, putting up with a little discomfort without whining, how good it feels when you get there). 

 

It wasn't all education, nature and pretty photos though, I did get in some crochet! I'd taken a couple books to show my friend Jess who wanted to learn to crochet (which she did) and I was taken by a sudden desire to make a bunny that's in Simple Crochet by Sara Sinaguglia for her daughter Amy's birthday present in February. It was a little down to the wire but I got there the day before we left. I made things a lot harder for myself by deciding that the only wool in my mum's stash that would do for the stripes was this gorgeous marigold crepe stuff, but it was in quite short lengths for reasons I was never entirely sure of, so it had to be tied together and it made things a lot slower. The inside was a total mess of ends but as it turns out Jess likes sewing in ends and she volunteered to do it. I would have liked to have spent a bit more time on the face, especially the whiskers and mouth, but needs must and overall I'm pretty happy with it. Hope Amy is too!

Crocheted spring bunny

My crochet obsession continues - though at the moment I'm working on next month's homework for the Monday Modern quilt group. One of my ambitions when I started crochet was to be able to make amigurumi. Everyone assured me that they were actually quite easy, so I got a book out from the library called Amigurumi for Dummies and tried to make a hamster. I tried starting about 8 times and none of them worked. Either the stitches got so tight as I went around that I literally couldn't get the hook into them, or the yarn fuzzed up so much I couldn't see what I was doing. Talk about demoralising - I couldn't even master a pattern from a book for dummies! Then I saw the start of Helen's little Spring Bunny and was so impressed with how she was going on her first attempt I thought it might be a good pattern to start with. Plus I've had it Pinned for quite awhile now, and it's always good to make things from Pinterest occasionally just to legitimise all the time I spend on there (though not so much these days I have to say). And I can report that yes it's a great beginner pattern and I have succeeded and I feel inordinately proud of myself! I haven't put the felt on the feet yet, but I'm half-inclined not to, I'll see what Hazel thinks.



I think the success is down to the pattern and the wool/hook combination. Helen was using a slightly felted 8ply by Harmony, and my bunny is done in a similar, though slightly thicker 8ply called Aspire by Naturally. It's 70% wool and 30% alpaca and gorgeously soft. I used a 3.5 hook. The first few rounds of the head were a bit dodgy as I was trying to figure out how to use a row marker, but once I got that down it went pretty well. The only problem I had was the fact that if I get even slightly distracted I can't remember if I'm on the SC or the SC2tog and have to pull out a few stitches to figure it out (or a whole row!). I also mastered the invisible decrease which isn't nearly as hard as it looks in the diagrams. Always nice when that happens :) Now I can try a few larger items. Mat and Hazel have already put in orders but I'll see what takes my fancy I think!

Fluffy*Stuffy bunnies

Look who I found out in the garden!

I've been making Hazel a bunny for Easter for the last few years, and almost left this year's too late! Last year's was Binky Bunny, this year it's the Fluffy*Stuffy Bunny from All Sorts' cute tutorial.



The one on the left is Hazel's and the one on the right is for another little girl. Hazel's was supposed to be given to her tomorrow, but yesterday morning she was in the spare room and called out and when I came in there she was with one and half bunnies, wondering what they were. Oh well! It meant I could finish them up openly instead of doing it at night. She also made the pompom for her bunny's tail, and chose the buttons on the dress.



The pinafores are reversible. Hazel's one has its nightie side on (as determined by Hazel) and the other has its daytime dress on. They really make the bunnies!

This is such a cute and easy bunny to make, I really enjoyed the process! So nice to be able to whip something out like that without any swearing or ripping out or major issues. Well ok there was one major issue - when I put the eyes on Hazel's bunny on the back of its head. Luckily the fake fur was pretty forgiving and the holes were easily sewn up and don't show. The fur isn't the softest ever, which is the only downside to them. The upside was that it's been in my stash for several years and it's nice to actually use a bit more up! In fact everything was from the stash, so they're economical bunnies to boot.

My Learn to Sew Book

When I was 5, my grandmother sent me the My Learn to Sew Book* all the way from New Zealand for Christmas. It was great. I can't remember how many things (if any) I made but I know I read and re-read it until it was practically falling apart (probably setting a pattern for me and craft books that has lasted until this day).

It remains the standard to which I hold all other craft books - and why not, it has an impressive array of actually quite cool projects (for a 70s craft book):

The end papers

Pipe cleaner dolls and funky furniture. Work it pipe cleaner dolls, work it!

Cute little mouse - have a vague feeling I might have made this one

What a self-satisfied looking cat!

These hints are so very true and I love the illustrations

Hazel found the book when we were back at my parents place last Christmas, so it returned to New Zealand 35+ years later, and yesterday she asked if we could make something.

Not the clothing though, she said that it was too "old-fashioned", and I was forced to admit that the market for very short dirndle skirts and head scarves is a bit limited these days.

She wanted to make Baby Billy

And so we did! Except he's now a she and called Baby Rose

Oddly enough, for all the modern aesthetic we applied, mostly courtesy of the Wee Wonderfuls Book, Baby Rose looks startlingly like another product of the 70s, a Muppet! Specifically this one:



*My Learn To Sew Book by Janet Barber. Illustrated by Belinda Lyon. Hamlyn 1972. ISBN 0 600 35910 7

A cautionary tale for Tomtes

The caption for this image on Instagram was "Christmas Elf [Tomte] legs - particularly nice dipped in chocolate and served with seasonal berries" Ellie over at Petalplum asked, most reasonably given the time of year, how they were going to run around and help Santa? I replied that they'd do fine in their little wheelchairs.  Then I posted this photo of arms:



If Santa fails to make it to your house this year I do apologise...

Stuffed animal sleeping bags

I've had the Flossie Teacakes stuffed animal sleeping bags Pinned for quite awhile but finally got on to making them after Cat gave me the gorgeous Heather Ross Far Far Away fabric as a gift. The pattern comes in three sizes - Daddy Bear (Teddy), Mummy Bear (Foofoo) and Baby Bear (Snooks). I don't know if Teddy is really a daddy bear (its sex varies from day to day to be honest) but the bag fits beautifully.

I'd like to make a longer one to accommodate Puppy, as he fits nicely in the largest width-wise but is too long - the beauty of the pattern is that it's easily altered to accommodate a range of animals of different sizes and shapes.

I bought the pink fabric from Stitchbird because I really felt that they had to be set. Not because I like buying fabric, oh no.  All the rest of the fabrics came from my stash so I feel vaguely virtuous about the whole exercise. Vaguely. Though if I have to get a fourth version to make Puppy's bag...



Just simple straight line quilting but you could get fancy if you wanted - they'd be a great project to try out free-motion machine quilting.

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Note: Just to clarify, the pattern for the sleeping bags isn't mine - if you'd like to make one the pattern is available from Flossie Teacakes at the link above.  Thanks!

Baby Binky Bunny

I'm pretty sure that when I give this to Hazel I'll be compelled to say "Congratulations Miss Hazel, it's a Bunny!"



It's such a super-cute pattern, and is available as a pdf from mmmcraft's Etsy shop and you can also see it on the blog here. It took two days all up, so pretty fast for me!



I really love the binky too. Given I was in a bit of a rush I wasn't able to over-think the whole fabric selection bit and that probably means I'm much more satisfied with it in the end! It's just two layers of fabric sewn right sides together, turned right side out and then finished with edge stitching and embroidery thread ties. The backing is a pale blue linen.



The bunny is also made from linen, with wool felt and a bit of Heather Bailey jelly beans in pink (or something like that, don't think it's available anymore).

 

The nose is padded satin stitch and the eyes are stem stitch. The only thing I'd change would be the mouth, it looks a little put out about something. I should probably change it to a smile. I might also attach the ears together as suggested in the pattern, I think it looks a bit cuter. I changed the mouth to a smile and stitched the ears together and am now thoroughly happy with every aspect of it. :)

Can't make the tail any cuter though!

I've got to go, my monkey needs me!

Hands up everyone who thinks Captain Mack is hot. And yes, I'm really going to miss him now that TV6 is gone, sort of like I missed Steve when he left Blues Clues... Us mums have to cling to something to retain our sanity while watching kid's tv don't we?

Anyways, all of that is a digression from the REAL monkey topic here, decent photos of Mabel and Brian monkey. The pattern is from the Softies book, and is for a girl monkey named Mabel. But I really felt that there had to be a boy monkey too, so he's called Brian.

Unlike the Maisie doll from the same book, I loved making these little guys a lot and am really pleased with the results. Hopefully they bring some comfort to a child in Christchurch.

I thought I'd like to add pink cheeks to Mabel (Mat said Brian didn't need that kind of carry-on) but had no idea how to do it short of pfaffing around with fabric paints which seemed a recipe for disaster. After a bit of casting about I came across the brilliant suggestion of using...blush. So that's what I did - got out the Avon mineral blush and blushed that monkey with a cotton bud. I don't know how long it will last, certainly not past the first wash, but I think it's super-cute and perhaps I'll investigate more permanent blushes for next time.

Monkeys for Christchurch

Monkeys for Christchurch, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

I'm so ashamed that these two have been sitting on my desk for a couple of days now instead of on their way down to ChCh as part of the 'Softies for Christchurch' drive. Hopefully I'll get a couple of better daytime photos before they go but if not this will have to do! Hazel keeps lurking around the girl one saying wistfully "I really REALLY like this one mummy" to which I blithely reply "I know you do sweetie, but they're for kids in Christchurch" all the time knowing what she really means is "I want you to make me one just like this". Sorry darling, your bed is so full of stuffies already there's barely room for you to fit in!

Merry Snow Mermaiden!

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I had great intentions of having a lovely winter image to mark the occasion but things got busy and then there was a tummy bug fiasco on Xmas Day and so here we are a couple days after the fact.

I'm still coming to grips with taking photos in the snow, which is proving more challenging than I'd expected! Not helped by me always being taken by surprise when it starts getting dark at 3:30pm, I really need to take photos in the AM! Naturally this has meant that I've spent more time than is rational trying to get rid of the horrible grey cast that a badly exposed snow photo has. Look out for more Photoshopped madness.

These were the Mermaiden I made for (from left) Hazel, Nicole, Danielle and Amy, the pattern is from the Wee Wonderfuls book.



I love the final product but boy they're a lot more work than I thought they'd be! Of course I realised this after I'd mentally committed to the project, but just be warned if you are going to take one on - read the instructions first! Also, I'd recommend popping a bit of stuffing into the highest bit of the hair before inserting the head, it gives a much nicer finish. I did it for the pale pink hair but not Hazel's on the far left and you can see how it hollows out beyond the head. You could also put some stuffing into the tail, although I've been told by those in the know the floppiness adds to the swimminess.

Felt finger puppets

We're heading off for my father-in-laws 90th (!!) birthday party this weekend and I thought I'd take along some handsewing to do. I asked Hazel what she'd like out of Kata Golda's Hand Stitched Felt and she chose the finger puppets. So of course I started them last night while watching our weekly dose of surreal tv (Flash Forward and Lost) and I made 3 out of the 5. I finished them off today. Not sure what I'm going to do while we're away! Actually I think might try and make another set for my little niece Rebecca.

The thing I like about the projects in this book, and probably about handsewing felt in general, is how easy it is, nice to work with, and totally and absolutely satisfying! The fact that a little unevenness actually looks great is a total bonus :)

Of course, mine don't approach the rustic feel of the originals because I Just. Can't. Do. It. I try. I try really hard to be wonky. But my innate anal retentiveness won't allow me. It's a total battle as I go, part of my brain is saying in a very James Kirk way "Must. Be. Wonky." and the other part of me is saying in a Church Lady kind of voice "Tidiness is a virtue"

Part of the fun of the finger puppets is that she suggests you make various changes for different animals (as seen in her examples) but the tails are a mystery so I had to come up with my own versions for each animal (except the mouse). From left to right that would be: dog, mouse, rabbit, cat, hamster. I probably shouldn't have placed the cat next to the hamster but on second thought the hamster looks big enough to take care of itself.

I'm feeling a little dissatisfied with my photos recently. I know why and it's Photoshop action envy. I ended up at MCP Actions via Pioneer Woman's photography blog, and I have this horrible lingering feeling that if I could just afford to buy one of those packages then my photos would suddenly be breathtaking. I hate the hazy, slightly faded look they have sometimes and while I can Photoshop them a bit by myself or use the PW action sets I have (limited but great I should add) I really wish they had the depth of colour, clarity and sparkle that the pros manage.

Infringing or not?

On Sunday we went out to one of our favourite events - the monthly Coatesville markets. It's such a fun, relaxed market full of great food, produce and crafts. We haven't been since before Christmas and I noticed a real upswing in the number of stalls selling handmade softies. Actually I should say Softies with a capital S because I'd say 75-80% of them come directly from patterns published in the books Softies and More Softies by Viking Australia and Softies by Therese Laskey, plus a couple from Melly and Me patterns. Seriously. So what does one do in these cases?

I had a really good search through my two Softies books and couldn't find anything about copyright or selling items made from those patterns which seems unusual - does that make them fair game? Would seem to. I don't know about the Laskey or Melly and Me patterns, though I'd be surprised if they didn't have some sort of restriction. So there I am at the markets on a beautiful sunny day, my daughter falling in love with the beautiful stuffed toys - and they were lovely - and not able to enjoy the wonderfulness because I knew where those patterns had come from and I don't feel they should be selling them. But on the other hand it's just nice to see decent toys available at extremely reasonable prices (possibly too reasonable actually). Sigh. Moral conflict sucks. There used to be a woman there selling some toys from those books and I wasn't sure if I should say anything at that point, but now she seems to be selling more her own stuff and there's these new stalls with the knock-offs. I'm so not the kind of person to confront them over that, and hey, maybe it's actually legal if there's no disclaimer in the book? So what do you do? Look the other way? Blab to the market organisers? Tell the authors? How would they enforce sellers at an out-of-the-way country market? Buy them and save myself the trouble of making them? Or end up buying a legit pattern for a Melly and Me giraffe because your daughter and her friend just about wet themselves over the ones for sale? Well in the immediate future probably the latter, but the other options are still there...

ETA: it seems I might have been talking out my ear on this one (legally speaking if not ethically), read what Marielle has to say in the comments).

Little Pups

As part of the gifty meme from earlier this year I made a wee stuffed dog from the More Softies book for my friend Jennifer in England. The pattern is called 'Little Pup' by My Little Mochi. He turned out so well that I made another for Hazel for Christmas.



When I first got the body sewed up it looked pretty dodgy, not at all like the one in the book! But as I stuffed it it looked better and better and by the time I got to sewing on the arms I was in luurve. The nose is a triumph of cute.

Dog pull-toy

This has to be the quickest present ever!



I think it's fairly safe to show this as my brother's dog Duncan probably doesn't read my blog on a regular basis. I followed the instructions here, and it took me about 20 minutes to do after I located the fleece and sherpa in my stash. I did a four braid which I thought would give it a bit of bulk (Duncan may be small but he's fierce) and it ended up being beautifully striped, just like a candy-cane! A pleasant and totally appropriate outcome. It's lovely and stretchy and should provide at least a couple hours of fun on the day. I have no idea how sturdy it will be though! As I said, he's fierce.

Bunny eyes

I just finished a Felt Bunny commission so no proper photos of it until it's been received, but I had a play with an idea I had for future bunny eyes. I'm not sure if it's really a goer for a general bunny, but if you wanted a bunny to express particular emotions I think it'd be quite effective!

Sleepy bunny


Bored/ambivalent bunny eyes


Angry bunny eyes! Or is it more indignant? He sort of looks like someone just butted into the queue in front of him.

Sweater for Foofoo the rabbit

On Saturday I put this up on Twitter

Hazel "accidentally" cut big holes in the knees of her pants, Lucy's sheepskin and some of her hair. Scissors confiscated indefinitely.

What a debacle! Not only did she cut up her lovely stripey merino leggings (as seen in the bag post below), she lied to me about it. Sigh. Not very effectual lying by any means and I know she'll only get better at it (or learn to hide the evidence) but it's depressing none-the-less. Sigh. ANYWAYS, punishments were handed down from above and we move on. That evening she asks if I can make her bunny Foofoo a sweater to keep him warm at night. I say I probably can and she goes to sleep clutching Foofoo and looking particularly sweet and innocent (sigh again). As I was mooching around waiting for the Saturday murder mystery to start (Jonathan Creek, an early one yay!) I pondered the cut up pants and then it occurred to me that they might make a good sweater for Foofoo and I could do it while I watched tv. So I popped Foofoo into one of the legs with the bottom of it at his waist and started cutting. I cut holes for arms and sewed in sleeves. It came out really well!


(and yes, Lucy was as annoyed about being used as a prop as she looks)

I've never just winged it like that with clothes, even for toys, and I was surprised how well it went - the sleeves even have cuffs! Foofoo was dressed and replaced on her pillow to be discovered the next morning with exclamations of delight.



I feel inordinately proud of Foofoo's sweater and slightly better about Hazel cutting up the pants - they haven't gone completely to waste.

This little piggie...

I made Hazel a little piggie warmer filled with buckwheat a couple of months ago and she loves it muchly and calls it Cupcake. The pattern is from More Softies.



I thought I'd make another for her friend Alex's fourth birthday too and congratulated myself on getting on to it so early! It got mostly done and then sat there languishing in a saggy way for want of enough buckwheat and ill-fitting trotters while Alex was in Scotland for 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS it sat around and when she came back the day before her birthday was it done? No. Was it done yesterday on her birthday? No. Is it done now? Yes! Her party is next week and she got a tiny Ponyville pony yesterday so she's done pretty well actually.

I like the buckwheat in these, it holds heat better than wheat and smells better when heated as well. Win win. The pigs are made from cotton towelling and wool felt, so nothing to melt in the microwave. It's hard when you have to take heating into account when choosing materials!