My Creative Space- Dolls Clothes

I've been making lots of dolls clothes for market.

I started off by sewing using my reversible dresses and nappy patterns (I tweeked the pattern a little bit and the shoulders are so much neater with my new and improved method).

 I'm just loving these little elephants, however the resident three and a half year old, tells me that the best dress is the pink owls dress (which has butterflies on the other side).

- Its just as well I have a product advisor, isn't it!

I am really pleased that I got round to adding appliqué detail to some of the dresses. Its something that I've been wanting to do for a while and I think it works really well. 

Has anyone noticed the dress that matches Rascal's corduroy pinafore?- I love that some dolls are going to be kept nice and warm in their corduroy dresses this winter.

I've also been playing around with these corduroy dolls skirts. So far, I've only managed to make a couple of them, I'll make some more if I get the chance.

The problem is that they really need some kind of top to go with them and I know for sure that I won't have time for that! Ah well, maybe next time...

I'm joining in with creative spaces.

WIP Wednesday- I love Bee Blocks!

Oh dear, another block to show this week and again its not my own work.

This block arrived from Kelly. Isn't it beautiful!? I love the fabrics that she used, especially the fussy cut scissors.

Each time that a new bee block arrives in the post, I can't resist the temptation to lay them all out on the ground and play around with different layouts. I can't be the only one who does that... surely?!

Here's the collage as it stands- Hmmm, think I need to start making some more light blocks don't you.

I'm linking in with Lee at Freshly Pieced

Sewing Space

I must admit that in the past I've been a wee bit jealous of crafty bloggers who write about their sewing room.

You see, my sewing equipment was spread around the house.

... my sewing machine in one room

... the ironing board and my cutting mat in another room

... and fabric was spread between these two rooms and could be found in other random corners of the house.

The net effect was a messy house and a mad scramble to tidy if we knew anyone was coming round.

BUT all that has changed. We've done some painting, rearranged some furniture and now our study has been transformed into a sewing room (with a small corner for Mr Tartankiwi's PC).

Its GREAT! I LOVE it!

I am finding that one of the advantage of this set up is that if Rascal wakes up from her midday sleep when I am right at that point where I just want to press on and finish (which is usually the case), I can set her up with some colouring or her beads at the end of the table and she happily joins me while I finish my sewing- a great bonus to the new set up!

I'm in the process of filling a beautiful old secretaire that I inherited from my Grandma with fabric. Deep down, I know that the secretaire is in need of a revamp, its a bit tired and worse for wear, but I just can't bring myself to change my Grandma's desk.

In the top drawer I'm trialling a system of sorting my small scraps by type and colour- not sure if its going to work, but I'll give it a go.

The middle drawer houses larger scraps and fat quarters of quilting fabric
The bottom drawer holds felt and heavier weight fabrics for bags and clothes (this drawer is already so full that it is pretty difficult to close- oops!)

I'm not showing you the wardrobe- far too messy at the moment, but we are slowly making progress organising the mess.

I TOLD you that poor Mr Tartankiwi only gets a small corner. I promise that he will get a proper desk one of these days that will be (a little bit) bigger! At least I was nice and let him have the comfier chair!

So there we have it. We still have a long way to go, but at least we're making progress. We need to rehang the curtains (ideally I'd like new curtains to replace the ugly brown ones that were here when we moved in, but I'm not sure I can persuade Mr Tartankiwi). I reckon that the boring black chairs are sorely in need of a recover and the walls are extremely bare. All that is going to change... sometime!

Watch this space, I'll keep you posted...

I'm Loving Our Girl's Day Out

Last Sunday Rascal, Nin, Lala and myself went to the ballet- it was such a special day for us all.

Unfortunately, although Angelina Ballerina was travelling around the country, it by-passed Christchurch. 

Nin and I talked about it and agreed that it was an amazing opportunity to take the girls to a child-friendly ballet and so after much dithering, we decided to attend the show in Timaru.

Its a drive of over two hours to get there, so we went prepared with yummy snacks, drinks, and stopping places planned along the route.

Lets just say that when we left home, Mr Tartankiwi was extremely relieved that he wasn't in the car- the little people in the back had switched their volume control to maximum! They had no idea what they were in for, but they knew it was going to be exciting!

After various short stops along the way, we stopped for lunch at the Shearer's Quarter. There was yummy food (I can totally recommend the kumara fritters), animals to pet, a mini golf course to be clambered all over and a climbing frame with a "big slide".

As for the ballet, it was magical. Rascal sat entranced and Lala got down from her seat and joined in with the tap dancing. Nin and I shared a few grins as we watched our girls soak up the music, the dancing, the costumes, the music and the atmosphere.

Here's a cheesy wee clip that I found on you-tube which will hopefully give you an idea of what the ballet was like.

Such a magical day, full of happy memories. I just love the ballet and I really hope that Rascal will continue to share this with me as she grows.

I can assure you that there were two four very tired girls in the car at the end of the day!

I'm linking up with Paisley Jade- Hop over and see what everyone else is loving today...

My Creative Space- More Market Makings

I've been having great fun coming up with new stock ideas for market. I designed these wee needlecases to make the most of some cool fabric scraps.

I made a couple of pockets on the inside.

One of these is the perfect size for a quick unpick. I used to forever forget where I left my quick unpick until I made a similar needlecase for myself and now I always know where it is- I LOVE it!

Each one is slightly different. 

They're great fun to make. I hope other people like them as much as I do!

I'm linking in with Creative Spaces

WIP Wednesday- The Naughty Block

May I introduce you to a very naughty block.

This little bloke (or to be more accurate his twin brother) decided to go for a month long sightseeing trip around New Zealand Post. Luckily the postmaster finally caught up with him and sent him back to his mother.

But his mischief didn't stop there. Once home, he decided to play hide and seek... and he was very good at it! So good in fact that he is still in hiding!!!

Exasperated by the behaviour of her wayward block, Laura decided to make a new one and to courier it straight to my door. (Or that was the plan- he couldn't resist a wee detour to a different suburb on the way)
At least he finally made it here- PHEW!

Thank you so much Laura. I love it! Definitely worth the wait (hee hee!)

This was the final of the blocks that I received from the round one of the Modern Sampler 3x6 Bee. Here is a round up of the blocks received:

As for the quilt, its taking shape nicely... no thanks to me!!!

Just look!

I'm linking up with Lee and all the talented quilters at Freshly Pieced

Beads Busy Bag

Its been a while since I did any posts about busy bags, and its something that I've been meaning to get back to.

This bag is for Rascal (aged three and a half) to play with when Scallywag (aged 17 months) is not about to scatter the little pieces everywhere and cause havoc!

The inspiration came from a playgroup that we attend where the activity that they had laid out for the children this week was threading coloured pasta to make jewellery. Rascal loved it and was surprisingly good at the threading so I thought we could build on those skills.

I bought a selection of beads from the $2 shop, some thread and a tin to store everything. The advantage of the tin is that not only is everything visible, but we can pick out a small selection of the beads at a time and store them in the lid while Rascal is busy.

I cut several lengths of thread for her and tied a bead onto one end to ensure that everything is ready if Rascal wants to use this activity and that all the beads don't immediately fall off.

Rascal had a go with this busy bag on Saturday... the verdict:

A resounding success!

When I introduced the activity, Rascal threaded about 2 beads and then got side tracked, as usual showing that she has far better ideas of what to do with the raw materials that I give her.

• She sorting the beads- by shape 
• She sorted the beads by colour 
• She counted how many of each different shape and colour she had.

She spent a lot of time happily playing with the beads. After a while I reminded her that we had the thread and she got down to work making a necklace. I have to say that I was amazed by the concentration that Rascal showed and the length of time that this activity caught her attention. It kept her busy for the best part of the afternoon.

Its maybe not the most original busy bag, but it got a definite vote of approval from my little critic! I have to say that for a busy bag which was intended to be creative, we discovered that there are many many learning possibilities.

When I put Rascal to bed, she requested that we do it again on Sunday. Always a good sign when we do an activity together!