More Softies

Obviously I have a little addiction to making soft toys ... I love it ... and my children's bedrooms will soon be overflowing with them ... as will my workroom.

Anyway, not much of a surprise that I bought the new 'More Sofites' book not that long ago. So many beautiful, clever and cute things to make and such a refreshing change to use someone else's (tried and tested) pattern instead of my own!


We had a lovely time looking through all the softies, deciding what to make, the kids putting their orders in (and their orders for cousins and next-door neighbours as well!)

These are the Christmas presents I made for some lovely little people in my life:
Rudi and Roddy the roosters - these guys are as thick as thieves, but so very polite and well-behaved (well, most of the time!) ... very much like the two little boys I made them for! They were made from MariekUniek's 'Mister Rooster' pattern.


This is Tabbie who was very fun to make ... but lots of work! I really love her. I'm afraid the hair won't stand up to a two-year old's affections, but we'll see! She was made from the pattern 'Topsy-turvy Tabitha' by Hatch - isn't she a sweetie?!



This Sweet Pea was so easy to make and with such lovely results - you can't really see, but she's on lots of matresses as she is the 'Princess and the Pea' pattern by Sarah Bowe. I loved choosing the fabrics and button (the little girl she belongs is a real 'red' girl) and I love snuggling her into bed too! I'm going to make more of these cuties!


And, as well as these cuties, I also finished off some more Little Loxies for my new LittleJellygnite shop! Phew! - holidays are hard work ;)

Tis the season ...

The BrisStyle Christmas Market, held last Saturday was such a jolly start to Christmas! So many happy stall-holders and customers; the market had such a lovely vibe. Thank you to all the lovely BrisStylettes and the wonderful Helen for making it such a success!

The guitar 'boys' did such a great job - I was very grateful of my position at the market - right near the music and the food!

And like all the other BrisStylettes, my stock sold well - it's the best market I've ever been to - not only for the great sales, but more importantly because of the friendly and fun atmosphere! I had such a lovely, fun and happy day!


I was also able to do a little of my own Christmas shopping buying two lovely brooches, one for my Mum from Hayley at ReRead and one for my M.I.L from Helen at Ruby Red Studios ... oh, and a few other little bits for myself! :)

The lovely BrisStylettes got into the spirit of giving and donated goods that were raffled off for the Knitting For Brisbane's Needy charity with the lovely Tracy from Hey Harriet looking after the charity and promo table. Here's the raffle prize - chock full of BrisStyle goodness!

And, in the spirit of receiving, here are some lovely handmade goodies I've happily received in the past few weeks!

This is a cute little 'wallet' that came complete with pens, stamps, cards, notebook and stickers. It was made by a student of mine (she is only 13!) and I was so proud of her efforts! So much time and love in a handmade gift; I appreciate and treasure it so much! Vive la Handmade!!


This little cutie (with her expression of absolute bliss!) was a gift from the gorgeous Bel of EmBelISH. As you can see she is gracing our tree, enjoying the Christmas singing and checking out the pressies under the tree!

For our BrisStyle Secret Santa swap, Robyn from Hot Fudge made me this delicious apron! Apologies for the pic - my 4 year-old budding photographer took it this morning, just before cooking pancakes. (he also took all the market photos above, which I was quite proud of!)

And here is is hanging up in the laundry, ready for a wash (I knew I would get it dirty on it's first wear!!)


I feel like I own my very own Hot Fudge little girl dress now - I love the fabric choice and little details! Thanks Robyn!

Ooooh, I love Christmas time; I'm off to wrap some pressies then go for a swim!

beautiful bunny

Thank you to Net from Area Thrifty One for sending me one of her gorgeous bunny kits.
In green - my favourite colour!

I'm really looking forward to making it up and I really like the idea of putting smelly stuff inside (like rosemary or cloves) or stuffing with sand and using it as a cute doorstop. You can see more of Area Thrify One loveliness at her etsy shop.
The 'generosity of bloggers' indeed :)

Thrift Delights and a Kitchen Tea

I visited my local Vinnies today - they have just refurbished the shop (it still smells like new carpet and fresh paint!). Lucky for me, they discovered that they have an over abundance of books and so are selling them off - fill a bag for $1!

I filled my bag with all sorts of novels - some for using with my students, some because they were good stories, and some because they had interesting covers! My son also picked up 3 lovely fairy tale books from the 70s with lovely illustrations (he's got a good eye!). You can see one of his books at the bottom left of the pic, my 'tower' of books keeps going out of the picture!

Not satisfied with my book stash, I also bought a sweet set of yellow daisy glasses (perfect for little hands, I think!) and a lovely heavy glass vase. Thrifty happiness!

Another thing that's made me happy lately was my sister-in-law-to-be's Kitchen Tea. It was a proper, old-fashioned ladies Kitchen Tea, complete with a vast assortment of delicate sweeties served on beautiful plates and stands and lovely china cups and saucers with flowers on them. So delightfully civilised!

As it was a 'traditional' Kitchen Tea, I gave a traditional gift. My s-i-l-to-be loves cooking so I made up a recipe box with blank recipe cards as well as some already filled in. I had so much fun putting all of this together (which is good because it took way longer than I thought it would!!). I enjoyed choosing some of my favourite sweet recipes for her as well as making all the cards and finding suitable vintage ladies for decoration!
Now we wait for the wedding! I'm very excited as I love a wedding! It's just over a week away and I still have my outfit to finish (I'm so good at procrastinating!) ... maybe I should go and do a bit now ..?

Spoilt Rotten!

One of my simple pleasures in life is receiving mail (nice mail, not the 'bill' variety!) from the postie. I've been a 'mail-lover' since I was a little girl - as soon as I could write!
And, I have been such a lucky girl this week. Today, three packages arrived for me!!

The first was my gorgeous little book that I bought from Bexx. So tiny and perfectly made .. and my favourite colour too!
The next was a super-sweet surprise from lovely Helen from ruby2gogo. She sent me a gorgeous pouch (love the fabric!) for my newly bought bracelet (similar to this one) and a fantastic 'Wonderwoman' ring!! woo hoo :D All packaged up so nicely. Thank you Helen.

My third parcel was a great pack of goodies that I won from the lovely Jess at 'Button Beauty' (I thought I was one of those people who never wins anything!! so glad I was wrong!!) I am so lucky in winning her gorgeous pack of goodies. I was gob-smacked at Jess's generosity - she included vintage pillowcases, vintage tea-towel, op-shop Eskimo place-mats (so cool!), yarn, fabric pieces, vintage trim, seeds for our garden, fair trade chocolate and a great apron she made herself! Thanks again Jess!

Wow! Lucky me :) I'm so inspired to get into my sewing now with these beautiful fabrics and the ones I got from Bec too. I'm off to bury myself in my stash! ;)

Red Button Beauties!

I have a lovely friend who loves buying things for me, and I love making things for her.
Today I received another little goodies packet from her ...

These gorgeous RED buttons!! I love the colour and the different textures and materials - some are Bakelite and some are wood. They are on an old button card that says 'Fashion's Latest' and 'Made in Czechoslovakia', but I doubt any of them are the original ones that came with the card. They were found in one of the lovely vintage-selling shops in Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast (mental note: grab some pocket money and take a drive up to Eumundi soon!!).

I'm a lucky girl! I'm thinking of making maybe a bracelet out of the 6 flower-y ones. Hmmmm...
I told her, the next time she's out shopping, I'd like her to buy me some extra time so I can make things to my hearts content!! hee hee.
Thanks Kira :D

Gifts

A friend of mine gave me a little 'thank you' gift today - it certainly made going back to work today after holidays much nicer!. She knows me well, look what I got!

This is a fantastic book! It's full of great 60s fashion advertisements with fabulous images and great blurbs. Amazing retro charm!

And this lovely green button. The red/pink ones are for me to make a pair of earrings for her, the green one's for me. The buttons are amazing too - they're made from resin with nuts and sticks in them, then polished smooth. They were purchased on her recent trip to South Australia. I'm looking forward to wearing the green one as a brooch ... or maybe a pendant as it's really smooth and nice to touch.

Things for Little Girls

I really enjoy making girly things! It's fun searching through my stash and seeing what I can come up with.

My cousin's gorgeous girl turns 1 in a couple of weeks (she really is gorgeous, big brown eyes, cheeky smile...) so I made her a little book. The book has collaged pages of different shapes with corresponding colours. I've made a few of these books now and really enjoy it!

Of course I had to make a little bag for her new book - and what little girl doesn't love bags!! I must admit, I was somewhat inspired by Bec's gorgeous bags, especially her new 'little lady' ones!
This little girly pink skirt, made for my girl, was made with a combination of new fabrics and remnants. I found the red and black craft fabric at my local fabric shop (which is closing down, unfortunately .. ) and loved the silhouetted shapes in it. As well as using it as a little 'apron' on the skirt, I cut a band of it off to attach to the hem as well. (She likes the duckies!)

While tidying up my 'making cupboard' (I'm still going ... it's a work in progress!) I came across this gorgeous vintage cherry fabric. It was a remnant in odd-shaped pieces from a dress Mum made, so instead of trying to fold it all up neatly, I used it! This little tunic was from a dress pattern I had that I just made shorter.

It looks so sweet on my blue-eyed girl. Because of it's shape, it flares out and looks very "70's" as she toddles along! ... and this one's made from all 'thrifted' / rescued things - so gotta love that! ;)