If you read Chaletgirls blog, which I am sure you all do, you would know that little Emmeline recently turned one.  I normally buy her kids presents but I really wanted to make this little girl something special.

I wanted to make a topsy turvey doll.  You know the ones that have a head at each end with a skirt in the middle.  They are normally fairy tale characters, like red riding hood and the wolf; or cinderalla as a maid and a princess.

I wanted to crochet it and after having a quick look on ravelry I found the gourmet crochet pattern.

I ordered it from crochet australia and received it pretty much the next day.

I used wool from Yarnplanners’s stash (thanks susie).  I was really quite surprised with how much wool this pattern uses.  I quickly ran out in a few colours so had to be a little bit creative with my colour choices.

The skirts are separated by about an inch in the middle, so you will always see the other skirt underneath.

If I made it again I would stick with two colours like the pattern has – pink and white, white and pink. Then it wouldn’t look so odd seeing the other skirt.

I got it done and I love it. This is probably the best toy that I have made so far.

I was a little late getting it to her but by all accounts she loves it too.

Another Christmas is over and a new Year has begun.

We had a very simple christmas.  We went out on christmas eve and looked at some christmas lights.

Some people have spent a lot of money on these displays and they do look spectacular.

Quite different from our pititful light display.  This is our front window.

I had to work on Christmas day in the afternoon.  It was a good time to start because I still got to be with the kids in the morning, and then have lunch together.  My mum and mother in law were here for lunch.  We really didn’t make a big deal out of it and just had a selction of cheeses and cold meats with croisants.  Even though it was simple it was still a special meal.

The kids were totally spoilt and got way too many toys.  They had a great day – presents and chocolate galore.

New years eve was a non event. I had to work over the night.  But to be honest if I didn’t have the night off i don’t think my night would have been any more exciting.

Anyway, I have lots of crafty things to share.  So I will be trying to post about them over the next couple of days.

I hope that you and your families had a great time over Christmas and New Year too.

I came across this pattern browsing fabric photos on flickr one day.

It is by Alicia Paulison from posy gets cosy.  It is a really simple bag, and I probably could have created a simple pattern myself, but I really couldn’t be bothered and I knew this pattern worked.  There is a group on flickr with dozens of them, and they all look good.

I wanted to make two for my little girls kindy teachers.  But when I was going through my stash auditioning fabrics, I came up with 8 different combinations.  So I made them all.  It was a real production line.  I didn’t make them all at once, I just did one step at a time on all 8 bags, just a little bit each sewing session.

I wish I had taken a photo of all of them together. I have already given the rest away.  They went to friends and family and a select few who helped out my addiction and suffered my recent tupperware party.

My very good mate Sheridan (who is absolutely out of her tree) is organising the 2010 Craft Blog Convention.

It is going to be held on the weekend 15/16 May 2010.  She has organised accommodation at the Radison Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne and that is also where there is going to be a crafting session on the Saturday.

There also will be a shopping expedition on the Friday afternoon and dinner on Saturday night.  She has created a blog Sew It Together that has all of the details and where you can register your interest.

Lucky for me I actually have some annual leave allocated to me for that weekend (surprising since I had to request the leave 18 months ago).

So YES, I will be going.  I can’t wait!!!

We have been busy with assorted christmas parties and end of year events.  Even those these aren’t crafty things – here is some stuff that I have MADE.

I made some santa cupcakes for our work party  (still a great recipe Shenry!)

and some tea cups for the kindy art show.

I saw these made by someone whose blog I read regularly. But now I can’t remember who it was.  They are made from tic toc biscuits as the base and use a glue of water and icing sugar to stick them all together.

This is from the art show too, it is her sewing. I am so proud.

We also had the kindy disco and quickly whipped up this dress the day before.

and I made some playdoh for the kids to keep them amused on a hot day,

and to top it all off, we put up our christmas tree.

I have been doing some sewing and crocheting and other crafty things.  I just can’t show you – it’s that time of year.

This months “around the block” blocks were a pleasant challenge.

Lara requested stars and whirling things. I used two 12.5″ patterns from quilters cache. I have made the star before as part of my joint quilt with Sheridan.

They were simple and fun to make and all of her blocks together look fantastic so far. (see her post here)

Lynn had a zig zag theme. I found this a little more challenging. I wanted one to be wide zig zags and the other to be a liitle more “out there”.
I found these harder to make because the block size was so big (15.5″). I stuffed up my maths and i am not real happy with the wide zig zags.

The second one came out just how I designed it. Except in my mind the zig zag was more noticeable.

I am really enjoying this swap. It can be quite a challenge.
I already have the fabric for next month which is for Sheridan, her theme is squares.

My month isn’t until februray. I have collected all the fabrics but haven’t yet decided on what pattern or theme I would like.

I have a huge problem.

A very good friend has asked me to make her a quilt. I won’t just make a queen size quilt for anyone, but she is a dear friend and I adore the idea of her wanting something I have made.

I struggled for a long time to decide on fabrics and patterns. In the end I went with Sheridans suggestion of making something that I would like to make.

I just started to cut the fabrics tonight and the problem is that I am falling in love with this quilt.  So much so, that I am not sure I want to give it away.

It is a slight variation on a prints charming kit using their fabrics and hand screen printed panels.  I was inspired by Sheridans pink version.

I want to make a new queen size quilt for our room – and have a collection of navy fabrics for that.  But this one is starting to look so PERFECT!!!

So do I keep this quilt and make her something new. She has asked it to be a surprise so she is not expecting this particular quilt. And do I use the navy fabrics that I  had put aside.

What do I do?

I have been working extremely hard at the sewing table to get this quilt done.

I have fabric and supplies sitting in the wings for a few quilts that I am dying to start. But I have been quite strict on myself to finish some WIPs first.

This quilt is the result of my chaletgirl block swap. During the swap I thought that the cream squares were a little boring and compared to other participants, not the best fabric choice. But once together and framed with a simple cream border, I am pleased with the end result.

I also wanted a simple pieced back using mainly stash fabric. The plan was to do the square pieced border and then use the cream fabric all the way to the edges. BUT ….  the shop that I bought it from didn’t have any left and I couldn’t even find a decent match at spotlight.

I ended up using what I had, which was almost enough, but not quite. The patchy Kokka fabric was a gift from Sheridan for my birthday last year.

To make matters worse I did the maths wrong on the initial centre square. Which is why there is a great big strip of taupe at the bottom to make it big enough.

In the pieced border I included a few labels. There are also pieces of fabric from the other participants with their name written next to them.

I had fun being part of this project and I got a great quilt out of it. This quilt is destined as my “doggo” quilt. I plan on taking it to work when I work overnight to keep me warm.

Thanks Sheridan. Good job. I would love to say that I can’t wait to be part of the next one. But I already am!

I took the kids on a road trip and thought I would bore you with some photos.

I had a great time and it was nice just to hang out with the kids away from home, with not so many rules.  We split the trip into smaller chunks and only drove about 4 hours each day.

We headed south to see the sights of sydney and spend some time with friends.

Then we spent a couple of days at a Farm Stay at Nelson Bay (near Newcastle).

It was very basic but it was very fun.

We had our own chook pen to collect eggs from.  And you know that you are in trouble when in front of your cabin is an assortment of Gumboots for you all to wear.

Every afternoon we did the rounds with farmer Scott.  We milked the cow; bottle fed the baby calf and goat; played with the baby chicks; fed the ducks, geese, chickens, sheep, goats, alpacas and pony; sat on the donkey, brushed the pig (with a toilet brush!) and threw the ball to Bob the dog.  Good ‘not so’ clean fun.

The kids became so confident and mature around the animals very quickly.

Nelson bay is a beautiful spot and I fell in love with the beach at Shoal Bay.  We went every chance we had.

This was one holiday that I didn’t want to come home from.  (except to see my darling husband – who had to work).

Last month I made a Jumper – pattern and wool by Jo Sharp.

It is really daggy, comfy and warm.  I love it.  I hadn’t blogged about it because I was going to take some better photos.  This was taken about a minute after I finished sewing the ends in, over my pjs.

I have also done this months around the block blocks for Louise.

BTW I am on holidays at the moment, and in two days I finished two quilts that have been hiding in my UFO box for way too long.

I don’t love this quilt.  It was all about the process.  I had fun picking out the fabrics at a craft show.  I enjoyed making the “Yellow Brick Road” pattern.  Then because I don’t love it I wasn’t too scared to quilt it myself.  I did ok.  Just don’t look too closely.

Quilting that gave me some confidence quillting the bug quilt.  I really couldn’t have sent it away for quilting because I wouldn’t have been happy with an all over pattern.  First I did the book shelves, and I was going to leave it at that.  Then I did the border.  Then I couldn’t just leave the black around the bottles.  Now it is almost quilted to death.   I don’t like the feel of quilts with this type of dense quilting.  Nothing beats the feel of a quilt that is hand quilted.  But maybe with a few washes it might soften up.

(OMG – doesn’t the black show the cat hair!!)

So now I am packing madly.  I am taking the kids on a road trip staring tomorrow, heading south.  Unfortunately I will be solo as hubby has to work.  We will eventually end up in Sydney to spend some time with Sheridan and Henry.   Can’t wait.