Impromptu dolphin

More and more, Piper pulls out the craft stuff by herself to create whatever she's imagining in her head. Sometimes it's bemusing not to be needed, now that she knows where the scissors are and is so adept at cutting the bits of sticky tape she needs. Yes, a lot of sticky tape gets consumed around here these days! But that's all good. I've been keeping many bits and pieces that would have ended up in the recycling bin, cos invariably they get used in the next creation, as a turtle shell, or a dolphin pool, or an aquarium.

But the other morning, Piper decided she wanted to make a dolphin out of felt, which required a bit of parental presence. I probably took over the project, like did the sewing round the edge really need to be blanket stitch, or could I have just let her at it and see what happened? It's hard for the perfectionist in me to let go...

Found a picture online and printed it off as a pattern/outline.

Me sewing the blanket stitch, cos Piper didn't want to.

Taking time to snap a shot of her brother...

Stuffing the dolphin.

A new creature in a new home. A satisfyingly felty finished product. What a pity I was grumpy by the end, and what a blessing that the doorbell rang just then, announcing a friend, and an instant change of mood!

Creative weekend

I've been working away on bits and pieces for Christmas. Skirts for presents and tree ornaments for some friends and family. I brought this green fabric and white buttons back from Canada (good old Tanells and the MCC thrift store!) and had the idea of making little trees for ages. Then I rediscovered this tutorial, which simplified things a lot - always helpful when one is making more than a few. I do have a tendency to complicate things!

So this mess...

...becomes this...

...becomes this! I was eyeing up the bottlebrush when I took this - it's such a christmassy flower, but I don't think it will last til the 25th. I'll have to wait and see.

So, little trees, still under production, but I've got enough to send to Canada now (shhh, don't tell those people). I'll hang them in a window in the front of our family newsletter, which I have also managed to pull together this weekend. Bummer the printer has run out of ink!

Managed to make some girly skirts for a few of Piper's friends. Squeezed the sewing in amidst breakfasts and dinner prep and colouring in. Little bits of time are more on offer round here than large chunks. I really really love the simplicity of this pattern - it really facilitates giving a handmade gift which hasn't taken too much out of you! Thankyou, Liesl.

Last but not least, we were creative in the kitchen, with Piper making her first ever batch of pikelets and cooking them too, until the idea of a wrestle with Dad became more interesting. She did really well - good to be reminded that her capacity to do stuff increases without me realising, and new possibilities emerge...

Some completion

One finished quilt. Now I'll wait and see if it's adopted - no guarantees!

Piper took this one of Jas...

I made two Oliver and S Lazy Days skirts, a mermaid one for Piper, and a pink/green apples one for a friend turning five - forgot to get a photo of it before we'd wrapped it up! It was VERY satisfying to wake up in the morning and come out to two finished skirts, completed the night before. This pattern comes highly recommended for its ease, and I love that it's free - love the generosity of the craft community... Note to self: buy more fun ribbon!

Drawing today, loving watching Piper's creativity in action. She doesn't say she can't draw anymore, which is ace. I always love what she comes up with - today, dressing up a rubbing of a queen, above, and drawing lions in cages and a witch in a cave, with lights and darkness!

I attempted some too, but added too much, in the end. Still, the simple process of drawing is good in itself, hey...

Our art line in the loungeroom, to respect the creative output of my children and be inspired!

Handmade love for Jasper Sage

I've been working on a jumper/sweater for Jasper lately, with yarn I brought back from Canada. I couldn't start it over there cos I needed to finish all those hats! I love the colours, browns and rust red, and how it's knit in the round - less finishing to do! I bought the yarn and pattern as a kit from KPixie, but you could also get the pattern off Ravelry. I bought enough yarn for one for Piper too, but the colours were terribly garish - not how they looked on my computer, so I sent that yarn back. This sweater is going in spurts, but I think I'll get to finishing it soon - I seem to be in a completion stage of life, the last few days. Although I couldn't bear knit any of it today, given it was 35 degrees!

And here's what I did two Sundays ago - laid out my whole fabric stash into vague colour collections, mainly just to reaquaint myself with what I have, but out of this mess came the idea for a quilt for Jasper. Well, not the idea, cos I've been thinking of that for a while, but at least a pragmatic direction!

I had thought at first to focus on a chocolate/emerald/turquoise kind of colour scheme, and bought a few bits, such as the elephants, with this in mind. But when I'd laid out all my fabric, this is what materialised for Jasper.

A neat stack of squares, ready to go.

The elephants, and some of the other fabric, came from A Little Goodness, but some of the other stuff has been with me for years, some of it ten years!!! I think that's why this project feels so satisfying, to FINALLY turn these odd bits of material into something of value. I have lots of ideas for using up more of my stash - I don't want to keep it for another ten years...

Strips ready to sew together - which I managed to do yesterday, and I managed to layer it all together today, so soon I'll post a completed project, right when Jasper has no use for a blanket whatsoever! Until it cools down a bit, anyway!

Sharon's 1st quilt!

Wanted to document my sister-in-law's first ever quilt, for her daughter Taelyn! I went with her to Marv and Tanell's fabric shop, and loved watching the process of choosing fabric. I love how eclectic her choices were, and how they work together. Most of all, I love that she's into making stuff, and how that means we have even more in common. You're ace, mate!

Here's the fabric...

Wielding the rotary cutter.

Getting the sewing machine going!


All while Gord entertained the kids!

And here's the quilt top, completed in a day or two, I think. The whole quilt was done in less than a week! She is a Funk, after all! Wow, top job. Makenna's is next!

Quilts that inspire me

Alicia Paulson's Lemoncello quilt, as seen on her Posie Gets Cozy blog. This is the top...

...and this is it finished. I love how the red/orange finishing touches change the whole feel of the quilt. Read more, and see more lovely photos, here.

Moonstitches' incredibly detailed quilt, comprised of crocheted hexagons (and a billion ends to sew in!).

Ezra's quilt by Soulemama.

This XOXO quilt, so textured, simple colours.

The simplicity of Syko's art quilts, like this one: Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Piper's first softie!

Today Piper and I met Sharon and her kids at the fabric shop - Sharon wants to make a quilt and was there to choose fabric. I enjoyed watching the process, laying a heap of bolts on the bench and whittling down the choices. On the way home, Piper commented that she is learning to sew, and what she meant was, she has a cardboard shape with holes around the edge that she threads a shoelace through, for practice. I asked her if she wanted to do some sewing with me, and she said, "YEAH! On the sewing machine!" This wasn't quite what I had in mind - I was thinking hand-sewing - but I ran with it anyway!

We had to wait til Jasper went to bed in the afternoon, so in the meantime, after she'd crossed some days off, Piper wrote SEWING MACHINE DAY on the calendar. I was excited for her, for one, that she wanted to mark the occasion, and two, that she knew most of the letters and was able to write all of them without getting burnt out halfway through. The other day she wanted to learn how to spell my name, but gave up halfway through (and we were only writing BEC!). Just depends on the day, hey...

So, Jasper went to sleep. Piper had decided she wanted to make a horse, a girl horse. So we printed off a colouring page of a horse off the internet and cut it out to use as a pattern. I kept the legs simple, not four, but two pairs. She chose some ballerina fabric and traced around the horse.

Then we used the sewing machine! She sat on my lap, I pushed the pedal and together we guided the fabric towards the needle along the line she had traced. She got the hang of raising and lowering the presser foot - that became her job, although I kept reaching for it out of habit!

Then I cut around our sewing line, and turned it inside out. Piper helped stuff it, although I did most of it, cos getting cotton balls into the corners was pretty tricky. And next time I'd make a bigger creature, then stuffing would have been easier for her too.

Jasper woke up then, and they had fun pretending the cotton balls were snow. Piper was pretty hyper, not in a bad way, but as if the experience of creating, bringing something into being, was revving her up. That was my take, anyway... I was glad for her.

Once the horse was stuffed, we took her upstairs to sew up her belly.

We took turns putting in the stitches. Piper was pretty good at it - I really should do more sewing with her!

Belly all closed! Then I sewed on two buttons for eyes, and wala! A ballerina horse! Perhaps next we'll make a tutu! A soft toy in less than two hours. Not a bad effort!

Back to the craft!

When I discovered I was a pregnant a couple of months ago, I pretty much stopped making anything. It was like something had switched off any crafty impulse I'd ever had, as if the intensity of my internal creative effort left no room for anything else. I couldn't even be bothered chasing up an order of missing Addi Turbos. Anyway, two months on, that has all changed, thank goodness! I was beginning to think this baby was never going to get anything handmade by its own mother!

Earlier this week, I was half heartedly checking out a few of the bazillion feeds on my Reader. I often gravitate to Soulemama, and I felt really inspired by some of her latest posts: her amazing efforts rearranging her house, her gratitude wraps, the space she makes for her children, simply her life of creativity! She's amazing, eh! Watched a bit of TV, engaged in a bit of recreation with my husband (ha!), and headed to bed. Lay there rehashing the TV show (it really was quite a good epidsode of The Border) and then meandered on to Soulemama, and then all of a sudden, I was wondering where a particular knitting book of mine (this link has pics of my some of my fave patterns) had gotten to, and then I couldn't sleep until I'd gotten out of bed and gone through my whole yarn stash to evaluate what was there, and found that missing book, and jumped on the computer to finalise that ancient Addi order, and decided what to knit the next day! Then I could go to sleep!

Anyway, since then, I have been knitting. Knitting hats, to be precise, with yarn that has been sitting there for so long that I despaired of using it while here in Canada (we leave in October). I can feel a sense of creative relief as ideas I had for yarn pairings knitted into particular patterns are working out and coming together. This sense of flow - idea into creation - creates room for more ideas. I just have to keep the flow going.

Have also begun some gratitude wraps, thanks to Soulemama's free pattern. One for me and one for a friend. Using this Russian Nesting Dolls fabric for mine. Been finding some lovely notecards on Etsy to put in them when I'm done. (And how this for cool - I LOVE it!)

So all in all, it feels fantastic to be back crafting again. I look forward to the day when I get something on needles for this new little one. The only pressure is this deadline of leaving Canada, cos of all the things I want to make as gifts before then! I'm learning, however, to listen to my emotions, and at least note when an activity feels life-giving and joyous, and when I'm doing it just to get it done, for the end result. Sometimes simple awareness is enough.

Anyway, just wanted to share that with the world! To all the prolific crafters out there, you are amazing!

A Swap and a Clean Sewing Space!

Here's my package to Christy for the Favourite Things Swap - good fun to pull together:

• Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Maple Tea
• Alba Mango Vanilla Shave Cream (love the scent)
• Two lace hankies (love collecting them from the thrift store)
• Two pre-loved copies of Mixtape zine (love a taste of home)
• And chocolate (which I added after this photo was taken)

I'm looking forward to getting a surprise in the mail sometime soon!

This was my effort yesterday and today: cleaning up my sewing space, and the rest of the space, in the basement, in preparation for my Mum coming to stay with us for around two weeks next week. SUCH a nice feeling, having a clear sewing table. Sew often (ha - I really did write that without thinking!), I sew amidst a great mess. I am dying to finish that flirty skirt for Piper on the table there (from this summer edition of Quilts and More), but I really don't know if I'll get to it before the kids and I leave for Edmonton tomorrow (to meet my Mum and visit my rellies - whoo!).

Lookithat space!!!

Piles of red for the next project coming up - some kind of red and white quilt.

I know it's not perfect, fabric stacked on a disused microwave, but hey, they're kind of colour-coordinated and neat, so I enjoy looking at them!

This morning began at 7am, when Jasper decided he was done sleeping. So I took my two thrifted jars of buttons upstairs, and he kind of helped me sort them out. At least, he enjoyed hitting them and making them bounce with two thrifted knitting needles! Is it okay to let a one-year-old play with knitting needles? (Hey, at first I wrote kneedles! Must be that glass or two of wine I had after dinner, combined with a week of detoxing and eating remarkably healthily!! Hit me hard, I must say!)


The end result!