I have a shop

yay i finally took the plunge and set up a folksy shop www.folksy.com/shops/MissSmiss theres only a couple of bits in at the moment as I need to improve my photography skills and get some decent shots to put up. And I want to see how things go before commiting to loads of listings. I've called my shop Pink N Pretty Handmades which is the name I will be using for my craft stall at the village Xmas Fair in November ...all very exciting stuff

xmas decoration

ok so people have been reminding me that there is about 117 days till xmas so I thought I'd have a go at some decorations and so far have only made one but hey it's a start. As usual my pink obsession has taken over in the buttons and ribbon.

It's also Eves birthday coming up so as well as the usual tatty teddy collectables I made her a little felt keyring in her name initial (her proper name is Yvette) I hope she likes it

sock monkeys

fluffy monkey

modelled by my 3 year old

these are so addictive to make, I made the kids ones out of fluffy socks I had sitting unused and unwanted in my sock drawer and wow did they stretch. I posted a picture on my facebook and in half an hour had 5 requests for sock monkeys from friends and neighbours all willing to pay too which has made my day as I had thought about setting up a stall at the village xmas fete for small things like felt keyrings and little xmasy stuff, now I think sock monkeys will be added to that. I sold the pink one to my neighbour this morning :)

ribbon girl giveaway

there is a great little giveaway here http://ribbongirls.blogspot.com/2010/08/ribbon-giveaway.html which looks great and of course after a little nosey at her shop I fell totally in love with the polka dot buttons and little wooden hearts so just had to place an order :)



how can you not fall in love with these

I think I just NEED every colour of them

Robyns gym bag

woohoo it's taken 4 days to make but finally finished Robyns P.E bag. All the lettering and the robin were hand appliqued which took forever. I decided to go for it with the sewing machine after 2 days of sewing scrap strips to check the tension and practising going in a straight line (harder than it looks) so the lining and the sides were sewn up super quick. Robyn loves it and so do I, roll on 2012 when Daisy hits primary school so can make her one too....hmmm I could make it early ha ha

.

starting the robin

lining up the name

the pretty lining

the finished bag

my week 5 make

Here's my 52MMMC week 5 creation - a little scottie dog using a pattern from Allsorts blog, she has a nice tutorial here http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2006/05/softie_scotty_d.html I used felt but you can also use fleece, cotton whatever really. I just like felt as its versatile and easy to use.

I have dusted off the sewing machine that Loui gave me 2 years ago and spend nearly a day figuring out how to thread it and to work out the very complicated bobbin casing. I'm still not sure on the tension especially not knowing what button does what and theres no manual with it but hopefully I'll learn through trial and error. It would be nice to do some bigger sewing projects like a couple of quilts for the girls that take about 4 months to hand sew. Using the machine should cut it down to a week or so. I've seen blogs where people have made an entire small quilt in a day and feel very jealous.

Now i just need to find a table for it as it's currently on the dining table and a pain to move everytime the kids get dinner as it is heavy.

bunny

This cute bunny was made from a pair of Daisys old cord trousers size 2-3 years, she was horrified when she saw the trousers all chopped up but a few days later was very happy with the end result. It took a while as I hand sew which takes a lot longer and I decided the body looked too fat for the head so had to unstuff and resew about half a cm in all round to make it thinner, then I decided the head looked too much like a sheep than a bunny and actually dragged my poor babies out of their hutch several times before realising that bunnies actually do resemble sheep a bit.

The ears and paws are cut out from a nightie that I picked up from the thrift shop as the fabric was very pretty. Pattern is from the June 2010 issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine. their version is a stunning turquoise blue. Daisy has already decided her pink cord trousers will soon be perfect for bunny number two.