bunch o monkeys

I made these cute little guys for the kids in my preschool music class. I love the arms and how they swing all over the place. The arms of the monkeys and the kids. It was a fun bunch. The magical age of 2, when they are coming into their own and getting a vocabulary. O how they grow from the beginning to the end of the 12 week session.

Remember the lion I gave out a few sessions ago?

Easy hand stitching and a bit of machine sewing.

What else have I been doing? Making a few more Maisies from the book More Softies Only a Mother Could Love.

And bit of singing. These costumes are exclusive to this particular mall. The large, huge, ginormous mall that doesn't look like a mall until you're halfway through it. Fun to sing though.


oh, and getting ready for a few shows this coming week. It's closer than I thought. boo.

Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

another Maisie

Another Maisie to add to the pile of Maisie's I've made. ( doll comes from "More Softies Only a Mother Could Love")

It has been the gift to give to Neve's friends for their birthdays. This little girl requested something red and was quite excited when she saw what it was. She was in the know with the earlier birthday girls and their presents.
I usually give some hair clips and a little coin purse, if time allows. Guess there wasn't time for the purse this time.

Neve drew a picture on canvas with fabric markers. It is a cluster of toadstools and some gnomes. It's the first time she went outside of her people and rainbow themes. I have no idea what the recipient would do with it, but it was accepted enthusiastically. ( I can't believe I spelled that correctly the first time)

And here's the birthday loot all together.


nice first day of summer vacay. Busy weekend this one.
To all my Canadian readers...
Happy Canada Day tomorrow!
Amanda

chicken on a plate

urrrr, make that a rooster.

Another great softie from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love
Don't look now, he's hiding in a tree.

keep a keen eye. You never know who's lurking in the shadows!!


Hopefully he's being enjoyed by a newly 6 year old! And has befriended his other playmate, the fox

another Maisie

What can I say, she's the GO TO gift for little girls this year. And she's so easy/satisfying to make. I think this is # 4.

here is the first one that I made and where the pattern comes from here and another Zippy Pouch

While I was sewing up, I gave Neve my jar of felted wool beads that I bought at Deserres. I think she was inspired by my colour palate for her bracelet.


Must make another prezzie today. For a boy. My own pattern. stay tuned.
Amanda

Owl softie

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SCREENS. BLURRY PHOTOS BELOW!
Geesh, I don't know if my lens is all gungked up or my vision is really off today. Nothing is in focus. But here goes the post.

Here's another go at the owl softie I did here from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love

I tried to use the close zigzag stitch around the belly. Not bad for a first try.

This is my 3rd owl. i made one out of light grey linen with red teeny polka dot fabric as the accent and it was scooped up by a friend.


So this is what I woke up to this morning....

Fava Beans I think? I haven't asked the mad kitchen scientist yet.
These are the olives he started from fresh back in the fall. It made great presents to give to people.

In our pantry, we have jars of home made pesto, marmalade, dill pickles, olives, lupini beans, vanilla and now a batch of fava beans. Yum. I like my kitchen experimenting husband.

Cheers,
Amanda

Little Red Riding Hood

This little beauty is from the book, More Softies Only a Mother Could Love

I enlarged her only half of what it directed. She is about half the size of Max and Santa gnome here and Maisie here. Go figure.

I used to like little things. But since doing the above mentioned softies, I think I prefer my softies to be a bit bigger. more to love.
It was much more embellished in the book. I would have done that too, but my embellishment pile is limited to only stuff I had for paper crafting. I don't think a fancy jewel brad would work here! :}


Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Owl be yours forever

Yesterday, I sang 2 concerts for Remembrance Day. It was really a great concert, but can I tell you... my feet are sore!! :}

Anyhow, I managed to sew up a little owl from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love. Yep, I'm stuck on that book for awhile.


I altered it a bit. Added some ears. Also want to add my signature heart on the softie. I'm thinking of adding wings?? What do you think?
Here he is with the Santa gnome . Just 2 friends hanging out.


My husband always has some little food experiment on the go. This time, it's olives. He made a batch a few months ago and liked them so much, that he bought a 10 pound box on Friday! Guess everyone's gettin' olives for Christmas. You have to change the water every day for about 3 weeks. then he added some salt to brine them. This time, he's also going to try some other things like spiced olives and some in vinegar.


Purdy ain't it?

Ciao,
Amanda

Max Santa

so when I made Max the gnome the 1st time, I knew he was gonna come back as a Santa gnome.


Especially when Fabricland was having a buy 1 get 2 free sale on fake fur!


Fun to make and fun to love.


Original gnome pattern from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love Santa adaptation by me.

Oh, one other thing, I'm thinking of opening an etsy shop, but I'm scared! Anybody out there have the same feeling when they started? Advice appreciated.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

max the gnome

Once I had a millisecond, Rafael was all over me to sew his gnome. watching over my shoulder.

His name is Max. Max goes everywhere, except outside, "he may get dirty". Oops, hope Rafael doesn't see this post!


Max had a great time hiding on me.

Showing up with the strangest friends...

But he has a good heart.
\
Just like his new guardian.

Pattern from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Maisie

Well, we went to the Creativ Festival on Friday. We were so excited. We were looking for roving and needle felting stuff. we found nada. I would have been disappointed with the whole thing, but one spot made me very happy.
Mad About Patchwork She had a bin of ends of bolts. 10 cents an inch! How cool is that? Because I sew little things, it was perfect for my desire to have much of everything. And I didn't even have to match the fabrics. it's already done. She had a 7 week challenge for herself to make 7 Christmas gifts out of 4.5 metres of fabric. It's under her blog.
I haven't taken pics of the fabric, but here are the threads when I took it out of the washer! oh boy.


What to make, what to make with such lovely designs and colours? Well, there were some swatches of a soft flannel that was needing attention. So I made Maisie from More Softies only a mother could love


She's so soft. I used eco fill to stuff her. I wanted to use wool, but I have to card it first. Lazy me. It was easy to do the face and so fast to put it all together.


She is loved. Here is Miss Neve all sad. Don't worry. She's having an off day. All we asked her to do is take her coat off. Right now, she's wailing b/c we asked her for the umpteenth time to put the game away before she takes out another one. Oh the joys.


We printed off a bunch more patterns of the same book, so stay tuned. An orange gnome will be next.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Princess and the pea playset

First off, apologies for the poor photos. I took them in the back of the car while waiting for DH to come rescue me. More on that later.
Here is the princess and the Pea playset I got from the More Softies book. oops, the bag and tag I made for it....

Here it is with the mattresses and the pea.

And the princess. My goal was to give it with the book, but I didn't get out to look for one.

I will probably make up a few more of these sets and buy the books, but I think I will do the doll differently to make some string arms and legs. And not iron the mattresses after I line them with batting. it squishes the batting down to a non-fluffy mattress.

K, the car story. After church, I rush to the sailing club to pick up Rafael to take him to the bday party, get to the party, watch the pretty people play volleyball outside the building as I drive into the parking lot. On the high side of the sidewalk. Not the indented side for driving over. BANG!!! All the pretty people look over as I spin my tires to continue over the high part of the sidewalk. DRRAAAGGGG. I hear the scrape over the driveway. Get out, look under the car, don't see anything hanging. Take son into the party. As I come out, I notice something hanging from the front end of the car. Upon further inspection, it's a cover that is half off. The other half is screwed in real tight. I can't budge it. Then I notice the cover behind it is also looking a little crumpled. So I did what any damsel in distress would do. Called hubby to come. He came and took them off and I was on my way with only 1 hour, instead of 2, to do some damage at Fabricland. And that I did. There was a 40% off sale on almost everything. I didn't even go to the cotton fabric section. Just some tulle, jersey for a spinny dress I have in mind for Neve and found some purple wool felt in the remnant bin. DH thinks I should make a coat for Neve. I see a mat for a felted playset there instead. happy ending. Oh, I asked DH if he was worried when I called and said I had a problem. His response, " Well, how bad could it be? you weren't blubbering over the phone or anything!" God love him. So calm. I informed him that I probably wouldn't blubber. I would probably be yelling instead if it was anything bad. Touch wood, I don't know what I would be like in an unfortunate event.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

more WIP and busted machine!!

It's been days since I've been on here! I've been working on several things, but nothing is getting completed. Mostly due to a tempermental machine. BITES!
So here is the 2nd edition of Works in Progress:
Princess and the Pea play set for my son's classmate. Her party is on Sunday and I need to find the book and finish it. It comes from the More Softies book.


Another Everywhere Tote from Weekend Sewing that was this close to being done, but I took the handles off, now the machine is busted and I wanted to give it to my friend for her bday tomorrow. NOT. Sorry girlfriend. it's on the way.


And I've been working on more crochet flower clips. Colourful for Spring!!


I actually played around this time. Did I come up with a new flower pattern? Or have you seen this one before?


Spring has come early this year. DH is already dreaming of his veggie garden and the kids were having fun looking for worms. Rafael is talking to nanny long distance on the phone, giving a play by play.

Here's a line from DH: " you reap what you sow, plant some vegetables" They taste much better, that's for sure.

Hopefully I'll be back soon,
thanks for looking,
Amanda

it's a what????!!!!!

Remember this little fella from the More Softies book?

Well, here's my version.


I have to tell ya, it was kinda ify while I was making it. No one saw it as an elephant. The best one was my son who guessed a flamingo after i sewed the body together. It wasn't until the eyes that they got it.

But I don't care. It's going in my gift pile for some lucky kid who can love him as much as I do. lol


thanks for looking,
Amanda