Serendipity

Sometimes If I just click on tabs on the side of blogs, I end up somewhere cool.

This lady did a blog last year-12 crafts til Christmas and shared what she did.

and she made a PDF file of how to make a Pillow Buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love her forever.

and my children will love her forever once I've purchased fabric and created these for all of them.

They'll love me forever also.

Now, do I make them for Easter, Birthdays or Christmas??? (listed in order of nearness in time. Probably Christmas is the only realistic choice--but not the fun choice.)

Finished project!

I forgot to post Mama Bird and her chicky! I actually finished her near Easter. (I won't lie and say before Easter, though that was the goal.)





You can find a tutorial from Molly Chicken here.



Her arms are too short to do everything.

I know how she feels.

Grandma & Grandpa Dolls

I made these for my parents as a gag gift for Christmas. I got the idea from Angry Chicken.

1. I used the inkjet iron transfer paper, and printed my parents' faces.
2. Then I drew a gingerbread man type doll body on white muslin. I made the head almost exactly the same size and the pictures I printed. In retrospect, I should have made the head 1/4-1/2 inch bigger than the picture. Then the faces wouldn't have been so distorted by the stuffing. I DID NOT CUT OUT THE DOLLS YET
3. I colored the clothes directly on the muslin with crayons. Then Put the muslin between paper towels and ironed it to melt the wax out. As you can see, the color stayed. It is easier to color the dolls if you have a page of fine sand paper under the fabric to sort of hold it in place as you color.
4. Repeat step three to get bold colors.
5. I ironed the faces onto the dolls, following the directions for the transfer paper.
6. I layered a plain piece of muslin over the doll drawings, right sides together and sewed all around on the line I had drawn, leaving 1 1/2" open on one side for turning & stuffing.
7. THen I cut out the dolls, leaving a 1/4 seam allowance all around.
8. I turned the dolls right side out and stuffed them tightly. As you can see from the lumpy dolls, I do not know the finer rules of stuffing. **note to self: Research finer rules of stuffing on one of those fabulous softie making websites I have bookmarked.
9. I whipstitched the opening shut.

Judging by Diva#3's reaction to the dolls, I need to make her a set so she can play with Grandma every day. She picked up the dolls and laughed with glee and pressed them to her, shouting, "They're hugging me, they're hugging me."

P.S. Grandma and Grandpa got a good laugh Christmas morning, and Grandma says she can use it for a voodoo doll when Grandpa is in the dog house.

Why I make stuff

I have been a little paranoid about posting pix of my kids online. But I have noticed that no one else seems to be worried. And I have to share this darling thing.

I Finished the Piggy!!

I bought the pattern for this cutie from Ana Paula
She has some free patterns too, and they are all marvelous. The most marvelous part is that they are easy. I am not exactly great at crochet. The last pattern I tried was supposed to be doll booties, but they turned out to be flat oval coasters. So, if I can do it, you can do it.

My new idea for Christmas is that I am going to make up a bunch of homemade toys and then let my kids "shop" for each other. In a couple of years, the kids might be able to make nice things for each other. At this point, the best they could do is string necklaces for each other. (which we might just do...what a great idea...)