Lucas' bear

A childhood friend of mine had a request...

To make a bear out of an infant 0-3 month sleeper.

Not one to back away from a challenge, I accepted.

Meet the bear.

It was a side zipper onesie with this on the stomach.

I had considered putting this on the belly of the bear, 

but the belly pattern has two darts, one on top and one on the bottom. 

I didn't want the top dart to go into the Tigger face. 

Turns out, it probably would have been okay.

Accompanying the outfit was a knitted hat and mittens. 

The hat of the bear is from the mitten. 

I wet it, stretched it out and put a pompom on top.

I unraveled the second mitten and knit the scarf.

The bear pattern comes from  Abby Glassenberg's book,

Stuffed-Animals-From-Concept-Construction

I LOVE this book. I love her patterns.

The lesson with this pattern is joints.

The best part?! The neck is jointed to the body!

No fiddling with sewing the head on.

I LOVE it.

But alas, my doll joints were too big for the arms and legs, 

so I had to use button joints. 

The eyes are safety eyes with a felt circle on the back. 

The little eye brow did a lot in giving him a little personality.

I am looking forward to making this bear again, but with an enlarged pattern.

It will be made from her late father's corduroy blazer.

That will be fun, with proper jointed arms and legs.

This is a wee one to be sure.

Hope all is well and cosy where you are.

We finally have a bit of winter here today.

Cold temps and all.

Spring Craft fair

Last weekend, there was a craft fair at the fire hall.

I'm really liking my new-ish wire burlap baskets and chalk paint labels.

I decided to try some new items for summer.

 Cashmere socks!

And of course, I must have lovies for the littles.

The following items are now available at  

Studio 138, Shelburne

Bear friend in a tin

 bunny in a basket. Actually, they are sold separately.

The ever fabulous, Hand Puppets

Socks, dollies, glass plates

 And trinket tray

 This past weekend, we also celebrated Neve's 1st Communion.

T'was a lovely day for a lovely occasion with some family visiting too.

Have a good one.

Amanda

a doll for Ava

A few weeks ago, I got an order to make a doll for a 1 year old.

Luckily, I had just found the extra Waldorf doll body I purchased when I made the doll for Neve. 

What fun. 

I'm always nervous to create a character. I find that mostly, the character defines itself.

The order was for blue eyes and red/orange hair.

I set about for the eyes and some clothes.

 We don't have any fancy yarn shops in town, so I saved up my shopping list for a trip to 

Have a Yarn, Mahone Bay.

What a treat! you should go.

I couldn't find orangey wool, 

so I got this.

I love it!!

 I used the 3 layer technique from here and then added an extra few strands to the top front. 

I purposely chose the orangey tones for the front of the face.

And I changed the eye colour and shape. The other eyes were creeping me out. :}

 Fun FUn FUN

 Here she is in some pjs. I also made another pant suit, but have misplaced the top. 

I mean, really!!!! Where is it? I'm so absent minded. It will show up in the most unusual place, I'm sure, as I've already checked the obvious places. Maybe it's with my wedding rings that I recall taking off in the middle of the night trip to the washroom. I remember putting them in a safe place while going back to the bedroom. Really safe, for sure. 

And the long lost, good sunglasses that I misplaced last fall? FOUND by Rafael. Out by the stick pile. They spent the winter outdoors, under the snow. 

Anyhow, I digress....

 Here she is with the Neve Doll made in 2011. Neve is an 18 inch doll and Ava is a 13 inch doll.

The girls are having a slumber party. 

Hope they go to sleep early and don't make a mess in the bedroom with their popcorn.

Ciao,

Amanda