Cotton sewing

We are expecting a family from Syria today.

A little girl and a boy.

I thought it would be nice for them to receive a little toy of their own 

to distract them on the last leg of their long journey.

A Car Cozy!

And for the little girl, A Maisie Doll

Welcome to Canada and Shelburne, your new Home!

We hope you will like it here.

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.

Christmas Craft Fair circuit

Whew!

With 3 out of 4 craft fairs done, I am ready to take a break today.

And of course, taking the time to say hello to you is on the top of my list!

This table set up was at the Ingomar sale. 

Jam packed on a 5 foot table.

I can confidently say that most things on this table are gawn.

 

For some reason, I don't have a picture of my sale at the Fire Hall, so I move on to the sale at The Grand Hotel in Yarmouth.

Sorry for the fuzzy... I cleaned my lens after this.

I can confidently say, that most things on this table are available.

Weird show.. Widely advertised and attended, but not a lot of buying. hmm?

 I needed a break from sweater sewing one day, so I played around with cashmere scarves.

Voila... hot water bottle covers. love em

 These cashmere infant hats are soo soft and adorable.

Like my balloon display?

Basket of mittens from sales ago. 

All gone, but I do have more. Of course.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little kid section.

Those puppets please me.

And working with the felt in hair clips and tooth fairy bags. niiice

My first batch of stockings. gawn

My second batch. All available

And amongst the Christmas making, I got to make this little one for a new wee one in the world.

With a reversible dress.

One more craft sale on FRIDAY, at the Lockeport Pavillion 12-4

I will have a few more things added. Hopefully with a kid focus.

For a more up to date view of what I am doing,

check out my facebook page

ta ta for now....

Amanda

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

rope rope rope

Sorry, I do have more to show you, but I was so excited to show you this, that I must do it now.

More rope baskets! 

 This is not a pure cotton rope, it is polyester and cotton. 

With a foam core. The foam squishes and flattens when you sew it. 

It seems the rope is a little smaller in size also, although it says it is the same thickness. 

And it is half the price of the pure cotton rope, which I can't find.

(Anyone have a lead on cotton rope?)

I think I will make more of these though.

So many variations to try.

I thought that with the polyester quotient, it would be good to make coasters.

Yes, it would be. More to come. 

And what about that stool in the photo shoot?

We have two of them.

 They were made by my Husband's grandfather. 

I love the paint on it. The other one is clean.

 I toyed with sanding it down on a few occasions,

 but really..

it is distressed honestly, no fakery there.

And in news from the chicken farm:

One of our chickens died yesterday. 

Balky or Brownie, we're not sure which one, 

but the one pictured below is, indeed, the one that has passed.

Passed in her sleep after being slow for a few days.

thanks chicky hoo hoo

we enjoyed your eggs and entertainment.

Brrr, must go sit by that roaring fire in the photo above.

Bring on the spring weather!!

ciao,

Amanda

cotton bowls

It's been busy at the sewing machine. I think I will stretch it out to give you more blog posts.

Here is the latest obsession:

Cotton rope bowls

I've been wanting to do this for years. 

With the latest craze documented by some of my favourite bloggers,

 Soulemama and maya made 

and finding the actual rope at the local hardware store, 

I felt it was time to try it out.

Love love love.

Do you see the thin threads of colour?

Yea, it wasn't enough colour for me.

So I tired it again with bits of felt.

Yes, much better!

 I love the texture and pops of colour. It is therapeutic to sew around and around.

I have many more ideas for adding colour to the outside.

 The only thing stopping me is lack of materials. It is very expensive at the local hardware store. I think I may have to wait until I or someone else goes to the city.

Should I make these available to sell at the Spring Craft sale at the Fire Hall on May 2nd?

Whaddaya think?

have a good one,

Amanda

I sewed a pair of socks!

DID YOU HEAR ME?

I SEWED A PAIR OF SOCKS!

FROM A FELTED SWEATER!

Look how pretty they are! 

And so comfortable.

Now I know what I'll be using my patterned cashmere sweaters for.

I bought the pattern for Polar fleece socks on a trip to Joann's in Sarasota.

Oh yes, we went to Florida for 2 weeks in March. 

I haven't taken the crappy pictures from my phone yet, but I will write a post here for record keeping.

It was wonderful. Hot, sunny, beachy, hot tub, pooly and other interests were taken care of.

And I didn't need a pair of socks once!

Ciao,

AP

chickens, owls and who-ville hair

Aahh, A warm day in the middle of snow season. 

Where you can hear everything melting, birds singing and chickens making an awful racket. 

They want to get out and play too.

(oh, did I not say that they don't like to put their delicate feet on the snow? Spoiled chickens.)

So I put some straw down outside the coop area. They were as happy as could be.

 And in kid news: Crazy Hair day was indeed, crazy.

 Can't get enough of these owls.

 I think I will adjust the eyes a bit. This guy does seem extremely sad or worried.

Makes you want to love him more.

 And at the moment, I am working on a decor kind of owl. Denim, shiny thread and metal button eyes.

Our two days of warm weather was delightful. 

Just gets you through enough to gather strength for the snow storm we're expected to get on Sunday.

Yay.

Hello March Break.

Have a good one.

Amanda

Owl pattern from here.