… would like to wish you a Happy New Year! :)

We've had quite a nice break for the past few weeks. Been to the zoo, reorganised my stash, and managed to do some crafting too.

The softies above, were made with Mochimochi Land's Stackable Cats pattern. I modified the ears to be more rounded for the bear and the panda (and shorter tails for them, but I've got no tail photos…), and different facial features for all of them. They were for hubby's little brother, who loves softies and requested these.

And, like many people, part of the fun of starting a new year is getting a new diary. I was excited to discover that my favourite stationery store, kikki.K, sells diary 'refills' — their usual stylish diary contents on the inside, but without the pretty cover on the outside. I saw them and thought that these would be excellent to make custom book covers for. So I made one, out of some scrap japanese fabrics and linen. I love it so much, imperfections and all.

Too bad I discovered them a little too late, otherwise they would've made fantastic Christmas gifts I reckon! Next Christmas, maybe? :)

Things are starting to look festive around here. I made this fabric wreath, inspired by this one, using an embroidery hoop and fabrics from my scrap box.

We have finally 'finished' for the year — no more preschool or dance classes until February. No more mad rush in the mornings for 6 weeks, thank goodness. I'm hoping for lots of time to relax now. Today was Annette's last day at dancing, and they had a dress up day. She wanted to dress up as a princess (no surprise there). I refuse to pay ridiculous amount of money for one of those Disney princess costumes that are not even well made, so in a moment of craziness I decided to make one myself. I used a pattern from a japanese craft book called All Your Kids Need (page 53), and an embroidered taffeta-like fabric from Spotlight (and lots of tulle underneath). I never thought I would attempt anything like this, and it's not for the faint-hearted, but it turned out quite well I think.

Some more things finished this week, thankyou gifts for teachers — face cloths and handmade soap (soap from my local health food store).

Simplicity 3835 again (it's addictive!), view C. I shortened the body again by 3 inches, but this time I added the sleeve elastics as per pattern.

And for little miss cheeky…

Ruffled skirt pattern by Grand Revival Design.

Another thing that I've been procrastinating about is sewing clothes for myself. It always seemed like a big undertaking to me. But then I found this pattern and saw some cute versions of it on flickr. It looks similar to these tops that I made for Annette earlier this year and it seems simple enough (no buttonholes, no zippers), so I gave it a go.

The pattern is Simplicity 3835, view C, with some adjustments. I didn't use elastics for the sleeves, and made them about an inch longer. And as I am short, I shortened the body length by about 3 inches so that the hem falls just above the hips. The fabric is a light cotton voile in duck egg blue with dots, from Spotlight.

I love this pattern, and I'll definitely be making more of this. I love that it's easy to mix and match various elements of the pattern as you like (elastic or fixed neckline? short or longer sleeves? make a top or a dress?). And there's also instructions on how to adjust the pattern to your own body shape. Handy!

Yes it's true, I've finally made my first 'real' big quilt :) And I've only procrastinated about this for, what, two years? Heh! Don't know why it took me so long to start on this. I think I had what I'd like to call "First Big Project Paralysis Syndrome". I distinctly remember going through the same thing before I made my first knitted cardigan. (I umm-ed and ahh-ed over what pattern to use, then took even longer deciding on the yarn, and then changed my mind about the pattern again at least two dozen times.) With this quilt I also umm-ed and ahh-ed over the pattern, changed my mind dozens of times, before deciding that I just like the unstructured look of scrappy quilts, like this and this. And of course after that I changed my mind dozens of times more about the fabrics that I wanted to use.

But finally, here's what I came up with. It's not very big, about 44 x 55 inches, but enough to cover Annette's bed. Here's the front, a mix of some favourite japanese fabrics from the stash (so yeah, not really 'scraps' :) ), some Heather Ross, and some Denyse.

And on the back, red and white seersucker, with that skipping girl print from sproutdesign, and the black on charcoal polka dots fabric (also featured on my Mail Sack) which was an op shop find.

And look, even with binding.

The binding was a LOT of work! Annette kept asking me "Is my quilt ready yet, Mummy??" and I kept saying it's almost ready, I just had the binding left to do. Well, four days later, I was still stitching the binding… Obviously I am very slow. But I have to say that it's worth it, the binding really add a special touch, I think. Especially when I step back and take it all in, thinking, wow, I made this! I'm pleased as punch.

And here's a happy little girl who loves this quilt just like I do. The night I finished the binding, I sneaked in to her room and covered her with the newly finished quilt. You should see her excitement when she woke up in the morning! Definitely worth it.

You ready?

First was this pram/bassinet blanket for a friend's little boy who made an appearance a few weeks ago. Very similar to the one I made before.

Then there was a cardigan for a little girl.

Pattern: Offset Wraplan. I added a crochet flower to one side of the collar (helped by this video tutorial on youtube).
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton in "Purr", 2.5 balls
Needles: 3.5mm
Ravelry link

And another one for another friend's little girl.

Pattern: Debbie Bliss' Ribbed Baby Jacket from Special Knits, and I added a crochet flower brooch.
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton in "Purr", 2.5 balls
Needles: 4.5mm
Ravelry link

Seems to be a theme here, doesn't it! Babies seem to be popping left right and centre around here. And I was very behind with my gifts. I really must do something about this procrastination. I mean, I knew the babies were coming, so why does it always catch me by surprise??

Another FO, this time for me, just to break the baby theme. I started this scarf months ago (ahem, in March), and finally it's done.

Pattern: So Called Scarf
Yarn: Moda Vera Harmony, 3.5 balls
Needles: 5mm
Ravelry link

And finally, a pencil case / pouch that I made as my contribution to a recent blogmeet lucky dip swap.

Pattern: Counterpane accessories pouch from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton, 1 ball
Needles: 3.25mm
Ravelry link
Modification: The pattern says to add just a layer of lining on the inside, but I was worried it would make the pouch too limp and floppy. So instead I sewed a fully lined pouch first with a heavy canvas as the exterior (picture here), and then attached the knitted pieces to the outside of that by hand-stitching it around the zipper. I'm glad I did, because the result turned out to be sturdy enough to hold its shape. I love, love, love the texture on this!

Well that turned out to be quite a productive month! I guess the cold, cold winter we're having in Sydney at the moment kind of spurred me on with the knitting. I still have a few more projects in the works that I haven't even blogged about yet, for another time then!

It's the Mail Sack! The pattern is by Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio. I love this bag, I've carried it around lots already. It's great for some light grocery shopping on the way home from picking Annette up from preschool (there's always something or other that I forget on my big weekly shopping), as it leaves my hands free to hold her hand while walking. The photo might not show the scale, but let me tell you this bag is roomy! It's 16 inches wide (I made the adult version — the pattern also include a kid-sized version) and I can fit lots of things in it.

And another feature that I like is this zippered pocket on the inside, which currently holds a sock in progress.

First time I sewed in a zipper, that one! Sewing with zippers had been one of those "I'll look it up someday" kind of thing for me, which I never got around to doing. Don't know why I didn't do it earlier, really, it was pretty simple. And Kathy's instructions in this pattern are great, that even the zipper part was painless. Very pleased with how this turned out!

Ahhh, I've been slack in the blogging department again, haven't I. I haven't gone anywhere, really, just that the time (and words) keep getting away from me. Well there have been good and bad…

Good — Going to the Craft & Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour, and went home with a nice stack of fabrics and yarn (yep. yarn diet? what yarn diet??).

Bad — Father-in-law got admitted to hospital for heart problems. It was quite a scare. Had to cancel going to the WWKIP get-together as a result.

Good — He's much better now, thankfully, and steadily recovering. As a bonus it has brought the family closer together.

Bad — Annette getting sick and being in a grouchy mood for a whole week.

Good — Going to dinner with a bunch of crafty ladies, where I scored this beautiful scarf made by Marina. It's made of very soft (and pretty!) flannel, and feels really nice around my neck. The fabric is from eQuilter I was told, which I haven't come across before, so will have to check that out. Looks like a massive store!

Another good — A new hat for me, the Rose Red hat!

Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague. I made the medium size.
Yarn: Seasoned Spice Yarn Bee #120 in 'Azalea', from Spotlight.
Needles: 4mm circulars.

The yarn was a surprise find. I knew I wanted a red hat (red for a change, seeing that multiple people have pointed out to me that I always wear blue :) and I have to say I like the change!) but I was having trouble finding just the shade of red that I want. Then one day while pottering around in Spotlight looking for something else, I found this little shelf tucked somewhat further away from the knitting section, with various yarn lines called "Yarn Bee". And of course I couldn't walk past undiscovered yarn without checking it out first :) This particular yarn immediately called to me. It's 70% wool/30% soybean, and there's some silvery strands spun together with the red. Doesn't quite show in this photo I'm afraid, but trust me it's pretty. It wears quite well too so far.

Pretty red, great yarn and fun-to-knit pattern, what more can I ask for, really!

Finishing one small project can really motivate you to start another! Not long after the pram blanket, I whipped up these two cushions for the reading corner in Annette's room. I love the clouds fabric (from here), I think it's just great for these cushions.

For the back I used some ribbed t-shirt fabric that I found in the bargain bin at Spotlight. I have lots to learn about sewing with this kind of fabric (hello Sew U Home Stretch?). I had some issues with stretching in the beginning (as I expected), but I think it worked out quite well in the end. Phew.

I'm on a sewing kick at the moment. My poor, poor sewing machine had been neglected for so long. It's been calling to me again this week. I think it started when a friend had a baby, and I thought I'd make her a pram blanket. I liked the super quick + easy baby quilt from the Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts book, but I ended up making a rather modified version of it. The size is a lot smaller, which is pram-sized (this one measures about 20 x 20 inches) rather than cot-sized.

This was indeed a quick project. I feel like I was cheating in so many ways. Firstly I didn't do any binding, and secondly the fabric has done all the work for me with that faux patchwork :) (Found it at Spotlight, if anyone's wondering. The backing is a polar fleece that I also got from Spotlight.) But hey, I've been wanting to make a quilt for so long (what was it, oh, two years ago that I first fell in love with quilts and patchwork — which was one of the things that pulled me into sewing in the first place), but as we all know Procrastination is my middle name. So I see this as "baby steps" toward getting closer to making a "real" quilt of my own :)