Felted Squirrel and other knitted wonderfulness

Felted Squirrel, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

This felted squirrel arrived by mail from my insanely talented knitter friend Jess, I just about died when I saw it! Hazel and I are currently negotiating ownership of it and darn it I'm standing firm in the face of her blandishments! He's MINE. If you want to check out some of her other stuff and you belong to Ravelry, she's Jessicat. She's sent Hazel some amazing stuff in the last couple years, the latest is this set



but I think my favourite was this cardigan, we dressed Hazel in it for much longer than we should have, telling ourselves it still fit, because it was so gorgeous

The squirrel was my gift from the giftiness meme that was going around last year and it's reminded me that I need to get on to mine! This is what I had way back at the end of January:

Jess
Donna
Shelly
Litterladder
Becs
Jexia
Jen
Chef Messy

I've done Shelly (iPhone cover) and Jess (pincushion). So. Can everyone who is on this list please email me their snailmail addresses? That way I can just create and mail. And feel guilty enough to do it because now I have addresses. :)

Fiddling with the technology

When I put up my bunny and mask tutorials I set up a group to host them at Google Groups but I haven't been very happy with them there so I've put them up at Scribd. I'm not 100% convinced that was the right choice but Google Groups is just so clunky to use for just hosting a few files, plus I have no idea how many people are downloading the tutorials or even just having a look. It also appears so utilitarian. I like my utilities pretty if at all possible. So hopefully Scribd will work just like Groups and no-one will be the wiser - except me who likes her stats!

After I publish this post I'm off to finish the ladybeetle skirt for Hazel to wear to Suzie's party tomorrow, and to finish Suzie's fairy wand. I've also made her a tulle skirt with a few petals trapped inside (pics tomorrow, too dark right now!) While I was poking and prodding the tulle in Spotlight yesterday a lady with a very pretty little girl in a cart came up to me and asked if I was Jacqui. It turned out to be Jo from Crazy Crafter, the neighbour of one of the mums in my group. I probably looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights when she asked me as I desperately racked my brains as to where we might have met in the past and how insulted she was going to be if I admitted I couldn't remember. Luckily it wasn't the case! Sorry if I did seem a little distracted Jo, I was just a little overwhelmed at being recognised! Mat's appalled I have photos of myself on my blog, I don't know if he's envisaging insane blog stalkers or what. :D

Ok, back to crafting and catching up on 'This Way Up' podcasts from last weekend. I want to find out if onion weed really IS edible. I have my doubts.

Fabric!

I had a bit of a fabric-y day yesterday and then again today so I thought I'd share them and what I want to do with it all.

My favourite fabric shop here in Auckland is Global Fabrics (having said that I haven't visited a new shop on the North Shore that stocks Japanese fabrics yet ;) ) and they specialise in selling end of bolt/run fabrics from high quality manufacturers and designers. You never know what you'll find but there's guaranteed gems and deals. And when they have a 30-50% off sale? HEAVEN ON A STICK. I went looking for fabric to make a new girly-girl skirt for Hazel who has grown out of her previous one. She came with me to make final decisions. So we ended up with the one on the left for the skirt and the one on the right for a shirt



Although I wouldn't do it myself, I imagine little girl style dictates they'll be worn together.

I also bought this denim to make a jacket for her and a hat for me. I have such a big fat head that I mostly can't buy women's hats in stores and am in dire need of one for summer! The circles are about 1.5cm wide



Then we spotted this ladybeetle fabric that is composed of panels with a stripey border, so I got two panels-worth and that'll make a really neat simple gathered skirt for her. She's really excited about it and I'm excited because it's not pink!



And finally, my friend Shelly in the States sent on some fabric I'd had sent to her from Fabric.com (I highly recommend American friends for this exact reason). I had birthday money and they had given me a 30% off voucher so it seemed destined if you know what I mean. I got several yards of two of Heather Ross's Mendocino fabrics. I got so much because Mat says he wants a summer shirt made out of the fish one! I'm really excited about that but how stupid am I for spending my birthday money on fabric to make him something :)) I'm hoping there will be enough to make Hazel a dress or something for me.

Party Favour bags

A couple people expressed surprise that there could be debate over such innocuous little things, and I guess it's because it's not a long-standing tradition here in NZ from what I can gather, but has been imported wholesale from the States (like Hallowe'en) and therefore garners a certain amount of resistance in some circles. You know, the whole consumerism/cost issue. I can see both sides but since I bought up with them on a moderate scale that's where I'm choosing to be as a mum. It's hard to not go OTT though, I can totally see that being a big issue for me!

I'd been tossing a few ideas around in my head even from several months ago, but they really crystallised when I saw the Birthday Goodies and papercraft download post over at Chez Beeper Bebe - she'd used lots of things I already had sitting on my computer, like the stickers, and had put them together in a really fun way. So I shamelessly stole several ideas :)

I started with stickers from Lotta Bruhn - the animal ones for the girls and the space ones for the boys. I don't think I actually needed to do that, the animal ones would have been good for everyone but I wanted an excuse to do the space ones too!


I printed them off onto repositionable sticker paper and then cut and peeled them off and put them onto plain paper and stapled them in one corner. This was the bit that took all the time but I couldn't bring myself to leave them on the original backing as it was so ugly! I think they'll work well on windows and walls but haven't had any feedback yet on how good they are.

We also did up little colouring books following the tutorial at Chez Beeper although I didn't end up using her very detailed instructions on setting up pages etc. because we use A4 paper with different dimensions and I also have a husband who uses Adobe In Design :P Had to keep him involved in some way or other!



I popped in a few little coloured pencils for use in the car on the way home, and a bag of jellybeans to get them even higher on sugar. Because really, that's what it's all about right? Get them wired on sugar and hyped by running around screaming like banshees and then send them home when they start to crash? The favour bags are the best way to lure them out of the house and into their parent's cars I've found...

The pièce de résistence though were the little brooches made for me by Lyn at Belle and Rose - dinosaurs for the boys, icecreams for the girls. And yes, Hazel's desperate for a dinosaur! They really are to die for - thanks Lyn!



They all went into spotty cotton bags with a ribbon tie. I really should have taken a photo of them together in the basket, they looked really cute!

Birthday preparations

Let's pretend I actually blogged about this before the party shall we? Great.

I decided that Hazel, being a four year old girl, needed a crown and wand for the party and duly constructed them.



The crown was made from the pattern at Koala Brains, with embellishments inspired by Woodcraft's felt crown and another one that had cute embroidery on it but I'm darned if I can find it again to credit it! I started with the big felt flower, and then had the idea with the button flowers, and then decided to round it out with some little plain plants similar to the ones I've been loving over at Tiny Happy. I don't often do things in that sort of organic way, I tend to be more planned, but I really enjoyed the process of just adding things until it looked right.



For the wand I followed the instructions over at Little Birdie Secrets and I think it came out ok, but perhaps would have been better with shorter ribbons and more of them.



Whatever, I think it looks pretty good and I'll be doing another one for her friend Suzy so will get a chance to get it more to my taste. The best thing about making the wand was curling the ribbons - it's like magic! The only issue I had is a couple of my dowels exuded resins during the baking which soaked into the ribbons and ruined them. Next time I'll cover the dowels with foil before wrapping the ribbon around and that should solve that problem. Made the house smell nice though, like a pine forest on a hot day!

Hazel being four though, didn't really want a bar of either item! She spent most of her party tearing around the house holding model dinosaurs. This created a conflict in my heart - on one hand I was a bit crushed that she didn't appreciate all that hard work, but on the other hand I'm really pleased that she's into dinosaurs! Archaeologists don't dig up dinosaurs, but they really are the next best thing (or possibly even better to be honest) so I'll cross my fingers she becomes a palaentologist and takes her old mum on excavations sometimes.

Survived!

Well we survived the birthday and the birthday party and ensuing sugar rush, but since the in-laws are here I've lost my sewing and computer room (ie spare room) and my proper computer access. I'm sitting in the living room using Mat's mobile connection which is slow and irritating. But oh I'm back on the internet after a couple days, checking my emails and I feel so fulfilled! Alive! In touch! So sad, just really sad, but there it is. I'm obviously addicted. No really, I can stop any time I want to. Anytime. I just don't want to. ;) So when I've got my space back I'll post up some photos and get back to doing stuff. I've got a few little girl presents to make for Suzie's party on Saturday so another couple days of high pressure and too much cake, and then I'm off the hook for several weeks at least.

See you then!

Back!

Back from the snow and ice (and rain). The rain was a bit of a dampener on the proceedings both literally and figuratively, but fun was still had by all.

Hazel's first snowball (sans gloves the silly-billy)


her first sled ride


aprés ski chippies


This week I will mostly be frantically preparing for Hazel's birthday on Friday and her party on Sunday. I'm currently working on the favour bags but constantly worrying that I'm being too OTT and wondering if I really need to include this or that. Last night I wavered between "no, this is unnecessary and way too much effort on my part" and "yes, think of their little faces lighting up when they see it" every 30 seconds. You'll know of what I speak when I gather everything together beforehand and take a photo. :P I have no doubt some of the mums will hate me and curse my name because favour bags are still a debated topic here - for or against? Only breast vs. bottle and attachment parenting vs. crying-it-out generates more heat in the parenting world at the moment. ;) I absolutely know which side the kids come down on though, bless their acquisitive little hearts.