Tree Fall

Recycled Tree

I was hoping to make some brand new Christmas trees this year, but of course I'm rapidly running out of time . So I'm going to be sensible and cut myself some slack and just make some more of these trees.

I had so much fun making these last year. I had started off trying to come up with an original fabric tree pattern and eventually came up with the design below, which I still think is pretty cute, but  just not quite right.

Eventually, after much over thinking and over designing I realised (as I so often do) that I wanted the trees just to be nice and simple and started working with card and fabric to get the look I wanted.

I ended up being really happy with the over all look and think that it would just be fun (and less stressful) to use last years as well as making a few new ones. And hell, maybe I'll even find the time to tweak the fabric patten so that it works a bit better.

I think these tree's are pretty self explanatory, but I'd be happy to do a little tutorial if anyone would like me to? (I'm a bit shy about these things!).

Whilst we're on the subject of Christmas, I'm mightily relieved to report that Bella's advent calender is looking like it might be ready in time for Dec. 1st. It's only taken me a year.
Now I just have to come up with idea's for what to put in it. I don't want any kind of sweets/candy/chocolate in it and want/need to keep everything small (if for no other reason than it has to fit in the calender's pockets). So far I've bought her a little tube of strawberry flavoured lip balm (she's obsessed with lipstick at the moment, which is weird because I never wear it) and I intend to make her some Princess Peg dolls, but I'm stuck beyond that.
Anyone got any idea's for cheap and easy gifts that I can use?

Winter Warmers

I made this little hat and scarf set for Bella's American Girl doll. I even made the pom pom myself.
Next up is the winter coat from this  book. Poor Holly is getting very cold going out in her short sleeved dress - even if she does have a new hat and scarf set.

I'm thinking that maybe Bella should have a matching set herself. Or would that be too uncool - what's the feeling these days on matchy matchy with your doll?

5 Random Things

Jessie tagged me last week for the 5 Random Things meme and although I'm pretty damn sure that there aren't 5 more things  about me that you don't already know, I'm going to give it a go anyway.

1. My mom and dad once appeared in an episode of The Love Boat.

2. I had a female dog called Harrison Ford when I was a teenager and a plant called Mel Gibson.

3.  I've appeared in a newspaper in just a bikini.

4. I hate being the last one in the house to go to bed, it makes me feel lonely so I end up guilting Jim in to staying up with me.

5. I still haven't fully come to terms with the fact that I'm going to have another baby, despite the fact that my bump is enormous and I can feel her moving 24 hours a day - to such an extent that when I was at the hospital the other week and they tested my urine, for a minute I thought they were going to do a pregnancy test to check whether I really was pregnant!

Kitty Cats

Phew! Today was my first day in the studio in a week and I needed it.  I'm still bogged down with a lousy cold, so it was a bit of a go slow day, but it was still a relief to get in there.
Before getting on with some orders that desperately need finishing, I managed to get these little cats all sewn up.

I appear to have mislaid the normal vintage cotton that I use for the Fraidy cat's bodies. Too much fabric in my studio, you ask? Never!
But for the life of me I can't work out where that fabric's disappeared to. Hey Kristy? I'm looking in your direction!
So instead I experimented with bleached linen and cotton canvas and I have to say that I'm happy with both.

Because the seams are on the outside the body fabric needs to fray nicely, and I think that the canvas worked really well for that, as well as being lovely and soft.
The cats are pretty small (approx. 9") but I tend to prefer this size to the bigger Frenchie Cats that I did in the past. I've also given these cats a gusseted bottom (so to speak) so that they stand up on their own and are a bit more sturdy.

I'm hoping to get a few Christmas cats done as well this week - but in all honesty that totally depends on whether or not Bella's nursery can have her for an extra day, to make up for the time we lost last week.
It's seriously only just hit me that it's December this week! Holy crap!
I still have Bella's advent calender to finish and a number of wholesale orders that need to be winging their way to customers by the end of the week at the latest.
I'm not going to lie, I'm beginning to panic slightly. Add on the fact that it's only a couple of months until the newest member of the family shows up and that I have a billion things I need to do before then, and you get an idea of why I'm lying awake at night, mentally writing and rewriting lists!

The Cats are in the Shop now.

Yeah right!

Uh huh. Sure, he bought it for me.

Julie Arkell

I think that one of the few downsides to having my studio in my own home and having an internet based business is that you don't get to see a whole lot of other peoples work first hand. Which was why it did me the world of good today to have the chance to see a number of different artist's work up close and personal.
One exhibit that I've been interested in seeing for a while is Julie Arkell's.  I really like her work, but I didn't realise just how much I loved it until I saw it for real today.

Her entire display area was completely wonderful and almost impossible to describe. It was a wonderland of textiles and paper mache, sewing and stitching.

It was the type of work that both inspires and overwhelms you. I'm torn between coming home and immediately getting down to work  and just throwing it all in, because there's no way on earth that I'm ever going to produce anything as wonderful myself.

I didn't expect to enjoy Julie's work as much as I did, but I'm so glad that I got to see it today. It was exactly what I needed after the week I've had, and has left me feeling just a little more energised.

If you don't have the chance to see her work yourself then I highly recommend her book Julie Arkell - Home , it's full to the brim with photo's and is the next best thing to seeing it all in the flesh.

Pear...

The sun was finally shining this morning! And some new photo's were finally taken. Unfortunately that was all that was achieved today, as Bella was obviously not well enough to go to nursery. But hey ho. After all, I've still got another whole 20 work days to myself before the baby comes (the two days a week I have whilst Bella is at nursery), followed by no more at all until she's at least a year. So who's panicking?
But like I said, photo's were taken today, so at least I finally have something new to show you.

I made this new tote late the other night  (the tiredness is often out stripped by the sickness and indigestion brought on by lying down, so early nights aren't exactly inviting at the moment).

I made it using the new canvas that I'm completely in love with (I must buy more) and my new SetaSkrib pen (thank you for that tip Toni ).

It's a really basic design, but I'm very happy with the way it's turned out. I wanted a very simple image and after playing around with patchwork pears, decided that plain and simple was definitely the way to go.

The pear itself is bonded and appliqued on to the main body of the tote and then the text was printed on to a separate piece of canvas, using my normal printer, and then drawn over  with the SetaSkrib pen to make it permanent (my printers ink is too cheap to be permanent, but a lot of others are).
I then appliqued the text on to the pear and outlined it all with a basic stitch in black.
Because the canvas is such good quality, I haven't lined the tote, but it is finished with an overlock stitch.
The first one I made is actually for me to use (a very rare thing indeed) but I've made a few more to go in the shop.

As you can see, it's a really good size and is actually wider than my normal totes. I also made sure that the straps fit over my shoulder - I acquired a brand new tote recently that I love the look of, but the straps are just too short, which is almost completely useless when you're also lugging a 2 year old around.

The extra totes are here.

Thanks again for all your well wishes for Bella. She's already very much on the mend and has happily driven me crazy today! I'm positive that with a few more days of antibiotics and steroids she'll be completely back to her old self.

My mom and I are off here tomorrow  - so if you're going too and you see a very pregnant, waddling, sniffling, bad hair cut wearing woman wondering around, please do say hello (just promise not to laugh at how dreadful I look!).

I don't think I'm going to have another chance t o post today - we're just off to the hospital, Bella has been admitted because of her chest and her fever.
Hopefully we'll all be back tomorrow.

Quick update -

We're all back home already! Phew.

Bella took a turn for the worse this morning and started really struggling with her breathing - but a super duper large dose of steroids did the trick and we were lucky enough to have a doctor that agreed that we would all be better off if Bella was at home, especially as we could administer all her medicines as easily as they could. So after only a few hours we were able to head home, with a quick stop off to buy a little present for the sickly child! And Bella is now safe in her own bed and I don't think we're long behind her.

Thank you as always for your well wishes and a Happy Thanksgiving to those that are celebrating today!

Lacking

It's not that I don't have anything to say or that I'm actually struggling with this posting every day thing - I mean up until a few months ago I did it constantly - it's just that with practically no natural light at all, it's just so much more difficult to write a post.  I had forgotten how much harder it is to blog in winter.

Anyway, as soon as there's some actual daylight I'll share some new cats with you and some new totes and maybe even some new dolls. But until then I think we're going to be pretty light on the old crafting around here.

Pregnancy wise, I'm fine. I had my 22nd scan (!!!) today and everything is looking fine. M-P2 is growing nicely and the fluid isn't, so that's all good. And as far as we're concerned it's all back on track - again...

Bella unfortunately is a poorly girl. This evening she was running a fever of 102, yikes! But I'm hoping that it's broken now and that she'll finally get some sleep, because I want to go to bed and sleep, so that I can ignore the pain in my throat that Is. Not. There.

Please people, pray for sunlight tomorrow so that I can blog about some actual work I've done!

Almost Zero Effort...

Now you see,  today I'm thinking that Jim has a point because if I could, I would just write -
blah, blah, blah,sick. Blah,blah,blah, Bella sick. Blah, blah, blah.

But I can't (because who wants to be like this  slacker), so instead I'm going to be only one step up from this  slacker and post What. I. Want.  from Muji  this year!

Oh and Jim? This is the one. Seriously mate - go and get it tomorrow. It's only £13 and it will make my life Oh so much better!