How to...

I've had a few questions about how to make little people such as Samantha and Maggie...
MummySew bought the pattern from Marie and Linda who also sell online here.
The cd has a pdf on it with about 40 pages of handwritten instructions, idea and pictures - the cutest tutorial ever!
All the pictures are annotated by hand and little diagrams are drawn to illustrate steps. It is a little pricey, but when you can make dozens of different types and styles its kind of worth it. Sew good for pressies too and fantastic fun trying to create characters.

EDIT: the pattern is called Angels is Abundance and is also available here.

Twits and...oinks!

Just a few more little updates from the stockings this year...!

These little owlets came as a pair and are here for no other reason than i love them! :) The little lavender pouch is adorable and sew simple - just a length of lace seamed and stuffed, with a little bow :)

This is a slightly bigger patchwork lavender pouch that has a pattern lurking somewhere - i'll let you know when i dig it out. All my drawers will smell lovely this year :)

And this guy is a...pig?? I think so...curlytail, big circular nose - what else?! Its up for debate anyway. I bought him for Tom yesterday from oxfam because i want a whole family - he has a new welder so it should be put to a good (?) use!

Burlap Totes

This was gift from a friend who works with children, getting them to be part of a business and make things from scratch. This was one of the things they did this year!

The burlap used on the inside is divine - its from Betty's tearooms - its what their tea arrives in! The kids trade recycled things with Bettys for fabrics and other things, a great idea to get people recycling. They collect stamps and bottletops (which once they have the weight of a wheel chair in bottletops, they can actually swap for a wheelchair!) and even glasses and phones.

MummySew got one too...

I want a blanket!

I spent a few evenings over christmas snuggled up under one of these blankets by Binty, and decided that i was very jealous and needed to make a blanket of my own!

I wanted to make one with some granny squares...which i have never done before...so I made a few samples. One granny square, one other kind of crochet thing (?) and i started a square of knitting...but after the quick crocheting, knitting took forever and i lost patience.

Anyway i decided that crocheting was loads of fun (and quick) but the wool was boring and i didn't want so many holes...so MummySew uncovered some old balls of furry furry wool from some long forgotten project, and I got to work!

Its the perfect wool as i wanted something really warm, snuggley and heavy for these cold wintery days.

A Snowy Scene!

I drew the blinds today to find foot long icicles! Definately a first for us - sooo cold right now. We have worries about getting back up to Glasgow tomorrow, lots of roads have been closed and grit stores have all been used up. We'll just drive slowly and hope for the best i think. At least the drive will be pretty!

MummySew and I made a million party invitation cards yesterday (okay 33) which was fab thing to bo able to do for free from all our arty crafty stocks.

(i KNOW that this card has yellow, orange and puce pink all mixed in and i KNOW it should be horrible. but i adore it!)

We were very lazy and just cut and stuck, using pretty pretty embossed shiny papers and the like. We used up a lot of old cards, cutting out little pictures for a funny little twist. They're simple, but i think they work. Good fun too! Christmas cards might be done the same way this year. We have enough 'stuff' in this house to do it for years! Here's just a few random ones to show you...

(look at that beautiful snowy background! 7" - no wonder we're all grinding to a halt. thousands of school are closed! It makes me wish i was still at school, just so i could have a day off...)

Designer Recycling!

The christmas tree came down 2 days ago, and our traditional barbie angel was wrapped back up and dissappeared back into the attic...sad, but exciting - a new year, a new decade even! She has a half made friend with her in the attic, for when i finally have a tree of my own :)

I also wanted to show you another thing that MummySew had for me under the tree this christmas...
An enormous crochet rug! It'll liven up my floor at uni...she upcycled a bit, using an old cable knit sweater that she unraveled (a jaeger one!)...but she doubled the thread and came out with this wonderfully squishy bath mat/rug for me to enjoy. It's roughly a metre across!

mm...

Meet Samantha...

Remember Maggie? She's just found a big sister! I swiped MummySew's pattern to have a go myself...

She has elbows this time! Which looks a little more normal...

And she sits up on her own! Something to do with being a little big bigger...that extra padding on the bottom!

See? Sitting :)

Oh yes and she darns her own petticoats...quite the housewife. Maggie gets mothered!

Her apron ties with a sweet little bow at the back...

And she has a bow in her hair and pearls around her neck!

She was great fun - really exciting to make, I am just unsure if she needs wings...I made some out of angelina fibre (which i bought a million years ago from Art Van Go and have never used) but they would cover her little pinny bow.

What do you think? Hm...

See how her feet are bigger to help her stand?

Mousey mousey!

Remember these squeakers?? MummySew knitted up some additions to the family!

How fabulously cute!! I love the bow in her hair :)

Oh and we had a white christmas this year - inches and inches of slippery, icy snow! Christmas eve involved a snowball fight and snowman time - he was 6' tall...but shrunk a bit before we managed to get pictures in daylight :(

Nom nom nom...

I had some silly fun with ma and the childhood cookie cutters plus kiddie recipe's! Shortbread, Nanny Gales ground rice biscuits and Ginger shortbread...

...wrapped up in cellophane with a big ribbon and a christmassy tag, they looked rather smart! Good thank you's after christmas :)

Oh oh and the stockings this year had finger puppets too - two of which went walkies but might pop up here if they ever come back for a holiday?

Felt scraps...

...make wonderful stocking fillers!

Some for boys...(how much fun did i have with these?!)

Some for girls...
and some for crackers..! (there were five once...maybe something nibbled one - something appearing in the next post - keep your eyes peeled!)

Oh and MummySew cooked up something for a boys stocking too! Just big enough for a santa choccie!

Home Sweet Home

I'm Home!!! (well, i was home two weeks ago, but my postlet got forgotten...anyway i have found it again and here it is!)

And look who was waiting for me...

He's a mix of standard stuffing with pearl barley and lavender in his bottom and at the end of his limbs - so i think he could work like a wheat pocket and be microwave-able? He's a gorgeous little thing from MummySew - sew not only does he smell nice, but he sits upright cause he has heavy handsies!

This tombe was also awaiting me - 'A Physician in the House' by J. H Greer. Its a White Cross Emergency book from 1914, with the most hilarious antidotes...for example...

"Sore Throat - hardly any remedy for sore throat proves more effacious than the old-fashioned plan of tying around the throat a slice of fat bacon on which is sprinkled red pepper."

How amazing that medicine has gone so far in less than 100 years. Should be comical to compare to my readings at uni.

Its all madness!

Oh, I've also been making bows - just little delicate ones for my hair. Sew simple, Sew quick, Sew cute! I like them in red...

Do you Believe in Angels?

Mummy Sew sent a little hand drawn card up to me in Glasgow the other day which read ' Do you Believe in Angels?' and then inside...'There may be one coming your way soon!'
How intrigueing! And then today the post bought me my first christmas card (not counting the Royal Mail one) - a cancer research one with Singing Angels on from Ma...accompanied with...Maggie!!!

Isn't she fantastic?? All her limbs are buttons, with beads for knees so that she articulates. Such a sweeeet idea :) She starts the festive season - university halls doesnt seem to do festive very well. Thank goodness for Mummy Sew!!

Wish Lists

Just a few lists here this time! I'm really enjoying some well written books at the moment. There are some here that I read years ago - and some just recently.

Charlotte Brönte – Jane Eyre
Daphne Du Maurier – Rebecca, Jamaica Inn
J. R. R. Tolkein – The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings
Jane Austin - Pride And Prejudice, Emma, Sense And Sensibility
Wilkie Collins – The Woman In White
Emily Brönte – Wuthering Heights
Janice Elliott – The Sadness of Witches

I absolutely adored Jane Eyre, Rebecca and Wuthering Hieghts. Tolkein I started reading age...8? And I loved it even then. In fact - I found all of these spectacular books. They are classics for a reason i suppose.
Sew what is left on my book shelves for me to read?

Victor Hugo – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Virginia Woolf – Orlando
William Makepeace Thackeray – Vanity Fair
Mary Shelleys – Frankenstein
Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
Anya Seton – Dragonwyck
Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol

I'm nearly finished Vanity Fair - and Orlando has a long forgotten bookmark between its pages. Gone With The Wind needs reading desperately - I feature! And Dickens, i think may be hard going - a different style to my favoured girls - Brönte's, Austin, Du Maurier.
There are some classics that also need adding to my collection. I have in mind...

Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
Bram Stoker – Dracula
Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Grey
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
Jane Austin - Persuasion

Oh hey but i don't just read these things - i slip silly things in there too! I recently read Dodie Smiths 101 Dalmations and of course i have a bizarre collection of fantasy books throughout my shelves (i'm a Harry Potter fan, His Dark Materials, The Abhorsen Trilogy, Twilight too!). I have C. S. Lewis and Lewis Carrol awaiting me also - for my more childish days!
Maybe i'm being a tad ambitious...theres not enough time for all this right now - i WILL get round to them all eventually though.

I leave you with what i found when I went home at the weekend, curled up in my suitcase, trying to sneak back to Glasgow with me!!

Book worm alert!

What I actualy mean is, failed book worm alert...since I've been neglecting the long hours i used to spend with my nose in a book. When i spend hours in the library looking up medically things all day, the last thing i want to do is come home and read. But i do miss it.

Conundrum eh! Well it hasn't stopped me buying books, i suppose ill get to missing it enough that i'll eventually pick all these books back up. My most recent purchases were from a few tables outside on Byres Road...and among the stacks and stacks of books i found these:

Now Mummy Sew cries her eyes out every time she watches The Bridges of Madison County - sew i saw the book and thought i better give it a go before i see the film. Saving it for a cry day though! And Daddy Long Legs - my Nan has a copy of this - but this is illustrated (see below) and its seewww cuuutttee! I will have to read it again, i've no idea what its about but i have fond memories of it lurking in the back of my mind :)

Besides those, these have been lurking on my shelves for a while. I'm half way through vanity fair - keep putting it down in annoyance at Becky Crawley and her vain vain ways. And the hunchback of Notre Dame - well it just needs to be read.

That top book is 'A childs garden of verses' by R L Stevenson. What gorgeous illustrations! The book on the right is one of the illustrations from Daddy Long Legs...

...sorry its been so long!

But I'm back now! Settled in at uni in cold cold Glasgow. If only we had heating! A hoover would be nice too...never mind.
Thought i'd squeeze a few moments into the busy medical student schedule to pop these up...they'v been on my notice boards for some time now...slowly adding them to my folksy shop too, sew they are up for grabs! Really useful too - uni halls are so drab and these add a bit of fun :)

I've shown you some of these before here... and they sold with surprising ease! I think i've sold 70 heart drawing pins...sew i thought i'd branch out! I have butterflies too but i can't say im a great fan of butterflies...

Anyway ill try to update you on something soon!

*kisses*