Odds on

It's the Head of Senior Management's birthday today . Happy birthday Annie !

(and the son ? The one who texted his mother and woke her to that brain addled slightly panicked state that only an early morning phone call can conjure up, at 3.34 AM to tell her he was still awake and would therefore be requiring a sleep-in and to please pass that info onto the father , so that said father didn't accidentally wake him ? ...That son ? Chances of him making it to his next birthday are getting slimmer by the day)

Mooched

Dallied, fiddled, faffed,

Noodled, pootled, lollygagged,

tinkered, puttered and shilly-shallied my way through a weeks worth of holidays already.

Is someone stealing my days ?

Craft Clock...or exactly how long did that take?

Tired ? Feeling rushed? Is the hectic pace of modern life getting you down? What you need is a craft clock. When everyone around is flagging at 11pm - you can keep on rockin' through until 13 or 14 O’clock and get all those projects finished. With a Craft Clock you need never rush again! Make one today and stretch those crafting hours into crafting bliss.
So, the craft Clock in its first guise first appeared on the blog in about May 2009 and people asked me then if it would become a pattern...Oh sure I answered blithely. Of course, telling people to go and butcher a clock for parts was never going to work so it eventually moved so far past the back burner that I forgot all about it. Then along came the Daylesford Craft Experience and the need for a project with embroidery and Bob's your uncle ! Two and a bit years later - we have a pattern. Check out the stockists page to see if there is someone local to you, grab it online, or ask your local craft dealer to get it in for you - Just email me and I'll set you up !

(Now you will have to excuse me, its school concert preparation time again, and my brain is filled with jazz-hands, sequins and bed sheets masquerading as Mondrian influenced baby doll dresses......)

Teaching and learning........

The rumours of my stupidity may be greatly exaggerated...but then again maybe not.
Yes, it was raining, but I was under a bridge, yes I had a very wet bottom from sitting on the ledge before I could jump down into the canal thing. Yes I took 50 bajillion photos of a new toy without looking at my camera settings and yes they were all a disaster. Yes after coming home and uploading them all, I went back to the canal for a second visit (I was already wet). Yes I was being careful and double-checked everything. Yes one of my new toys did in fact roll ever so slowly sideways down the incline and into the rushing water.

So I'm obviously no life-coach, but if you'd like to learn how to make a small bilingual donkey -I'm your girl. I'll be teaching Reuben on July 23 at Amitie in Melbourne. Give them a call if you would like to join in.
I can almost promise that no-one will fall into a canal.

personalised doll tutorial

So, here is a really really rough tutorial showing how I made the initial Jackson doll, and now a Connor doll as well. You will need to download the pattern pieces  and then come back and follow the instructions. Imagine making the whole band - and then having a little photo shoot ? I sooooooooooooo need some more hours in my day . I use Matilda's Own Ink jet Printable fabric to print the face and any other accessories you might want. This will only work with an ink jet printer but it just runs through like a piece of paper - super easy. I have to apologise for that scary head but when you ask Mr 16 to let you take a photo of his good self for the blog...well you know its never going to end well. Arrange all the pictures you want and print on regular paper first to check out sizes etc. The printed area of Connor's head is approx 2 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches here.
You will need a piece of fabric about 10 inches square for the shirt and sleeves. Cut from the square a strip measuring 4 inches and put it aside for the arms, cut another 2 inch strip and put it aside for the collar. You should now have a piece left measuring 10 x 4 inches. Cut this into two 5x4 inch squares. These will be the shirt. Create a tiny fold in the centre of one of these squares, this will created the front false overlap for the shirt. Sew in place, close to the edgeCut out two shirt pieces (right sides together). With the right sides together, place the trouser fabric in place and sew in place according to the line on the sewing pattern. Open out and press seam. Repeat for the shirt back.
Place the shirt(and pant) sections right sides together and sew around leaving the bottom open. Stuff firmly (no really, I do mean firmly) and pin closed.
OK time for the head. On the back of your head picture, trace lightly the outline of the head. This will be your sewing line...You can fudge around the hair a bit. Place your head piece right sides together onto a piece of fabric that will become the back of the head. (Unless you are very clever and took a photo of the back of their head as well). Sew around, but make sure you leave a suitable opening at the neck. if you make this too narrow, turning will be a nightmare! Clip your seams carefully and turn the head out the right way.
Stuff the head firmly and pin it in place on the body. Poke the neck of the body up into the head. Sew this in place but don't get too stressed about neatness as the collar will cover this join.
Take your paper collar pattern piece and place in on a folded piece of fabric. Trace the collar onto the fabric and sew directly on the traced line. Cut out the collar outside your sewing lines and clip the little collar notch. Turn collar right sides out through on of the ends and press. You can top stitch the collar on the outer edge if you like. If the collar looks to large , just fold under a little bit from the top before hand sewing it in place over the head and neck join.
To make the arms, we need to sew the arm strip of shirt fabric to a strip of white fabric, along the long edge. After pressing the seam open you might like to top stitch on the shirt fabric. Now place the arm pattern piece on the fabric with the cuff line aligned to the seam. Cut four arms.
Place two of the cut out arms right sides together and sew around leaving a turning gap. Clip around the arm and turn right side out. Stuff and repeat for the other arm. Ladder stitch the turning gaps closed.
Check this out . Does it make sense? This is basically how you do a button joint. Secure your thread (under the arm is good so it wont be seen)then you just go in and out through all the pieces shown a few times.Pull your thread firmly. You will know you have it tight enough when the arms will hold a position if you move them (This is why I said to stuff firmly- we don't want to squish it all into oblivion).
The legs are two simply tubes. Sew them, turn them, and the hand sew them into place, closing the base of the body as you go. After they are in place you can stuff them.
To make the feet you simply sew two pieces of felt together using the pattern piece supplied. Clip , turn and stuff. Hand sew them to the bottom of the legs. Super easy !
In the photo you will see Connor also has some buttons - simply sew them in place. The belt is a strip of vinyl and a small buckle (I think the buckle might be a scrap booking embellishment)

I took one look at the narrow neck of that guitar and realised I would never be able to turn it through, so for the guitar I simply interfaced the guitar to be reasonably stiff and then used Steam-a- seam to adhere it to some felt.
I know this tutorial is really rough , but I figured if I showed every single step we would be here for a month. The scarf is just a bit of knit fabric chopped to length - no sewing at all. You know you could just go on and on with these guys - hats, jackets, bags, friends, pushbikes.......

ooh a plush pushbike.......

Slight pause

The tutorial is on its way I promise, I just need one more photo and I'm done , so hopefully I'll post it tomorrow. In the meantime , I had an awesome fun exhausting day in Sydney at the ASG Industry day. I met some wonderful people and got to share a few things as well.

This is my new pattern, the Work-In-Progress bag - a super simple bag to hold whatever it is you are working on. Of course I would need to be making these by the dozen to keep up with the amount of stuff on the go in the sewing room at the moment.The pattern is brand spanking new and already available at Under the Mulberry tree . Also while we are talking patterns, my patterns are on sale at Ballarat Patchwork as part of their stocktake sale if your interested.

This bag is also being completely kitted by Merrilyn of Threadneedle Craft Daylesford if you want to drop her a line. Sheesh I think that's it for the blatant self promotion tonight guys. Tutorial tomorrow and then finally the new toys I have been promising !

In no particular order

This Saturday I am flying to Sydney to speak to the ASG at their Industry Day. Just thinking about it makes me clench at both ends. Why oh why do I say yes to these things and stress so much ?

I am working on a tutorial for the little dude in the last post but I ran out of light for photos so it might take me a few more days as I grab photos before and after work. It'll be a pretty rough tutorial , otherwise we'll need about 50 photos.

I am teaching at Amitie next month - and hoping to use it as an excuse for a long weekend in Melbourne.

I recently met two of the finest eggs you can imagine.

I am hanging out on bookface sometimes, come and like me (how weird is that as a sentence ? I mean really do we ask people to like us these days ? ........this stuff makes me feel old.)

I joined pinterest but it hasn't grabbed me.This also makes me feel old

The thought of going to work tomorrow makes me feel like this...................