Divine Didi Dolls

What a lovely surprise arrived for me in the post on Friday - a gift of a Didi doll from Claire at Felt Like Stitchin' (who I met when we were both taking part in Blogtober 2010).  Isn't Flossi just gorgeous? 

Beautiful stitching - take a look:

And it even has a teeny tiny pocket on the back with her name tag in it!

It's so gorgeous - pop over to the Felt Like Stitchin website so you can purchase your own delightful Didi doll!

Sometimes I just can't blog ...

Not blogging tonight. Just haven't got the heart :(  I've just had to put eyedrops in Little Man's eyes as he's not too well at the moment and he disapproved in the most major way; I feel like the worst mum EVER.  He did ask me for a hug before I put out the light, so at least I know he still loves me. xx

Back tomorrow.  Wherever you are, have a beautiful day (or night!) xx

Let's talk about the weather ...

Sunshine trickling through the trees behind our house in early summer

It's been such a fresh day - rain after hot weather always seems to refresh both the atmosphere and the spirit.  When we went for our walk today we could smell the eucalyptus in the air and the promise of clear summer days to come.  Heavenly.


Sunbeams

Summer is such an energetic time - people come out of hibernation and enjoy time with friends and families, barbecues galore, spending time in the fresh air after being cooped up for winter.  Summer and its heat revives people (I find staying in the air-con has that effect on me too, but you still need the heat to make that work ...)  I'm really hoping that I'm acclimatizing a bit more and that I'll be slightly less grumpy this year!

I still can't get used to Christmas in the blistering sunshine though!

A sea of crochet

OK - so my Granny a Day Challenge has changed into more of a Granny Every Few Days Challenge!  I've been catching up with my granny squares over the past couple of days - my next project to be finished is a black and coloured little number.  Crochet is a fantastic crafty activity as the weather gets warmer, especially when you're working with small squares, as there's no weight as such to make you feel stifled.  I really don't need anything else to make me grumpy when it's hot!  It makes my family a lot happier too :)

Dare to daydream ...

As I may have mentioned my new favourite hobby is going for walks in the bush with my dog Charlie.  It's so peaceful in the forest, you can lose yourself in your thoughts - as I often do!  The other day I walked past my usual landmarks without even noticing and ended up in a completely different direction to the one I intended.  My concentration was only broken by magpies swooping Charlie as he dared to walk by their nests. 

What was I doing with my quiet time?  Simply daydreaming.  Dreaming about my art, projects I want to complete, people I want to connect with very soon, what I'm going to write about in my blog ... and so it goes on.  But it's healthy to daydream - you become aware of your inner thoughts, dreams for the future, choices you can make, to be inspired.  So I say to you all - take a part out of your day to daydream and just 'to be'.  Having 'me time' is vital to your overall health.  Take some time out :)

Lego rules

I've always loved Lego since I was a kid, when my sister and I used to build houses for our Daisy dolls.  But this is the best Lego item that has ever been built for me - my son BB thought he'd annoyed me so built this little gift for me.  It's one piece of Lego that's not going to be dismantled for a very, very long time.   xx

October Sewing Challenge show and tell - easy peasy skirt

The challenge for October was to upcycle a couple of items bought from an op shop.  I didn't do quite as much sewing as I'd hoped but I did manage to make two things:

The first is a skirt made from my favourite, but holey, pair of jeans, and an old skirt of my daughter's.  It's easy peasy to make and took about an hour. 

Read on if you want to see how I made it or skip to the pic of the top!

To make the easy peasy jeans skirt:
1.  Cut off the legs of your pair of jeans, about 2.5 cms below zip, or where the seam stops being curved.  Tuck in pockets so you don't cut them off by mistake!

2.  Cut waistband off skirt.  Make two rows of gathering stitch along the top of the skirt.  Pull up the stitches, a little at a time if you have a lot of material in the skirt as I did, until the skirt width matches the width of the bottom of the jeans yoke.

3.  Pin, tack and stitch  - being careful not to sew the pockets into the seam.

4.  If you're like me you'll want to try the skirt on before doing anything else to check all is OK.

OK? Good ...

5.  Recommended - stitch a second row around the skirt/jeans yoke seam.  Optional - neaten the seam.

6.  Press the seam upwards towards the yoke.  Topstitch along the denim - I used two rows and two colours for a bit of interest.

Yay!  It's finished.  Wear your skirt with pride and show off how clever and environmentally aware you are.

This top is made from a men's shirt I bought from the op shop for $3.  There's a tutorial on the blog My Gramma Said which shows you in detail how to make the shirt - good instructions and photos.  Again a fairly quick make, just over an hour. 

I wasn't sure what my daughter would think of it, but as soon as she came in and saw it on the mannequin she asked 'oh, can I have that?' which is always a good sign, then she wore it until bedtime.  Very cute she looks in it too.

Now you can see how easy it is to customize clothing.  I think it might become my new sewing craze.  I still have to upcycle the rest of those items I bought at the beginning of October.  Better get my thinking cap on ...