A Handmade Christmas

This year we have been focusing on a handmade Christmas for our girls. Some of the gifts I have made myself, others I have purchased from other talented crafters. I thought I would share a few with you before I wrap them and pop them under the tree tonight.

Two little dolls, for two very special girls, made with love by me-

A little knitted seahorse with a bell for my littlest girl who likes to make music she can dance and sing to-

These beautiful wooden figures are absolutely stunning, made by a true master crafter Rjabinnik-

A hand dyed play muslin by Forrest Folk-

Tiny strawberry girls and sheep by Spindlewood-

A little birds nest for my nature loving Holly-

I have found such pleasure this Christmas making and sourcing handmade gifts for my girls, gifts which I hope will give them many, many hours of happy and joyful play in the years a head.

I can't wait to see their faces in the morning when they open them- one of the joys of being a mama.

Baby bunting tutorial

Thought I would post this for anyone wondering how to make baby bunting. It is really easy, looks lovely and makes a great gift for a new baby.

What you will need-

cotton fabric (non stretch) in a colour/pattern you like

a small amount of complementary coloured felt

2 meters of 25mm bias binding

embroidery cotton in same colour as felt

sewing thread

fabric marker/tailors chalk

embroidery ring

pins

scissors

sewing machine

Instructions-

1- Iron fabric, mark out and cut 14 squares from your cotton fabric measuring 15cm x 12cm.

2- Mark out your 5 letters and 2 hearts on your felt. Each letter should measure 6cm tall x 5cm wide. Cut out.

3- Find the centre of your fabric squares and pin letters onto centre of right side. Use your embroidery loop to hold fabric tight, attach the letters using blanket stitch. Gently press using Iron.

4- Taking 1 lettered square and 1 plain square, pin with right sides together. 

5- Using an overlocker, serge .5cm seams. If you don't have an overlocker, sew .5cm straight seams then use a zig-zag stitch to overlock edges. Leave a small gap of about 2 cm at the top of each square. Turn and press.

6- Fold bias binding in half and press. 

7- Find the centre of the binding and pin middle square into the binding. Leaving 3cm between each square, pin remaining squares into binding. 

8- Starting at one end of binding, sew along binding using a straight stitch. 

9- Knot off each end of binding.

Now it is ready to hang! I enjoyed making this as a gift for my Little one to hang above her cot.

Hope you enjoy making this as much as I did. Feel free to ask me of anything you are unsure about.

The easter bunny

The easter bunny came to our house this morning. It was the first year we have 'done' easter, with Holly being old enough to enjoy it. We had a little egg hunt round the house this morning. It was great fun watching Holly egg spotting. Also, could not resist making a couple more of these lovely little rabbits, one for each of my girls.

In keeping with the spirit of easter, Kirstin at Squidgyums is having an easter giveaway of one of her great little kids sleaveless hoodies. They look amazing so well worth entering. 

Little Miss doll

A friend recently gave birth to her second lovely little girl. I have been trying to decide on a good gift for her older daughter to celebrate becoming a big sister. After seeing so many of the beautiful homemade dolls out there, I was motivated to try to make one myself. I could not find a pattern that was quite right for what I was thinking of so I decided to make it up myself and here she is! I have nick-named her 'Little-Miss' because well, I think she looks like a little miss! She is made out of various cotton fabrics with carded wool stuffing. She has a little heart for a mouth and her new owners name embroidered on her bum. 

A baby shower

Yesterday was a good friends baby shower. It was a lovely afternoon with silly games and afternoon tea of club sandwiches and cupcakes- very ladylike. I have been making a conscious effort for the last year to *try* to make my gifts rather than buy, so in accordance with this, I made the above baby shower gift. The knitted top is a Milo vest by my favorite designer Tikki. The bunny was inspired by this bunny on Kelly's blog Reclaiming me and the pattern was from here. I even made the gift bag by downloading the paper pattern from the net!

Bloom

I have finally finished knitting up the bloom dress by Tikki for Holly and it looks great (if I do say so myself!).  Holly loves it too. She saw it hanging over the back of the chair the morning after I had finished it and instantly had to put it on!

I also learnt an important lesson knitting this- *do not attempt lace knitting with small children present*. I ended up having to undo and redo several sections of this dress before I learnt above mentioned lesson and left knitting it until after the kids were asleep. 

On the needles

This is a little dress/tunic I am knitting for Holly called Bloom from one of my favorite designers Tikki. 

This one was a quick little dishcloth. One can never have enough dishcloths!

This is a wee project I am working on and is destined as a baby gift for a friend. If all goes well, I will release the pattern on here soon. 

Knitting for the baby

I Finally finished knitting this wee kimono top for the little one. It was a free pattern from The Complete Fabrication. I am really happy with the way it has turned out, hopefully it should fit her nicely by autumn. It is 100% wool so should be nice and snugly for her as the weather cools.

For her room

I recently made these little pictures for Holly's room. They are simple and sweet and perfect decorations for a little girls room. They were very easy to make, I bought some quilting fabrics I liked and a selection of wooden embroidery rings. I stretched the fabric over the rings, cut to fit and voila! Instant prettiness!

Knitting for the little ones

There is something deeply satisfying about seeing your little ones wearing clothing you have made with love and your own two hands. I only learnt how to knit after the birth of my first daughter Holly. These days I love to knit and always have a project on the needles. The fabulous thing about knitting is it is a highly portable hobby that can be taken anywhere. I have spent many an hour sitting on the front steps, knitting, while I watch Holly play in the garden. There are many amazing knitting patterns available off the net. My favorite patterns mostly come from Ravelry (www.ravelry.com), they have a huge selection, many of which are free. 

A couple of examples of recent knits