Freddie's Elephant

 

I made this little stuffed elephant for Freddie Norman (son of a past workmate of mine) who was born in January 2025.  His older brother and sister had each received an elephant so it was compulsory for me to make one for him too!

I love the elephant fabric!

It is the 'Eleni the Elephant' pattern that I ripped out from magazine 'Patchwork & Stitching Vol.17 No. 4 2011'.

'Jenny' doll

My sixth finish for this year is a rag doll for my wee cousin, Florence McGowan.

Her big sister, Lucia, received this version in 2020, so it was only fitting that I make one for Florence too.

I've insisted that this one is called Jenny, due to the first one being named Dana (my sister-in-law's name -see the post for the first version) - so I think it is only fair that we have one doll each!

I used a pattern called 'Pip', ripped out from Australian Patchwork and Stitching magazine, Vol 11 No 1 2010, and she is about 21" tall.

Sharing with my quilting and crafting friends via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party!

Scrappy Birthday Cards

 At my school, our senior leadership team (I am the Deputy Principal) likes to acknowledge staff on their birthdays, and I am in charge of organising the cards.

I saw this style of card on a social media post and wanted to make them for our staff.

Elijah’s Elephant

A small stuffed toy for my workmate Emma’s baby son, Elijah. 

I had already made a lap quilt as a wedding present so thought a stuffed toy would be a nice change. 

Found the pattern in my folder of magazine patterns; \

this is from Patchwork and Stitching Vol 12 No 4 2011. 

He is about 21 x 31 cm in size and the fabric was in my stash.   

It is quite canny that I picked an elephant as Eli has a little collection of elephants starting to gather in his room (artwork and toys).

Lucia's Rag Doll

I wanted to make a little something for my cousin's little girl for her 2nd birthday...

a hunt through my pattern collection turned up this adorable (and super easy) rag doll.

A second hunt, this time through my stash of fabrics, 

and I knew the doll would have 'red' hair (in honour of her Nana Jan, I might add!)

The hair is made of knotted fabric...and has earned her the name of Dana (after my sister-in-law, 

as her hair is similar, according to little Lucia and her Uncle Reece, who named her).

The eyes are appliqued, with hand-stitched edging and lashes.

The mouth is also hand-stitched.

The doll is about 21" (53cm) tall.

The pattern, called  'Pip', was from Australian Patchwork and 

Stitching magazine, Vol 11 No 1 2010.

First finish of 2020

With our New Year camping holiday cut short (hubby + e- scooter + collision = face + asphalt = ouch!) I was home from the 30th Dec instead of at the holiday park in Te Anau.

So it was a fine opportunity to rearrange my sewing room to get a better flow from machine to ironing board etc, and I decided to make a new cover for my ironing board (which will now stand against the wall when not being used, so I can easily get into the walk-in robe/fabric collection storage facility 😏)

I used some furnishing fabric with a Paris theme (to remind me to save up for my trip to Europe in 2022) that has been in my stash for a couple of years #smashthatstash

Lucia's Christmas Stocking

It was my pleasure to design and make this felt Christmas stocking for my cousin's new 

baby, Lucia, for whom this is her first Christmas. This was my 42nd quilt/craft project for the year!

I used a print and some felt to applique this angel onto the front.

As with previous stockings I have made, I hand-stitched Lucia's name at the top.
I love the little star button detail.

And I found these cool star and heart buttons at Spotlight.

Joining up to share with Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party - 

Happy New Year quilters and crafters!! 

Fun Pillows

I think this is my fave! It's 18" square.

It has a gorgeous blue backing made from a furnishing fabric.

With selling at a carboot sale or local garage sale on my plans, I made use of some fat quarter quilting 'sandwiches' that I've made in the past couple of years to practice FMQ designs before doing them on bigger quilts. They each have a zip opening (I use Lia's tutorial).

This is a 12" pillow that I quilted with straight lines (see original quilt here).

I also had some unicorn fat quarters that I thought might make cool pillows.

18" square

16" square

And I also used up some Cars movie furnishing-weight fabric that I'd found in a sale bin. These were one of my 2018 Finish Along fourth quarter goals.

These are each 16" square. Two have a black minky backing, one has a grey curtain fabric backing.

Cute Bunny Pillows

Found this panel of bunnies on the sale shelf at Spotlight a couple of months ago and thought I'd make some pillows...they've turned out even better than I imagined! These were one of my 2018 Finish Along fourth quarter goals.

Sold to Laura McV

Sold to Laura McV

Sold to Paula P

I machine embroidered around the main features of the designs, plus some French knots on the 'whiskers' and hand stitches on one bunny's accents.  I used FMQ for simple quilting as well (echo lines on the double bunny pillow, and a small stipple on the other three, with a stipple on the backing).

I think I almost love the carrots print on the backing more than I love the fronts LOL! 

It was also on the sale shelf too.

They are each about 13" square and have a zippered opening (I always refer to Lia's tutorial).

I intended to sell these at a school car-boot sale but ended up selling two to a workmate and one to a FB friend during the week - so rushed back into Spotlight on Friday to grab another panel (of which my FB friend has already put 'first dibs' on another one!) and spent Saturday afternoon getting them made. (And I didn't go to the carboot sale today after all as the weather was so grotty - have now booked a table at the local playgroup's annual garage sale next weekend, where I'll be inside no matter the weather).

Sharing on Myra's Finished or Not Friday and Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday -
as well as Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday - hello! 

Thanks for visiting!