Little Fish Creations

We’ve been having so much fun lately that sitting down to writing a blog post hasn’t been a big priority… which is a good thing I reckon 🙂

I hope you all had a great Christmas.  We had a lovely time with Chris’ family in Bridport.

I made this waldorf doll for Jasper’s Christmas present.  He’s called Leo and he’s now Jasper’s bed-time cuddle doll.

I used a llittle book called Making Dolls by Sunnhild Reinckens which had excellent instructions for making the head.  The book in general though is fairly ‘light on’ for instructions but I quite like that as it pointed me in the right direction but generally let me nut it out for myself.

There were some ideas for puppets in there which I’m thinking about trying too.

Jasper got a lot of presents this year, but he has been playing with all of them so I think that he really was due for toys and books that were at the next level… thank goodness for Christmas I say!  And thanks to Jasper’s Grandma, Grandad and Aunty Sarah who contributed to the bonanza!

I owe you a report on the market stall (way back in November!) – but I’ve only just downloaded the photos and need to sort through them.

What else?  I just finished making a quilt today but I’m not happy with the photos, so I’ll try again and get back to you (promise!)

It’d be great to see you there!

We don’t have much of a yard, but ‘down the back’ there was a weedy border that may have been a garden in the past.

As soon as the first signs of spring appeared I started some garden dreaming and made tentative steps into setting up a vege garden in the weedy patch. 

First came digging… the area was suprisingly easy to dig over and I started with a plot of around 3 square metres. I threw some blood and bone about the place, raked it in and started planting.  Tomatoes (4 heritage ‘cherry’ types and 5 of a larger variety), broad beans, cabbages, cos lettuces, two types of curly leaved lettuce and capsicums (which didn’t survive Jasper’s enthusiasm)

I was delighted to see that things started growing!  I had to run out a few nights to cover the tomatoes when it threatened to frost – I put them in 2-3 weeks before the ‘rule of thumb’ which tells us to wait until after Hobart Show Day.  I started to experience some serious garden love 🙂

So I extended. More digging and weed removal.  More nursery visits. I planted poppies (flowers for the house hopefully!), basil, coriander, carrots, peas, butter beans, a second attempt at capsicum and spinach. And I installed a compost bin.

By this stage I was already supplying all our lettuce needs which was very encouraging!

Seasol was administered on a regular basis and tiny weeds uprooted the minute they appeared.  I enthusiastically mulched everything in sight – I started with a bale of sugar cane waste then tried out pea straw.

Another extention was then required as my garden dreams became larger and larger.  In went sage, thyme, origano and a chilli plant. 

A visit to the Farmers Market seedling stall lead to temptation.  I put in a couple of zuchinnis, a miniature cantaloupe and I’m checking everyday for signs that my beetroot and cucumber seeds have germinated.

And now… I officially declare my garden FULL.

Market preparations are coming together very nicely 🙂 

Christmas ornaments:

And little paper mache boxes decorated in a similar manner – I think they’ll look nice displayed on our table.

My favourite things to make have been these covered button hair slides:

Ohhh the colour balance on this pic is way out… but you get the idea 🙂 

The things I disliked making the most were these brooches

In order to scupt the petals on these flowers I melted the edges very carefully with a naked flame.  This all started with me trying to convert some lovely red silk dupioni into flowers.  But I couldn’t work it out so I ended up with nylon chiffon which isn’t the most enjoyable material to work with.  They look good though 🙂

I’ve also got bags, swans, zippered pouches and gift tag sets…. I’m nearly finished with the packaging/presentation side of things so this leaves me with a whole week to create more things!!  I just can’t decide what I should make! LOL

I’ve been busy.

A friend and I have booked a stall at ‘The Valley Market’ (Lenah Valley Community Hall, 28 November)  Lots of making will be required!

5 zippered pouches are complete! I’ve got these down pat now 🙂

We’ve decided on a ‘theme’ of linen+brights and I’m happy to be putting some of my hand dyed fabrics to use!  These triangle appliques are fun – though I’m not sure what they’ll be made up into… maybe bags.

Embroidered Christmas Tree ornaments – ’tis the season for Christmas shopping after all.

In other news… Spring is HERE!  and I have flowers in the house to prove it.

I’ve had a craft crammed week.  On Wednesday I had a sewing playdate with a friend THEN I went on a wonderful craft camp on the weekend.  A bunch of lovely women and two nights/three days of sewing, sewing, sewing 🙂

With all this luxurious creative time I designed and made a heap of these

And I finished sewing up a quilt top that has been hanging around in my sewing room for about 6 years!

Satin Stitch is addictive :o)

I’m on an embroidery kick at the moment. And I’m thinking of maybe making some things for sale.

I’m trying to keep these little embroideries small so they can be completed in one night.  This one got a little out of hand so I think it’ll be a ‘3 nighter’.

Jasper has been embroidering too 🙂 I live in hope that he will stop grabbing my stitching, running off and pawwing at it with his sticky jam fingers.

My strategy is to get him involved until he loses interest – and then I get to sew for a bit on my own while he plays with his toys.  So far this hasn’t worked very well but I’m hoping that in time we’ll come to some sort of balance.

In the mean-time.  I’m very thankful for Friday Daycare.

I’ve been using up leftover bits of embroidery thread.

And scraps of linen fabric. 

When I was little I thought all quilts involved patchwork hexagons.

I was thinking of  transforming this bit into a necklace, but I’m stumped about how I can stiffen it up to hang around my neck. Interfacing maybe?

If I can’t work it out I might just applique it to something. Or add more hexagons to it and see where it takes me.

I’m linking to My Creative Space this week.