done with Early Bird/Night Owl prototyping

A growing collection of Early Bird/Night Owls. (Yes, my fabric shelves are a disgrace. I own it.) [You should see the pile on the floor.] The last prototype is just finished {Mr Second From Right} so after more rounds of tweaks than I was anticipating in January, I'm finally happy with the design and sequence of steps!

Now on to the diagramming! Beta pattern will be ready soonish.

shown up by my kid

My 11 year old said, "Mom, I think I want a rabbit doll. I'm going to make one." And now I confess to something a little bit selfish and terrible. At that moment, instead of being happy that she is sharing my love of handcraft, I thought something like "errrrrrgh, I'm kind of busy and she's going to want to use my Katy Kitty pattern and then modify it and I don't have time to help her with all that right now".

Well, she didn't need my help. She came to me for nothing.
*Cat's In The Cradle is now playing softly in the background of this post.*

She drafted the whole bunny pattern from scratch, worked out how everything would go together and cut all the pieces from fleece. She designed the clothes, which are removable. Several nights in a row she was sitting in the living room floor hand sewing the whole thing together while her sister played Xbox. I actually kind of took over when she got to the very last part and showed her how to gather and hem the skirt because I was feeling, yes, a bit left out.

Serves me right.
Isn't her rabbit doll cute?

Two more Twelve Days pattern bundles in the shop

Hey, friends! If you have been curious about the Twelve Days ornament series and want to get started making, there are now three discounted bundles in the shop:

Bundle 1-3 contains the Partridge & Pear, Turtle Dove and French Hen patterns.

Bundle 4-6 contains the Colly Bird, Gold Ring and Goose a-Laying patterns.

And the 1-6 bundle contains all six available patterns. Number seven is coming up! Swan a-Swimming. There's a sneak peek of that on in this post.

handmade gifts 2015: two more very nice mice

My last installment of the handmade parade for Christmas 2015. I was on a roll with these mice. This girly one is for my MIL, Paula.

Um, I kind of messed up the ear placement somehow and they ended up wonkified, so I added a hat with a pom-pom to hide it. But I really like the hat. It's a pipe cleaner that is just wrapped in a spiral cone and secured here and there with thread.

I like the chubby rear view too.

This little guy with the snowball is for my nephew, Trent. I love his extra fuzzy feet.

They make a cute pair. I'm a little sad but mostly a lot glad that the Christmas crafting frenzy is over. I'll try to remember to start earlier this year. *laughing with you* *slapping knee* Yeah, that's just never going to happen, is it?

P.S. I've now entered the time-eating magical world of Instagram, so follow me there if you like:
https://www.instagram.com/mmmcrafts/

handmade gifts 2015: make a little birdhouse ornament in your soul

I found these little Erzgebirge bird push pins on Etsy last January and was immediately filled with tiny wood bird avarice. (You say, "Erzuh-who now?") And I say, pushing my tortoiseshell glasses up my nose, "Oh yes, that's a term for the Ore Mountain region in the former German Democratic Republic and refers to crafts made there before the fall of the Berlin wall."

OK, OK, I didn't know about that either until I read it in the listing. Ha! I learned a thing. So ever since I bought them I've wanted to make a birdhouse ornament and put some tiny Erzge-whozit birdies inside and keep it for myself. So I did.

I was inspired by this pin but then things got way more involved.

There is a toilet paper roll underneath that wool felt. And there is a cone of paper underneath the wool felt scalloped roof. I added round windows and ribbon and silver gimp trim and glitter. You must have glitter. Finished with a ribbon loop at the top so I could hang it with a wire hook.

I had a handy circle punch that was just the right size to seal off the bottom. I love when things work out like that.

After it was finished I sat under the Christmas tree at night and just looked and looked at the sparkly birdhouse ornament. Totally craft gloating. I also experienced a brief twinge of guilt because it occurred to me more than once that this ornament would really make a very special and appropriate gift for my little grand niece and nephew who just moved into a brand new house.

The house will still be newish next Christmas, right? I'll make another one.

handmade gifts 2015: ornament for Baby John

My niece, Erin, and her husband, Nathan, lost a precious baby boy before he was born. His name is John. I thought this ornament would be a special way for his brother and sister to remember him each year when they decorate their Christmas tree.

The angel was made using my Wee Princess Pea pattern for the doll, only slightly elongated. The wings are made of stiffened wool felt. The babe in arms is made of wood beads, a cotton pipe cleaner, and felt.

We love you, Baby John, even though we never got to meet you here on Earth. As David said in 2 Samuel 12, you cannot come to us, but we will go to you. All our love to my niece's sweet family and my sister's family as you remember this child and grandchild that flew straight to God.

handmade gifts 2015: swan a-swimming and two replacement ornaments for Robyn

The December handmade parade continues...

I was hoping to send Robyn a Maid a-Milking ornament in addition to this new Swan a-Swimming, but time slipped away from me and I was only able to finish Mr Swan here. I think the final pattern will be very similar to this one, but I added some sequins and glass beads to hers for a little sparkle.

Closeup of the stitching for you there. If you are working on my Twelve Days ornament series, it's really easy to add some sequins under your French knots if you like. Or if you just hate sewing French knots (c'est toi, Beth!) you can use a small glass bead in place of a French knot and also layer a sequin underneath the bead for sparkle.

I sent all three of these ornaments to her this year, but only the swan is new. Those top two are actually repeats of nos. 2 and 4. She already has earlier versions of them from years past, but it was really bugging me that her versions don't match the current series and I just like this Turtle Dove and Colly Bird better. They have some added sparkle sewn on them too. Robyn's perfectly welcome to prefer the earlier ones, of course! She knows I'm a bit cracked this way. It's alright.

handmade gifts 2015: a very nice mouse for Thing 1

And here's the other ornament I made using the Very Nice Mice tutorial from Ann Wood. This one is for Thing 1, my oldest.

I gave this one a pom snowball, pipe cleaner stripey scarf and felt mittens. I used cotton pipe cleaners for the arms and feet.

I also shaved off a tiny bit of the seam allowance this time because I was having trouble maintaining the 1/8" allowance she calls for. I'm so used to sewing the smaller allowance for my own felt ornaments it was just more comfortable for me. Required less thinking. Plus it made it easier to close the opening after stuffing.

This one was finished in the wee hours of Christmas morning (surprise, surprise) so I forgot to add the pom pom bow on the head. Thing 1 assures me this is fine because her mouse is a boy and his name is Ralphie.

Here's the finished pair:

They fit very nicely on the tree. 

Thank you to Ann Wood for such a cute and timely pattern!