The countdown to Christmas starts.

I haven't been able to do much sewing recently as we have been decorating downstairs and all my sewing things have been packed away (I sew in a small corner of our dining room) so now it is a race against time to get all my Christmas sewing done!

I always leave thing till the last minute and can often be found still sewing gifts on Christmas Eve (this runs in my family as my nan was the same)

I have made a start and finished this bear yesterday. It is meant to be more for decoration than a toy and is for my new niece. He is made from a recycled felted sweater after I saw a bear made out of a similar cable knit in the shops. He is only small and I have plenty of the sweater left to make some more things.

I have a few more things planned to make this week as long as the snow holds off here and the kids can still get to school!

More appliqued t-shirts

Felt parrot with freely moving leaves and wing. He has a bead for his eye.


Felt lion with a loose mane and tail (hopefully they will fluff up a bit in the wash)


Sheep with a poodle fur body and felt head and legs. He has a button nose and eyes made from buttons and beads.

I love doing these! These were for my nephew.

cookie monster top

cookie monster top, originally uploaded by scary_mary.

This is the 3rd top for my youngest finally washed, dried and ironed ready for it's photo.

I need to make more simple ones like this!

More appliqued tops for the boys

Ever since I learnt how to do applique on T-shirts from this tutorial I have been hooked!

I love the kids having something different as I get fed up of all the t-shirts in the shops that usually have things like "I'm a monster" for boys and "I'm a princess" for girls.

It can be hard to find packs of plain t-shirts sometimes to do these. The ones I used for these were from Tesco's and I carefully unpicked the breast pockets off them. I have had them for a while waiting for inspiration to strike but after my youngest one saw the whale one I did for his cousin he asked for one the same too.



Then on the next one I did a spaceman. He is a little bit wonky and the stitching on one side isn't as good as I didn't realise the stabiliser underneath didn't quite reach to the hand.


I am wondering if I should add something in the bottom corner to balance the image out?

I do have a third one but he wore it before I took any pictures and it is awaiting washing (I't may be waiting for a while as our washing machine has broken down)

Off to plan what to do for my eldest boys tops. He has requested and Ugly Doll one and Elmo.

Birthday presents for my nephew

My nephew turns 1 tomorrow and as I love making things for little ones I thought I would sew a few things for him. First a little rucksack, he has recently started at nursery so needs a bag to keep all his things in.

This is the second time I have made a rucksack like this. It is not perfect but was easier to make than last time. I'm going to make another one soon so I am hoping it will be easier next time.

And then I filled it with these things:

Travel bibs





















The bib was not my idea but copied from Odannysgirl's ones on Etsy


And a set of 3 appliqued tops.

Ugly DollWhaleElephant, which wraps around to the back.