Baby shower presents for a friend

I've got a friend's baby shower to go to tomorrow afternoon, so I thought I would make her a selection of wee things for her little boy (first baby) who's due to be born in May.

A taggy blanket, polarfleece one side, and cotton the other side

two towelling backed bibs

three merino hats

a change mat (with waterproof fabric inside it) to match the taggy

All ready to wrap and go!

I've been baking

I like to try new recipes, I'm brave like that. Sometimes, they don't turn out very well.

On Saturday, my parents were coming over for dinner and I was trying to figure out what to make for dessert, and came across this recipe for Orange Syrup Cakes in a book I've got at home.
For some reason, my book at home said 1/2 cup of mixture, in muffin tins (then I read after I'd put them in the oven, that the muffin tins should hold 1 cup when full - that's not correct!)... so I did as it said, my cakes flowed over the edges, and were a mammoth mission to remove from the tin!

That aside, they didn't turn out toooo badly, and they tasted amazing, with lightly whipped sweetened cream on the side, they were delicious.

My first upholstery project

Our house has a bay window seat, it had a gross cushion on it that I've just left, as hunting for the perfect fabric takes time!

Last week I finally managed to find that perfect fabric! yay!

We've recently redecorated the main parts of our home, including the lounge - where said window seat is, so it was looking rather sad compared to the rest of the redecorated lounge.

SO, on Saturday afternoon I took the old cover off the cushion, (and I then realised how dirty, faded and perished it was!), I unpicked the 3.3m long zip off it, to save some money I thought I'd re-use it. I then cut up the old cushion cover to make a pattern for the new one.
I managed to get the whole thing completed on Saturday afternoon, and worked out that I sewed 31 metres!

I'm really stoked with how it turned out.
a close up, showing the beige fleck in the fabric and the fleck in the curtains


And I even had enough fabric left to reupholster our old foot stool, which took all of about 10 minutes:

Another quilt

Way back in March, when I was bored on a rainy afternoon, I made a quilt top.
I used only fabrics that I had in my stash, and decided to be a bit different and make it very bright with black fabric in between the bright colours, rather than white as the pattern called for. White gets too dirty!!

I've finally had some time to finish the quilt, so yesterday and today I completed it. Decided to use yellow sashing, to make it even brighter, and red binding, well, just coz!
It is a bit bigger than cot sized, but smaller than single bed size. Not sure what I will do with it, for now it will go in a bag in the cupboard, perhaps til another friend has a baby and I need a super-cool gift to give!

Here it is:

and the back of it, super cute... just need a super cute kid to give it to!

A Christmas Owl

For part of my niece's Christmas present, I decided to make her an owl soft toy/cushion, since owls seem to be all the rave at the moment.
I didn't have a pattern, so I just winged it (ha ha, pun intended).
Here's said owl:
She loved it, as soon as she unwrapped the present, she gave the owl a big hug, I wish I had captured that with the camera!
The eyes, beak and wings are machine appliqued on, the back is a soft pink minky leopard print, with fleecy feet.
Cute huh?

Awesomely bright baby's play mat!

A very close friend of mine is expecting her first baby, I wanted to make her something amazing, but not a standard cot quilt.
So I googled, and found this http://www.pluckymomo.com/2011/06/tutorial-picnic-play-mat.html totally amazing, right?

And I thought I might be clever enough to make one along those lines. She doesn't know if she is having a boy or a girl, so I've made it as gender-neutral as possible!
It was my first ever attempt at applique, and I was lucky enough to have some great tips from my mother in law.

Here's the finished project:
Folded up into it's travel size (it has a button to fasten it closed)
And a close-up of each segment:
Black shiny velvety ants (I wasn't sure about them, but couldn't think of anything better to do, so left them as is!)

The butterfly, it's wings are velvet and have plastic inside so are crinkly, the centre is fluffy, and the white cloud is puffy (filled with fat quilt batting)
The caterpillar, I just used standard quilting fabrics for him
The dragonfly also has a fluffy centre, his wings are satin ribbon and only sewn down the middle, so are 'flappy' for the child to play with. And again, a puffy cloud.

The flowers are all different textures, with loose taggy 'leaves' off the stems

The ladybug is just made from standard quilting fabric

The sun has flappy 'rays', and the centre is a sequinned type gold fabric - I checked (pulled and scratched at it) to make sure it was child safe!

And the watermelon, the red is nylon, so makes a scratchy sound if you touch it, and the 'rind' is gathered satin ribbon.

It was a lot of fun to make, and I am so pleased with how it turned out!
My friend was thrilled with it :-)

Another fabulous new creation

Well I haven't posted on this blog in a veeeery long time!

There have been multiple creations come out of my sewing room over the past year.
Many, many AroundAHound collars and leads of course. Many baby bibs for friends' babies, and other baby items, baby clothes, change mats, etc!

The latest creation is in the process of being completed, it is going to be awesome, unfortunately I can't post pictures or much about it, as it is a gift for another friend's baby - said baby isn't due until December, and I hope to wait til her baby shower to give her the gift, unless I can't wait... haha. if that's the case, then I will post photos sooner.
It has many bright colours, it is round (but not spherical), has 9 different sections.... bet you can't guess!