The Easter Bilby visits

As bunnies are a really terrible pest here in Australia, and the Wicked Fairy is very aware of this as his parents own a farm, we have agreed that the Easter Bilby (whose chocolate presence can be seen on supermarket shelves alongside his European brethren) will be visiting the Tiny Tyrant each year.

This year the Bilby brought a few handmade soy chocolate eggs and something else - bunny skittles, to practice "kick" at with a ball! I knew these skittles would be a hit before I even began them. My prototype was March's Toy Society item, and the Tyrant pounced on the toy and began gleefully carrying and tossing it about the moment it was done (he did the same thing with the purple hippo. It makes me almost sorry to give them away).

The bunnies are stuffed with a core of fabric scraps from the last three Toy Society projects, and rounded and softened with Hobbyfill. This makes them just a smidge heavier than they'd otherwise be, which makes them a little bit harder to knock over.
So the Tyrant's started placing his ball on the ground 15 centimetres away from the grouped skittles and then gleefullly kicking it - conveniently, he's then close enough to kick any skittles over that he managed to miss, without taking a step!

Toy Society drops

Although I've been running a bit late, I have managed to do roughly a toy a month for my Toy Society drops.

Because of the lateness, January and February's drops were both that wonderful hippo pattern I bought from 2 Little Banshees at Stitches & Craft last year. It's become a wonderfully soothing activity that comes together in more or less an evening (maybe two, for stuffing and fiddly bits like embroidery and button attachment). These two were drop number 974 and 984 respectively.

But in March I managed to sew something a bit different, and dropped it on the 1st April, just before Easter.

It's a little overexposed, as the Attack Toddler managed to get at my camera and change the settings the day before (and I was in a rush to get a shot before the drop, so didn't realise before taking the photos). This is an altered pattern from the book Softies. The original was a cat skittle, but a bunny felt much more seasonally appropriate!

Merry Christmas, Midsummer, Yule & Festivus

I know I've been slack about updating. Truth is, I've been panicking; we had a family gathering with 14 people last weekend, for my dad's family, we spent the day itself with my in-laws, and then we're going to Canberra to see my mother and siblings, tomorrow. Plus, all 3 of us are ill (We must have been on the very top of Santa's naughty list!).

My grand plans of a wholly handmade Christmas gift pile have fallen by the wayside. Apart from a bunch of baking for my cousins, the best I could manage was this no-sew polar fleece blanket for my aunt & uncle.

Wait, I guess that's not strictly true - I did manage to make yet another of Two Little Banshees's hippo stuffies, this time in green, a Midsummer gift for my son. I'm hoping it will be the first of a collection of "handmade stuffies by Mummy", not to mention beginning a tradition of one handmade gift opened on the equinox (I'd like to make something for my partner next year too, and encourage him and our boy to make presents for me and each other as well).

At least it's now mostly over. We just have to get over these colds!

Finished for Mirabel!

I finished my fourth softie for Mirabel, today!
Four was the magic number I committed myself to, so I'm feeling pretty happy to have made it.
This is another go at the Blinking Flights pattern, of course. Something masculine, to go with the very femme florals of the last softie. Plus, I had visions of using the supercool green and white stripes from my frilly hat in a bug.

I lurve this guy's pink mohawk and his cool older brother air (okay, so I'm guessing, being the eldest in my family!). His little smirk looks very laid-back and relaxed, to my mind. (And how awesome is his embroidered nose ring?)

Blue Hippo Sublime

I can safely say I feel I'm really getting the hang of this hippo pattern (finally!), though each new incarnation makes me feel even sorrier for the hippos that came before. I'm noticing less tendency to sew folds into their faces, and their bottoms are becoming plumper and more rounded (which, let's face it, is what you want in a hippo behind. Skinny derrieres are Just Not Hippo!). As my first hippo bum was weirdly creased and folded (and I even left off the tail by accident) I hope the other adults with whom I share my home will forgive the fact that I waxed lyrical over my latest hippo behind and don't think I'm too weird for very long.
Best of all, I was able to whip up the latest hippo in a few hours, over a single Friday evening. Yep, us parents of toddlers know how to party!

Bug Softie

I've been a bit slack with the blogging lately, and that's partially because I've been a bit slack with the sewing. To break my sewing drought I decided I needed to add to the Softies I would be sending away for Mirabel (because one is pathetic) and I wanted to do something fun, that wouldn't break my brain. So I picked up the Blinking Flights bug pattern and some scraps of bright, cheerful fabric. It only took me two nights to whip up this island bug.
(Why are my creations always just that bit wonky? Let's pretend, and say it was their Creatrix deliberately imbuing them with some of herself, shall we?)

I'm not really a pattern follower, more what I call "A Hack and Slash Seamster", but the pattern plus knowing what the end result should look like made this a super easy softie to make. I didn't trim the seams round the curve of the head, as advised, and I think it shows, unfortunately, and the antennae were actually quite tricky, because they're so slim and require quite a precise control of your machine. But otherwise, this was a really easy, FUN pattern to make (and I felt very inspired by the bright colours and fabrics used by their original creator).

I'm now also kind of in love with the main, flower print fabric I used, and want to make myself a clothing item from it - and I think I've found the perfect pattern.