Handmade Christmas

Too funny, a whole year since my last post. Ha! I'm here to show off some of the handmade gifts I'm giving for Christmas this year.

My little man has loved his first year of primary school and adored his teacher. To show her how much we love her and appreciate all she has done for Hamish, I made her this cushion. First time free motion quilting so don't look too close. It was made with love and that's what counts right? I was so happy with how it turned out and am totally loving the pom pom trim. The husband said it was nanna-ish. Whatever.




Myah had her first male teacher this year.  I was a bit stuck on what I could make him so went with the always reliable bunting flags.  He likes to surf so I hunted down a remnant of some Timeless Treasures Surfin' Santa fabric and managed to squeeze 5 Santa's out of it. 


Since he'll be travelling OS during the holidays, I made a passport cover as well, identical to the blue/red colourway shown here.  Some rocky road topped it off nicely. 



I job shared this year so made this set for my co-worker.  She is a lover of yellow and we both have a thing for grammar and punctuation so the fabric called "comma" was perfect for some cute little handmade earrings.  Might have to make some of these for myself too I think. 

I made the dumpling bag using the free tutorial found here.  I ended up making 13 of these bags and they've come in super handy for last minute Christmas gifts.

I've missed being in here and will aim for another post before Christmas next year.  Oh and if you're on instagram you can find me there too as frssymish.    

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas x

Phoebe Bag

I hope Santa will bring me an SLR this year because then I could take better photos of the things I make, like this gorgeous (if I do say so myself) bag that I made for Myah's teacher.


The pattern is the Phoebe bag, a free pattern which you can find on this blog.


I saw some lovely versions of the bag on Pinterest that had centre panels of contrast fabric and I wanted to do the same. I'm not sure if I went about it the right way as my bag ended up smaller than I think it should have. I'm one of those people who really need a pattern!

 
Fabric ~ Contrast fabric from Spoonflower and some black linen-like fabric (??) from Spotlight 

Sewing : Simplicity Skirt



After sewing so many tops (yet to be blogged) from this pattern, I decided to try the skirt.  It was quick and easy and I love how it turned out. 





This started out as a reversible headband but when I was ironing it I thought it looked pretty cool half and half, a kind of mishmash.  So I went with it and topped it off with a yo-yo and fabric covered button.   





Myah modelled for me before we wrapped it and gave it to the birthday girl.  




Isn't she beautiful!




Skirt Pattern ~ Simplicity (Sewing for Dummies) 4206
Size ~ 10 on an 8 year old
Fabric ~ Michael Miller Dandy Damask and Michael Miller Dumb Dot




Crafting : Canvas Art


A few weeks earlier I had bought a large canvas to paint but it ended up being eyed off by my daughter and nieces during the September school holidays.



Being the cool mum and aunty that I am, I gave the girls my supplies.



After painting the canvas red, we ladelled the white paint from the tin into ziplock bags and then snipped the tiniest bit off the corner.  The girls were super nervous to paint over the red.



Finally, away they went.



The masterpiece!  Hanging proudly in the kids loungeroom.


Canvas ~ The Reject Shop
Paint ~ A sample pot of Retro Red from Bunnings and a tin of white paint from my shed
Cushions ~ Kmart