1 Xmas Item a Month

 

Who bids me hope, and in that charming word

Has peace and transport to my soul restor’d.

-               George Lyttleton.

Well a jolly good morning to you all!  My beaded dolls have caused quite the stampede of emails and requests for a tutorial on how to make them, so I will share with you and have made an attempt at a tutorial at the end of this post. I have joined the girls with 1 Xmas Item a Month over at Narelle’s  blog. For this month’s item I have made....you’ll never guess....

 

 

A beaded Christmas doll!!!

I also started making something last post and asked you gals to have a guess at what it might be...one of you came very close. Those 4 little red things were actually Santa bodies in the making. Here they are (one finished and others still in the making).

A very rare photo of Heather actually sitting still and not terrorizing everybody!!! Lol (I had her strapped to her seat...which is the naughty corner seat I might add). Cute as a button she is really.

Can you see the scary monster sitting at the table???

Heather gave me these beautiful beads to keep making beaded dolls, they are  rather gorgeous.

I’m sure none of you will scoff and laugh out loud, but this is a photo of treasure.....someone gave me two big boxes full of material. I had to wash it all because it had been sitting for a very long time, but the material inside was just fab!!!! There are so many different textured materials that I’m going to have fun making all sorts of things.

 

I’m buzzing off now to annoy or tease my hubby, have I mentioned he has no hair left? Wonder why? Lol.  Have a fab week ahead and love life!!

Cheers, Anita.

Beautiful Italy - Gardens of Axel Munthe, San Michele Villa

Tutorial – Beaded doll

Calico, fabric for dress and pants, beads (any size), pearl cotton, buttons, toy stuffing, any embellishment you would like to add.

These can be made in any size that suits you. If you want to make a brooch, as I do, then check out my template for size. Just copy the shape as you can see it in the pic.

Trace onto folded calico, so you cut 2 shapes at a time. Cut out shapes and pin  together.

Sew a generous quarter inch seam around doll.

 

 

 

Give the rounded edges a snip.

 

Turn material inside out and stuff with toy stuffing.

Make a small hem and top stitch the opening.

 

Making pants is optional. I cut a 1 and a half inch by 4 inch piece of organza, stitched the 1 and a half inch seam together, turn inside out. Place on doll, make a small hem and do running stitch across the top of the pants and also by sure to stitch it to the body of the stuffed doll as  you go.

Make a knot to finish off. Cut of end. For the crutch part of pants, I just stitch up the middle part with a couple of small over sews and tie off.

Dress:  2 and a half x 4 inch piece of material. Sew up the 2 and a half inch side and turn inside out. This next part of sewing I use quilters cotton doubled on a needle and a good long thread. Make a small hem of about quarter inch and do a running stitch to gather it. Put it on the doll and pull gently so the dress fits nicely.  Make a knot to tie it on but don’t cut the thread. After you have the dress in place put the needle through the back of the doll and push it through to the front. You can then sew a button on the front of the dress using this thread. Once you have sewn the button on, take the needle back through to the back of the doll, knot and tie off.
 

Arms and legs.

Using pearl cotton and a long thread, I run the needle into the back of the doll and push the needle through were the first arm would go. I make sure to pull the knot right through the body so you can’t see it. Place 4 beads on thread and then turn the needle back through 3 of the beads and go back into the place your thread came through the material and take the needle straight through to the other arm. This next bit is tricky because you have to pull the beads together just enough so it doesn’t make the arms stick out straight, just a little loose. Repeat for other arm and when you have pulled the beads together you can  do a knot a tie off. The same is done for the legs and I use 5 beads for the legs.

Hair: For the hair I just use my imagination. For this doll I used 4 stars and tiny beads of the same colour for the hair. I have used embroidery thread for hair (see last post for ideas). For the face I use pens and just draw the faces on. And you can use a blush for cheeks.

If  you had any trouble following my instructions do contact me as I’ve made a million of these dolls, have never done a tutorial before and would really love you to be able to make these dolls.  Really, after you have the body, arms and legs on you can do your own thing. Enjoy.

It is in changing that

things find purpose.

-Heraclitus

Welcome to my blog and a fine morning to you all! I have had the best weekend so far....very productive and fun. On Friday I seemed to have misplaced my car keys, sharing this news with my oldest son Brandon, he decided to share that snippet with his father. So It’s been on for young and old around here. It took me until last night to find my keys (I’m notorious for losing things!! Lol).

I was asked to make some beaded dolls to sell at a stall and here they are.....

We’re so pretty

I don’t know yet how well they sold but will find out soon. On the creative line, here is Mr. Owl.

Who who

I just created him from no pattern sorry, but just surfing around on the net gives me plenty of ideas to work with. I had seen lots of owl patterns with felt wave for the front of the owls so I thought I could make some ruffles instead and I think it turned out pretty nice. Ric rac always is handy and pretty to use too. Mr. Owl stands about 11 inches high and I will be selling him at the tourist centre.

A friend of mine let me use her Jean Greenhowe knitting book and I had to make Santa.....

Santa was very easy to make but I have to admit I don’t really dig “fussy”. There were several ends to sew in and fuss around with, so even though it was fun to make one, I possibly will only make this one. He stands about 7 inches with his cap pulled straight up. Oh dear!!! I hope this doesn’t mean Santa won’t visit me at Christmas time...I better take those words back!! What are these? Hmmm...you will have to wait until next time to see these.

Can you guess?

Let me know if you can guess what they will be. Lol

Well I’m buzzing off to see what I can create today, I’m sure I can hear that sewing shed calling my name. As always I’m looking forward to going to work this week, especially because I have been asked to help a group of girls with making dolls. I’m pretty excited about that and I just laugh quietly to myself when you listen to the funny things youngsters talk about. Takes you back to basics really. Have a super Sunday and a terrific week ahead.

Cheers,  Anita.

Beautiful Trevi fountain, Italy.

 

Mistakes are valuable.

They show us the correct

path to take next time.

Good morning to you all! A big Happy Birthday to hubby today,, he’s turned....

53 years young and is in pretty good shape for an old rooster!! Lol  I have had some emails from bloggers in blogland regarding my header photo. Where was the photo taken you ask? It is actually from our trip to Italy on the island of Capri. It is in the lovely  San Michele villa of Axel Munthe.  I would love to make this image bigger but can’t work out how to do that. Can anyone help me with that?

Had a fantastic week, lots of started and not quite finished projects. Here’s what I’ve been up to....

Cute little top down baby cardigan knitted in 8 ply. This one is for sale, any queries email me.

Knitted a couple of sweet owls using bits of  leftover yarn. These are both made in 8 ply yarns.

How sweet are they?

It must be the season of the owl because here I have made a start on another owl using fabrics.

Love the beaded eyes?

And speaking of material......is this not heaven? An enormous bag of fabrics given to me. The owner no longer wanted the material?????? What is that? Lol

 

A bit of Christmas happening as well. I'm still going with this project, need to stitch the hearts on to the tab.

I had a lovely cup of tea with my ratbag friend Heather,, of course the afternoon was fabulous with her company (she didn’t act up too much). This incredible friend of mine is on a roll with these rather special little aliens. Take a look.....

 

 

Girl ones and boy ones

I love the way Heather has stitched all sorts of bits on the aliens, and these little creatures are about 7 inches tall. They must be a pretty good project to do, it’s rather kept Heather out of the trouble she would normally get into.....Love you to bits Heather xx.

I had bit of a search on the net yesterday and did you know that Italy has 29 volcanoes. – some active and some extinct. How does such a small country have so many volcanoes??!! We still plan to go back there regardless of the volcanoes. Today I am planning to wonder back out to the shed before it gets too hot and keep going with my projects. Last weekend the plan worked, so I hope it does this weekend too. Have the best weekend ever!!!!

Cheers, Anita.

 

The world’s greatest treasure

Is the small, simple pleasure of

spending our time with good friends.

Well, hello there!! What a glorious morning it is in my little corner of the world today and I hope yours is too. I woke up so early this morning that all my ironing is done, minutes for meetings typed and sent, washing already on the go and my instinct is telling me that I’m going to get lots of time to knit and sew today. I wonder how well that plan works out?? Lol

I found some super duper yarn at the local craft shop this week and knitted this cute little baby top.....

Love the colours!

It is a favourite pattern that I found free on the net.

Sweet as

Click here for the pattern.

Another favourite pattern....click here for instructions.

Hubby and I shot off to the suburbs on Saturday morning and found more yarn. How did that happen? There’s going to be lots of knitting going on around here.

Can’t  forget about the beads I found in Spotlight. I did have a look around my own town but couldn’t find these sort of beads, that’s why I didn’t shop locally.

And this is my little project I’m on at the moment.

Christmas is coming.

A cute little Christmas boot, pattern found in a magazine. When I finish posting this morning that’s where I’m headed....out to the sewing shed.

How about these eggs?

 

 

Blue eggs!!!!

Unusual colour you say? Absolutely. I actually saw these eggs at the local agricultural show and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. No, they are this funny colour. One of the farmers told me the breed of chook that lays these eggs are called Araucana.

Hubby came home a couple of nights ago from a farm and had been given 2 cartons of eggs. Yes, these funny little blue eggs were in the carton.

Well I’m about to head off to my sewing shed to keep making my Christmas boot. Hope you are all having a fantastic Sunday and everything is going great for you.

Cheers, Anita.