Gifts for my girl

A lot of my crafting involves making gifts for other people - I like how it shows the thought and care put into the act of giving.  I always try to involve my daughter K in the process as well, especially if the gift is for a friend or relative she knows well.  When it comes to gifts for her I tend to stock up on ideas, then sew/create madly for a few weeks ahead.

This year, with K turning five, I was well organised.  I made her a school backpack in early March.  I also made her a nurse's uniform to match the one we gave to Playcentre.  To go with this I sourced a nurse's watch and a real stethoscope.  She's had great fun with both.

I kept up the Oliver + S 'Little Things to Sew' theme by making K a tutu.

I used a variety of pink tulles.  Some I got at Spotlight and were about 140cm wide.  Others I have had in the stash and were narrower.  With some overlapping and creative placement the result is impressive.

K loves it - so much so the other day she kept it on when digging in the sandpit!  This tutu is number 10 in  the 'Cover to cover' challenge from 'Bartacks and Singletracks' and number 85 in my O+S count.

I love to encourage K's creativity through play.  We also try to support her artistic skills and to help this I made her an art folder.

It was (very) loosely based on the Noodlehead pattern 'Road Trip Case' but I didn't get far past quilting the outside cover.  I love Anna's patterns but I had quite a few adaptations in mind!

K is a left-hander so I placed the drawing pad on the left side.  The clear vinyl pouch (my own design - partially successful) is attached by two pieces of binding.  This allows the side with the pens to hang from a small table and still be accessed through the gap in the centre.  We will use the vinyl pouch for holding scissors, stickers and other small pieces.

I need to add two small hand-sewn snaps at the top and bottom of the folder so that the pad is less likely to slip out.  I also should have made the fabric over the pen pockets bigger.  It pulls that side in.  But K loves her folder and has been having great fun drawing her interpretation of our life!

What a very lucky girl our K has been!

Four for Five

My little K turned five the other day.

The last month has been a flurry of finishing tasks (here and here) - as well as making the obligatory cake - or should I say cakes!  This year (and only this year) we had to do four!

Firstly there was a plate full of mini cupcakes to take to her preschool. 

Then there was a lolly cake for Playcentre.  This one definitely won the prize for simplest cake of all, you can find a recipe here.  K even added to the enjoyment by having her face painted as a zebra!

We had family around over Easter - K has five little girl cousins, all similar in age.  So to celebrate with them we had pizza and more cake!  This chocolate version (with matching icing) came from this great Sophie Gray book, as did my pizza base recipe. 

Then on her actual birthday she had friends and other grandparents around to enjoy a great pirate rumbustification.... with another chocolate cake!  This was the most planned of all and the one that K had specifically requested.  Needless to say we are still eating cake and trying to wear off some of the after effects!

As part of the pirate fun my H set up a 'plank' off our farm ute for the children to jump into a 'sea' of bags.  This was a huge hit with the children!

I purchased a number of pirate themed party pieces but did make a pinata in the shape of a treasure chest.  I used a beer bottle box and added one layer of paper mache over the joins and holes.  This was just the right amount of strength as they took a few turns each to burst it.

My super mother-in-law makes cupcakes for K's birthday every year - and this time they were 'X marks the spot' themes.  Yum!

A final image is of K and her cousins (oldest is 6 and youngest nearly three) waiting at the bar for their fluffies (hot milk with chocolate).  We're hoping that this is not a sign of things to come!

Point of sewing interest - all are wearing me-made clothes!  K couldn't wear her class picnic blouse as it was in the wash.

A Pencil Roll

I've made a few of these before but this was the first time I documented my finished effort.  They have been very popular as presents so this was made as a gift for a niece's birthday.

I heavily adapted a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's 'Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts'.  Instead of a variety of fabrics I just used one with a stripe.  I also made a velcro tag rather than a tie, easier for five-year-olds to put together.  The pencils are good quality Faber-Castell triangular ones, just right for young fingers.

Cat Cake

Part of my role as an aunt is making birthday cakes for three little nieces that live down the road.  One of them turned two recently so I made them a very simple cake in the shape of a cat.

It is very simple and by no means flash but did look quite impressive.  I made the cake from a plain circle tin as well as a small loaf tin, from which I cut out the ears.  They were glued on with jam.  The eyes are white chocolate buttons, the light brown icing is buttercream flavoured/coloured with just a little cocoa powder.  For the piping I simply mixed in some extra water with the leftover buttercream, as well as more cocoa, then heated it gently in the microwave and then put it into a piping 'thing'.  It hardened quite quickly.  This was a new idea for the lines as I not a big fan of licorice - it's too fiddly and needs to be avoided for some people with medical conditions.  I have an icing knife that is angled and allows for gentle spreading - and I also have to remind myself to dip it in water so it smooths easier.

Birthday Presents

As it was K's birthday last week I used it as an opportunity to finish off some projects for her bedroom.  Both of these had been started at least six months ago so I am really pleased to get them done - but most of all I (and K) are really thrilled with the results.  Poor H wasn't so happy as he had to drill holes from the tree into the wall to hold it up.  It is well over two metres high.

The tree has been made with thin plywood.  I modeled its colours and style from a quilt I have been making using Doohikey Designs' 'Hoos in the Forest' (Riley Blake).  I have stuck a fabric bird on it already and K and I plan to add crochet blossoms and other fabric creatures.

The owl clock below was made using plywood as well, with scraps of leather for the beak and feet.  I bought wooden numbers from Spotlight and painted them black.  The two lighter pink paints are leftovers from a dolls house I painted for K two years ago (the light green in the tree is as well).

I purchased the clock movements from 'www.clockworks.co.nz' and am thrilled with their support and service.  I had to trim up the length of the hands and was given advise to get 'sweeper movements' as they are silent (no ticking).  Initially I was a bit dumbfounded by the clock parts but they came together very easily.  I plan to make more clocks now!

The russian dolls below are not new, having been shifted from our previous house, but are in a new layout.  I made them initially because I was astounded at the cost of wall decals - as well as the colour they were.  The great thing about craft is you can make things exactly the way you want.  Again these use thin plywood, and the same range of pinks as other projects.

I must thank my wonderful father-in-law who is always able to assist me in the cutting out of my plywood shapes.  He's a superstar!

4th Birthday Party

K turned four last week!  There was much excitement and some stress but her little party went well and she (mostly) had a good time.  It can be a bit much with all that anticipation.
The theme was 'fish' and I made her a yummy cake, decorated with jelly beans:

 We had fun with a homemade pinata - it took a lot of breaking!

We also played 'rob the net' - a version of 'rob the nest' with various bean bags to steal from the net of another group.  The children loved fishing for choc fish with the magnetic rods I had borrowed from the local Toy Library - a great resource for parties!

I didn't take photos of the other food we had - fish cakes, blue jelly with lolly fish, cupcakes decorated with rod and fish, lemonade (with a smidgen of blue food colouring), fish shaped biscuits in two styles.
Lots of fun!

Will post about the presents soon!