This little pair of foxes was group effort. Mother stitching the big fox and daughter stitching the little one.

It was the kind of project that had me pulling fabrics, aching over choices and generally remembering why making softies can be simultaneously a frustration and pleasure.

In one of those moments of frustration, I suggested that E make the presents for her friend.  She took up the challenge. I have to admit I was impressed. So was her friend.


The large fox is adapted from We Make Dolls and you can find a pattern for the smaller one at  Little White School House.

January is great time to embark on epic projects.  My friend Christine is one for epic projects and last year was no different.  Christine has just finished showcasing her 2013 project - 365 3x3 inch squares of embellished goodness.  Then at the end of the year she packaged them up and gave them away to a friend - one to open for every day of the year.  Here is just a taster..

You can see more of her wonderful work at What Goes on in the Sheila Shed.

Our garden was taken over by the Great Mystery Hunt yesterday.  5 little works of art were hidden around the place.  Each one had a clue or activity to keep little minds thinking. Adults were on hand to help with the reading and some of the clues did not have right or wrong answers.




 Little birds at the bird feeder, wondering what they might be made of.

My favorite - finding strange flowers and drawing them. 

It was a lovely afternoon prompted by the kids wanting to have an art exhibition outside.  Each child bought along some pictures to hang in the garden.  We spent the rest of the time reading* painting, both pictures and toe nails, exploring and making ice blocks.

*Thanks to Miss Fancy Nancy for exhibition ideas,

Sometimes creativity is a force to be reckoned with.  H helped her self to a buch of flowers from the garden and told me we were about to hammer some flowers like they did on Sticky TV.  I can only be thankful that the hammers are kept well out of reach or she wouldn't have waited for help.

To make you own flower stamps, you will need:
Coloured, flatish flowers (pansies worked well)
Baking paper
White fabric
Chopping board
Hammer

For a brief moment there was a fantail on my couch. I meet up with friends every Monday to sew.  They keep me sane.  Every year we have a Christmas swap and this year it was cushions.  This little chap only just made it to the party.  I was stitching until the minute I left the house.


He's now sitting on the couch at this lovely friend's place. 

This is what happens in our house, when the adult take their time putting up the advent calendar*.  Small children take matters into their own hands.  She's done a great job recreating our calendar don't you think?

I was worried that I may have lost some of the pockets between the years.  But this little burst of creativity from miss H was all I needed to get myself sorted and out calendar up.

Sorted - now for the chocolate.

I have been sketching, carving and stamping up a storm, gradually reducing this stamp until I was happy with it.

Every Christmas I think, this is the year I'll start sending Christmas cards again. I used to be so dilligent, posting them out to my university friends as  I went home to my parents each summer, sending little notes and baubles to friends as they travelled around the world.  Somehow it all fell by the wayside when I had children, but this year it really will happen.  The international ones went out a month ago and I'm gradually getting together the less urgent, local ones.

Such fun!
The Yellow Owl Workshop Carve a Stamp kit was birthday present earlier in the year.  You can get yours from The Village Art Shop, they are ever so friendly.

Sometimes projects are just an angels breath from completion.  These little pegs had been sitting painted for a while, waiting for wings, skirts and faces.  I imagined skirts made from slices of lightly coloured vintage embroidery and paper doily wings.  Consulting my drawers of damaged, vintage embroidery, I found other ideas. 

A hand embroidered table cloth, too long in the napisan was waiting for me.  It had been so long bleached that the thread work and hems were dissolving, but still not long enough to remove whatever the tenacious stain had been.  The white on white details remind me of feathers and so wings they were.  The tattered edges became an underskirt for each modest angel, with just the smallest whisper of cotton lace over the top.  My very own mini host of mini angels.

 These ladies have been waiting a very long time to get their skirts.  But don't they look so happy now?  They were left in painted on hot pants for over a year, as I tried to work out how to make them stand up.

The original plan was to hand turn some wooden bead and route out a centre that let each doll stand.  The problem was I haven't touched woodwork since manual training and have no idea where to find a freindly wood turner.  In the end, it was air dry clay to the rescue with hand molded bases holding each lady.  They look just about ready to start singing

The Printed Zipper Pocket Tutorial is ready to go. The instructions include how to print on the fabric and sew it together. You can download it by clicking on the link below.

Printed, Zipped Pocket

These pockets are the result of an afternoon of printing with kids aged between 4 to 8. Armed with painting shirts, and precut fabric we were able to make stamp pads and explore printing with everyday objects.

Each artwork was then turned into a zipped pocket.  I have simplified the steps and used pinking shears where ever possible, to streamline the construction.  It took about 3 hours to sew all 12 pockets together (only 15 minutes each!).

I am planning to enlist the kids to help me make some more for Christmas presents for their friends and teachers.

We had a great time making them.  If you have any questions, suggestions or even photos of the ones you have finished, please drop me a line - seven.stitches.amy(at)gmail.com .

A few notes to start

• The images display best in Adobe Acrobat.  They show up a little blurry on Google Drive

• The measurements have been given in imperial first with metric in brackets.

I have been putting the finishing touches on lots of little sewing projects.  An afternoon of kids printing onto fabric has been turned into a dozen little zipped pouches.

I think I might have got it down to a fine production line*.  I am sucked by the bright colours and expressiveness of their little art works.  I think we may need to make some more for Christmas and end of year teacher presents. However, the next task is to match each pouch with its maker.

*I sometimes wonder if the wed needs yet another zippered pouch tutorial, but I am sorely tempted to write one, including measurements, printing techniques, ink setting process.  What do you think? Should I? Would you use it?

I had read up, I knew where to go and then threw the book away.  I had a simple mission in mind - I wanted a pair of embroidery scissors for my mother.  If you plan to go accidentally craft shopping, stumbling upon these places might just make your day.  I know they certainly made mine.

Le Rouvray 
Le Rouvray is a little quilt store is tucked away on the left bank, a mere stone's throw from the Notre Dame.

I tried so hard to speak french, but beyond the pleasantries, I couldn't talk fabric and blurted out "Je'ne parle pas francais, but I quilt." Little did I know that this is the catch phrase of this darling store.

We were away, looking for something quintessentially french to buy and discussing how incredibly bright Australasian quilts in comparison with traditions from elsewhere.

The stock is an interesting mix of french provincial prints, american civil war prints, a selection of kona cottons and patterns for all.  As I was travelling light, I limited myself to a small cicada kitset.  In hindsight I'm sure I could have snuck the Mona Lisa in my suitcase too - the pixeallated one in the window that is.

Entree Des Fournisseurs


So many of the treasures are hidden away in little courtyards.  If a gate of door was opened, we carefully peered inside, never for one moment expecting to see a craft shop. This one is in the centre of The Marais.

Entree Des Fournisseurs is a veritable candy shop of handcraft.  When you enter the door, you will be in the heart of the knitting, with sublime wools and gorgeous patterns.  Then making your way through the ribbons to the fabric and patterns at the end.  I spent a good while flicking through Citronille patterns and drooling over reels of liberty trims.  Behind the counter there was a selection of fine embroidery scissors and sweet french labels.  If ever the term small but perfectly formed was to applied to a craft shop, this would be it.

I came away with metres of trim for me, the coveted scissors for my mother and little labels simply stating "Je suis une PRINCESSE' simply because every girl needs reminding once in a while.

Tapisseries de la Bucherie

We first saw this store with a very french sign taped to the door "Closed for lunch, open again at 2". Given it's proximity to Notre Dame, this is the perfect opportunity to pick up your own lunch from the nearest bakery and head to the park at the back of Notre Dame to eat.  The re-opening at 2 was taken a little liberally and finally the door opened sometime later in the afternoon.  Talking to the ladies in another store, it appears the woman who runs this store opens when she want to and doesn't when she doesn't.

Tapestries are more my mother's style than mine, but I know enough, to recognise that these ones are divine.  You can get a kitset for a whole chair or just a little miniature.  I was totally smitten with the miniatures celebrating 850 years of Notre Dame Cathedral.  The prices made my eyes water and secretly give thanks for the Wellington institution that is Nancys.

Finding these three gems made my trip just a little sweeter.  I would love to have made it La Drougerie or some of the great Ateliers, but for me, these were enough.  My luggage was supplemented with delicate embroidery scissors, ribbons, tiny kitsets and memories. 

 Vintage boxes intrigue me.  They keep me guessing.  Wondering what makes a box special enough to keep? And what could possibly be special enough to be kept inside?  This box was a strange juxtaposition of lingerie and sandwiches.  Complete with intact labels and what I can only imagine to be a sandwich pixie keeping guard.  The little faces are made from poylstyrene balls, toothpicks, pipe cleaners and tinsel paper.  I am seriously tempted to have a go at making  some

Other boxes are just what they say they are.  I thought I was being so sensible and frugal when I passed on an $8 ruffler foot for my machine a few years ago.  Of course, this meant that it would be a very long time until I saw one again.  So here it is, my new toy, a new to me ruffler foot.




 Linking in at Op-Shop Show off.

When Hazel told me she wanted a Wizard of Oz party, I envisioned dainty hand coloured invitations.  I started sketching.  It turns out there is a difference between what a child wants and what a mum wants a child to want.  It wasn't helped by our printer spitting the dummy.

So, the night before the invites needed to go out, I was left raiding the kids art cabinet, coloured paper, glitter and all.  Fortunately, H approved of the result.

Does anyone remember when the marble game mancala was huge? I remember my little sister teaching me how to play about 10 years ago.  It is a genius of a game and I'm sure it has numerous variations. 

Little E and I play it a lot.  The box it came in was getting a little battered.  When Nin sent me a lovely bundle of floral fabrics, I knew just what it was going to be.  A little sewing and some time later, we now have a double sided bag for the board, which also fits the little marble bag inside.  Brilliance! We are new ready to play on the go as well.

If you've met my Dad, you would swear these old fisherman paintings are all of him, from the sun reddened cheeks to the blue eyes*.

When I saw this forlorn tapestry at the back of local bazaar,** I knew exactly where it needed to go. I asked Mum for some off-cuts from a recently upholstered chair.  She was little confused when I promised to give them back.  I did give them back, eventually, just in a slightly different form.  The cushion now takes pride of place at my parents home by the beach.

This image has been a part of my family for a long time.  Nana used to have a faded re-production print of it in her lounge.  She swore it was really a painting of a distant relative. There might have been some truth in it but I never could get to the bottom of it.  I tried goggle searching the image but coudn't come up with any original.  It seams the old fisherman is has become folklore.  These little fisher-babys, on the other hand, certainly look like something I might be related to.


*Fortunately the pipe and smoking has only ever been a prop.  Though, a bubble pipe could be a pretty cool Fathers day gift at some point.

**Come to think of it, Graham, the Bazaar shop keeper would make a great fisherman too.