Hanies: July 2008

Sick of snails

All done now. I am not entirely happy with them. If I was going to make this again I would definitely tweak the template somewhat or even make them from felt. I had some problems with the antennae as they need to be secure enough that Hanna doesn't manage to suck them out. In the end I ironed some vinyl onto black fabric so that they would be stiff enough to stay in place as antenna and also sturdy enough to withstand Amelie and Hanna.

Just arrived

I am very excited as I have just picked up this book. I had my eye on it already but when I read the review by Celestina Carmen I knew I had to have it. It is fantastic. So packed with good ideas and detailed information. I love all the projects. All the patterns are used so effectively it really makes me want to jump right in and start printing.

This starter screen printing pack was also delivered this week. Just the basics for me to have a stab at printing and see how I get on. I am really fighting the urge to dive in and start printing. I want to get my space organised first. But the box is sitting there winking at me. It is going to be difficult to hold off until I have the space to do it properly.

Mummy-gami

Amelie has been folding and twisting every piece of paper that she comes across. So we attempted a simple bit of origami from this Japanese book.

ISBN4-569-64729-4

All the origami are very simple and aimed at children.

Still a bit beyond Amelie so we only used the computer paper I had to hand but she gets the rough idea and is more than keen to help Mummy fold the paper. So next time I will find some brightly coloured paper to use.

Amelie not only helped fold the paper but also drew the faces on afterwards. I tried to explain to her what we were doing was called origami to which she replied "No Mummy, it's Mummy-gami"

Note to self

Do NOT lay a quilt-in-progress on the floor when toilet training your daughter.

Yes she peed on it.

More Snails

I decided to make the snails two different shades of each colour so I could teach Amelie that a colour can have lots of different variations. I sometimes wonder how confusing it must be when I point at things such as a navy blue car, the sky and a turquoise blue toy and say "blue".

Snails

Amelie is into colours at the moment. She knows the names and she can sort objects into like colours but she invariably mixes the colours up. She would probably say that the snails pictured above are blue.

So I thought I would have a go at making a floor quilt that would help her. So I set about making 55 snails.

10 blue snails

9 pink snails

8 yellow snails

7 green snails

6 red snails

5 brown snails

4 orange snails

3 purple snails

2 white snails

1 black snail

Phew! That is a lot of snails to cut out, sew stuff, resew.....

What to do?

I am making a fabric clock for a birthday present and I am stuck with how to finish it off. Each of the numbers is on a velcro felt square so that they can be taken off or put on to help the little girl learn how to count and how the numbers are positioned on a clock. The felt hands are attached by a button brad and eyelets so they can move freely.

So do I sew this on as embellishment for a bag or do I use some card to support it and then leave it as a free standing clock? Any other suggestions?

Quilt looking for a new home

I made this quilt for my friend Natalie who had been assured in all of her ultrasounds that she was having a baby boy. Imagine her surprise when she gave birth to a baby girl!

On my desk

are 2500 squares waiting to be made into a quilt for our bed. First to make 100 5 by 5 squares.

This seemed like a good idea when I was pregnant!

The Newest Girl Band

Meet the Brücher Band.

Amelie on trumpet.

Hanna on the drums and Mummy with the shakers.

Scrap that - Mummy is the back up dancer.

Independent Girls

We have two very strong minded independent girls at home.

Hanna is only 9 months old but has decided she will not be fed by a spoon at all. She would far rather do it herself. Heaven forbid you try and help her.

Amelie has a new slant on her favourite word "Nein". She now runs around the house singing "na- ein. Am-ie do it".

So I could not resist making this stamp from a Japanese Eraser stamp book. I used Versacraft stamp pads to stamp some white cotton in colourways Apricot and Ash rose.

Fabric Book

Having prevaricated over making a fabric book for Amelie until it was just too late, I decided to bite the bullet and make one for Hanna.

Hanna loves all things that squeak so I bought some pet toy squeakers. To prevent the squeaker from moving around in the book I made a sandwich of batting and machine stitched in a circle around the squeaker so that it was secured in one position.

To make the other pages more interesting I cut a plastic bag up and sandwiched the plastic between batting so that the pages have a crinkly sound.

To make the book even more of a sensory experience each animal had clothes made of different fabrics (corduroy, vinyl coated cotton, lame, fleece and cotton)

Gocco or no Gocco

I have been tempted by the Gocco printer for a long time now. Many people have used it in so many creative ways and it always appears so simple and professional. However, until recently I have felt that I was not ready to embark on printing. But all that has changed.

I am finding more and more that I am interested in fabric dyeing, stencilling, stamping etc..... Even printing on paper is tempting!

So the question is whether to buy a Gocco printer or not. There are some very obvious disadvantages to investing in such a machine such as:

It has been discontinued
Supplies are limited
It is expensive

But on the other hand some very clear advantages:

It does not take up much space
It seems a good starting point to get into printing on different mediums

I guess in the meantime while I ponder this dilemmna I will work out what designs I want to print. I guess that will help me to decide whether eraser stamping, freezer paper stencilling, screen printing or gocco-ing is the way to go!

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