Mama Made Monday - Roman Centurion

Ethan has a world history fortnight starting today. So every spare moment during half term was spent making a centurion outfir for him. Fortunately I had all the material. The tunic was made from curtain lining material, the over-tunic from some of that Per Una material I was given ages ago, plus some material I picked up from freecycle, and the red velvet was also from freecycle. Finished off with a button from my Nan's button stash I inherited. Oh, and we borrowed the leg armour from a neighbour! He had to wear a t-shirt and shorts underneath to try to combat the cold, and as I helped him into it all this morning, his first comment was "there are no pins in it are there?" As he had got caught with the pins a few times previously as we were trying it out for size!

I'm pleased with how it turned out, but hope no-one looks at it in detail!! Made all the better for being made from scraps!

Mama Made Monday -Bit of a catch up post!

I eventually completed the dress for Sophie which had been bought in kit form for Christmas last year. Unfortunately she has decided she doesn't like tights or dresses at the moment. I'm hoping this phase will pass before she outgrows the dress! I decided I wanted a little distraction from Christmas present making, so started making snowflakes! I eventually want to string them together with ribbon to make downward hanging garlands.

Some of the baskets awaiting filling.

A sneaky peek at the season swap I am making

The guitar strap for Alec, nearly completed the crocheting, just need to felt it then.

A book mark for a secret santa I am involved with.

And a dishcloth for Mum, not for Christmas or anything, but as she commented on my dishcloths the other day, I thought I could make one for her too.

I like this time of year, snuggling down with a ball of wool, and creating, whilst it freezes and throws all kinds of inclement weather at us.

Hope you are all keeping warm, and finding things to occupy your time too.

(Grand) Mama Made Monday

Ok, bit of a cheat, I know, but I just had to show some of the things that Stuart's Mum makes. She made this cardigan for Sophie in a day! She uses the most wonderful colours, and makes the patterns up as she goes along. She does use some fair isle patterns from books, but will get a whole load and put them all together in one garment. She really is inspirational. I have asked her to try to teach me fair isle knitting, but I am very slow.

She has started to do bigger jumpers too, and I felt very honoured when she made one for me in the summer, which you can see here.

She has recently fractured her ankle, so is having to take things easy, but the one thing she can carry on doing is knitting. How many jumpers do you reckon she can knit in the next 6 weeks? :)

Mama-Made Monday - My first attempts

I thought I would share a few of my first attempts at things, spanning from prior to Luke being born, to soon after Sophie was born. In between my first born and last born, not much crafting happened, but that was because "I" had been lost, throwing myself into motherhood completely, "I" had disappeared. The re-emergence of my crafting has coincided with a new found identity of "me".

My first attempt at crafting for many years was making some french knitting butterflies and flowers, and turning them into a mobile for Sophie's room. I then had a go at sewing, with a sewing machine bought for me by my Mum.

The dress was made from some curtains I picked up in a charity shop, a little bit of new fabric to line it with and make the floral part of the flower, and some mother of pearl buttons from my button stash. As for the pattern, I just drew around a dress Sophie already had!

And this cardigan is the one and only item of clothing I managed to create since I was expecting Luke (until I rediscovered my creative side more recently). Admittedly it didn't have the flower on the hood when worn by Luke, Alec or Ethan! But it will now be packed away with cedar wood ready for grandchildren!

Mama Made Monday - For my Mama

A Morsbag made with some material given to me from a neighbour whose sister works for Per Una, apparently big swatches of material like this are thrown away regularly, so I have managed to give them some dignity!

We filled the bag with homemade apple chutney, green tomato chutney, and ginger and marrow jam. Along with a book, and a book token.

Happy Birthday Mama.

Mama Made Monday - Cinderella

Look at me! I'm organised!! 3 months in the making. Finished just in time for Sophie's birthday on Wednesday! A Cinderella topsy-turvy doll. One way she is Cinders, and the other way she is Cinderella. This is my first attempt at toy making, and I have loved doing it. Just hope Sophie likes it now! Cinders.

Cinderella.

And all for the price of one ball of pink wool. Everything else was used from my stash :)

This wonderful idea of sharing mama makes is from Talie at Being Me.