Floral Teddy Romper

Well spring has finally sprung and despite being pretty cold this week its nice to see the return of the sunshine today. All this lovely sun and finally seeing the flowers spring up has inspired me to make this gorgeous little cotton floral romper in a hope that my little summer baby will get a chance to wear it before the autumn finally sets in.

Isn't it just adorable <3

The fabric is some very thin swiss dot cotton lawn which I bought from ebay. Its a lovely lightweight fabric and will be perfect if we get any really hot and sweaty days this summer where we want to keep baby covered, but wearing something light and breathable.

Something odd has happened to me though since finding out I am having a girl, and that is a new like for floral fabric. Historically the mere hint of a flower on fabric had me looking in another direction but instead now I am looking a them with new eyes. I think it will still be a while before you see me in anything with flowers on, but it has certainly opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me!

The pattern is another Puperita, the Teddy Romper and as per usual the pattern is utter perfection. I was drawn to this pattern because of two things, the flutter sleeves and the popper fastenings. Mr Fox hates it when I make any kind of romper/dungarees as it makes the whole nappy changing thing an absolute mare. So this pattern keeps him happy and will allow for a nice easy nappy change. 

Everything about this pattern is just adorable, the sleeves, the cross neck, the gathered leg holes, I absolutely love it. It also has a version for boys. It can also be worn over a vest and tights for those slightly cooler days. 

Again, I wouldn't say this was a particularly fast sew as I took my time with it, and there are a lot of bound edge seams, but the time and attention to details really are what make handmade look really special.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy mothers day.

Felt Finger Puppet Gang

Come and meet the gang.... Percy the Polar Bear, Henry the Hedgehog, Leo the Lion, Mr Fox, Kitty Mew Mew and Mr Dinosaur. I don't know why but all my soft toys have always been male, I'm not sure what this says about me? Do your soft toys (I would say did, but come on you know you still own some) have a gender? I would love to know I'm not the only odd one out there.

So anyway, it's been a while since I have played with finger puppets, but how cute are these little felt guys? You might be wondering then why I made them? Well now that Master Fox is 6 weeks with every day he is getting more awake and more inquisitive. To help him learn about his new world I have been looking for activities to do with him to stimulate and help his mental development. There are lots of great ideas from simply showing him things around the house to smells but of course my favourite activity was the one which featured finger puppets! I probably could have gone with a theme, say woodland or zoo animals or something but he doesn't know the difference. I just made up my favourite animals ;)

Little Felt finger puppets are so easy to make. All you need is some felt, scissors, needle and thread. Draw roughly around your finger onto a piece of paper but add about 1cm all the way around. Once you have done this cut it out and this is your finger template. From that you just need to cut shapes from felt to make little faces and features and sew them on with co-ordinating thread. Once you have finished with the features you then sew around the edge and top of the puppet leaving the bottom open. You can of course use glue if you don't want to sew them.

They took about 15 minutes per puppet which makes this another awesome project for making during baby naps. It took me about 3 naps to make these 6 little guys, not bad at all.

Have you ever made any toys for your little newborns? I am continuously hunting for ideas for playtime so would love to hear about them.

Little Man of Steel

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's Superman floor cushions of course! 

Mr Fox is a big fan of the man of steel and a while ago when he had begrudgingly been fabric shopping with me on the market he did spot this incredible superman fabric (which also comes in Spider-Man and Batman options). I believe it's a thick cotton, and is no rip off, no it's officially licensed DC fabric. So after finding out we were having a boy and buying a cuddly teddy baby onesie I hopped off to the market for a couple of meters of this to please both the little and big boy! 

I have owned a couple of floor cushions for about 7 years now and I have been meaning to re-cover them for about 5, but they were tucked in a back room and never really much of a priority. When we were little my mum had made some noddy floor cushions for me and my sister and we loved them, often bringing them downstairs to sit on whilst watching TV. So once I got the fabric I immediately knew this would be perfect for recreating something from my childhood for my child. I love the thought of recreating things through the generations, it feels so nostalgic. 

These awesome things took a total of about an hour to complete both, including the ironing so it was a great, quick and satisfying project for a Saturday afternoon. I really like them and can't wait to get the bedroom decorated to get them in situ. 

Do you have anything special from your childhood that you can remember your mum (or dad) making for you? A wooden train,  a cuddly toy? Sometimes something handmade can be your most prized possession, even as a child, with all those expensive toys. 

Crochet Baby Bear Hat

Who's been sleeping in my bed...? No one at the moment but it won't be long I'm sure till we have a tiny person trying to hog the covers as well as Mr Fox! 

Not having the craft room hasn't been a total disaster, I have managed to crochet this awesome little baby bear hat. Anyone that knows me will easily be able to tell you that my child is going to be nearly permanently in some fancy dress or another! You can't wait can you!

It's still a couple of weeks till we find out the sex so I am still trying to craft neutral, Bears are a great way to cover this even if brown is not exactly my favourite colour. 

The main body of the hat was crocheted using the following Velvet Acorn pattern. The face was self drafted from felt pieces and sewn on with a blanket stitch. Finally the ears were self drafted. I did start off with two giant pom poms for ears but they didn't quiet look right so I made up a new set. 

Using the same wool and hook as the main pattern (you will have to purchase it for that info):

Make a magic loop and sc 5 times into the loop, do not join

Turning the work 2sc in each stitch around (10 sc), do not join

Turning the work sc in each stitch until you reach the last one (9sc), slip stitch, fasten off.

You then just need to sew them on to the body. I don't think mine are quiet equal but meh!

In other news: The Kitchen fiasco continues, we can't get a worktop for 2 weeks so they have had to put in a temporary fix and then they will come back and finish it off. Not ideal, but at least I can use the kitchen for now. We had a major storm, I should not have been laughing at us not flooding at the top of a hill, the garage was underwater, though nothing major so we are counting ourselves very lucky. Also Mr Fox bought a Harley! I am a little gutted I can't have a go until next year but I am really pleased for him, he was so happy!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. p.s. if you have any cute animal baby makes to send my way for trying please do... I probably won't be able to resist.