"All The Single Ladies"

... or perhaps I should call them "all the single fairies". It has taken me longer than I thought (as all jobs seem to), but the fairies have now headed off to my Etsy shop, complete with their little hand embroidered bags. I do hope they end up with someone who loves them.

And now to start thinking about the summer garden flower fairies. I have started on lavender, but would love it if you have any suggestions for the others.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Pumpy the Pumpkin

There is a point with children when you will probably find yourself saying, "no more cuddly toys". There is only so much love to spread around the ones that you already have. I reached this point a few years ago, but made an exceptions for Pumpy the Pumpkin.  I know this isn't a snapshot, but hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Corky the Giraffe

My daughter has a bit of a craze on giraffes. Hence the giraffe onesie and numerous other giraffe stuff. So I thought you might like to see this giraffe that she has made. 

The giraffe is made from corks (can't think how those got into the house!), a drawing pin, glue and a marker pen. You also need a craft knife to cut the cork, and wire cutters to cut the wire. So this giraffe although very simple to make would need an adult to supervise.

As she is old enough to do these things herself, and I had no hand in the giraffe-making, I am going to hand over to her to explain how to make a Corky Giraffe.

Step 1. First, I went and used a knife in the kitchen to cut a cork into pieces for the feet, head, horns and ears (you should ask someone to help you or you may get into trouble). Also keep one whole cork for the body.

Step 2. Then I got some thick black wire and cut four bits the same length and one longer one.

Step 3. Using pointed pliers, I made holes and put the wire in them to make my basic giraffe. To make sure the wire stayed in place I put some glue on it.

Step 4. To make the face I put a drawing pin in him to be a nose - I let it not go the whole way in so it sticks out a bit. And stuck the horns and ears on.

Step 5. Then I used a sharpie to draw on the eyes and a tiny mouth.

Step 6. I let him dry for a few hours and then he was done!
 

"Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"

Meet Audrey and Marilyn. Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions for more tiny icons. (I still have a few in mind.) I've been dithering with what to call this post, and toyed with "Breakfast at Tiffany's", but you get the idea.

I have tried to give these dolls authentic outfits, and they both have long elegant gloves and shoes, as well as a little bit of bling. They are doing their fashion shoot in my daughter's Greek Temple, which she made as a school project.

I did think Audrey should be a bit more gamine and sylph-like, and compared to Marilyn she seems tall. That is why Marilyn has decided to stand on a clothes brush. Although actually Audrey Hepburn was slightly taller than Marilyn Monroe. 

This Marilyn is also a bit larger than I wanted, or as my husband said it isn't in the right places. But I am still very fond of her. He has just looked over my shoulder as said Marilyn looks more like Bette Midler (humph!).

So meet Marilyn number two. This second Marilyn has a bit more of a shapely or buxom figure. (I am trying to be very careful how I phrase this post, as I gather the words you use in posts can bring you up in certain search engines.) So there will be two Marilyns in my shop, and I will have to work on a polite way to distinguish them.

To the Handmade Mondayers I just wanted to mention the 52 Week Scrappy Challenge, which I have written about in a separate post above. Sounds like fun!

 

Lady Gaga - Tiny Icon

After Little One said my Cherry Fairies reminded her of Lady Gaga, it put in my mind to have a go at making the lady herself. I have had great fun with her. Her phone hat is sewn in place.

I have thought of a few other fashion or pop icons that I might have a go at making. If you have any suggestions for other Tiny Icons I would welcome them. Some ideas I have had are: Marilyn, Madonna, or Audrey. As you can see I am not very up-to-date. Lady Gaga is heading off to Etsy.

I have made her a little velvet bag to live in, with her name hand embroidered. I thought the deep burgundy suited her. I am going to put a tutorial on shortly on how to make these simple little bags. I've only made tiny ones for my toys, but guess larger bags could be useful for all sorts of things.

Little Seaside Bags

Firstly thank you for all the kind comments on my spiral shell pattern. 

 And now another mysterious set of little bags.

Inside them are some sets of my beach creatures. They could be used as an educational toy, but are also very decorative. A little reminder of happy days at the seaside.

The bags are hand dyed. (You may remember my recent tie dying project which I was being a bit secretive about.) They are a heavy duty natural cotton, with a silk pull cord. Each one contains an individual set of hand-knitted and embroidered beach creatures: a spiral shell, scallop shell and starfish.

The sets are for sale in my Etsy shop. (Apologies that I keep plugging my shop, but I am really trying to make a go of it.) As I have made quite a mixture of colours, you can request a specific set, or just leave it to chance. I will try to accommodate any colour requests.

Set A

Set B

Set C

Also I just thought I would mention that I have set up a Ginx Craft Facebook page, so if you are a Facebook user you can follow me there. You just have to like the page. It is at https://www.facebook.com/GinxCraft  and there is an icon to link there in my sidebar on the right. I am still getting to grips with the technology, but I will link all my blog posts there. At the moment I have just put on some of my favourite photos, as it was looking a bit empty.

Monarch Metamorphosis Collection

What could be in this little calico cotton drawstring bag? A surprise!

Four hand-knitted items which I have been hinting at for a few weeks: a leaf and egg, a monarch caterpillar, a chrysallis, and finally the monarch butterfly. I think children would love them, but perhaps that is just the teacher in me. My son is especially interested in all aspects of nature. I love buying my own children anything that is handmade and educational.

 
I have had the idea of making a small educational toy set for a while. Although my Monarch Butterfly pattern has been fairly popular, it does take quite a bit of work. I wanted to make it available as a finished item to anyone who might find the knitting (and embroidery) a little bit intimidating.

I have only made two of these metamorphosis sets so far, and they will be for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm in the process trying to expand the knitted items section of my shop. But am really trying to keep the items unique and quirky. So most of the items are one-offs. Much more fun for me if I can make items that are individual. In fact this collection is the only one where I have two identical sets for sale.

A Mischief of Mice

Mice 

by Rose Fyleman

I think mice are rather nice,

Their tails are long,

Their ears are small,

They haven't any chins at all.

Their ears are pink,

Their teeth are white,

They run around the house at night.

And nibble things they shouldn't touch,

And no one seems to like them much.

But I think mice are rather nice.

I learned this poem when I was a child at school. I don't think children are made to learn and recite poems very much these days, but I think it is a really good exercise. Once you have learned a poem you hopefully will have it for life. I would love to know if you can still recite  a poem that you learned at school? The only other one that I can remember is Gather Ye Rosebuds. I had to learn and recite it to the prefects, as a punishment. I had hidden in the loos instead of going to assembly with my friend Hilary, as she was unset because her hamster had died. But that is another story ...

I don't talk about my job much. No day is the same, it is never boring, and often very rewarding. This will sound a bit batty, but I think children are like seedlings, and it is important for them to have the best start possible. Obviously home is the most important, but so is school. You don't know what life will throw at you, but a good start may see you through.

Anyway today I had such a fantastic day, with a trip with the school choir to an old people's day centre, back to school for Christmas lunch, and then the most hilarious pantomine performed by the staff for the children. (I think I can say that, as I was not in the cast, but sitting with the children.) Sometimes I can't believe that they pay me as well.

My class is not full, and I decided a while ago to make a mouse for all of the seventeen children, as a Christmas gift. The pattern is from Yellow, Pink and Sparkly. I started with some Fair Isle ones, but after a while I decided to branch out ...

Stripey Mice 

Flowery Mice

and a few plain mice (which are my favourite).

Did you know one of the group names for mice is a mischief?

So now for a bit of mouse wrapping ....