Stegosaurus 'taggie' doll

This adorable toy was made using a free pattern from Bubbles and Bobbins blog.  I made a slight alteration in the method, by adding a 5 mm seam around the entire template before cutting it out and it still seemed to work perfectly.  I made several of these as gifts and they were really quick to make and turned out wonderfully.  The mums and babies who they were gifted to, loved them!

Fingerstache! .... because who doesn't want one?!?!

The best moustache to keep in your pocket for any unforeseen moment when a moustache is required (like going undercover!).

This is the Fingerstache knitting pattern.  I found it very quick and easy (and a lot of fun).

Knitted strawberry baby cocoon

Now that it's getting a bit more chilly, I thought I'd share a cute little strawberry baby 'cocoon' that I knitted for a friends newborn.  I found the pattern via Miss Julia's Vintage Knit & Crochet Patterns or you can go to it directly here.

(sorry for the sideways shot!)

Once I got the hang of the pattern, it was actually really quick and easy to follow.  I  only attached leaves at the front of the cocoon as I thought it would be too bulky all the way round.  I used 100% lambs wool, which was a bit more expensive than other types of fibre, but makes the cocoon lovely and warm for baby.

Peepee Teepee (Baby boy change cone)

After hearing from my friends with boys about the surprise “showers” they sometimes got while changing nappies, I decided to see if I could find anything that would be useful for them.  I came across this tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets (one of my favourite blogs!) for Peepee Teepee.  They were very quick and easy to make and looked great packaged up in a stack within a see-through container (a nice baby shower gift!).

My only suggestions if you are interested in making any, would be to make them larger than the pattern suggests.  My friends found that they were a bit on the small side.  If I made them again, I would also attach a little tag of some sort to the top of the tee pee so that it could be easily (and quickly!) picked up.  I should also mention that one of my friends with a very wriggly boy found that it wasn’t any help as they kept falling off before she could get anything organised!  

Lion! Raawwwrrr!

This cute lion was made using a Dolls And Daydreams pattern that you can purchase on Etsy

The pattern comes with fantastic step-by-step instructions (with lots of pictures!) and was really straight forward and easy to follow.  I've made a couple of these now and the kids seem to love them, as the legs/arms are easy to grasp.  The younger children love playing with the tag-like mane of the lion.

(and yes, that is our cat crammed up against the heater that you can see on the far left!)  :) 

Sock skeleton

These sock skeletons are anything but scary!  They were fairly quick and easy to make.  You will need a pair of white socks, stuffing, white thread for sewing, black embroidery thread for the detailing and some buttons for the eyes.  You can find all the instructions to make you own here on Martha Stewart.com.

Christmas stocking - Santa making Christmas cookies

For a few years now I've been making felt appliqué Christmas stockings for various family members. This last Christmas (2012) I decided to actually take photos of the completed stocking - previous years I've forgotten too before gifting them!.  This stocking was made for my nephew who is currently 7 months old.  I hope that he will have years of enjoyment from it (and excitement about what he might find in it from Santa!).

If anyone is interested I bought the stocking (Bucilla - Santa Making Christmas Cookies Felt Stocking Kit) from Anitas Arts .  At the time the exchange rate between $NZ and $US was really good, so it was cheaper for me to buy and ship to NZ than it was to buy from any store here.  It only took about 7 days from when I ordered it until when it arrived in NZ, and the staff at Anitas Arts were great about sending confirmation emails and parcel tracking numbers.

Now for the actual stocking!  I have no idea how many hours it took as I didn't record that, but I'm guessing about 100+.  Each piece of the stocking is stuffed, embroidered and beaded/sequined by hand.

It's a lot of work, but looks amazingly effective when finished!  I've included some profile shots so you can get more of an idea of the 3D effect.  :)