cushion - started / tissue holder - finished

i ran out of the red fabric, i meant to make two matching but not quite identical cushions, now i have to wait for the last half yard of the same from that ebay site...

a monkey for my nephew

This little monkey is made from those soft fluffy socks that you can get in Penneys, Dunnes, anywhere. I used children's socks, i prefer these monkeys in a smaller size. They are easily made in an evening, I handsew them because my sewing machine doesn't seem to like the thick stretchy fluffy material, and it also means i can watch TV with my fiance at the same time.

things i've made lately

This is my latest creation, a pincushion for an aspiring designer friend who was getting a lot of hassle - from a ginger person...


A soft and cuddly elephant, made from westphalian fabrics (Westfalenstoffe) that I bought in Germany. The traditional cotton fabrics from this area are mostly blue or navy with white printed patterns, or woven stripes and squares with white, red and green. In the seventies and eighties my sister and I had matching dresses made with their printed fabrics, white with red or blue, must dig up some photos! My granny's aprons were mostly made of their weaves. These days they do most of the traditional and many new prints and weaves, and I think they ship abroad as well.


These two are for P's niece, the clothes are made from 'recycled clothes'.


This 'grab ball' was a lot of fiddly work, 36 separate parts to make into 12 segments, and then those are stuffed, sewn closed and finally all sewn together (very very securely, because it's for a baby). The fabrics are 8 different Westfalen prints and some plain cotton.


This was my first patchwork project, it was supposed to be a cushion cover at first, but then i realised babies don't need cushions, and bought more fabric and made it into a small light blanket (a little on the small side), using flannel for batting and thrifted pillowcases in the softest 1000times washed checked cotton for the back.