Monday, March 3, 2008

Softies gallore

I have been making a few new toys from the many fantastic books that I have ordered from Japan. It has been very exciting getting the deliveries last week from so far away. Most of the books are in English but a couple are in Japanese. Thankfully the pictures are very clear I have not had too many problems following them.

I have been making some small toys to go along with my friend Karen's larger rabbits. She makes these big rabbits (called Wibits) and they are dressed as different characters. She has this range that are dressed as baby rabbits and they come with a toy for a little extra.

I have so far made two sheep. They are made from white Coral fleece and black normal fleece. I made them while we were up at Jurien Bay. We would work on our new block during the day and then I would sew at night while Rob kicked back and relaxed with a book or chatted to me about our block. It looked like it had been snowing while I was making them as the Coral fleece is fluffy and there was fluff everywhere. They almost didn't get given to her as I took them to work and was playing with them on my desk and fell in love with my little flock. I have to learn to let go!

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We were going to go to Bunbury this weekend and fly our new plane but the weather was not playing along. It was just too windy so we stayed in Perth, ate too much good food, visited heaps of people and I sewed while Rob cleaned his desk! Karen gave me some off cuts from the fabric she uses to make the big bunnies so that I could make some baby bunnies. It is velour and it feels sooo fantastic. You just want to keep touching the fabric because it feels so great. It sheds nearly as bad as the Coral fleece so you end up covered in this layer of fluff but I think that Rob is getting used to my extra layer of fur! I think that they turned out great. They are sooooooo cute. I have discovered safety eyes so they have these great big blue eyes that just clip in - this is much easier than trying to hand stitch them. I don't think they would have looked so cute with wonky, fluffy embroidered eyes.

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They really look like baby bunnies and I think will go really well with their bigger counterparts. I don't know if I can part with them though. I have to resist the urge to name them and handle them too much.

Valentine's Day

It has been a long time since my last blog and many things have been happening. Firstly we had Valentine's Day. We had a big morning tea at work which had a lovely red/heart theme going on. It was a really great morning tea even if I do say so myself. I made a cherry ripe slice which is to die for. The recipe is:

1 cup of self raising flour
1 Tbs of Cocoa (or Milo if you don't have Cocoa)
1/3 cup sugar
100g butter
100g crushed biscuits (use Marie or any other plain biscuit)
1 1/2 cups of desicated coconut
1 tin of light condensed milk (reduces the fat content. Once you start eating this you want to be able to reduce the guilt as much as possible)
1 packet of chopped glace cherries
30g copha

Method

Melt the buter and combine with the sugar, sifted flour and cocoa (milo), and crushed biscuits in a bowl.

Spread a greased and lined tray (ie: lamington tray) with the mixture and bake in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes. Take from the oven and place to one side to cool slightly.

For the filling, mix together the coconut, condensed milk and chopped glace cherries. You can add red food colouring if you like but it will turn a pale pink colour on its own so it is not essential. Spread this evenly onto the base.

Cook for a further 15 minutes in a moderate oven. Take it from the oven and allow it to cool.

Melt the cooking chocolate and copha together and spread evenly over the cooled slice. Cut into squares once the chocolate is set.

You may want to cut off the sides to make it all look neater for presentation purposes - these are great for nibbling and testing your creation to make sure it tastes fabulous.

I also received some beautiful flowers from Rob. He is such a great husband. They were yellow roses (my equal favourite with orange roses and Roses chocolates!) and a red heart toy - very appropriate given all the stuffed toys I have been making lately.

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I made my husband his own special plushie. I had made a turtle from a pattern from the book Bean Bag Buddies by Nicki Wheeler. The turtle had been a bit of a flop but them I had the brilliant idea that I could make the perfect present for Rob from the same pattern.

From this:

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To this:
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Yep, it is a boob. I made my husband his own portable boob. It has pride of place on our bed usually and I have woken up in the middle of the night to find it has worked it's way around the bed to end up under my head.

Valentines Day rocks!