Tweedle Dee

Tweedle Dee
Originally uploaded by redmag

This is the first half of my toy for the plushteam fairy tale project. It's Tweedle Dee from "Through the looking glass" - not quite Alice in Wonderland but very close!

Although not expecting to - I've learnt a few things about myself while working on this task - firstly, although I aspire to be, I'm not actually very democratic. You see I did do a poll to see what people thought I should make for this task. The Cheshire cat was the overwhelmingly popular choice - suggested by many including the very styling Ninaribena of Canberra's got style fame.

But you see I've already made cats before and I just wanted to make something new.....so I unilaterally decided to make Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!

The other thing is that I'm getting a bit more skilled at this toy making caper - I've managed to come up with two new toys this weekend and while they aren't complex or flash they did turn out pretty much how I'd hope they would which is a first! No sad calico corpses to stash in the back of my cupboard this time!

I think if I made more Tweedles they'd definitely get collars, braces and some hair but for now they good to go.

......Anyway hope you're having a great weekend

A sleepy sheep

A sleepy sheep
Originally uploaded by redmag

hmmmmm.....I've been without a camera all week and for reasons that fail me - no camera = no bloging.

It's a wonderful sunny autumn day which is nice because it's also a public holiday, I've been pottering around the house.. and making this sheep.

Once upon a time.....

The plushteam is running a team activity based on our favourite childhood stories or fairy tales. Basically we've been paired up - I'm partnered with the very talented Electricdaisy.
We share our favourite stories - Hers is Alice in Wonderland and mine are Hansel and Gretel, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Possum Magic (ok I had a problem just listing one!)
....and now we each have to make a character from our partner's story.....Do I do the white rabbit, the cheshire cat, a tea party?

I'd really appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Everybody on the deck

Everybody on the deck
Originally uploaded by redmag

We had a deck built a little while ago....we'd been planning it for ages and like most things we didnt actually do anything about it...and then one day we just did it.

Apart from the fact it makes the backyard a lot better....its totally changed the way we live - we spend so much more time outside. The dog and the baby just love it. I wonder how long we can keep it up and the days get colder and colder.

Three little Koalas

Three little Koalas
Originally uploaded by redmag

It's been a good weekend for sewing - these are three of my many half finished projects from the past two days. They will hopefully be Koalas. The blue foral one is for a swap over at The needle. The other two are for my shop. The nice thing is that most of what is left to do is the quiet work....they're things that can be done on the couch with a blanket over my knee in the glow of the tellie.

There are also some giraffes that need faces and some basic assembly lurking around too.

It feels good to finish the weekend with projects other than getting through the huge pile of dirty washing under way.

Hope your weekend was what you needed it to be!

Thai food festival

I made a mistake - the Thai food festival its actually at the Thai temple in Lyneham not at the embassy!

The final harvest

The final harvest
Originally uploaded by redmag

Its been an odd summer in the garden - it rained for one! - but its finally offically coming to an end. This is the last batch of tomatoes - we pull the bushes out this afternoon and get the bed ready for carrots ( including purple ones) and yellow beetroots. These guys are slated to be some kind of green tomato relish or chutney. I'm off to hunt done something good to make with them in the cookbook pile. Also making some more oven dried tomatoes tonight with last weekends harvest which has turned a lovely bright red sitting the kitchen windows.

As an aside - I'd been told that tomatoes ripen better in a warm dark cupboard or draw than sitting on the window. So we did a test. I have to say this week those in the window faired much better in the redening stakes - perhaps not scientific myth busting but next year I'm certainly going to keep putting them in the window!

I'm a complete novice when it comes to gardening and slightly lazy, which is somethng i used to feel very guilty about and so gardening was this on again off again thing for me....I'd nurse things back from the brink and then forget about them til they were on death's door again.

Maybe its old age but this year I found gardening easier - Thre were less highs and lows (for the plants too) and things went fairly smoothly and for the first times in years I'm actually still interested and have seeds and seedlings ready to go in for a winter crop.

Hope you're having a great weekend - for those in Canberra I just noticed signs for the Thai food festival tomorrow. It's NOT at the Thai embassy its a the Thai template in Archibald street in Lyneham and is between 10-4pm. It should be great fun so if you're at a loose end tomm check it out

A bib for the boy

A bib for the boy
Originally uploaded by redmag

I just felt like making something pretty....going through the process of transforming a nice thing I found into a nice thing I needed.

As the title suggests its a bib for the boy made from a vintage tea towel I found over the weekend. The tea towel is linen and it was made in Poland....It backed it (rather nervously) with white cord... 'cause it looked pretty and felt nice but I fear white anything in a bib is rather silly - time will tell I guess

Too bad the photos dark and crappy - damn autumn mornings!!