A tale of a fairy lost in London and found on a birthday cake

This entry should really be one for the '@apickup1 makes' blog - were it to exist. He worked on most of this gift for his niece Ivy's fifth birthday and it definitely deserves an entry here.

Ivy is a big fan of fairies - and, more recently, lego. Alex cycled round London taking pictures of a small lego fairy in front of various monuments. He got some strange looks from tourists, especially when he got out the fake snow.

Ida looking for Ivy by the Thames

He used his photoshop skills to take out his hand and to add fairy sparkles and snow.

He also wrote a story about a lego fairy called Ida who sat on a shelf in our house. She saw a little girl called Ivy who came to visit and wanted to go and find her again.

There she is on the shelf in our house, in front of all my diaries (which you can read about here on my other blog where I've written a piece about journalling and mental health). She searched all round London to find Ivy.

Ida in front of one of London's landmarks.

Finally, exhausted, she goes to sleep in Trafalgar Square. In a flurry of warm white snow the Father Christmas of the Living Toys appears and grants her a wish - he will magic her to Ivy on her birthday. But Ivy must keep a look out for her.....

After writing the story, he sent it off to get printed as a photo book.

Ida travelled with us up north for the weekend and was safely deposited on top of the fairy garden cake - which I decorated the evening before.

Note the ivy leaves made out of icing and the icing toadstalls:)

On the day of Ivy's party, we gave Ivy her book before her birthday lunch.

I read it to her and her twin cousins. She looked for Ida all over the house but it wasn't until her birthday lunch that Ida appeared...

Ivy was gratifyingly pleased to find Ida on her cake.

Those of you who follow my blog will recognise Flower the meercat - who doesn't seem to be wearing her dress.

The whole present was a big success - well done Uncle Alex,

A farewell octopus - a felt applique card

Yesterday, my manager of four years left the charity where I work. He's looked after a team of seven for a long time now, and I wanted to make him a card to recognise that.

The octopus probably needs some explanation. He's our mascot, much appreciated by the young people in our community, given out as prizes (until recently when we sent out the last one!) and photographed all over the world.  It's Octi who I hope to dress up as when running the London Marathon next year. On his legs are all the members of our team.

Team Engagement and Support

I did realise that actually it has turned out looking like a felt version of those cards (or teatowels) we all make in primary school where everyone draws a very simple face on a circle! And in addition, I got my own parting the wrong way round. But at least Octi is recognisable.

And it was fun to make.

A cut out Octi ready to be appliqued. 

Appliqued felt, with the faces glued on and then stitched through the eyes to hold them in place.

A lego sewing machine

My sewing machine is playing up again, so while I hoped to share with you the printer cover I'm in the middle of making (exciting times), it's going to have to wait.

However, I could't resist sharing this wonderful 3D card I got for my birthday recently. It's my Brother sewing machine, crafted from bits of lego from the 'random bits box' Alex recently rescued from his parents' attic. It's got a place for the cotton reel, bobbin and needle - and it's threaded up about as accurately as a lego machine could ever be. I love it.

A new outfit for Flower the meercat

This is Flower the meercat. As you can see she is dressed and ready for any social occasion, accessories included.

But she wasn't always so delightfully encased in flowery material. In fact only days ago when she arrived at our house in the company of 4 year old Ivy, Flower was naked and furry.

At Ivy's request, we decided to make her a dress. Instead of choosing one type of material as instructed, Ivy chose five and wanted to use them all. We cut heart shapes from all of them and I sewed them on to a simple dress shape.

Ivy enjoyed laying out the hearts and choosing buttons.

Next morning, you could tell by Flower's expression that she was excited to have a new dress to put on. Ivy seemed pleased too.

And we finished the outfit with ladybird shoes and a belt.

Ivy's mum and dad laughed when they saw Flower's outfit. Can't think why :)

Giant cushion covered in trees

My brother Paul told me his girlfriend Jo had two large cushions that she liked the size and feel of, but didn't like the covers. He secretly measured them and I made her a cover for her birthday. I'll cover the other one for Christmas.

Beautiful flowers from Ben and my homemade pincushion in the background. We took some roses for Jo too.

Alex chose the material from Our Patterned Hand. He said it felt like the sort of pattern where you might get home and find it's full of naked people hiding behind the trees. 

No naked people here though;

We went to visit them both in Oxford and Jo modelled her cushion cover for us. Luckily it fitted really well.

Have you done any cushion modelling before Jo?

Autumnal coloured craftings..

Dad's birthday is in October, and he loves autumnal colours. For a long time he's been hinting after a cushion for room he rents when he is away for work. I used a mixture of coloured felt in browns, oranges, reds and yellows and some printed cotton pieces - the first time I've mixed felt and cotton.

Here's one side;

And here's the other;

I also had another go at using the embroidered letters setting on my machine - this time using the smallest, fanciest stitch. It worked quite well  - except for the 'from' - I don't think I was pulling the material through the machine fast enough.

After I'd sent it, I remembered that last year I made an autumnally coloured gift for Dad too - a card of leaves in pastels;

A cushion for the 12th Mechanized Brigade

My sewing machine is back from the expert ministrations of Tony from Lewisham and Deptford Sewing Machines (recommended by Barley from Fabrications), smelling of oil and running beautifully. It was time to get on with making this cushion I had been promising one of our volunteers on TheSite.org for so long. And here it is.

I took the logo from the Brigade's Facebook page and printed out a template.

I initially wanted to do the logo from felt and the backing from red material, thus enabling me to make a bigger cushion - but I found that the heirloom stitch I was using to make a thick line was rucking up the material making it look crumpled. I decided to use felt for the background too. This made for a smaller cushion, but I thought this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if it was going on tour! Here is is in progress, with the template.

And here it is with Alonso, the rather stern gentleman found in a charity shop by a university friend many years ago, and given to us three or four years past. He looks rather army like and official so I thought he might enjoy being photographed with the army cushion;

And finally, here's the man himself, in TheSite.org towers with his cushion. Hopefully he likes it - it's hard to tell from that smile....

And, in the background you can see a pinky purple Octopus, our YouthNet mascot Octi. At some point, I have to make an Octi costume as I plan to run the London Marathon 2013 dressed as him. I'm not entirely sure how to go about this eight legged sewing project - but I'll keep you posted...