mistakes happen to make us learn

Finally the camera can talk to the new computer :-)
Which means that I can show you my softie disasters!!
After Christmas I posted about the monkey I made for my niece and I loved him so I made another one. This is him:

Slightly under-stuffed and floppy but look at his neck!! yuck!! tight in some places and folded over in others....so back to the pattern for some alterations. Whilst at the pattern hacking stage I thought I could make a pair of boy and girl dolls, with clothes and toys (in my head they are gorgeous) so I made a girly:

Look at the gorgeous neck, so smooth and lump free :-) BUT look at that, her arm is falling apart!!!!!
Next was the little boy doll:

Cute, but wait, more arm mistakes! This time they are not level, by a very long way!

I am very proud of their bottoms though. I added a gusset piece which I over-sewed to make it really strong, and I love my label there, in fact the bottom is the best bit! It means they can sit un-aided and they feel really nice to cuddle too (the whole doll, not just their bums!)

The final verdict? Make their heads bigger, their arms shorter, use more stuffing and really, really think about the arms !!
I am currently ignoring the softies , they made me feel bad for a few days but now I am happy that there are good things about them and one day soon I will feel ready to tackle them again and it will be worth it because, as I said before, the dolls in my head are so gorgeous!!

You may have noted that I was strangely craft free this week, my day off was spent with my sister and my niece who came to visit. We wandered in the sunshine, played grab-machines on the pier, had a picnic in a park and went on a small train ride (a kid size train, not a short journey!) fitted in a quick visit to my favourite charity shop, Holly drew her Uncle a picture of our day because he was at work and missed it and then they had to go again :-(
My sister made this for me:


It's navy blue felt with a lovely purpley ribbon round it and inside she painted this:

The photos don't really do it justice I'm afraid.....it is totally gorgeous and I love it. How clever is my sister? On Monday she is starting a new job and will have more time each day to make her goodies and I hope she will soon have a shop at etsy so I can point you in her direction because she makes some lovely things! Hooray for living close to work and having lots of crafty time !!!

Whilst I had the camera on the go I took a snap of my pile of things to cut. A nice relaxing Sunday afternoon chopping felt :-)