Cuddly Russian Doll Tutorial

Hello lovelies ,
here we go with the aformentioned tutorial :0)

This project as is sort of a cross between a soft toy and a cushion. Rather like the owls I made for my boys last year...read about that HERE.
To make mine I started with some Inspiration HERE.
Then I made a paper template by sketching out a design. To ensure the pattern was even I folded it in half lenghways before cutting it out. I made mine as big a 2 sheets of A4 ...coz that's what I was using and it ended up 41cm tall , 28cm across the widest part of the body and 20cm across the widest part of the head....

Next I cut out 2 fabric shapes to make the front and back...adding a seam allowance of 1.2 cm (or 5/8th of an inch )....

As you can see my fabric is from some thrifted curtains that have some pretty embroidered daisies .

Next I made her headscarf by cutting out 2 heads in a pretty floral fabric. I pinked the bottom edge to prevent fraying but you could turn under and hem. I machined these pieces to right side of the front and back parts ,stitching close to the edge.

Next I drew around a small bowl for the face ......

I cut out some brown felt for the hair . I cut around a penny for the cheeks and a shirt button for the eyes , and made a little smiley mouth....

I hand sewed these in place using embroidery thread and a small running stitch , adding some extra ,larger stitches to the hair for texture. Once I was happy with the face I used the same stitch to attach it to the head section of one piece...

I also added some Ric rac at this stage using a straight machine stitch.


Next I pinned the 2 halves right sides together and sewed, leaving an opening of about 10cm at the bottom.

Placing your pins like this means you can sew over them.....

Another top tip is to make sure you make cuts close to the stitch line at about 1cm intervals on the concave curves...in this case that's the sides of the neck. This will help avoid puckering when you stuff the doll....

Then I just stuffed firmly and hand sewed the opening closed.....

Ta- Dah again....

What do you think ??? I'm so pleased how this turned out and it was lovely to be able to do a girly project .


Here's a close up of the face , as you can see I added some flowers in her hair and also around her neck....

Another tip to make the eyes come alive is to stitch a small white "reflection "towards the top , as you can see in the  above picture.

There's even a heart on the back with a a special message for the birthday girl........

Written with a laundry marker :0)
I think this is a great project for someone who hasn't done a lot of sewing as it is relativly straight forward ...which suits my rusty sewing skills too :0)
Hope you are feeling inspired
Jacquie x

Russian Doll Sewing

Hello lovelies '
hope your weekend went well . I've been busy with my sewing machine today .
I'm actually fortunate enough to have three sewing machines ...none bought by me .
First there is my ancient singer.....the machine I grew up with, and it was pretty old then....it weighs a ton and I've only kept using it as we are old friends. Sadly it needs a new belt and the electrics are increasingly dodgy .
I also have my Nannas old machine , an elna , which is quite complicated looking so I haven't tried to figure it out yet .
Today I've been using my Mums old machine ...a pretty basic Toyota ...but nice and straight forward .

So enough waffle ...what Have I been up to ...wellllll. I can't actually show you the finished item today as it's a Birthday pressie for my niece and I don't want to spoil the surprise . I can show you the inspiration Here Isn't that gorgeous ?
I've always had a soft spot for Russian Dolls or Matryohska.
We had a set at home when I was little ...they were red and had about six dolls all nesting inside.
The only set I have now is a smaller version ( in the picture at the top of this post)given to me by my Brother many years ago . Sadly some of the smaller ones inside have been lost or broken over the years and I'm always on the lookout for an other set , but I find some of the the modern ones overly ornate .

I do have a cute little keyring doll I purchased from the lovely Rachel last year.........

Isn't she sweet ? Sadly she looks a little more tatty these days but I still love her smiling face :0)

So When I saw Andies lovely version it seemed like the ideal, simple sewing project ....easy enough to finish in a weekend ( coz I always leave these thing to the last minute !)and the perfect opportunity for me to play with pretty fabric and trims ...oh and felt, can't forget the felt....I seem to have a bit of a thing about felt at the mo...had you noticed ????

So I'll be back soon with a big reveal and a tutorial as I've remembered to take lots of pictures of the stages for you lovely peeps :0)

Jacquie x

P.s. I know only one of the dolls at the top of this post I a Russian doll by the Japanese ones are very cute too ,so I had to include them :0)

February Nature Notes

Hello Lovelies,
Here goes with my second Nature post , using this lovely book as inspiration......

You can read January's post here.

Now for February.....it's a short month ....which could be considered a blessing . March heralds Spring proper ...which is my favourite season.
Still these lovely illustrations have inspired my to see the beauty that is around at this time of year.....(remember you can click on any image to make it bigger)

The days are getting longer and we have had some sunny days .......

When its lovely to look at the blue sky..........

and take pretty pictures of my beloved snowdrops.....

I found this verse in my nature notes book......

Perfect .

However I think the grey skys in these images give a truer impression of the bulk of this month.......

The ploughed fields look barren...

but look closer.........

It's great to see catkins , even in the gloom.....

(common Alder)

(Hazel)


This looks like I'm knowledgeable about these things, but to be truthful , I didn't even realise catkins grew on different sorts of trees till I looked at my book ....and the Internet :0) I took these pictures yesterday and wondered why the catkins were different colours ( maybe I'm a bit dense !)

Despite the cold grey weather the lengthening days are meaning lots of shoots are appearing and the birds are singing loudly. I never seen to manage to photograph birds so I was pleased to snap this wood pigeon on its nest .

and I'm sure this bruiser was smiling for the camera :0)....

All this nature observation is helping me not to wish the winter away too much and according to the folk law sayings , miserable weather now will mean good weather later in the year......lets hope so :0)....

Hope the half term is going well for you,we've been swimming this morning ,more water :0)
Jacquie x

Colour My Monday Happy

Hello Lovelies ,

Today , half term here , has been a wet ,dark ,cold day. I've had four boys (my three plus a friend )to look after and I really wanted to take them out for some fresh air but the weather had other ideas .
Mums of boys will understand their addiction to gadgets , and they would of happily spent every moment staring at some kind of screen .
To try and minimise this we baked , Flapjacks ( recipe at the end of this post ) .......

Very yummy and oh so easy . Also some brownies that were delish ........

These were actually a bit of a cheat ( packet mix ) but hey ho , they tasted great anyway.

 Whilst in the kitchen I also played around taking pictures of my windowsill. My little kitchen is on the side of the house and has a gorgeous view of the bins :0) ...... so it's nice to make pretty arrangements on the windowsill to distract your eyes ( from the bins and the rain today).......

This squash is lasting FOREVER ( first posted here on the 4th of October !) I'm amazed  and so pleased because it is a lovely sunny colour and satisfying shape. Also looking pretty is my pink primula ...........

Ummmmmm ,  mother nature is the best .

After a bit more screen time I managed to distract the boys again with a little pom pom crafting.....

I'm not sure I will be able to get them to do this sort of thing for much longer ,guess I need to get more inventive as they were soon back to the electronics.

Whilst they played I did a little house work and admired my new yarn , Stylecraft Special DK, purchased via here. A very good speedy service too .Thankyou French Knots for the recomendation :0)

I also took a picture of my granny stripe , where it has been all winter, on Master BM's bed .........

It's so satisfying to see a blanket being so useful and loved . And I'm pleased to say granny stripe is still in tip top condition ............

Mid afternoon the rain eased a little so we popped out to the country park , not a lot of colour here today but the  ducks were  glad to see us ...... I guess it had been a slow day :0).......

Here's hoping the weather improves soon .
Jacquie x

P.S. The title of this post is inspired by this post ...amazing colours

Snowdrops and a Giveaway

Hello lovelies ,
Well thank you all for your comments about my dress makeover, you lot are really something special.
It hasn't escaped my notice that I now have nearly 400 followers, oh wow !
It really is such a positive thing for me to have you lovely lot to share the crafty , pretty, outdoorsy bits of my little world with.
It's nearly a year since I started this blogging thing and though I sometimes feel guilty for the time I spend on it , I'm having way too much fun to want to stop :0)

I enjoy the interaction with like minded peeps so much. And I really think looking for pretty and positive things to share with you all has made me more positive as a result.It has certainly made me notice natures beauty a whole lot more than I did before.
I love taking the photos  and even writing the posts, though I don't think this is my strongest point .

On the way back from shopping yesterday I pulled over for a second to see if I could find any snowdrops at the edge of some woodland.I do love these first flowers of the year and all they signify....like spring is coming :0)
Just look what I found. Such perfect natural snowdrops.........

On a  bank of moss and fallen leaves , right at the side of the road , but you could wizz past this every day and never notice it .......

I truly gasped at its beauty ...shame it was a dull as ditch water sort of day so the pictures are a little dark( the sunny snowdrops at the top of this post were taken last week)..

These little flowers looked so beautiful just growing there in the wild , and in all honesty I'm sure I wouldn't have made the effort to stop , without you lovely lot to share the pictures with.

So that is just one example of how blog land has been such a positive thing for me . What I'm getting to is that I think it's time I had a little giveaway , by way of a thank you to all you , and to celebrate my first whole year of blogging. I put my thinking cap on  .....something light enough to send anywhere in the world ...... something pretty yet  practical for crafty types .Something to make use of some of my crochet bits and bobs..........

This is what I came up with ...

Needle cases . They are just a small gift but consequently I was able to make several .......

Five little pretties , Two with crocheted Pansy's .....

One with a granny square ....

And two with circles.........

I had great fun making these , you know I love working with felt :0)....

Now I could just do with making one for myself as they are so handy.......

If you would like to win one , just  leave me a comment on this post , and make sure I can contact you if you win. Don't be shy , it doesn't matter if you haven't commented before  .

March the 6th is my first bloggyversary so I'll draw the winners on that day....what a great way to celebrate :0)

Love Jacquie x