hello little one!... ;)

Hello lovely people!!! My wee Charlie is here!!! Born Tuesday 14th at 6.38am (a beautiful sunrise in Dublin city), weighing 7lb 13oz and more adorable. loveable and beautiful than i ever expected!!! I went in on saturday morning and was sent home due to lack of beds - back in on saturday night and three days later he made his grand entrance. I won't go into detail but lets just say labour doesn't go down well with me! Charlie was very distressed and i had to be sent up to theatre for surgery straight after delivery. I'm now home and will be resting up with the little man as much as I can. That means I won't be online much over the next few days but i really wanted to drop in with my lovely readers and share some pics with you all! Thank you for all the wonderful words of advice and friendly banter throughout my pregnany - its been wonderful sharing with you!!!  

Love n' hugs to you all! ;D

xoxoxoxo Tanya, Ben & Baby Charlie xoxoxoxo

Butterflies in the belly.....

...and flutterby's on the wall!

Yeah, I know they look pretty 'playschool' but i think the dimensional wings and colours will help keep the little one entertained while i change all those dirty nappies. Oh we are all so eager to meet him/her - even the teddies are getting bored waiting! ;)

Whats cookin good lookin ???

Well I've been cookin' up a quilt amongst other things!  The finished article is a good bit smaller than expected - its the size of a changing mat really. Anyhow, its now finished and adding a generous 'splash of colour' to our hand me down swinging crib. Hopefully, the wee one will enjoy all the various colours and patterns. Oh, and I've only 2 weeks and 3 days til my due date - eeeek! The nerves are really jangling now! 

The cute corduroy snail is a gift from Gezza, my yummy mummy - you can find her crafty creations on flickr. I think I'll end up the same colour as the snail if i keep eating so many raw carrots!!! (my latest craving)

This cheeky chap is another gift from Gezza, a handmade sock monkey - the pattern came with the august issue of Sew Hip. I can't believe the size of this fella! Given the fact that he's only made out of one pair of socks. We need to give him a name - any suggestions??? ;)

And look! Its about time but I finally got round to making a bootee bag for baba's mittens hats, socks and stuff. I love the hat and matching mittens that Pat, my mum in law made - and i just had to give you a close up of the frog bootee's i picked up at the Crafty Market in Dublin.

Speaking of Dublin...

(from left to right; Fiona from Patchworkdelights, Angela from ArtySmarty,

Judith from Aboxformytreasure and Mo from Huggleknits)

Me and the girls from Etsy Ireland met up for a chit chat to discuss ideas for promoting the team in time for Christmas - one of the ideas really got us gassing! A pop up shop, now how cool would that be to have our own shopfront? There are lots of empty shops hanging around in the city (god bless the recession eh?) so I'm pretty sure we could wrangle a spot somewhere good and central. Myself and Sarah from Redpossum launched the team in July of last year and so far it is flying high! Over 180 crafty members now! Do check out the blog and all the lovely Irish etsy shops while you're at it! ;)*

Another nifty idea for team promotion presented itself in the shape of teddy bears! Mary from 'a Wish for You' (etsy shop on the way) brought in a sack load all kitted out with cute ribbons bearing (hehe don't mind the pun) our blog address. The teddies were packed off into various pockets and bags - my two ended up on the street!!! Ted 1 fancied a spin to feel the breeze in his fur and Ted 2 was gasping for a pint so I dropped him off with some friendly tourists in temple bar.

ok thats it for me... i could do with a wee pint myself (but no ofcourse i wouldn't!!!) Instead I'll leave you with this rather silly picture of me 'modelling' my upcycled summer skirt... that'll keep me cool! ;P

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts my sweet friends! ♥ 

Pssst!!! I'd also like to say a mighty big thank you to Claire of the luscious HeartHandmade blog for featuring  my work  a few days back!!! http://hearthandmadeuk.blogspot.com/2010/08/flickr-group-fave-tanya-mac.html

Addicted already! ;)

Remember this??? Well my first attempt at patchwork became this!

I padded it with quilt batting and attached it to a canvas frame to add some sunshine to the wee one's nursery area...

I'm going patchwork mad!!! Look! I've even quilted my t-shirt! So today, guess what? I'm clacking away again! This time I'm going to make an actual usable quilt... here's what I've done so far! 

...its by no means perfect but I'm loving the whole process of trying something new! Many of the fabrics I've used in projects so far have been donations from friends and family so it makes them even more special to me! ;D

So whats new with you???

Tanya ♥

The original leaf mobile!!! ;D

a little note>>
Just wanted to say thanks for all the lovely comments, blog mentions and pins I've received for the leaf mobile. Scroll to the bottom of this post for pictures of my latest mobile creation :D

Only 15% battery left on the laptop so I'm just going to blast you all with some recent pics!!! Have a super lovely weekend all! ;D  xoxox 

>>> and the little man arrived! Here he is exploring the handiwork ;)

 

A leaf mobile for Ellie>>

 

 

My friend Jacqui asked me to make another one for her little niece or nephew to be and i just couldn't refuse! I used lots of neutrals and simple spot and stripe pattern on this one. Such simple steps but boy it takes a long time to do. Fun for people who like to iron (I don't!!) ;P

 

...still up for it? here's how i made it>>

 

 

Step 1: find an embroidery hoop and measure around the diameter to see how many strands of leaves you need. Use the inner as it nice and smooth and really lightweight. Create a very simple leaf template on cardstock. I used a 9" hoop and estimated that i needed roughly 200 leaves!

 

 

Step 2: Gather all your favourite fabric scraps and complimentary felt then press with the iron. Once thats done you can trace all your leaves onto bondaweb and then iron onto your fabric. Snip out all the leaves, peel the backing away and iron onto your felt.

 

 

Step 3: And now its time to stitch and sew like a mad thing! Its easier to do this in bulk whilst all the fabric leaves are adhered to the felt panel. Once thats done you can cut them all out. At this point you'll want to set out your leaves in groups of say 5 or 7, making sure that there is a nice mix of print and plain. I used little paper bags to keep them all seperate and tidy.

 

 

Step 4: Sew through the middle of your group of 5-7 leaves to create your 'dangly branches' - make sure to leave enough free space at the top for hanging with plenty of back stitch to make it good and strong. As soon as you finish a length of leaves carefully fold up and place somewhere safe. I had a hellish time detangling the ones you see above!

 

 

Step 5: Its time to decorate the hoop! I found the inspiration from this this great blog post over at the Red thread. You'll also find instructions on how to make the birds there also! So easy and fun after all that sewing and ironing! :)

 

 

Step 6: Once you've wrapped up your hoop and set up your method of hanging (I used a simple cup hook in the ceiling and lengths of gingham ribbon for Charlie's) you can start to hang your 'leafy dangles' - give them plenty of breathing space so that they can spin and twirl as they please. Its so much easier to do this if the hoop is hanging to avoid all chances of  hellish tangles. You might find that you've made a few extra so put them somewhere safe as they're your back up plan should anything go wrong. Finally, wire in your birds and tie extra little pieces of lace or ribbon around the birds to make them more stable and give the mobile that shabby nesty look. Job done! ;D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please drop me a line if you have any questions and do let me know if you give it a try! 

 

Pretty useful ;)*

A nursery tidy for baby's rattles and soft toys! I had various felt & fabric scraps left over from other projects and decided to just make something pretty and useful. The adorable chicken came from a tea cloth that had seen better days, its definitely added a certain something! Next I'll be making a little cotton bag for socks, bootees & hats - they are oh so tiny!

Also, I found this wooden wreath thing at the bottom of my cupboard - its just crying out for upcycling. Maybe this could be the base for my hanging leaf chandelier! hmmm (lightbulbs aflashing now!)....

Pat, my mum in law arrives tomorrow from England, with pushchair, car seat, moses basket and swinging crib in tow! Thankfully, she's taking the ferry over, i just hope everything will fit!! I'll keep you posted! ;D

Love n' hugs,
Tanya ♥

An old relic gets an update! ;)

I've held onto this seventies leatherette chair for years now! Daddy's a builder and also a top notch man for all things salvage. He saved this reject from a derelict house in Belfast and passed it onto me - that was in '95! Since then its been in many places... in various states of distress, including my bathroom sitting forlorn and all rejected. We've now rejigged our furniture layout and decided to give the old boy some love and a dedicated space to call his own. Its an ideal nursing chair for me and the wee one, uber comfy and it rocks smoothly back and forth on a pivoted base. The twits look very happy on it don't they?? ;)

In other news... I've been practising parenthood on these two little monsters, my darlin' cousins, Orla & Rory. We had so much fun at Grove Gardens the other day, if you ever find yourself in County Meath be sure to look it up! Our personal favourite was the very talkative Cockey the Cockatiel with a rather impressive cockney accent! ;D

Nesting... ;)

Happy times! Just over 7 weeks left until the little one's due - we're so excited and working like mad to get everything ready! I'm hoping that the more i do now will make my life so much easier when baby's here. Maybe making space for baby is mentally preparing me in some way?. My mum in law will be over soon with a swinging crib that she used for Ben when he was only a wee nipper, i think we can safely call that vintage!!!

A cuddly spot for changing nappies ;)

 

freshly washed baby wear ;)

drawers filled with cute outfits - all washed & ironed!

Now that I'm taking a break from the craft markets and working on my etsy,  I can just indulge in doing all these wee things for babby. I'm still working on the patchwork quilt, a falling leaf mobile (or should we call that a chandelier??), and a textile picture book full of animal critters. I'll keep ya's all posted of my progress!

Love n' hugs,

Tanya ♥

What a Hoot! ;D

I just thought i'd show you some handmade goodies made and purchased for the little one's nursery. Let me first of all introduce you to The Twits! These cheeky little owl cushions were designed and handmade by Geraldine, my super talented mother!  You can find her on Flickr. I have a feeling I'm the daydreamer twit in pink polkadots with the rather sleepy expression! Aren't they fabulous???

Next up we have some funky toadstools made by my bud Sarah from www.redpossum.etsy.com and the cute froggie amigurmi hat/handpuppet is by the talented Ying from www.Lannying.etsy.com - i also purchased matching froggie bootees and they are the cutest little things i've ever seen and so so well made! By now you'll probably notice a bit of a woodland theme goin' on here? ;)

I'll be needing a comfy and cosy zone for me & baba to nurse and what could be nicer than some homemade cushions in owl and peace prints. This trio were made by the lovely Johanne of www.matoloki.com! The daisy garland above the bed is by me...

So whats Tanya up to??.... well I'm obviously busy creating the baby but i'm working on a leaf chandalier style mobile - I'm looking out for a huge embroidery hoop at at least 10" preferably more so any shop/website suggestions are welcome! I'm also creating a funky patchwork to hang on the wall. Please bear in mind that I've never made a quilt in my life! I should have really started out with squares but i went for retro hexagons instead. Here's a little glimpse of what i've been up to;

I've still got a long, long way to go and only 8.5 weeks before baba is here! hopefully everything will just fall into place? ah we'll see... its an adventure of a lifetime and I'm just going to go with it! ;D 

Baba's first taste of handmade gooodness! ;)*

My amazingly talented Mummy  and Vanessa were apparently up half the night making this amazing little pom pom blanket for my little one! I can't for the life of me work out how they made it but apparently some kind of peg board was used? I think we need mum to write a crafty tut for us all.....

In case you haven't already heard the good news, i'd say you've guessed it by now anyhow! I'm 19 weeks pregnant (yay!) and so looking forward to meeting this little prince or princess when the time comes, I'm already getting so impatient! Just look at the size of me already! :D

Have a lovely weekend everyone! ♥