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I am so happy and excited because last night my very super good friend Nicole (blogless, alas) gave birth to her second baby, little Freya - new sister to big brother Mani.  I haven’t seen her yet but I can’t wait to go visit!  I got sewing this afternoon after hearing the big news and finished up a doll for Freya that I started working on a while ago and then left unfinished. 

Actually I finished the (naked) doll body ages ago but I wasn’t sure I liked her so I wasn’t motivated to finish her up.  Today I started by making her some cute clothes - a dress and matching bloomers and then I gave her (felt) hair and a face and she came to life.  I think she is rather gorgeous now and I hope Freya loves her too.  She is about 18″ long.

 

I deliberated about her hair because I wasn’t sure if she ought to have long hair, but to be honest I think she looks quite adorable with her little short hair - babies don’t have much hair for a long time and she is a baby doll after all!

 

Here she is from the back with the little bow in her dress and her soft baby hair.  I simply freehand cut some felt in the shapes that looked right - trying paper first for a proper fit - and then I handsewed the felt to her head.  There are a few little darts at the back to shape the hair to her head. 

 

Emma had a lot of fun playing with her (gently!) this afternoon and she insisted I take a picture of her with Sally - my old doll - because they are friends.    I also made up a little wrap for Freya from the rest of the dress fabric and I will include a t-shirt for new brother Mani too.  I really enjoyed making these little welcome presents!  I hope I get to meet Freya tomorrow… 

I know, she may not be the most beautiful doll but I love her.  She was my Sally doll when I was a little girl.  Since I grew up she was played with, put to bed, dressed in whatever may have been laying around and loved by my niece Rachel (now 17) and my other niece Ruth (now 10) and of course she has been Emma’s for the last three years. 

She was a new dolly a long time ago (I’m 36) and after so much love and playing, she was looking…  well, a little floppy.  I had been wondering whether to try fixing her (she is old and precious and I was worried about my qualifications as a vintage doll surgeon) but luckily for me, my mum volunteered for the job instead.  I use the term “volunteered” rather loosely, of course - thanks mum! 

Here she is in the “before” shot - I’m not sure how well you can see it, but her neck and the tops of her arms and legs had no stuffing left.  It was all so compacted and old, leaving her very floppy.  She also was in need of a good bath.

 

I had to give my mum a good talking to for not taking progress shots (not even a before shot!) when she recently fixed up my 43 year old brother’s old, old, ratty teddy - who now looks a million bucks, and probably would fetch a decent part of that on eBay, not that we would, no he’s an antique teddy and I have already put dibs on him in the will.  Teddy now looks so amazing and I will definitely get a picture here soon.

Back to Sally… here she is with all her insides out.  My mum knew I wanted to blog this so she dutifully took a “during” pic for me and emailed it to me with this cute message:

 

She was soon clean, quite a bit plumper and softer and all stitched up again and home to her loving little mummy, Emma. Mum even brushed her hair.

 

I do love my old Sally doll - she may be a tiny bit ugly looking (but in a cute way, right?) and I do wish she would shut her mouth every now and then (her thumb goes in there) but she is almost as old as me and has been played with by a succession of little girls in our family and that counts for a lot.

 

Tonight I finished sewing up this lovely new cat - soon to fly off to Melbourne for a little girl who has just turned two.  Happy Birthday Maya!

 

I haven’t sewn any new toys for ages and I am itching to get back to it but other things (like paid orders!) keep getting in the way.  One thing that is sure to get in the way of making things is…

I got a job!  A part-time one, that is.

To be honest, I don’t really want to go out to work but financially I do need to.  My husband has a good income but with three kids and a wife with a craft habit to support, we just keep running out.  He gets paid monthly which means that the last week or two of the month is a real struggle, and the bills just keep piling up.  For the last six months, we have had to keep scrounging around the house for things to sell (my old saxaphone, books, records, clothes, small appliances, all our shares) just to get by.  So my new part-time job - which pays weekly - will be a real help. 

It is scary though.  It has been over five years since I have been in the workforce.  Sure, I have run my own little business here for three years and I have worked at the markets selling my wares, but it will be strange to have a boss again, even though she seems really nice.  I was amazed and happy to get the first job that I went for!  It will be about 5 hours a day, 3 days a week and I will be a sales assistant in a well-known bakery chain. 

 

(intermission - Maya’s new cat hanging out with Jack’s cat)

I was supposed to go in this afternoon for a 2 hour trial (just a formality really) but it turns out that someone left a “device” at the shopping centre this morning and the whole place was evacuated and locked down all day.  My new boss called me this evening, very apologetic, saying that she tried to talk the police into letting her back in to get my phonenumber so that she could let me know what was happening but they wouldn’t let her!   So my trial will be on Friday afternoon now, barring acts of God or terrorism!

Red Instead recently turned 3! I want to write some more about this very soon but in the meantime I wanted to let you all know that the Red Instead website has just reopened after a “maintenance break” and it’s ALL NEW and IMPROVED!

The website has many new items and has a new focus - much more variety in the items I will be selling, happily handmade (as always) and lots of one of a kinds.

Previously the Red Instead site only sold children’s clothing but as the business and my craft interests have expanded so much over the last couple of years, I have decided to let the main webshop reflect that. You will now find jewellery, art and photo canvases, papercraft and cards, craft books and lots more.

Please head over and have a look and know that I would really appreciate your honest feedback. Sometimes it can be hard to set pricing so that is always a worry for me. Let me know if you think I have set it too high (or too low!) and feel free to pass the news around!