When you wish upon a star........

Tinkerbell
Originally uploaded by keljbj

I've had this costume tute saved to my favourites for ages, ever since the Hubby stumbled across it whilst searching the net for something completely unrelated lol. Big little pickle is into Tinkerbell in a big way, so it seemed ideal for her. I ordered the fabric from fleabay (one-stop shop for all your fabric needs ;)) and had cut out the body piece, but then got distracted by other projects!


So last night, whilst the Hubby was playing with his virtual friends on the x-box (as he is right now, and always :/) i took the plunge and finished it off.


I'm quite pleased with it, although she complained that the tutu was itchy, and as usual wouldn't smile for a photo!

Tutorial can be found here, although i did make some modifications.

Big little pickle inspired piddle pad, AKA the Pickle pad

Camera Plus
Originally uploaded by keljbj
So last night we are driving back from Tesco. Big little pickle, recently potty trained, pipes up with "I need a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee". So the Hubby and I say all the usual stuff, "We'll be home soon", "Big girls hold it and don't wee in their knickers" etc. But Boy pickle has other ideas. He whispers to her (we found out later) that it's ok to wee-wee your knickers as long as you're sitting down. So we get home to a very wet little girl......and a sopping carseat.

So, while the Hubby puts the shopping away, there i am wrestling with the thing, trying to extract the covers for washing. I can tell you now, Britax should branch out into costumes for escapologists. It's all but impossible to get those things off! Eventually, much child-friendly expletives later, i manage to free the seat from it's clothing, and in the wash it went.

But i was left pondering. There must be an easier way. So, an idea forming, i dug through my fabric boxes and came up with the equipment needed to make a pee-proof liner for the carseat. And hey presto - the Pickle Pad was born!

It took me half an hour to cut out and sew. I did have a few issues, it's not the tidiest it could be, but it fits in the seat and, hopefully, does the job :)

I will post a tute with how to make one if i ever get another minute to myself!

Baby pickle is now waking up from her nap, so my peace and quiet is shattered!

Stay crafty,

Kelly.x

Soap felting

Yep, it's me again :) Today Big Pickle and I have been felting soap. We had great fun, with froth and bubbles going everywhere. Big Pickle has been a bit.....grumpy lately, flying off the handle over every little things and doing the whole pre-teen "Everyone hates me" thing, so it was nice to spend a little quality time, just us. Never mind the fact that she got soap bubbles in my hair, leaving me looking like the abominable snowman, we bonded.....job done :)

The soap itself could have gone better, but i think for a first attempt we didn't do too bad! Next time i might let Boy Pickle and Big Little Pickle have a go. I may need to invest in full-body waterproofs first though ;)

Dyeing and patchwork........and children running wild!

Well the summer holidays are here, and with them comes the rain! I'm sure the elements conspire against me, ensuring i'm cooped up in a very small house with four monsters who just want to go outside.

Still, bad weather means plenty of crafty time. The big pickle and I made finger paints the other day, using a recipe kindly posted on the Cloth Nappy Tree forum. It didn't go well to be honest, we ended up with coloured jellified gloop, but it got her out of her pre-teen "I'm leaving home" strop, so alls good :)

I have been doing some dyeing. I had some bv arrive (finally) from fleabay, so of course i didn't waste any time getting it in a dye bath! I had some room in my tub so i threw in some scraps of material i had left over from upcycling a few old t-shirts into bags (will post pics and how i did it another day), as well as one of the Hubby's old white tees, which i intended to upcycle into something nice for one of the girls. The bv was intended to make an Imke hoodie for Big Little pickle, a pattern out of my birthday-present book, Sewing clothes kids love (by the ladies behind Farbenmix and Studio Tantrum, home of some of my fave patterns). But it didn't turn out quite as girly as i expected, so i think it's now going to be for the boy pickle. Luckily the pattern can be for either gender lol.

On the plus side, the Hubby's t-shirt came out very funky, and he immediately nabbed it back for himself.

My other new project is a patchwork taggy for baby pickle, using some fab scraps i got from Ems at http://www.puddlekins.com/shop/ . I can't finish it properly yet, as i'm waiting for some minkee from a co-op to go on the other side, but it's nice to feel i'm making progress :)

Not sure how much bigger i'll make it, i've got loads of scraps left!

I will attempt to update with pics of my progress on the hoodie, children allowing :)

Keep crafty,

Kelly.x :0)