Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

Sewing

Sweet Little Mary Janes

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I made these newborn sized Mary Janes from a pattern by Sweet Little Patterns. They are so

cute, a bit fiddly but not too difficult. These are for one of my husband’s work colleagues who is expecting soon.
Now to something not so cute that I just have to share. I received an email from my older brother this morning that included a passage that was upsetting to me. Here it is, he is referring to the impending arrival of our fourth child:
“Surely 4 will be enough…I hope for your sake you’re not going to go back for any more, otherwise you’re going to be 60 before you get to live a bit of life for yourself. Your decision of course…”
Hmm. Not sure how to respond to that, in fact at this point I don’t think I will respond. He only has 2 children himself and of course is not having any more. Its so saddening how anti – life our society is and how deeply penetrating it is.

The best of both worlds

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I love sewing soft furnishings, I love sewing dolls – so I combined the two! The doll is 6 inches tall and is designed to slip into the pocket (a place to rest at night and a place to not get lost!)
I had fun making this, its in the Etsy shop now.
Must remind you about the giveaway, there aren’t many entries there yet, and it finishes at the end of the month.
Still haven’t started those pants for dd yet, at least I’ve drafted the pattern! I have a tendency to work on the “fun” things before the “necessary things”! I’m quite sure I’m not the only one?

What you’ve got challenge.

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I’ve set myself a challenge to use up old or idle fabric from my stash. I’m almost desperate for some new fabric, but as we are picking up our van tomorrow, money is a little scarce. Its hard to be inspired by fabric that has become familiar. Anyway, I made a start with this little apron made from leftover fabric from a quilt. I drew up the design (well, more like made it up as I went along) and it turned out pretty well. I’d like to make more when I do get some new fabric!


This is what it looks like on the recipient (one of my daughters). I like simple but pretty things.
I treated myself to the latest edition of my favourite magazine – Homespun and entered a competition to win a beautiful pack of Robyn Pandolph fabric. The entry question was “Why are the women in your life special?”
It made me think about my mother, who passed away 4 years ago as a result of breast cancer. We were very different people and did not get along for a long time. Our relationship started to improve after the birth of my first child, shortly after which she became ill.
I never thought of her as special before that, but as her illness progressed and she had setback after setback a new part of her shone through. Courage. Immense courage. Although it was very hard towards the end, she never gave up. She became (and still is) an inspiration to me.

Tea set for Gran

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This little set doubles as a birthday and Mother’s day present for my husband’s Mum. The little Japanese tea pot from this picture was inherited from my Mother, which is funny because she wasn’t a tea drinker. I use it every day.


I used a pale blue cotton waffle weave and florals from Max New.


I appliqued the teapot using the interfacing method (first time for me, worked well).
It will suit their farmhouse kitchen very nicely, they love their tea!

Introducing Mr. Brown!

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He began his life as a simple sketch in my almost full sketchbook.

I thought he had character and deserved something more “colourful” than grey pencil.
I hope to make him part of a series of various characters and perhaps produce some patterns of him and his friends as stitcheries.
Hope you like him!

Emmeline apron

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Here it is, it took me forever to get on to it but my sister will finally get her Christmas present! I wholeheartedly recommend this pattern, it came together beautifully and looks fabulous. You can get it here but I purchased mine from the Crafty Mamas Shop.
Lastnight I drew up a bunny rabbit design for some of my wool felt, so I hope to get time to work on one today. I’m a little in between with projects, not really knowing what to do next. My dilemma is – I want to continue making waldorf dolls but my profit margin is so slim its not really worth the time and effort put in. I don’t know whether people will still buy them if I raise the prices. I think I’ll make a couple more, put them in the Etsy shop for a higher price and see what happens. On a regular sized doll I usually make $20 – 30 for about 15 hours work. And my time is limited.
Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time is make some bears as collectables so one of my aims for this year is to make a bear that I consider good enough to enter into a competition. Fingers crossed, we’ll see how I go!