madebymaisie

What is Maisie up to these days?

Well, not one Maisie Doll has been made in the past four weeks. Lil Harry Monster is now nearly eight weeks old and taking up quite a bit of my time. Should I mention here that he has been sleeping through the night (11pm - 7am) for some time now. He is such a lovely lil boy.

I will be at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market this Saturday with all my Maisie Dolls and Toys for Boys. Lil Harry won't be there - he is just too small for big outings yet with Mum. He will be at home being cared for by Nanny and Aunty Glennie.

If you are in the neighbourhood pop in and say hello!

x Catherine 

It's a boy!

Harry Thomas was born nine days early on 11 April 2010 at 1.19pm. He weighed in at 3.5kg or 7lb 12oz. 53cm in length.

I was at the opening night of Queensland Ballet's Romeo and Juliet on Saturday 10 April 2010 in the middle seat of the middle row. Luckily my waters broke 3 hours after getting home!

I may not have had a little girl, but Harry is the most beautiful baby in the world. He is so content and loves to be cuddled. He may have given Mum quite a few compounding complications (which are still ongoing) but it was all worth it.

This little Maisie Man is definitely not for sale in my Etsy store!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mums out there.

x Catherine

Little itty bitty bibs

With the impending birth any day now, I thought that I should finish the little itty bitty bibs which I started a couple of weeks back...

Gorgeous Minny Muu fabric used in the bibs above and below. The best selection of Minny Muu that I can find at the moment is at Superbuzzy or in-store at Peppermint Stitches.

I have made eleven bibs in total using my stash of Minny Muu fabric, some old Amy Butler and some old Japanese and Aunt Grace prints. The bibs are backed in cotton flannel. I am still on the hunt for organic fleece and organic terry cloth. The bibs are secured with sewn velcro dots.

Will I be selling bibs at the upcoming BrisStyle Mother and Child Market on Saturday 8 May 2010? I say 'stick to your knitting' Maisie. I am sure that there will be lots of bibs for sale by the super talented girls of BrisStyle.

Crunch Club Baby Shower

The challenge was set for Catherine's Crunch Club Baby Shower. 'An accent of red' is the theme of the nursery. Participation is entirely voluntary. Some of the faithful Crunch Club members took up the challenge and recently gave me some beautiful baby shower pressies. All handmade of course!

Danielle, our embroidery expert hand sewed and embroidered this cute little elephant. 100% wool felt.

Clotilde, our expert scrapbooker made this very sweet frame and added a picture of a wombat. The photo of the wombat was taken by her partner, Rej. How lovely is this handmade card too?

Jenepher, our expert knitter made this super cute wombat for the baby. Complete with red scarf.

All of these beautiful handmade creations will be right at home in the baby's nursery.

Now, if the Brissie skies would just clear up and be sunny for a while so that I can paint the nursery...please!!! 

Miss Tara

This is little Miss Tara. Such a sweet little girl.   

Big bright eyes and a gorgeous smile.

 
Tara wears her favourite pink dress with green and white striped stockings.

In fact, I think that this is my favourite Maisie dress fabric too. Aunt Grace of course!

x Catherine

  

DSQ8 swap received

The nesting instinct has set in. Or, maybe it is just me getting organised. Finally, a sunny day in Brissie - a good chance to do the washing of the baby clothes. Up bright and early. Washing the bed linen...very exciting. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...goes the Fisher and Paykel 12 year old washing machine. Fisher and Paykel washing machines like to sing to you in a beeping fashion - this is normal. However, repeated beeps and display lit up in unfamiliar patterns is not normal. Old faithful did this 18 months ago and the service man said if she does it again it is time to buy a new one.

So most of the morning has been spent ringing/shopping around for a new washer.

However, as the first load of washing was on the go, I did manage a trip to the post office to pick up a package...My DSQ8 swap quilt had arrived. All the way from the USA.

All wrapped up so pretty.

Oooh...some very nice charm squares. I am thinking some new pincushions.

Here is the little quilt. So bright and cheerful.

Just what I needed to brighten up my day.

Detail of the little birdies (above).

I love red bows.

Cute little ladybug buttons complete this sweet little quilt.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Miss Carol over at mamacjt. I sincerely appreciate all the time and effort you have put in to making this quilt - just for me. Thank you for stepping up to yet another challenge when my original partner needed to pull out of the swap. You truly are an angel.

x Catherine

DSQ8 little quilt finished

I have not been idle during my February/March absence from my little blog. So, I thought that I would share with you the finished results of my DSQ8 swap which I posted to a fellow quilter in the USA in early March.

For a reminder of my inspiration and dilemmas read here. This mini-quilt represents only one block out of a much larger quilt in the book Material Obsession.

The finished mini quilt measured 18"x18".

I needle-turn appliqued the flower motif.

Bad photo (above) of the hand quilting detail.

I used Kaffe Fassett fabrics and hand quilted in DMC perle 8 cotton in three colours (brown, orange and ice blue).

Detail of the little pressie I put together for my swap partner (above). I sent Lori the left over fabrics from this project to add to her stash - minimum fat eighth in size. A hand made card. Cute little label which I hand stitched to the back of the quilt.

All packed up and ready to go.

To see more Doll Size Quilts or to keep an eye out for when DSQ9 opens visit the flickr page or visit the Doll Size Quilt blog.

I am still waiting to receive mine in the mail. Oooh, I love a surprise!
  

Una and Uma the Maisie Dolls

Just thought that I would share some new dolls in the Maisie family...

 
This is little Miss Una.

 
And this is Little Miss Uma...

 
Uma is such a sweet little girl.

 
Both Una and Uma are available in my Etsy store.

x Catherine

Can I keep this Maisie?

I am officially on maternity leave from my full-time job for at least 12 months. I am now 35 weeks pregnant. Am I ready for the impending arrival of my own little Maisie? Simple answer, No! We have all the nursery furniture, we have loads of baby clothes, lots of baby manchester, pram, toys (hand-made of course)... We just need to give the room a paint and decorate according to my theme. Also, wash all the baby clothes and manchester, and generally just get organised.

I don't know the sex of the baby. I love a surprise. The nursery is neutral at the moment, all white with polished wood floors. My theme is 'an accent of red'. This simply means a little bit of red here and there. A red binding on a quilt, a red bow around a hand knitted wombat, a red flag in some bunting...you get the idea.

So here is my dilemma. When making some new Maisies for the recent BIDM in early March, I made a Big Sister Maisie and I named her Tabitha. Her dress is gorgeous with an 'an accent of red flowers'. Fits right in with my theme for the nursery. At the markets I thought, well if she sells - she sells. If not, I will keep her for the nursery - if the baby is a girl. One customer commented that Tabitha looks just like me - that is why I want to keep her.

  Tabitha didn't sell - but that is a good thing!

March 2010 BIDM Markets

A little wrap up of the BrisStyle Indie Designer Markets from 6 March 2010.

I was there, 33 weeks pregnant, with all my Maisie friends...

 
A lot of Maisies went to new homes.

 
Toys for boys made their debut and are available in my Etsy store now.

 

Some old Maisie friends came out to show the market goers how and where the Maisie story began.
 
A special shelf of custom Maisie orders too.

Some new Maisies were made just for the March markets...

 
...and found new homes.

 
Little Mary Moo's Place was exquisite...

 
Pendants

 
and magnets

i Pod cases

 
Divine purses

 
messenger bags

 
and heart garlands..

Retro Bird Designs is a stall full of colourful loveliness...

 
Little dolls and necklaces.

 
Doll rattles and tea towels...

 
...Matroyshkas

 
Enticing Icing was launched at the March BIDM...

The sweetest cup cake toppers. Above are baby prams, baby onesies and baby bottles. Just perfect for a certain baby shower just around the corner.

Not to forget that the cupcakes were absolutely yummy.

A very sweet market, indeed.