madebymaisie

Mini Moopy meets Maisie

I have put the finishing touches on some little softies for the BrisStyle - Toy Society mega toy drop.

I made these Mini Moopys from the pattern by the very talented Carly Schwerdt of Nest Studio. Carly is very well known within the softie world as an author and regular contributor to many softie books. This sweet  softie bunny is 'royalty' among softie blog land. You can purchase the pattern to make your own Mini Moopy here.

 
I hope that these Moopys find nice homes.

Watch out Brisbane, I will be dropping toys this weekend : )

 

A little holiday

Just a short blogging break...I promise. Just popping off on my annual Summer holiday with my family for a well earned break. Lots of developments for Miss Maisie and friends this year.

In the meantime, my Etsy store will be in vacation mode too. 

The weather has been a bit gloomy over Brissie the last week, so I haven't had a chance to photograph new dolls for my SALE in my Etsy store. I promise, that this will be done on my return.

What do you think of my new toys for boys? They are stylised softie bears of soughts. Made out of soft corduroy, cute japanese fabric for the ears, stuffed with polyfill and a bit of hand embroidery on felt for the face details. I need to think of a name for these chaps. They will make their debut at the upcoming BrisStyle markets in March 2010.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all. Miss Maisie is back in 2010 with some exciting news to share along with some new Maisie creations.

Above is a peek at what Maisie has been working on during the Christmas break...some toys especially for boys.

x Catherine

New Kokeshi Dolls

Quite an eventful weekend in my little sewing room. I have made several new Kokeshi Dolls which will be available in my Etsy store later this week.

Here is a sneaky peek...

The detail on Miss Kokeshi's dress is just lovely.

The little Kokeshi below, has a more traditional coloured dress combination.

The pattern and kit for these little girls will also be available soon.

Made some more yoyos.

Just about finished two custom Maisie Dolls.

Bought some more fabric for the Crunch Club Cushion Cover Challenge.

Bought some more yoyo makers.

Even went to a Tupperware party.

Big relief to send off my overdue Spring Swap parcel to the USA.

Now, just to get through winter and enjoy an Aussie Spring.

Might be soon time for a giveaway!

Kokeshi doll

I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow Brisbane blogger recently at the Quilters' Store. Inspired by her version of a Kokeshi doll, I set out to design my own.

 

Got the pencils, sketch book and some fabric out.

 

And my copy of Amy Butler's little stitches for little ones.

 

And some Amy Butler fabric. I based this Kokeshi doll dress design on the pattern and fabric used in the book.

  

Mmm, some yummy Kokka fabric. Maybe for a smaller Kokeshi doll in the future. This time I am going to use the cherry full moon polka dot from the Lotus range by Amy Butler. The lovely Leah sent me this fabric in our recent fat quarter swap.

 

I fused the applique pieces to the background fabric.

 

I fashioned a yellow flower from some wool blend felt. Miss Kokeshi's hair is also a lovely heavy weight wool blend felt.

 

Raw edge applique was called for. Oops, forgot to use the open toe sewing foot. Lucky that I am a very precise sewer.

 

Miss Kokeshi was looking good until I made the horrible mistake of using red thread to raw edge applique the pretty dress.

 

Eeeew! She was looking so good until this. Unpick, unpick and unpick the red thread.

I then chose a neutral cream thread to redo the dress. This is so much better.

 

Some signature Maisie eyes and little pink mouth were stitched in place.

 

Another layer of fabric was placed on top of the design. I then traced the shape and sewed her all together, leaving a turning gap between her feet. I cut 1/4" away from the sewing line and snipped the curves. Stuffed with poly fill and slip stitched the gap closed.

 

I added a little bow as a finishing touch. Do you think that she turned out like my original design?

 

I think that she is spot on.

 

Little cuddly Kokeshi now sits on my desk at work to keep me company.

Look what hatched at Maisie's house

 

 

 

 

As previously mentioned, these chicks (love birds) are based on the pattern provided over at Molly Chicken blog. Thank you Lyn for this FREE tutorial and pattern.

 

These little chicks are all destined for my upcoming Toy Society drop on Easter weekend.

 

Five little chicks have been packaged up ready to find new loving homes.

 

You could own one of these chicks (for free). How? Just keep your eyes open if you live in and around Brisbane this Easter long weekend. You never know where a chick might just pop up for the taking.

 

Now, I am off to make felted wool bunnies.

Enjoy!

x Catherine

Little chick

 

This little chick is ready to join some other little chicks (yet to be hatched from Maisie's sewing room) for an upcoming Easter drop for the toy society. 

This cute little love bird pattern is available on Molly Chicken's blog.

Keep your eyes open in the next two weeks Brisbane, for some toy drops.

Matryoshka angels

 

Five little matryoshka angels appeared from Maisie's sewing room on Saturday evening.

 

Three are destined for the BrisStyle 1st anniversary catch up swap.

 

One little angel is a special little treat to brighten a lovely kindred craft friend's day. Not telling who though, just check your snail mail box in the coming days.

 

And this little angel? Well, she gets to join all the little Maisies in their pretty little room with all their pretty little things.

Matryoshka angel pattern by Rosalie Quinlan. From her beautiful book full of nice little things, Gift.

Handmade helps out the Australian Bushfire Appeal

Little Miss Gracie is heading over to the OzBushfireAppeal store at Etsy. You can purchase her for $45 USD, with all proceeds going to the appeal. I will post her anywhere in the world for free.

 

BrisStyle Christmas catch up

Today I finally got to meet many of the talented ladies who are members of BrisStyle. We met at a very busy suburban shopping centre coffee shop to catch up, seek advice, draw the winner of the BrisStyle giveaway and to do our Secret Santa gift giving.

Winners of the BrisStyle giveaway will be posted on the BrisStyle blog soon.

I had lovely chats with Em and Bel, Teneale, Helen and  Therese. There were so many ladies that I hope to have more chats with at our 13 December BrisStyle markets at Hamilton Hall.

The common thread amongst us is that we all have Etsy stores, we all live in or around Brisbane and we all promote hand made.

 

This is the cute softie angel which Bel from EmBelISH gave me as part of the BrisStyle secret santa swap for 2008.

   

Thank you Bel for your lovely angel. She will be amongst friends in my sewing room.

Also, Bel gave me the cutest headband featuring little matryoshka dolls. How did she know that I love matryoshka dolls?

Oooh! Too many goodies in one day for me. Now, back to Maisie doll making for the upcoming markets.