The handmade gifts from granny and grandad

I have always loved handmade gifts. How dear is to receive something in which much thought and love and effort has been put in.
I wished my children realized that and appreciated the lovely handmade toys their granny and grandad hade made for them this year. For now such appreciation is not seen, as I they are too young, but hopefully with time they will learn to.
I remember that a few weeks ago I mentioned to my dad that the kids liked playing with playdough, always "cooking" something with it - a pizza, spaghetti, cakes and much more and I was wondering whether to get them a little play kitchen for Christmas. That's when my dad decided to make one for them. That was going to be his surprise for them when they come to stay for Christmas.
So here it is. Ready for them to play.

No need to say that they love it. They haven't said it but you could see it from their being around it most of the time. It never looks that tidy of course, they are really messy cooks!
I forgot to mention that the kitchen didn't cost a penny as my dad used some wooden boards he had left from something else.
In addition he made a little doll's bed.

My mum made a little mattress, a pillow and two sheets for it. She even found the time to stitch a little applique.
I can't say I was suprised to see the wooden toys they had made. When I was a child they often used to make stuff for us - little wooden chairs and a table, a doll's bed, my mum had sewn clothes for my dolls and even knitted jumpers for them. Most of our pillowcases and duvet covers were decorated with beautiful appliques. That's where my interest in sewing and crafting must have come from.

Merry Christmas!

"Flower garden" tunic

My little girl's handmade wardrobe has slowly started to grow. The new addition is the "Flower garden" tunic, which I wrote about in my previous post. If you have read it you probably have wondered which fabric I had chosen for the project - the one with flowers or the one with owls. I love both of them, but eventually decided on the flowers. I will use the owls fabric for something else, maybe a summer outfit.

 

I was slightly hesitant whether to make a blouse or a tunic and whether with short sleeves or long ones. I thought that tunic would be the more versatile option and as summer was still far away I thought it would be more practical to make it with long sleeves.
I feel slightly disappointed that once ready and worn the blouse turned out a bit larger. At least my daughter will have room to grow.

 

 As a whole making the tunic was quite enjoyable experience. Most of the steps were the same like those of "Winter fairytale" blouse, which saved time me when constructing it. I was so eager to start sewing the tunic, that I forgot to interface the neck pieces, which would have given a better shape to the neckline. I realized that too late and as I didn't fancy undoing all the work and starting all over, I left it like this.

And this time I couldn't resist the desire to make a matching hair accessory. My husband once joked that when wearing such an accessory our little girl looked like delicious cake topped with something. Now every time when I see her wearing something on the head it makes me think about this and laugh.
If you like to try to make such a fabric flower yourself, here is quick photo tutorial. It's so easy that you would be tempted to do more of them.

Thank you for reading!