Tiny Reindeer Amigurumi

I saw this guy and had to make him! I was looking for a little present for my daughters teacher and thought a little christmas decoration would be good as she appreciates handmade things. I got the pattern from Pinterest which linked me to this patten on amigurumi.today.

It certainly was fiddly, especially the legs and antlers as they are only 6sc around, but the result was super cute. I only realised after making my second one that I was meant to use a smaller hook for the antlers, but I don't think that matters. For the eyes I sewed black beads on instead of using safety eyes. It works OK as they are next to the snout. I tried beads on another project and they sat out to far and looked funny.

Busy...page?

I'm sure you have seen blankets, and soft cubes and such with things for babies to play with. My niece had a thing about opening and closing clips so I made a small page with clips down one side, and a few other play things on the other side. Zips are always fun. I made sure to add a little ribbon th the dress zip as it can be hard to grasp the little tab. The 'teeth' are toggles that you have to squeeze to move along the cord. I think she had a bit of fun with it. 

The binding was leftover from my daughters quilt many years ago and was all ready to add on. The yellow background is some material I used for a cushion and nice and sturdy. The buttons are just for decoration.

Swim Bag and Book Bags

When I saw this Pokemon fabric I just knew I had to get it and make things for my son. First I made him some pyjama pants and added a pocket to a singlet to match, and with the leftover I thought I'd make a swim bag. A while ago I purchased some iron on vinyl and wanted to have a go. 

As I put it on both sides to make it totally waterproof it made the fabric very stiff (seems like a no-brainer). This meant that I had to add a piece of regular fabric to the top for the drawstring otherwise there was no way it would draw closed.

I made it have a box shape bottom so it would stand up and added some nice long straps so it can be worn as a back-pack. I used loops of strapping at the bottom for the straps to thread through (remember to add them while sewing up the bottom).

Over time the bag has been dragged on the ground a little which has worn some of the vinyl off, but it is on year #2 and doing well.

The other school item I made was a couple of book bags for relatives. They tried the store bought ones but asked for replacements when they fell apart. I think the combination of having two layers, the outside one being a strong drill, means they last a bit longer. I also painted the kids names at the top instead if having a pocket for the name tag as the name pocket got torn off my son's one.