The hunt is on for gumnut babies

Do you remember Elly Winch?

The Wodonga grandmother made doll clothes and left them at the Ewart Brothers Reserve park in south Wodonga for children to find and enjoy during the pandemic earlier this year.

Elly has once again been busy sewing, this time creating gumnut babies.

Her creations are inspired by the popular May Gibbs book series.

Each handmade gumnut baby features a plush hand-sewn head with facial features attached to a gumnut.

The babies even come with a name attached.

"I used modern names like Bella, Brooklyn and Isaiah and even named some after my grandchildren," Elly said.

"I made so many that I was starting to run out of names."

Elly has been hanging her creations in trees and leaving them on play equipment over the past three weeks for children to find.

She has made 140 gumnut babies so far and has also left chalk for children to use on the footpath.

Some residents have left thank you notes for Elly to find.

"It's lovely when I go for a walk and find chalk drawings or thank you notes," she said.

Elly has also made reusable bags, hair scrunchies and face masks during other lockdowns.

"I love to sew, it's my first love in life," she said.

"I am glad I can use my skills to cheer people up a bit."

Elly, who lives across from the park in Memorial Drive, recently came across a note on the play equipment that said there were 18 painted rocks in the park for people to find and then put back.

"It's nice that the kids are becoming involved," she said.

"I found one of the rocks and it looked cold, so I knitted it a jumper and put it back for someone to find."