My Little Man

Sorry, I still don't know how to arrange pictures and text to look like I want it to, but here he is! My little man who is already 4 weeks old! He is modeling for you the Kimono PJs from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. In 0-3 month size. This was the last project I finished the week before he was born. He seems to be practicing a karate move in the 2nd pic. He's really getting into the outfit. The knit hat in the first photo is the same as in last blog post. It was a little big at first, but this guy is growing oh so fast! Wish I could slow time down a little. But trying to enjoy every minute, every cuddle, and everything about this special time of life with a new baby.

In Anticipation

In anticipation of our baby boy, I have been doing some crafting for the past 10 months. Here are a few projects I have completed, most with links to the free patterns I used. I love free online patterns! First is a simple pair of newborn pants with a little appliqued onesie. My 5 year old selected the fabric for this. It is a soft flannel.

These are some burp cloths I made that claim to be the best burp cloths ever. This remains to be seen as they have not yet entered the battle field. One side of the cloths are various quilting cotton and flannel fabrics, the other side are jersey knit from upcycled t-shirts or terry cloth. The fabric showing on the top is my 5 year old's original design from a sunflower watercolor painting, fabric printed by Spoonflower. She entered a contest with it and although she didn't win they sent a free fat quarter of her fabric, which made two burp cloths! She also did some of the sewing on these.

Although not much to look at photo-wise, this next one will get a lot of use. It is a nursing cover much like the ones formerly known as hooter-hiders, with stiff opening around neck, but the cover is much larger for better coverage.

I knit two sweaters for baby boy, the first two sweaters I have ever knit. I got both patterns off of Ravelry the brown one is the Baby Sophisticate, knit in a cotton/modal blend that is so soft. I made the 6-12 month size, only adjusted the yarn to be worsted instead of aran weight and down one needle size hoping for more like 6 month size. I think it will work. The pattern is a seamless one, which was nice.

The blue is the Baby Kimono in size 0-3 months knit in Berroco Vintage yarn (wool/acrylic blend), worsted weight. It was my first knitting project that I had to seam together. And while the results of seaming were rather gratifying, I did not really enjoy the whole seaming process.

Lastly for now is a little knit baby hat, that takes me back to my knitting roots, blogged here, here, and here. A simple stockinette hat with rolled brim that has stripes because of frugality, using up whatever yarn was in my stash (same for sleeves of above sweater). The off-white yarn is baby alpaca, I think, while the blue is the same Vintage in sweater above.

Fathers Day & Vacation has begun

We had a fun Father's Day, despite the fact that we drove straight from Long Beach to Chico starting Saturday night at 6:45 pm and arriving at 4:35 am on Sunday. The girls were so excited to see their cute "new" room that grandma had fun decorating that it took a little while to get them back to sleep once we got there. But we eventually did and had a VERY leisurely day. We gave daddy the handprint art we made. Then we took our first family of four bike ride with one in the bike seat and the other in the trailer and mommy riding for the first time since she was pregnant (about two years - I'm not so coordinated, so never wanted to chance it) We rode from the house to downtown and had bagels for breakfast/lunch, stopped by a used bookstore (where I bought The Shack and couldn't find Breaking Dawn), and a park with playground. Then mom and dad took turns taking naps and watching the girls, followed by a late afternoon swim in the pool.

We are officially on vacation! Some ways I can tell...

1) The watch is off my wrist!

2) The afternoon cup of coffee has been replaced with an afternoon nap.

3) I considered getting up after feeding the baby at 5:40 am to do some sewing while the house was quiet because I knew I would get an afternoon nap. I considered it...then went back to sleep.

4) I have actually been cleaning up after myself and my kids because I'm not rushing to get somewhere else.

5) I have been going to bed before midnight, because I can!

I have been working on my crocheted basket. And finished the outfit I made for my neice due to be born any time now. I used this pattern and you may recognize the fabric from our Easter dresses. I actually originally bought the fabric with my new niece in mind, but got lots of it to make something for everyone because I liked it so much. It's supposed to be size 1-3 months, but looks a little big to me. I'm hoping it works, because from October on it's pretty cold in Buffalo, NY. I think my favorite part of the outfit is the little gathered sleeves, they kill me they're so cute. I really wish I had a better camera and was a better photographer. My pictures never look as good as the real thing.

We're heading out to Lake Tahoe tomorrow to go camping with friends. It is my first time there, though I think we've "planned" a Tahoe trip every year since we've been married. (7 years next month) I'll let you know if we actually make it there this time.

The bright side of having sick kids.

This past month, both my kids have been sick more often than not, so we have spent a LOT of time at home. Of course, I hate to see my kids not feeling well, but when given lemons...

The lemonade? With being home so much with kids that sleep more often, I've had some time to work on creative projects. The first of which was one I have been meaning to do since October. It is a book I compiled for my friend who adopted a long awaited, much loved little boy. We had a shower for her and people wrote messages to him (about how they've been praying for him, how we're so happy he's here, etc...), we took their pictures and I put together a book Here are a couple pics.


The background paper is scrapbooking paper I cut into 4, I glued on the cards with messages and pictures, and laminated it (w/ self stick- not the heat applied kind). Then I sewed on a fabric binding to make the edges soft. I bound it all together by punching holes, in each page, ran a piece of the binding through and made a fabric cover for the bound edge. It was one of those projects that I don't exactly know how I was going to put it all together, until it was done. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though.

I knew of lots of babies that were born in February, and I made personalized burp cloths for a couple. It may seem a little silly to make a fancy burp cloth when it will be covered in, well, spit and other foul bodily fluids. But I like utility... and they're certainly useful, why not be cute too?


Finally, my magnum opus... a dress for my baby girl. The pattern is the Comfy Jumper Dress from Amy Butler's Little Stiches for Little Ones. A book I drooled over and wanted, then bought with a friend a few months ago, and I'm so excited that I actually got to make something from it - and for my own kid, nonetheless. So this is going to be her Easter dress and I'm going to make a coordinating one for big sis (which I'm going to try to do w/o a pattern - should be interesting). I was very good and stuck to the pattern for this dress, even though there were a couple things I wanted to do differently. If I were to do it again I would probably not have added the elastic band in the back that the pattern called for, it makes it bunch a little weird in the back. But I fell in love with these fabrics (from Joann) and bought three yards of each so I'll be able to make plenty more (kid-sized) clothes with them.

And of course, my little darling, modeling. I know I put a lot of pictures, but this little dress makes me so happy, because I was finally able to sew a nice outfit for my own child, which is something I have wanted to do forever.

Here's a little better picture (taken by Sam) of the cupcakes from previous post.

P.S. I cannot stand the way adding/working with images is done on blogger. Then weird spaces show up once it's actually posted. If anyone has any advice for me I'd love to hear it.

P.P.S. I love my hair cut and have actually gotten lots of compliments. My husband ended up being the one to help me shave, and straigten up the back. Ha! I'm feeling slightly less crazy now. But I think I'll probably get it cut by a pro next time.