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.

Birthday Crafting

I'm catching up through November, now! I didn't go overboard in the crafting area for my daughter's birthday this year, but I did manage to make a thing or two. I made this dress out of a vintage (if 1980's can be considered vintage) Care Bears printed fabric panel pattern that I got from a friend who never made it for her daughter. She loved it, as she does the show. It's definitely not my favorite, but after watching one, she came up with the new year's resolutions of "I will care more", "I will love everybody more", and "I will take care of the world more", so I guess it's not all bad. My little crafter in the making is showing the cute turkey she made for Thanksgiving. I love the food picture tail feathers, and her smirk. Her birthday crown got the addition of a surfboard charm (still yet to be affixed) to remember her 5th birthday!



For her beach themed party she chose the shark cupcakes out of the Hello, Cupcake book. They required the purchasing of horrific amounts of sugar containing components. But she loved them, as did the guests. (The shark body is a twinkie)


Lastly, for now, my nephew's birthday is also is November and I made a donut shirt for him. He loves donuts! (and thought the shirt was pretty cool too) I found the donut fabric on fabric.com and the pattern is Kai's Shirt from Weekend Sewing.

It's Been Awhile

So it's been awhile since I put anything on here. Life's been a bit busy as I started homeschooling my big girl for kindergarten, along with everything else we do. But not so busy that I haven't been doing any crafting. So I will attempt to post some of what I've enjoyed doing in the last 4 or 5 months.

First up is a throw-sized quilt I made for a quilting workshop that I led. I made the quilt simple for beginner quilters using just an ordinary sewing machine. The fall inspired fabrics were all from my stash except for the quilt back, which I purchased (it is the brown and green bird print). I had fun designing and writing my own pattern and got great responses from all the ladies who did the workshop. I'm only sorry the picture sucks.


This next pic is the quilt top for the one I made along with the ladies during the workshop. It is not quilted yet in this picture and I gave it away without getting a final photo (argh!). I was a little more creative with the quilting of this one and did a hexagonal pattern. I will get a picture one of these days as it was for my sister.



Speaking of my sister, I did a few other crafts for her wedding that took place in November. Next up is one of the two ringbearer pillows and her crocheted garter.
She picked the fabric for the pillows and we did some embroidery to embellish them. All the supplies for this project were from the Purl Soho warehouse in Tustin, which is awesome and I loved checking out with her. The garter was made using the pattern I found on Ravelry called Something Blue by Emma Wiley. After several failed attempts at knitting a lace garter I found this pattern which was perfectly simple and quick to make. I used an undyed wool/silk blend yarn in lace weight, and the ribbon color is from her wedding palette.


Also for my lovely sister I made the following apron for her bridal shower.
I used the Halter apron pattern from the 10th Muse Studios blog. She requested a "sexy apron" which upon further inquiry I concluded to mean fitted and with some style, so this is what I came up with. It is reversible, too. Again, not a good photo of the item, but I guess I was just going for documentation, not winning any photography awards.


Oh, and I made the dress I wore in her wedding. Which was a bit of a challenge to sew. It is silk dupioni. The pattern I do not have any longer at my disposal, but it was from a major pattern company ? McCalls, Vogue, Simplicity, one of those... (how's that for details)

We are hiding out in the shed before we "go on" for her outdoor wedding at home.

I think that's all the blogging I can handle for one night. I have decided that my New Year's resolution should be to take better pictures! Although there's only so much I can do with our little cheap camera. When I get around to it I'll post up the Christmas gift creations I made, hopefully before another 4 months goes by!

Some finished projects

I haven't been so good about taking pictures of all my projects lately, but here are some from the past few months that I did.



Purse
First is a knit purse. I based it on a pattern called Twitterpated, but changed it using my retro knit dictionary and picked out a basket stitch to use instead of garter. The yarn I used was Berroco Jasper in the red and blue color that my friend was ogling when we were in a yarn store one time. So I got it at a later date to make something for her and decided on this purse. I lined it with some fabric that brought out the blue in the yarn and then beaded a strap using hemp twine, turquoise-like beads, and purse rings. I added a couple inside pockets- lipstick and cell phone sized. And gave it to my friend for her birthday.


Micro Quilt Lovey
I made a little soft lovey for my niece in a simple pinwheel block pattern and used some soft baby fabrics to make it cuddly - the purple minky fur that has swirled rose shape (until I prewashed it and the swirls came out), the green print is cotton and a silky purple and white polk a dot satin for the binding and back. I used a scrap of cotton batting in the middle and stiched in the ditch for the quilting along the pinwheel seams. This was a very quick and satisfying project. I may have coined the word micro quilt, I don't know.

Retro Quilt
This was a collaborative project. My mother in law started this quilt in 1973 and I finished it in March 0f 2010. She wanted to make a quilt, so her grandmother helped her lay out the design and she bought some stylish fabric (it is perma press) and hand cut out (with a little cardboard template) all the squares. She pieced the squares into 9 piece blocks and then lost a little momentum. But she saved the project all this time. So I pieced the blocks together added cotton batting, got a quilting cotton for the back (in goldenrod color) and binding (in navy blue). I quilted it with my new walking foot I got just for the occasion in a diagonal pattern with golden rod and red alternating every other line. Then stiched the binding on by hand. She was thrilled to see her project completed after all these years.



Earring Holder
Using a lace weight undyed wool/silk blend from knit picks I knit this from a pattern that I cannot find now. But I got it free online. I then mounted it on a garage sale find frame over the goldenrod quilting fabric from last project. The earrings were made from some stashed jewelry supplies and served the purpose of showing what the heck the thing was. :)




Reusable snack bags
Little cotton snack bags lined with nylon (so they clean up easy) that close with velcro. For packing snacks to go or in lunches instead of using ziplocks. I made them for my 2 year old's birthday party favors. And they are for sale in my Etsy shop at the right if you happen to want one...

Sewing for Boutique

I've been busily making some little outfits to sell at a Holiday Boutique this Saturday the 5th from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Some pictures follow. If you're interested in checking it out and know where I live - it is at the house across the street from mine. If you don't know were I live send me a message and I can give you all the information. Also being sold at the boutique will be my reusable gift bags, purses and ornaments made by my neighbor, jewelry, cards, etc... Great chance to get some handmade gifts! Whatever doesn't sell I'll put in my Etsy shop.

size 12 months

size 6-12 months

size 0-3 months

Size 3T

Next is the bobble dress I crocheted for my daughter - I used a fingering weight Merino/Silk yarn from KnitPicks, called Gloss. The color is Kenai. The pictures aren't very good, maybe I'll get a better one, one of these days. Lastly, a Tshirt I made for a 3yr old's birthday (he sings a song about being a robot). The words are stenciled using fabric paint and freezer paper as a stencil. The robot is appliqued then stitched down with the machine for the bigger sections, and hand done with blanket stitch on the smaller pieces.

Now back to work for me!

Four!

My firstborn turned 4 on Tuesday and we had a great time celebrating! She got her long awaited quilt and her very own birthday crown. The crown has a charm for each of her four birthdays that goes along with the theme of that year's party.

The quilt was the log cabin pattern from the Patchwork Style book. Each square was pieced and quilted directly to squares of batting and then those quilted squared pieced together. The fabrics I used are mostly scraps from other projects and about 6 fabrics my daughter chose from the store. (Although those were the ones I felt never really fit into the style, but oh well!) The backing is a really soft sheet and I used some of the fabric strips pieced together for the binding. It was my first time doing a binding hand sewn with a blind stitch on the back. I think it came out very well and am planning on making a queen sized version for my sister's upcoming wedding. It was lots of fun to make.



We had a great day at Disneyland with Grandma & Grandpa too! The day was just about as perfect as could be. I think she felt very special and loved. As she is!

I did finish the crocheted dress on Wednesday, but haven't gotten a good picture yet.

Quilts and Cuts

Quilts - I got some flannel fabric from a friend who was clearing out her stash and it called out to me one day to make a quilt for the latest Craft Hope project. So I made up what I will call the "one afternoon quilt". It was easy and fun, if anyone is interested in how to make it I'll figure out how to post a tutorial. It literally took me only about 4 or 5 hours and that was while juggling the needs of my two little ones as well. The first picture is the only one I have of the whole thing, and it was taken before I sewed the binding on. The second shows it finished, a little closer up with the corner folder over to show the back as well.

The other quilt I just finished has not yet been photographed and will be presented to my daughter for her 4th birthday present tomorrow morning. I am so excited to show it to her, she has also been so excited to see it. Will photograph and post soon!

Cuts - We've had a couple haircuts at our house. One professional, one amateur. I decided it was time to cut my hair again (for the first time since my last haircut eight months ago). I was inspired to go short by the adorable Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose Music on YouTube (you won't believe me, but I don't actually spend that much time on youtube - check out their music though, very fun!). I opted for a professional cut this time. I like how it came out, but I'm still figuring out how best to style it with a minimum of labor. I don't have any great pictures of myself yet, but this one that my daughter took will have to suffice.

Which leads to the amateur cut...my daughter walks into my room a couple mornings later with a wad of her hair in her hand exlaiming, "Look mom, I have short hair now, too!" I was scared to look and just covered my eyes. When I got the courage to look, I was thankful it wasn't that bad. But was very sad to have to cut the rest of her hair which had for the first time in her life grown past her shoulders. :( Needless to say from the pictures, she was not happy either. Many tears shed that morning all around.

But tomorrow, there will be no tears. We are headed to the happiest place on earth to celebrate her 4th birthday and spending the night at the Disneyland Hotel! Other birthday crafts to be completed still (yikes, I will be up late tonight!) include her birthday crown (like sister got), and crocheted bobble dress.

Fall projects thus far

When it rains it pours, I haven't posted in almost a month and now two posts in the same day.

Latest finished projects follow -Outfit I made for a friend's 2nd birthday. I fell in love with this sunflower batik print at the quilting shop in Chico and knew it was perfect for a little girl's fall outfit. I appliqued on purchased shirt the sunflowers, used ribbon for the stems, and scraps of another green batik I had for the leaves. I embroidered her initial on the shortest of the flowers (she's the youngest of three girls) though it's hard to see. The skirt is based on the one I seem to keep making because it's simple- here and here for example. I like using a second fabric for the bottom of the skirt. It's such an easy way to finish the seam since it's just a doubled over strip of fabric sewn on then top stitched, I added a little center pleat this time as well.

Hats number 3 and 4 in my hat knitting career are done, this time in adult sizes. The pattern is Ann Norling's Spiral Rib Hat which I like because it has directions for all different sizes, gauges, yarn weights, etc.... The grey yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light- which is really soft and the black is Berroco Vintage Wool which has a nice feel too. I keep experimenting with knit & crocheted flowers and haven't found one I love yet, but I'll keep trying. I'm not permanently affixing these flowers in case the receivers of the hats choose to go without them.

Works in progress include a log cabin quilt for my soon to be 4 year old's bday, along with a crocheted dress , and her ladybug halloween costume. Fun, fun, fun!

Catching Up

Wow, it's been way too long since I've posted anything on here. The pace of crafting has slowed with the pace of everything else picking up. I guess it's September, back to the real world. Now it's almost October, yikes! Christmas will be here before we know it and I've got a hefty list of presents to create. Latest finished projects following:

Knit baby hat, which is supposed to be a Christmas gift but it knit up smaller than I thought so I'm thinking I have to give it now so the baby can actually get some use out of it. This hat was the inspiration for learning to knit and that I blogged about here. I planned to put a tulip flower from the pattern on the top, but it didn't turn out right so I improvised the one shown.

I've sewn a few more of my GreenGift bags that I've posted on Etsy. My favorite one is pictured here. I haven't sold any yet, though. I haven't been able to make/post any new ones for a while, though. I've heard the key is posting new stuff frequently. Need more time to sew!


Speaking of sewing - My friend and I made a new cover for our friend's car seat. She's having a girl and we wanted to spruce up her blue car seat that her son used. So we took a fabric that she used to make a diaper bag as our inspiration. It's from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Collection - Garden Maze in Olive. The quilting I did on it gave me the confidence to try making a real quilt with my little Singer sewing machine. She was very surprised and loved it.


Lastly, I've been baking lots of fresh bread lately - daunted not by the heat waves we've been having. The book I've been using is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. While I haven't yet followed any recipe to the T (I never can!) I have made some pretty yummy breads, and I love the concept that the book has taught me. Making large batches of dough that you store in the fridge and can easily make 3-4 loafs from with very little active working time. Pictured is the first loaf I made from the book. It was super yummy, especially dipped in olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Lots and lots of projects in the queue. The one I'm most excited about is a quilt requested by my soon to be 4 year old for her birthday. It's going to be tough to keep it all a surprise though...lots of late night sewing in the next 6 weeks! I'm also knitting more hats, adult ones this time with (removable) flowers on them. And I want to crochet this adorable dress, I've ordered the yarn for it.

Ok, watch out world, I'm on Etsy

So I got a "bee in my bonnet" tonight to finally open an Etsy account to sell things I make. Wish me luck! I've only got one item in my store so far, but you gotta start somewhere, right? My genius idea (actually my genius mom's idea) is 'green' fabric gift bags that are reusable. I think I'm going to take the world by storm. I also want to sell cute baby stuff like burp cloths and clothes, but there is tons of competition in that area, so I'm hoping I may have a niche with my GreenGift bags. (No that is not copyrighted and I'm probably infringing on someone else's copyright so I'm hoping not to get sued)

My other latest FO is an outfit for a very special little boy. I used fusible webbing to applique on a T-shirt from Target and made the Huck Finn pants from Weekend Sewing again. Most of the fabric is from Honey Run Quilters in Chico and the bear is wool felt. The tent/pants fabric is really soft, perfect for a little one.

I'm also in the middle of a couple knitting projects - both hats. I stocked up on some yarn at Heartstrings in Chico and hope to do some knitting for Christmas gifts.

Speaking of Chico, we're home now after two months up north. It was a fabulous time, and I thought I would be somewhat sad after coming home. But I am perfectly content to be back. I haven't fully unpacked/recovered the house, yet, but I'm working on it (I got a little side-tracked with Etsy project). The summer is rapidly coming to an end and the year's activities are gearing up, but I'm looking forward to it. We hadthe chance to truly relax and have fun together as a family, and I'm ready for whatever comes next! I'm most looking forward to starting back up in CBS Bible Study, I get so much out of it and love all the women that are in it, too. Can't wait to see what God has in store for our family this coming school year.

More Summer Fun

The last couple weeks have been filled with more fun. Swimming in the rivers, bike rides around town, a visit from my sister & b.i.l., a week up at Lake Almanor boating, off-roading, hiking, and just hangin out. Lots of good food as well including spanakopita (a great one to make ahead and freeze!), gyros in town, cucumber salad made with amazing chinese cucumbers from farmers market (i'll never be able to eat a store cuke again! I'm going to have to grow them.), wild blackberry sorbet, peaches and gorgeous heirloom tomatoes from the neighbor, I could go on and on....

Pictured below is the family in Upper Bidwell Park at a waterfall hiking down to a swimming hole, our little rock climber, and my 3 latest finished projects detailed below:

Appliqued owl inspired by Amazing Mae. The pants are the Huck Finn pants I made before here from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. This outfit is for a special little boy (I am starting on Christmas already, I am so impressed with myself). I couldn't pass up the argyle print when I saw it at Honey Run Quilters - but it may be a little over-the-top. Good thing the pants are so easy to sew up- I won't be crushed if they don't get worn.

My first real Stash Basket from The Purl Bee. I love the colors - though they don't come across great in the photo. As I was crocheting in the car on the way up to Lake Almanor my husband noticed that it was all the colors of the forest surrounding us. Love it! Now all I need is an actual stash of yarn to fill up my stash basket. My measly two full skeins and about 3 partial ones required the bear to help fill it up. I'm contemplating the adorable bobble dress as a future project, but I better catch up with my other list a little first.

Finally my pretty sad little second attempt at the butterfly hat is probably not worth picturing but I hope to fix it so maybe my end product will be a little more impressive ?? I still don't have the hang of adapting crochet patterns. This hat fits my husband as well as my three year old so I'll have to take out about 6-8 rows and try again.