Frills

I will admit it. It is so fun to sew for a little girl. Sometimes people say the "devil is in the details", but I think that's where all the fun is! I wore some of these little rompers when I was a toddler, and I think they are so adorable. I whipped out five of them, assembly line style, in just a couple of days. The pattern is so simple (you hardly need one) so that leaves lots of time for making each one a little different and special. Maybe the best part is that they cost me next to nothing.



I know, she can't believe it either! Almost nothing for these cute dresses? This pink flowered one was up-cycled from a dress that I wasn't wearing anymore. Almost everything else was found in my fabric stash. I admit, I did buy all new buttons for them, but even they were on sale at the fabric store!







I did buy the striped pink fabric because I didn't have any pink in my stash (big surprise). And I thought she needed just a touch more pink in her life. And maybe the next best part is that I didn't have to bother with any matching bloomers. Hooray for cloth diaper covers that already look sweet and cute!





This little bonnet was sewn while I had the sewing machine out. You saw the bonnet's blue twin sister in our camping pictures. I fell in love with these fabrics and bought them on a whim. They were supposed to be quick and easy. Yeah, not so much. I found the pattern here, and thought it was adorable. It should be simple, but I just had a difficult time. I tried to follow the instructions for this pink one, but ended up completely doing my own thing for the blue one. At least they look cute. But they are sure to be the only two of their kind!

Nursery Reveal

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath, for the big nursery reveal. Drumroll please...

Ta da!!



I'm so pleased with how everything came together! Ev says it has an awful lot of blue to be a gender neutral nursery, but I think that any little girl would be happy to have a restful, aqua nursery like this. I must say, I could not have done it alone. My independent, long-distance consultants on this project were, my sister and my Mom. My dear, long-suffering Mom who heard about every change of plans, every hiccup and every success. (Thank goodness for unlimited long-distance phone!) I am also so thankful for my calm, steady husband who coached me through a dresser-handle-panic, solved my problems and patiently spent his one hour of free time hanging my curtain rod. Thanks, Baby!!



And now, details, details, details. I struggled with how to add color to my caramel colored room with brown carpet and white furniture, and finally settled on wall decals. I don't normally like them much, but something about these appealed to me. Maybe it is the understated, modern simplicity. I found them here, on Etsy. They were not difficult to put up, and seem to be sticking fine to my heavily textured walls. But it is definitely not a one-person job. Many thanks to my dear friend, Brittney for tackling that project with me! After staring at fabric swatches online for many hours, hoping to sew my own crib accessories, I finally fell in love with the Full Circle line from Land of Nod. No surprise, it's by one of my favorite modern quilt designers, Denyse Schmidt. She designed the baby quilt that I made for my niece last year. From there, all I had to do was pull together the details, including this fantastic Anemone fabric for the drapes and adorable Tweets paper for lining the dresser drawers. As an aside, I did splurge on one little thing that is actually for the baby. See that little lamb on the dresser? I found it (where else?) on Etsy. Loving it!! Did I forget anything? I'm not sure, but I'm so excited to have the nursery completed and ready to go. Now we're really ready for Baby Three to come!

Roll It Up

Here's the other half of my knitting/sewing project. I needed a place to store all those needles when they're not busy furiously knitting. I fashioned this after my mom's needle bag from the 60's, except mine is out of another gorgeous batik, instead of some sort of pleather. What can you say? It was the sixties. Anyways, it was very simple. Two pockets for two heights of needles. A flap to keep them from sliding out the top, and a pretty little ribbon to tie it all up. Now, about all that furious knitting...

Cute Bag...Check

I'm on a knitting kick. When my mom was here, she repossessed her stash of needles (with my blessing of course), but did necessitate a small investment in some knitting supplies of my own. Of course that necessitated a bag to hold all my new knitting stuff. I just can't bring myself to buy something that I can make for less, which I will like more. So I searched online for a pattern to make a craft bag. I found this Tote Bag Pattern for free, and completed it in a matter of hours. I did change a few things to customize it for my needs, but the original pattern includes the nifty little pocket on the inside for small items, and those professional-looking boxed corners. They look difficult, but once I learned the trick they're actually quite simple. I just love these gorgeous batik fabrics that I found at my local quilt shop! I think my yarn will like its new home.

Sew Cute

Trevor has been waiting and waiting for his new summer pajamas. I cut the fabric, oh, about the end of March. Shortly after that, I just wasn't feeling up to a big sewing project. So they sat, and sat, waiting for me. I made three sets in an assembly line fashion, which it made it super easy! They turned out sew cute, if I say so myself. And Trevor looks like such a little man in them. Totally worth it! I finally feel like I have some energy back, and look forward to knocking out a bunch more projects in the near future.

Quilt Away

I finished my quilt a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't show it to you because it was a gift. Well, it's been officially gifted, and now I can share some pictures. Maybe you've guessed that it was made with much love and prayers for my niece, Violet.

This quilt sort of took on a mind of it's own. It started out as a way to showcase some embroidery. I love to embroider, but had not quilted in ages. Well...I found this quilt pattern in Denyse Schmidt's book, aptly named, Quilts. She has some great, contemporary quilt patterns that are very reminiscent of the simplicity of amish quilts, but with a modern flair. This pattern is called, Hop, Skip & A Jump. It uses rows of slightly wacky rectangles.

I fell in love with it, and decided to use it. I chose to use many different fabrics to give it a coordinating-but-scrappy look; feminine, but not too babyish, I hope. After I pieced the quilt top, I did the embroiery work. The first verse of Jesus Loves Me is spread across the quilt. I used white thread on white pieces so as not to distract from the overall appearance of the design.

All that was left was to do the quilting and binding. My free-quilting practice didn't go so well, so I opted for something a little simpler: vertical, slightly wacky lines the length of the quilt. Also, because of the simplicity of the piecing, I didn't want to over-do the quilting. In the end, I was really happy with the look that I got. After I took these pictures, I went ahead and washed it to give it an oh-so-slightly-puckery look; just enough to look soft and cozy. I pray that every time Violet looks at her quilt, she will remember how much we love her- and even more, how much she is loved by Christ.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Sorry, Rhino!

Yup, another online find, from a great little shop I discovered. I told you I was on a sewing kick. And I'm not even done yet. But I did finish the curtains for the boys' room. It's cute- they're so excited about them. While I was working they were hovering over me, watching. As I cut the fabric, Trevor observed that I was cutting the animals, and suggested that I apologize to each one. Sorry, Giraffe!

Lazy Daisy Days of Summer

I saw this fabric online, and instantly fell in love with it. Summer may be over on the calendar, but I think these cheerful valances in my living room will keep us thinking of summer all year round!

Go Sew Slow

I've been planning to try some free-motion quilting on my DSQ quilt. I spent several hours today practicing on mini quilt sandwiches.






Nevertheless, while the kids watched Pinocchio, I listened to Mozart and spent some quality time with my good friend, the Pick n Rip. Yeah.

Pins n Things

Why shouldn't I be making such great progress? I've got a super helper who is learning some valuable life skills this week.

Inspiration

I suddenly got inspired to start a new quilt. I haven't done a quilt since Trevor was a baby, so I'm probably rusty. This book has some really beautiful contemporary quilt patterns. Watch out! I'm going to be a quilting maniac for the next couple of weeks!

Swaddled Up

Another family from work, and back-door neighbor, recently had their first baby- a sweet little girl. It has become my custom to give first-born babies a present of this swaddling blanket. I think swaddling is the greatest secret of a happy baby, and I'm a self-proclaimed swaddling expert. I could swaddle a baby in a napkin, if necessary. But first-timers usually need something a little more fool-proof. It seemed too plain, as it was, so I added a little something.


I drew the basic vining design freehand, estimating where I might want to place the flowers. That way, I could embroider the vine first, coming back to add the color where it seemed best. I'd never done anything like it before, and it was so much fun!



I hope sweet little Baby M is enjoying it, and sleeping soundly!

Tools Can be Beautiful

Every kitchen needs a good stash of floursack towels. I grew up on them. Of course, those were made from actual floursacks that my grandmother bought flour in. I was lucky enough to inherit a few of those myself, but sadly they are starting to show evidence of constant usage. (I still have one set of Sunbonnet Sue that I haven't had the heart to use) I decided it was time to replenish my stash with some new floursack towels.






I embellished them with designs from Sweet and Simple Embroidery. I find hand needlework to be so soothing and relaxing. And it's very convenient for me to be able pick it up for short periods of time and then put it down. After a week, or so, of that...voila! My new, beautiful kitchen tools!

Quiet Time Activity Books

Ever since my kids started sitting in the church service with us, I have wanted an activity book to keep little hands busy and busy minds engaged. Well, my kids still don't have one, but one of my top secret Christmas projects was this book for my nephew, Graeson.


Since this books is ultimately designed to stimulate a toddler's senses, I decided to use a wide wale corduroy for the cover. I made the cover slightly larger than I planned the pages to be, folding in the top and bottom edges, then stitch. I added two handles, which I sewed to the cover, for easy transportation. I chose a very fine wale corduroy for the lining of the cover, which I pinked to avoid fraying and attached with fusible interfacing. (Iron-on both sides, Super easy!) This nicely hid the edges of the handles.



I also pinked the edges of all the felt pages, the felt won't fray anyways, but it looks fun. I chose to assemble my book before I made up the pages. That way I didn't have to worry about getting the placement mixed up. Knowing how many I would need for my plan, I cut large rectanges from felt, about 10x17 inches. I laid them on top of the cover, and ran a length of 1/4 inch ribbon down the center for decoration, then stitched straight down the center. That's it for assembly, now on to the fun stuff!

Number practice- Count the beads and see the numeral above.

The tee-pee zips open to reveal a surprise inside. I attached the zipper with fabric glue. I used a lot of felt, but tried not to feel limited. The horse's tail is plain cotton string. Also, I chose to use fabric paint for the picture that are not felt, but you could use permanent markers instead.

The apples on the tree can be "picked" by unbuttoning.

This apple was already picked and can be removed from the page by the velcro.

The traffic light circles are also attached by velcro.

The bed of the dump truck opens with a snap to reveal the load inside.

This puppy's bone can hide inside the dog house. The ribbon around his neck is great for learning to tie a bow.

I stopped there, but you could do as many pages for which you can think of ideas. This project can be time consuming, but it doesn't have to be difficult. You can make it as detailed as your skills and time dictate. However, if you're not so creatively inclined, you can also buy them here. Of course, the great thing about making your own is that you can customize it for your child's interests and skill level. Thanks to both this site and this site for sparking my creativity with their great ideas. I hope I've started your creative juices flowing. Have fun!

Jammies

I've checked one thing off my crafting queue this week. Trevor has two new pairs of cozy flannel PJs. They had tons of really sweet flannel at the fabric store, but since it was not on sale, I limited myself to two.




I love my sewing machine, but it does have one failing. I have been unable to figure out the buttonhole feature. So, this week I tried my hand (literally) at sewing a buttonhole by hand using the buttonhole (AKA Blanket) stitch. Who knew there was a special stitch just for that?? Well, my mom knew. And I suppose back before sewing machines, everyone knew. Now I know, too.




Trevor loves his new Jammies. Unfortunately, I'm afriad this is setting a precedent. Braden asked for bear pajamas last night. Well, in two years he can have these.