a few little things...

I know I've been silent a long while, but my craft room, (yes, I now have a whole room to myself at our new house!) has been bustling! I've now sewn three patterns from my new "little things to sew" book from Oliver and S. I love this book!

Both my kids have new hats, (they are admittedly flawed - a bit gathered in places), but they fit great. I will add straps the next time I sew this pattern though. Seems like every day we've worn them has been windy. I also want to size up the pattern for myself and my husband!

I've also sewn the adorable bear carrier. But I unfortunately gave it away before getting a good picture.

And the last thing I did was this bento box carrier. I had to adjust the dimensions to make it the right size for a standard rectangle gladware container, and it works great!

The next time I make one of these, (and there will be a next time - everyone who saw it today wants one), I'll make it even a bit bigger to allow for two containers stacked, and maybe an apple or two on top. This was a "three scissors" project and sure enough the curved edges were a bit beyond my skill level, but it still came out great, and I'm sure each additional one will be better! I used some flannel-backed vinyl I had on hand to make a splash mat for the wipeable inside instead of clear vinyl over regular fabric and it worked great. It probably took me 4 hours total including adjusting the pattern.

I can't wait to make some of the other projects in the book - there's a great vest for hiking that my little girl needs, and a messenger bag too. Check it out!

Baby Shower Gift

Almost every mom I know is pregnant with her second baby right now, so a bunch of us got together and did a group, secret Santa style baby shower. I drew a friend of mine who isn't finding out what she's having, but luckily loves the color green, which is pretty gender neutral, so I went with it.

I quilted her a quick, cotton-chenille-lined stroller blankie.
Knitted a tiny cotton hat, (my fave!)
And tried my hand at terrycloth-lined bibs,
and burp cloths.
Top the whole thing off with a cow, and it was quite a popular gift! Phew!
Now on to all my Christmas sewing and knitting!

felt carrot tutorial and a birthday felt food feast

My daughter's best friend celebrated her second birthday today. I made her some delicious felt food. All healthy, with a couple sugar cookies for dessert.

Here's the quick and dirty method I used to make the carrots!

First I cut some rounded out triangles. Two equal sides. About 7" X 5".

I also cut a few narrow green rectangles... about 1/2" X 2. I folded these in half longways and sewed them up with a running stitch.

I sewed some lines in the carrot felt with embroidery floss.

I'm sorry but I didn't take pictures of the next steps. Then I folded the carrots, right sides facing, and sewed up the long edge with my machine. You end up with a narrow funnel. Turn it right-side-out. Stuff the carrot, and then string all three green stems on a thread, and then used the same thread to sew a running stitch along the open end of the carrot. Tuck the sewn ends of the stems in the top of the carrot and cinch it closed. Then just sew it together at the top for a sturdy finish.

Here are some close ups of the other veggies. Strawberries follow the same principle with a stubbier triangle to start, and different greens.

my cousin's baby shower gift

My dear cousin's wife is pregnant, due in December. The first of all my cousins to have a baby. This little girl will be my niece, (my cousin and I are both only children), and I am very excited.

I made the new little girl an eye-spy play/stroller quilt. It is 44" X 44". I'm so glad I added the patchwork border... this really adds to it I think!

Here is my favorite square...
And here is my daughter's favorite one - Dora of course! She's going to get one of these quilts, only much larger, and with many more things to spy, for Christmas.
Here is the back! I loved this fabric. Got it for a great deal at a quilt shop that was closing. So soft and bright.
The binding.... Most of the fabric came out of my stash - except for the sashing and the back.
And what baby shower gift is complete without a hand-knit hat! I've been making this pattern a lot lately. It's from the 101 Designer One Skein Wonders book. Very easy and quick.

Baby Blankets

I have been busy... just not blogging! But here are a couple of quick pics of my two biggest WIPs.

I'm working on a quilted baby blanket for Kathy, a family friend's first grandchild, a boy, who's coming soon. I'm loving the way this quilt top came out. Each square has a different animal in the center. Kathy said the mom really likes brown and natural colors. I picked all these fabrics, except the sashing, from my stash, and I think it really works. And at the same time is still very baby boy.

Sorry for the crumby picture! The backing will be that light blue with dots fabric... I had to go get more of that at Hobby Lobby, but the width ended up being perfect... I won't even have to piece it!

And then I'm also knitting a blanket for my little one. She's really become attached to the junky old couch throw we have. She feels its nubbles when she's going down for her naps. I'd like her to have something a bit more special, (and something smaller!) so I'm making this textured knit blanket out of soft cotton. Hopefully she'll take to it.

Even if she's not into it it will have been good practice for me. The texture seemed complex at first, but I've got it memorized now. Hopefully I'll make some good progress on it on the road trip I'm heading off on this afternoon!

I've also got a couple other things on different needles and hooks, and a few other sewing projects for the show I'm doing in the local Library in September. I'll post some pics of them when I figure out how to mount them!!

Fishy Hair Clip Holder

I found some cute little hair clips on sale the other day, and my daughter's hair is just long enough to hold them now, so of course, I needed to have them.  

But where should I keep them?  

So I had to make this little fish with a ribbon hanging from him.  

I cut pretty much on the fly, and hand sewed the whole thing while watching TV.   I'm pretty satisfied with it, though there are a few things I  might change about the shape if I did it again.  

The star at the bottom is weighted down with beans.  

Knit Mouse

When I started this, it was going to be a cat toy, but it ended up being much bigger than I'd thought it was going to be!

Good thing the little one likes it!  I'll have to make a smaller one for the cat and fill it with nip!!  

The pattern came from the Knitted Toys book that Renee gave me for Christmas!!  Thanks again, Renee!!  :)  

Mittens and Socks

I have been saving that multicolored yarn for mittens since I got it!!  I think I have enough for a pair of matching hats and maybe even a scarf too!!  Yey!  

I was waiting to finish the last mitten before posting this... four pairs just seemed a lot more impressive than three and a half - but boy did that last one take some time!!  I got my mitten pattern from the book Weekend Knits, which has lots of cute things in it.  It was an easy pattern, and good thing because I left my copy of it at a friend's house after only the first mitten!!  

The socks are from the Debbie Bliss, Simply Baby book.  I think my little one is pleased with them!!  I'm not even sure her thumbs are in there... 

Note to readers though - never let Baby try to crawl in mittens!!  

Ribbon Snuggly

This was not my idea, but I love making these!!


My baby just loves them, so I'm planning on giving them to some of the other babies I know for Christmas... I used this tutorial from oh Fransson to help with the appliqued initial on the other side, (not shown since this one is a gift!) But it was my first machine applique, and I think it went really well!! I never really knew what to use that buttonhole function on my sewing machine for, (besides the obvious, but I'd never tried that either!!)

By the way, thanks to Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting for the gift certificate to the Fabric Square Shop! Woo hoo! I love winning stuff!! Now I just have to commit to some fabric!! They have such a great selection, I don't know how I'll choose!!

Pumpkin Hat

Well, it's not the best pictures of the baby, but I think it's one of the better ones of the hat!! I made this from a pattern in Itty Bitty Hats, and it was very easy, and I think came out pretty well! I probably would make it a bit shorter if I were to do it again! That way her head would really fill out the top. There are a couple other patterns from this book that I might try out.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was a great one craft-wise... I did some knitting with a couple girlfriends while the boys watched the kids!! What a nice way to get away for a couple hours... and I finished this pink baby shrug (made from soy yarn) that's been sitting in my living room for ages!! I got to my last ball of the yarn, and then couldn't find any more in the store, so I was sure I would run out and have to do the borders in a different color, which of course made me not want to even bother with it. Anyway, it turned out I had enough and was able to finish it in one sitting!! It's funny the reasons we put stuff off. This pattern was really easy and fits great... it came from the Debbie Bliss book Simply Baby.

I also finished this quilt for a friend's baby boy due next month. The border of this quilt has taken me ages to complete... again mainly because I didn't want to do it. But now it's boxed and I just need to get it to the post office tomorrow with the rest of her gift!!

And this little blanket for Sweetpea is finally done too. I might add a bit of applique to the back corners to finish it off. It's made from recycled cashmere sweaters that shrank after too much tough love, (I don't dry clean anything.) I ended up backing it in a cute dotted grey cotton fabric. It's very lightweight and soft.

Now I need to start cutting fabric for another friend's baby blanket... I'm excited about this one... based on a doll quilt I saw on Amanda Jean's site!

Sneak Peaks, and in the Mean Time...

So I've been busy working on a quilt for my friend Beth's baby.... it's been done except for the binding which is taking me forever!! Well... not literally... it's almost done. Then it just needs a label. I don't think I'm going to do prairie points on something so big again for a while. Here's a sneak peak!

I'm also working on a small recycled sweater blanket for Sweetpea... I'm most of the way through the piecing of that now too, and just trying to decide if I should back it with something to make it more durable... I have some poly satin that matches perfectly, but would that just cheese it up? It's mostly cashmere... Maybe I should look for some coordinating cotton for a light backing.... I just don't know... here's a teaser for that project as well.

And here's a picture of my sweety this morning in a sweater I knitted when I was pregnant!! Isn't she cute! The sleeves are rolled up, so I think it should last her through the winter!! :) The hat she's wearing was knitted for her by my aunt Sue's mom. :)

I'm meeting some friends for knitting tomorrow!! I can't wait!! I have this pattern for a pumpkin hat that I think my little pumpkin HAS TO HAVE since it is October already!

Stipled Bib!

So I just made this bib from this post... Okay, so mine is a bit different, but the basic concept is the same... I ended up tracing one of my bibs because I liked the shape of it a bit better. I still need to add a bit of velcro on it, but I've tried it on the baby, and it seems to do the job! I made it from the same cute flanels that I made the dress from the last post in. But I did the border in a print I found in my scrap bag. It was just barely long enough after I trimmed the bib a bit to make it work. Phew. It was close. Thank goodness I pinned beforeI started sewing it on!!

One reason I chose this project was because I needed something to practice stipling on.... I love the look of it, and I really would like to try it out on a bigger project, but am afraid of ruining something!! Anyway, after checking out CrazyMomQuilts blog about free motion quilting (Amanda Jean, you rock!!) I figured I'd give it a try... here's a close up of my work. I think the tension was a bit too loose, and there was one blank area that I missed and had to go back to, but I'm satisfied with the restults!

Baby Dress

Yey free sewing patterns! As a pretty new sewer I really appreciate the low commitment level of free patterns. I found the pattern for this dress in this post. Thanks Rae! I enlarged the pattern 125%, and still I think it could go a bit bigger... N is a pretty sturdy little girl so she won't be wearing it too long... it'll get a bit too cold for it soon anyway! I'm not too crazy about the fit, but I think I may try it again with some different fabric... I like the idea of the flannel, and I loved this owl print on the bolt, but Todd thinks it looks like N is wearing curtains!

This weekend I'm going to make a bib to match from this post! I'm excited to try out stipling on a small piece. I love quilts with that look and feel, but am afraid to try it for fear of ruining a pieced project... so if I start small... we'll see.

Knit Baby Sweater

This little sweater was one of my very first knitting projects! I've decided that knitting for babies is really the only way to go: the projects are smaller, so you can make mistakes, and you don't mind going back as much... and since they're so small, you can afford to use the really nice quality yarn without breaking the bank! This sweater is knit in a cashmere, silk, merino wool blend by Debbie Bliss. What a lucky little girl! I was so happy when it finally fit her! Right now she's wearing it with the sleeves rolled up a bit... hopefully it will last her through the fall!