7 Months

Well, this project only took me 7 months to complete!Do you ever have a project that you just keep setting aside over and over again? This was that project!

As I was working on minion hat after minion hat last November and December, my own kids kept begging me to make something for them—especially Phaedra. So come January when I had all the Christmas projects behind me, I let her choose what she wanted me to make her. After 6 minion hats (nope, still haven’t blogged them), I was SO relieved when she chose Hello Kitty instead.

I got all the yarn I needed. I got started. And then I reached the point on the hat where it said, “finish off and weave in ends.” I set the hat aside. And it sat. And sat. And sat . . . The crochet part was no problem, but I think I was just too burnt out and sick and tired of weaving in all the little yarn tails on all the little details!

I think the only thing that got me going on it again was the fact that baby #4 is going to make her arrival in just a few months, and I’m feeling the need to do some nesting crafts. I hold to a strict rule that I can’t start another project until one is finished (especially same type of project), so that lit a fire under me to finally force myself to finish Hello Kitty. My poor Phaedra gave up begging me months ago.And now she has to wait for it to actually get cold again to need to wear it (poor girl).

I promise Hello Kitty has a left ear. It’s just hiding behind the bow. I snapped these photos quickly before we hopped in the car to go the library, so I wasn’t paying that much attention to all the details.

I swear I do this every January. I work so hard to get handmade items done for people for Christmas, and I think I can keep the momentum going after the holiday and actually make some stuff for our family/house. So I get all the materials for a project, sometimes I even get started, and then there’s no deadline . . . no pressure . . . and it never gets done! Don’t ask me what ever happened to the fabric storage boxes I was going to make out of the beautiful organic fabric 2 years ago. Just don’t!

I’m extra proud of getting this hat done because I actually completed 2 Hello Kitty hats. I made the first one and decided it was just going to be way too small, so I started over and completed them both. I’m still trying to decide what to do with the extra.

P.S. I found the pattern for the hat HERE.

I’ve Still Got It

We had our baby boy’s blessing at the beginning of the month. When I knew it was coming up, I thought about trying to make him something to wear, but I would always put that idea out of my head as quickly as it arrived. With a new baby to care for, I haven’t entertained the possibility of getting any sewing done; I figured it would be months before I took the cover off “Old Reliable” and had some quality time with her.

But I didn’t really have anything for my little guy to wear to his blessing. I had a white kimono, but I wanted something a little fancier for my first (maybe only?) boy. We went shopping on the Friday before the blessing. I didn’t know where to find a white blessing outfit for a boy, but I was more interested in putting him in some nice looking church clothes anyway. Well, we searched many stores with no results. They had handsome looking clothes, but the smallest size I could find was 12 months. Apparently, boys don’t like to dress up when only 0-3 months.

Getting desperate, I tried to settle for something that was close enough. That’s when my smart hubby put his foot down. He said we weren’t going to buy something when I could make something even better. I tried to point out to him that I would only have one day to make something when I previously gave up the idea of making something when I had 2 weeks. He promised me he would take care of the kids and give me as much time to work as possible. He figured it wouldn’t take me too long to throw together a neck tie onesie, but I wanted to take it a step further and try something new.

Here’s how it turned out:

I got this far, and my husband and I decided it was missing just one thing . . .

Elbow patches!

Now that made it perfect. I loved it so much, I decided to give it a name: The Dapper Onesie. And the family didn’t fall apart while I was making it. In the past, a project like this would have taken me several days and several nervous fits, but I think all the practice I’ve had lately has paid off. It still took me all day. But I had to make my own pattern for the vest (yikes!), and I had never tried either of the tutorials before. Cut out time for eating and nursing and taking over when baby only wanted mommy, and I think I managed pretty well. If I had had more time, I would have made some booties to match, but I consoled myself by saying they would have fallen off anyway.

I didn’t come up with this all on my own. I’m no creative genius. I have to glean creativity from all the other amazing people I find on the web. Here’s what I did. I combined this tutorial for the vest with this tutorial for the bow tie, and the elbow patches were all me. I love how it turned out, and it felt so good to actually get some sewing done.

And this is the part where I get to show off pictures of how handsome my little guy looked . . .with his two doting sistersI think he looks rather dapper, don’t you?

Oh, and just for fun, I thought I’d share my “repeat” song for my completed projects. I tend to listen to music while I work on things, and more often than not, one song dominates the others in frequency. I tend to pause what I’m doing to make my favorite song play again before I can get back to work. I thought it would be fun to share so we could compare tastes, and one day I can look back at what songs I liked at what time. For this project, my repeat song was “Come Around” by Rosi Golan:

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Ruffle Bum Onesies

I got these onesies done in the nick of time before a baby shower last Friday. Since I won't be making anything ruffled for this baby, I had to get my girly fix crafting for someone else. I wish I had known about these when my girls were still small enough to wear them. I think they're so adorable!

They were a hit at the baby shower. I just love it when the recipient asks if I made the item, and when I say yes, there is a chorus around the room of "You made that?!" Don't you other crafters just love that reaction? It gives me warm fuzzies for taking the extra effort to do a handmade gift.

There are tons of tutorials online for doing these (so of course I used one-- no need to try to reinvent the wheel). I ended up using THIS tutorial I found on Ucreate by Crap I've Made. She gives three different options for how to do them. I used the third because I don't have a serger or pinking shears (sigh- someday). And since I'm not the most experienced at gathers (the only time I've gathered fabric was for the gathered clutch I made in January), I decided to try a couple different methods to see which I like best. For the lemon onesie, I used a traditional gather; you can find great instructions on how to do that HERE. And for the red striped onesie, I used a method I found taught by Couturier Mommy using dental floss and a zigzag stitch. I found that the traditional method took longer to work the fabric into gathers, but it stayed in place fairly well once you had it gathered. The dental floss method was a cinch to gather, but it tended to flatten out if I didn't get it pinned in place right away. For the last onesie, I decided to use the traditional method again because it was easier to have the gathers stay in place when I was trying to pin to the stretchy onesie fabric. I don't know if you can see a difference in the ruffles based on which method I used.

I lucked out on the fabric. Both Joanne fabric stores in our city are under liquidation while they prep for a new location to open at the end of June. When I went in to get fabric, they had all their bolts wrapped in plastic except for two small rows. These fabrics were some of the best they had left, so I took what I could get.

In other news, I haven't been up to much other crafting. I've been working on one of my classic receiving blankets for baby boy, but my nesting for him so far seems to consist more of hoarding potential projects rather than actually completing any. I've brought my husband to the dark side with me: he has seen some of the designer fabrics online that I like, and when I drag him to a fabric store now, he doesn't like anything he sees compared to what is available online. Mwa ah ah! We've chosen a name for the little guy, but I'm too paranoid to share my kids' names on this blog :( sorry. My oldest wanted to name him Pudge Puppy. I told her that was more of a nickname than it was a name you would call him his whole life. She loved that idea and has dubbed it his official nickname. I doubt she'll forget about it by the time he's born, poor guy.

So many of my friends and family are pregnant right now that I can't decide whether to make things for myself or for them. I keep telling myself I'll finally brave the clothing frontier and make some skirts for the girls, but that has yet to happen. I have been searching like crazy for a car seat cover pattern-- one that will teach me to make a gorgeous new car seat cover for our infant car seat like Dana makes without telling me to pick my original one apart. I just don't have the guts to destroy my car seat cover if it depends on my skill to put it all back together! Have any of you seen a pattern like this out there?

What have you been crafting lately? Is it summer where you are yet? We seem to be having a very late spring around here. You're always welcome here. Leave a comment. Follow along. Thanks for stopping by!

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*Personal note: given to Melynnda/Brynlee

Lunch Bag

I made this lunch bag for my mother for Christmas. Yes, it’s nearly June, and I still haven’t blogged all my Christmas projects. This project was even late for Christmas. My mother, bless her heart, knew that I was scrambling to finish all the projects I took on for my own family for Christmas, and she told me not to worry about it if I had to give her a rain check. I finished this and gave it to her mid-January, and I think she found it worth the wait. My mother works as a secretary at an elementary school, and I wanted her to have something nice to hold her lunch each day.

I found this wonderful tutorial for the lunch bag, and it was really helpful and easy to follow. I love the drawstring top on the bag to keep everything covered.

I only made a few minor changes from the directions on the tutorial.

I couldn’t find vinyl-coated fabric for the lining, so I bought some clear vinyl and sewed it in when I sewed the lining. (This is a view of the bag inside-out so you can see the vinyl lining.) Also, even though it was on the inside of the bag where no one would really see, I didn’t really like leaving the exposed seam between the drawstring portion and the lining; I’m just picky. So, to remedy that, I tucked the drawstring portion down into the bag while I sewed a couple rows of topstitching just below the orange band on the bag. You can see the stitching if you look closely at the picture below. It encased the exposed seam on the inside of the bag, added a little character on the outside, and pulled the starting point of the drawstring portion down just a bit. Works for me!

My mother has loved taking it to work. She says she always gets compliments on it, and she loves being able to tell them her daughter made it for her. One of her co-workers even asked for the directions so she could make one (and of course I shared the link). I just love giving handmade gifts!

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Little Cap

I sewed my first hat back in February for a family baby shower. I used a pattern by Leila & Ben. The directions were really clear, and there were pictures for each step. Since there are no little boys in my house (yet) and the hat was too small for my girls, I had to get creative with the model. Our rocking horse was so cooperative!

Here’s the back. This was probably my first time sewing with elastic, too.

The top.

I used the instructions from the Little Cap Sew Along on The Train to Crazy, but I couldn’t seem to make the top of my hat look like hers. Oh well. I think it’s cute enough.

I love the soft flannel I used on the inside.

And here’s a closer view of the argyle patch.

The pattern says to use a sturdy fabric such as canvas for the argyle. I used canvas, but the threads are so thick that when it frayed, it looked like the whole thing was going to come apart. By the time I was finished, it had already frayed past where I had sewn it on with the sewing machine. I dabbed a little fabric glue around the edges. It won’t have as much of a cute frayed look to it, but at least it won’t unravel completely in the wash.

I’ve made a few more of these, so I’ll have to post pictures soon.

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*Personal note: given to Autumn/Eman

Gifts for My Sister

My beautiful sister had her baby boy last week. He was 11lbs 2oz (yes, you read that right) and 23 inches long. My mother flew out to Utah yesterday to be with her. I spent much of last week sewing so I could get things done to send with her. Here’s how things turned out.

First, I knew my sister had to have a nursing cover. This is her 4th baby, and she’s always used a blanket to cover up for nursing. I didn’t discover the joy of nursing covers until my second baby, and I can tell you, I’m never going back! I figured this would be the perfect way to spoil her during all that quality time she’ll be spending with baby.

I knew I wanted to make one with two layers of fabric. Last time I was nursing, I had two nursing covers, one with two layers and one with only one. I found that the cover with only one layer was too easy for baby to brush out of the way. One good kick would send that light weight cover floating off of all the parts I wanted hidden. I decided to make it reversible. Here’s the other side.

Even though there are tons of useful tutorials online for making nursing covers, I went a different route this time and got instructions from my friend who made mine. I altered her instructions just a bit, but I still think it turned out really well, especially for my first time making one. I think I might have to make myself a new one for my next baby.

Next, I made her a car seat canopy, or “greeter deterrent,” as they have also appropriately been called. This was SUCH an easy project to throw together! Well, mostly easy. I did run into one major snag related to my sewing supplies, but I’ll get to that later.

I love how it turned out!Adorable buttons.And for a little extra decoration, I did two rows of topstitching: green and aqua on the top layer and aqua and dark blue on the bottom layer. I’ll have to branch out and try some fancy stitches on my sewing machine next time. I’ll have to experiment and see what “Old Reliable” even has to offer in that department.

There are all kinds of great tutorials on the web for car seat covers. Cluck Cluck Sew’s is the first one I found. And here are a couple more:

Sweet n’ Sassy Girls

Just Because I am Me

I kind of read through the instructions on all of them to learn the basics and winged it when I actually did it. Any one of these tutorials would be really helpful to anyone wanting to learn how to make one.

And just in case there was any question that my house is occupied by little girls, I’ll give you a peek at what was hiding underneath the car seat canopy:

My littlest is obsessed with small dolls she can carry around. She has quite a few Strawberry Shortcake figures, but she’s constantly stealing her sister’s Tinker Bell fairies. She thought the car seat seemed like the perfect place to stash her “girls.”

Oh, and I guess I was going to tell you about my velcro catastrophe. I had all my supplies for the canopy, but when I purchased things, I purposely didn’t buy velcro for the straps. I knew I had plenty at home from one of my Christmas projects. Well, when it came time to sew on the velcro Friday evening, I searched my house and all my disorganized crafts (I’ve got to do something about that). I couldn’t find my velcro anywhere! After all my searching, I only had a little time to swing by Joanne’s before I had to be at my friend’s house for a girls’ night. Joanne’s failed me! They only had black sew-on velcro, and I didn’t want to buy the no sew white velcro (even though I could still sew it on) because it was more expensive. (I was feeling stubborn.)

Saturday, the day I was supposed to get things to my mother before she left, I went across town where there were several stores I could try to find velcro. I started at Wal-mart because it was the nearest stop. They too only had no sew velcro in white, but it was at least a better price. I was feeling a little more flexible, so I decided to quit my search and just sew on the sticky back velcro. BAD IDEA! Once I got home and tried it, my needle on my machine got so gummed up by the glue that it wouldn’t pick up the bobbin thread. My mother was running errands and then she was going to come by my house to pick things up. I took a chance and called to ask where she was. She was at Fred Meyer, but I had her check for it on a long shot. Long story slightly shorter: my mother and Fred Meyer saved my car seat cover!!

So all my blathering aside, just let that be a lesson that you make sure you have the supplies before you get started!

And I guess I won’t waste any more of your time with a rant about how hard it is to find decent prints suitable for a boy locally. Even things that are the right color have flowers or hearts these days! Have any of you had that problem?

My sister called me on Sunday after my mother arrived. She loves everything I sent for her. I also made the little guy a hat, but I’ll share that later.

What projects have you been working on? Have you discovered the joy of nursing covers? Do you know any places I could find great prints for boys that don’t cost $16 a yard? Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for 5 patterns from LuvlyGurumi (see sidebar)!

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*Personal note: given to Beth/Nathan