Sweet little dress

Here's a little top I whipped up for Lainey, using a pattern purchased from Leila and Ben. I loved the pattern so much that I have bought it in the baby sizes, and also the big girl sizes. I think I'll be making it a lot!

The pattern is the Sweet little Dress pattern, but obviously I modifed it to make a top instead. I think you could do a lot with this pattern. It was quick to put together and I love the way it looks. I'm almost think this could be Lainey's uniform- a simple yet girly top, paired with leggins.

Meet Sleepy Sue

Lainey's first dolly, for Christmas. Just what a first dolly should be- simple, soft and loveable!

Pattern/tutorial for Black Apple Doll found at Martha Stewart. I used a fuzzy, velvet-like material (from Walmart) for the hair. I embroidered the facial features instead of painting them on. I like how she turned out. Hope she gets a lot of lovin' from Lainey.

balls

Goodness me, is Christmas really only two weeks away? So little time...so much to do. I have a plan, though, and so far I am sticking to it and keeping up with my little time schedule that I've mapped out in my notebook. We'll see whether I can quilt Luke's quilt in two days, or whether that'll set me behind...

I've seen so many cool ideas for gifts. There are so many talented women out there and I've actually had to stop looking at certain blogs because my to-do list was getting too long. You have to remember that my talents are modest at best, and things take me a bit longer.

Anyway, here's a little project I did for Lainey, which only took a couple of hours, including hand-stitching. Not too bad!

The pattern is from Grand Revival Designs. (Scroll down a little way and the free patterns are located on the right-hand side)

I stuffed mine a little lightly, so Lainey can get her mitts around it easily, and added a little jingle bell inside each one. They will make a nice little Christmas gift. Wouldn't these be a cute baby-shower gift too?!

Luke's jammies

I'm going to make pjs for the kids this year. The tops I am making are made from stretchy knit fabric, and since I've never worked with that kind of material before- and since Luke was low on nightclothes after a recent growth spurt- I decided to have a practice run.

The attempt was fairly successful, but I am glad that I did do a practice, since there are a few things I will change when I make the Christmas pjs. Sewing knit fabric is not too scary, but mine did stretch a bit in the bottom hem, making it look kind of wobbly. I plan to remedy that by adding a kind of binding to the bottom, wth gap at the sides so that it still has some give.

We'll have to wait and see how it turns out, but for now, I'm happy to have overcome the fear of knits!

Chunky booties

I made these for Lainey- they're so warm and snuggly, and very, very quick and easy to make! The pattern is here, though I think I need to tweak it somehow to help them stay on baby's feet. Maybe I will add some elastic or something.

Dice games

Here's a really easy and inexpensive Christmas gift idea. I thought of it for a relief society activity we were doing, but we ended up doing something else instead.

All you do is buy a wooden box from the craft store, you know those unfinished ones, they come in all shapes and sizes. Mine has a hinge so the lid stays on.

Paint it in any colour you like, using whatever paint you choose (I used the cheap craft paint and did two coats). Then, add scrapbook paper, chipboard letters, and any embellishments you fancy! I'm not very good with glue so I cheated and used some very handy self-adhesive scrapbook paper.

I didn't get a photo, but I also painted the inside, and then lined the bottom with felt for a really professional look. Then I filled it with a set of six dice, and instructions for several dice games. You could google 'dice games' or something.

I think it would be a fun present to give to newlywed couples, too.

Luke crafts!

Look at what Luke and mummy made! We've hung them in his bedroom window for all to admire!

I just downloaded some shapes (you could draw freehand) traced them onto thick paper and cut them out. Then Luke got to work painting them. He didn't completely cover them, so I went over the white bits with crayon. Mounted them on coloured paper, and all done!

If you are looking for fun ways to involve your children in crafts, I have found The Crafty Crow to be a great source of ideas.

dishy dishy!

Hardly groundbreaking stuff, I know, but I do feel a tinsy bit proud of my first dishcloth. It's a cool wavy stitch that I learnt (basically knit one row, then the next row you knit, slip, knit, slip etc. Knit next row, the knit knit slip, knit slip knit slip etc. And repeat!) So easy!

And the back of the cloth comes out all nubbly and textured, which I'm sure will be effective on those left-from-last-night dishes which I seem to find in my kitchen quite frequently these days.

If you are interested in making your own, just google 'knit dishcloth patterns', you will get lots of sites to check out. Or how about these knitted dishtowels? I think they look just lovely, and I'd love to know how absorbent and practical they are.

Last year's halloween

Please humour me for just a moment. I know that I posted about this costume last year, on my other blog, but I just feel like it deserves another 5 minutes of fame. I mean, it barely even got seen last year, since we didn't really go to any parties or trick-or-treating.



I just love how it turned out, especially since I didn't have a pattern, and basically just dreamed it up in my own crazy little brain.

This year, I have something fun planned for the kids to coordinate. I don't want to give it away, but let's just say, Luke's gonna be a REAL boy :-)

Chair

Remember this chair? Trev and I designed and made it ourselves! The top part, that is. It sits on a barstool that we had lying around. I posted about it a while back and mentioned my plans to paint it green.




Well....here she is in all her glory! I really love the way it turned out. The green paint was a free sample I ordered a while ago, and I just happened to have a suitable fabric on hand to make the seat pad and ruffle.

It's really easy to wipe clean, and throw the fabric bits in the washing machine when needed. I love it lots!

By the way, I wish I could take credit for the ruffle, but I can't. My mum did it for me while she was visiting last week. It is held in place with Velcro.

first of many, I hope

This is my first ever scatter cushion. I used clearance fabric, piped with some from my stash. I didn't put a zip in because the fabric is not washable, so when it gets too dirty, I'll just cut it off and make a new one.

I like how it turned out, and Luke has already started using it as a cover for his cache of cars.

headbands for my little baldy

Lainey has been in desperate need of some head bands. My lovely friend Lindsey kindly shared some of her abundant gear with me and helped me make these little cuties.

I love the brown and yellow one! We made it specially to match her Wyoming outfit :-)

Giveaway oh giveaway!

Cool fabric giveaway here. Check out the rest of the blog too, it's so inspiring!

prototype hats

I'm thinking of attempting to sell some little crochet hats, adorned with detachable flowers as shown above. I've made a couple of prototypes/practice hats :-)

Teeny-weeny quilt

This is Lainey's new little blanket, for taking to bed with her. It's made of pre-cut squares of heart fabric, purchased on ebay about 3 years ago. I simply pieced them, used fusible fleece as batting, and quilted by stitching 'in-the'ditch'.

I am happy with it. Lainey loves it, because there are so many different patterns and colours in it. The best bit is that I managed to teach myself how to miter the corners on my binding, using a tutorial I can't find anymore, otherwise I'd link it.

This is a small quilt (maybe 25 inches square) It'll one day be perfect for a dolly's bed, and it has given me a taste for quilting and I can't wait to do more!

Luke's raggy

Just a silly little thing really- adapting Luke's 'raggy' to make it a bit more attractive! It used to be simply a pale blue textured fabric. I sewed some 'Cars' fabric to it, then did wavy stitching to hold the two layers together. Fortunately, Luke loves it and is just attached to it as ever :-)

Outside blanket

Well, it was going to be an outside blanket, until we decided that it's actually just the right weight and size for snuggling on the couch. So, now it's an inside blanket. But that's okay.

The top fabric is from Ikea, about 5 or 6 years ago. The bottom is denim I already had, and that's what gives it a bit more weight, which I love.

boxes

Here's a quick project that can be done with materials that most 'crafty' people would probably have on hand.

Take a few old boxes. I used baby shoe boxes, as Lainey is demonstrating below-


Using scrapbook paper, Mod-Podge (pva glue) and felt, you can turn them into something quite attractive. Much better than the plain old boxes, don't you think?

I'm using them for accessible storage in my sewing area. I bet they would make nice gift-boxes, too.

bits

Recently, I've been doing all sorts. Crochet, knitting, sewing, home decor stuff...I've been starting projects galore and jumping from thing to thing without finishing any of them.

One thing that I'm way excited about is my crochet. I started making little flower motifs. I thought I could use them on headbands for Lainey, hats, clothes, whatever. So I promptly whipped up a little stash. (sample pictured below). Then, I thought, maybe this is what I could sell in my Etsy shop! Not sure though, but it's a thought.

I asked Trev to make a tall chair for Luke to sit at our bar. He got right on it (what a good example!) and it was finished a few days later. Finished, that is, except for making it look good, which is where I come in. We decided white with the red vinyl pad but it's not working so it's going to be green. Watch this space for updates on that!

This is for a wall display I'm doing in our living room. It came together really cheaply and I actually love it, and the way it fits in with our scheme (that I have planned...)

So, that's it for now. I've got 5 or 6 other things on the go and I'll add them soon.

Breathable crib bumpers

Lainey is at the stage where her arms and legs are always escaping through the bars of her crib. I'm a bit scared of traditional bumpers, it just seems like a baby could suffocate with them. So I came up with this simple idea to make them breathable.

I used a mesh material that I bought, oh, a year ago. I trimmed it with satin blanket binding, and made ties from bias tape. It's one piece that kind of weaves in and out of the crib bars (at the corners) and joins with velcro.

I used lavender, so that it will go with the quilt that my mum made and sent over for Lainey. Isn't it lovely? I love Beatrix Potter!

4th July outfits

4th July stuff- simple shorts for brother and sister, and a last-minute felt star for Lainey's head.

I really need to get on board with the whole bow thing. People are always thinking Lainey is a boy.

Looking back

The other day, Trev needed a blanket to put Lainey on, and this is the one that he got out of the closet. This is a blanket with a story. It represents my first attempt at crochet. I started it when I was about 9 years old, under the watchful eye of my very talented mother. I finished it 3 years ago, 17 years after making those first few chain stitches. It spent several years (teenage years) hidden away, untouched.

Most of the yarns were leftovers from my mum's knitting projects, some were unravelled jumpers, and I think one or two were bought new, especially for my blanket.

It's funny because I clearly remember mum saying that it would one day be a lovely blanket for my children. And it is. Thanks for the lessons and encouragement, mum!