Flippy floppy

A few weeks before Millie was born, the nesting bug set in and I went a little crazy making hats and other things for her. My sewing machine was broken at that time but I still found plenty to keep me busy! Around that time I found a new-to-me blog called Aesthetic Nest, written by a very talented lady called Anneliese, who sews, knits, crochets, paints, and throws the most AMAZING  parties for her three girls.

One of Anneliese's crochet patterns was for this adorable hat, which has a choice of a 'flippy floppy' on top, or a ruffled rose on the side. I made the flippy floppy for Millie but I've also done a ruffled rose version for my niece and it is lovely.

The blue and brown one below was for a little boy soon to be born to my friend Tiff. I adapted the pattern slightly by doing two rows of single crochet for the contrast edging, and making the ties a little shorter.

You can find the original pattern here.

In case you're interested, I also knit the cardi that Millie is wearing in that top picture. I can't seem to find the pattern anymore so no link, sorry. It was a really easy knit, and all in one piece.

cutie in wool

What could be more delicious than a squishy baby in wool?

I really enjoyed knitting this little sweater. I used this pattern, from Lion Brand. It came together very easily and is just so cute on her. Here's to many more adorable little baby sweaters :-)

McCalls 5791

View B, again. I seem to get stuck in ruts when it comes to patterns. I don't know whether that's a bad thing or not, but it definitely helps me learn. Plus I feel much more confident when I've tried a pattern out and know it's okay. Kind of boring though, huh? However, I do LOVE this dress...

Trev's brother was getting married so I made this little dress to coordinate with the wedding colours. I love love love the fact that this dress is fully lined. It makes a much more special, professional finish and is probably more comfy, too.

All my fabrics were from Joanns, except the lining which was from a thrifted white bed sheet.

sweetie

Yet anther sweet little dress/top, except this time, I varied it! Woohoo! According to the pattern, you're supposed to put elastic in the sleeves, but I didn't. Partly out of experimentation, and partly out of lack of time. It's actually quite cute, don't you think? The fabric is very lightweight gingham, which I suspect won't hold up all that well, but it should last for the rest of the summer. I do love the colour!

In case you're interested (and you should be- this pattern is great) visit Leila and Ben on Etsy for the pattern. Also, one of my favourite blogs, Brown Paper Packages, recently did a pattern makeover month using this pattern. There are all kinds of variations you can try, to come up with cute and unique clothes for little girls.

finished at last

I've been working on lots of things lately but haven't been posting stuff. I keep making the classic mistake of sending off gifts without remembering to photograph them first.

Today I finished up this little jacket that I knitted before Christmas. All it needed was a zip, and yet it sat there waiting for me to sew it in for over 6 months. Lame! I think it's because I don't really like it. It didn't turn out quite how I hoped, so I didn't have the heart to finish it. But at least now it's not taking up space on my desk. And you know- Lainey might wear it once or twice. For camping, or something.

I'm really still a 'beginner' when it comes to knitting, so the two-colour pattern took forever! I did enjoy doing it though.

Lainey does this really cute thing when she's trying on a new piece of clothing. She sort of shrugs her shoulders a few times and then strokes her belly. Adorable!

Spring dress

Even though Easter fell on the Sunday of General conference (meaning no church) I still wanted to make her an 'Easter dress.' It's lucky there was no church because the dress wasn't finished until 5 days after Easter. So, I'm calling it her 'spring dress'.

I have to say...I love this dress. And I really like the pattern (McCalls 5791) I made view B. This was an easy dress to make. I wouldn't say it's a beginner project, but I think anyone could give it a go and end up with something cute. The dress is fully lined, with a zipper in the back.

On a lot of sewing blogs, I see beautiful dresses and tops made without a pattern! I really envy the women who have the talent to do that. I'm still stuck in the land of patterns. Maybe one day I'll become a little braver...

On the neeeeeedles

Eeek! Look at what I've been doing- knitting with two colours! And, so far, it's going well. My stitches are not perfect, they're a little uneven in places, but hey- if I wanted a perfectly knitted item I would just go and buy one. This is going to have handmade written all over it :-)



It's quite a slow process, for me. But I'm loving seeing the pattern emerge. I think that's why it's so slow- every row I knit I have to turn it round and gaze lovingly at it. I can't wait to see it as a jacket for my little princess to wear.

The pattern is from Debbie Bliss's 'Quick Baby Knits'. It's a lovely book and I'd like to try pretty much every single design in there. ~Sigh~ if only they were really quick...

Felt play food

Yeah, I know. I'm probably the last crafty person in the whole world to get on board with the whole felt playfood thing. But really, my kids are only just old enough to start using it. See? I was just waiting for the right time :-)

Anyway, on to what I've been up to. First up, we have choc chip cookies, fresh from the oven...


And sugar cookies too, for some variety...

If you're after something a bit more substantial and healthy, you can have a sandwich...

With doritos of course (well nobody can be 100 percent good all the time)

Hope you enjoyed your meal. We'll be adding more choices to the menu soon!

I also made this little apron for Luke (for real cooking/helping in the kitchen.) It is made from a dishtowel from the dollar store, I simply cut the top corners off and added a strip of binding on each side. So easy and cute!

Ps. All the food is handsewn, mostly blanket stitch. I like to handsew when I can, it's relaxing and takes me back to my roots!

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.

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 :-)

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 :-)

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 :-)

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.