Bonnie
Fresh Comfort Quilt Blocks for April
I am really enjoying the Fresh Comfort Virtual Quilting Bee. Each month I get to learn a new technique or try out a new idea for a quilt block! This month, Tacey asked us to do Opposites Attract blocks for her quilt. The idea of this block is to pair a busy pieced area with a quiet area featuring one main fabric.
For the first block, I did randomly pieced pinwheels using the main fabric for the bottom quarter of the block. For Tacey’s second block, I pieced together squares of the coordinating fabrics around a strip of the main choice.
Samantha fell in love with Tacey’s fabric selections, and I happen to have a few yards of the main fabric in my stash so you may see this combination again in a quilt for her in the future!
And, as usual, I made matching blocks in the same patterns to keep for myself.
Little Lambs Diaper Shower Set
The double baby shower was last night, so I can post the set that I made for the second mom now. Oh, and I happened to hear that she did read my blog post about the first mom’s set and almost convinced herself not to scroll down and see if hers was posted, too. Hee-hee . . . I’m so glad I kept it a surprise!
This mom uses cloth diapers, so I had a great time sewing diapers and knitting soakers for her. She also sticks to natural fabrics like cotton, hemp and wool because of her children’s allergies.
I recycled two 100% cotton knit receiving blankets into four fitted diapers for her using the free Darling Diapers Newborn Pattern.
And, I knit her two soakers (wool diaper covers). For this first one, I used the free Snapdragon Soaker Pattern and Mosiac Moon’s Coastal Sunset colorway on Cestari.
I knit the second soaker using the Frantic Mama Soaker Pattern which also happens to be available free. (Both soaker patterns are quick and easy to follow and produce really nice results!) The yarn is this one is Purewool in their Omekua colorway.
I think both moms really liked the sets that I created for them. I can’t wait to see their new babies wearing them!
Jump for Joy – Spring is Here!
I love spring! It leaves me in awe every year watching creation, barren after months of cold weather, burst forth with bloom. I took my youngest four to a park yesterday to enjoy the green grass, the wildflowers and the beautiful weather.
They’re all growing so fast. Sometimes I just want to freeze time. Jamie showed us that he can climb across the monkey bars!
Charlie slept in the stroller while we played, so I’ll share this picture that I snapped of him last night. We like to start the sci-fi love really early around here!
Cupcakes & Stripes Baby Shower Gift
I have a double baby shower to attend this weekend, and I’ve been working on gifts in my little bit of free time. One mom is expecting a baby girl, so I sewed up this sweet cupcake set for her.
I used Rae’s Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern for the dress. I love this pattern! The end result always looks so professional.
I sewed up the matching bloomers using my own Newborn Baby Bloomers tutorial.
This mama is planning to use disposable diapers, so I also made a Diaper & Wipes Case for her using Jan Andrea’s tutorial.
It is entirely possible that I tried the dress and bloomers set on Baby Charlie to see how it fits. Shhhh . . . don’t tell on me! It is so adorable on. It’s a tiny bit snug on him at just over 11 pounds–I think it would be a perfect fit on an 7 to 9 pound baby. (I was nice and didn’t take pictures to tease my little guy with when he’s a teenager.)
The other mom who is being honored at this shower reads my blog, so I’ll have to wait until the shower is over to show off her gift. I don’t want to spoil the surprise!
Fresh Comfort Quilt Blocks for February & March
I got a little sewing done this week! Just a few quilt blocks, and I had to do them in short blocks of time, but it was really nice to sew something. The two quilt blocks above are the ones that I did for me this month. The month of March is Barb’s at the Fresh Comfort Virtual Quilting Bee. Barb sent beautiful batiks and linens for her blocks and asked us to use Oh Frannson’s Map of the States Block tutorial. This was my first experience paper-piecing anything, and I think it was a great place to start. I’m so happy with how the blocks turned out!
In February, Hilary asked for log cabins. I love the color palette that she chose for her fabrics. Here are the two blocks that I did for her.
And the log cabin blocks that I did for me.
Spring Top Week Is Coming!
Spring Top Week at Made by Rae is coming soon! I had so much fun sewing tops for me during last year’s challenge. You can check out my blog posts about the five tops I made here: Spring Tops 2009.
With a new baby this year, I’m definitely not planning to sew that many tops! I’m aiming for just one. I’ve been wanting a tunic-style top, so I ordered Kwik Sew 3162 from Sew Thankful. And, I’ve been drooling over Anna Maria Horner’s new voile fabrics: Little Folks Voile. Don’t you think they would go perfectly with that pattern? Hmmm . . .
Anyone else have something planned or in the works for Spring Top Week?
Magic Yarn Ball Swap
Not much sewing going on around here at the moment. We’re mostly feeding the baby, changing the baby, enjoying the baby, repeat. I did join a Magic Yarn Ball Swap, though. I loved doing this the last time it was hosted, and I knew it was something fun that wouldn’t take too much of my time. In a Magic Yarn Ball Swap, you purchase yarn and little goodies for your swap partner, then you wrap the little goodies up in the yarn ball so that your partner finds surprises as she knits or crochets.
I chose Cascade 220 wool yarn for both of my swap partners. They both have little ones in cloth diapers, so they’ll likely be knitting it into longies or shorties. I searched my house and came up with all sorts of fun little things to hide inside–handmade soap, wax tarts, various knitting tools, tags for handmade clothing, elastic, chocolate, tea, hot cocoa, . . .
And just because he’s so cute, and growing so fast, our snow baby, Charlie, at one month old:
Baby is here!
Baby Charlie is here! Warren Charles “Charlie” arrived last week in the biggest snowstorm in Dallas, Texas history. A record 12 1/2 inches of snow!
I love this picture of Jamie and me (and Baby Charlie). It was taken in our backyard about 12 hours before he was born.
Charlie was born weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. We’re all enjoying him very much!
Skirts for Sewing Seeds for Haiti
I finished two skirts for the Sewing Seeds for Haiti project this afternoon! These are just simple 6-panel skirts with elastic waists, sized at about a girls 12-14. 12-year-old Samantha is modeling them in these pictures.
Diaper Bag Set for Mom and Baby
Yep, still pregnant and trying to stay busy until it’s time. Little bit really needed a diaper bag. I bought the fabric for it quite some time ago (Bloom and Grow by Riley Blake), but I hadn’t found just the right pattern. I know I could have made one up–I actually started to a few times, but sometimes, you just want someone else to do all the thinking for you. Yesterday, I happened on the Ladybug Diaper Bag pattern from Sew Spoiled and fell in love!
The pattern is a downloadable pdf, so I was able to get started right away. I spent most of the day working on it yesterday. (I actually thought maybe all the up and down, standing to sitting, that making an involved bag requires might help get labor started. It didn’t work.) I purchased my copy of the pattern from the website YouCanMakeThis.com. They have a 20% off code that is good through today: SUPERSALE.
I did make a few modifications, not because there was anything wrong with the pattern, but more to make the bag exactly what I wanted. I’ll detail those as I go.
Here’s the front. The biggest modification that I made was taking 3″ off of the width. I tend to be pretty minimalistic in the things that I pack in the diaper bag, so a slightly smaller one works well for us (yes, even with cloth diapers). I also brought the magnetic snap on the front down about an inch. I wanted it to close a little more tightly than the one in the picture on the website.
And, the back. I did two elasticized pockets here as the pattern recommends.
Here’s another modification that was really easy to make–a little “hidden” pocket on one of the side panels for my cell phone.
Inside, I added a divider to make it a mom & baby bag. Here’s the mom side with a couple of pockets for business cards, a pen, etc. I left out the zippered pocket, but now I wish I’d maybe put it in the divider.
Here’s baby’s side with three elasticized pockets instead of the two that the pattern calls for.
The pattern was really easy to follow and understand. The pictures of each step were great! If you’ve purchased any of my patterns, you probably already know how much I appreciate pictures of each step. I think they make getting a great result from a pattern so much easier.
A few of my favorite things about the pattern itself: The look of the front of the bag is so unique and really attractive. The small flap closure makes getting in and out of the bag quick and easy, but still provides some protection for the contents inside. The adjustable strap is awesome for going from shoulder to stroller–you could even add some length to the strap to make it long enough to go across your body, if you like to wear your bags that way. Adding iron-on interfacing to both the inner and outer pieces (although it does take awhile to iron it on) makes a really nice finished bag that stands up on it’s own (a great feature in a diaper bag).
Since this will be my “purse” for awhile after baby arrives, I just had to add a matching wallet and key fob. The wallet pattern can be found at Wired Up Designs.
I’m so excited about using my new bag. I think I’ll work on adding a few more accessories while I wait for baby . . . a changing pad, a wet bag . . . hmmm . . . what else?
