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?
Sock Monkeys and Elephants for Our Little Guy
Ah, the waiting . . . It’s interesting that when I reflect on the things that I’ve learned in life, I see how much God has taught me about waiting, yet I still find it hard to be patient and trust His timing. I am so ready for baby to be here, but so far, there’s not much sign that says it’ll be happening right away. While I wait, I’m relaxing a lot and really enjoying my new-found love of knitting! It’s so nice to have a hobby that I can do while I have my feet up (in hopes that I might actually have ankles again someday).
This little sock monkey set was inspired by the sweater in the picture below. I didn’t knit the sweater–it was actually a gift from a very sweet friend. When it arrived in my mail, I knew right away that I wanted to make a whole set to go with it!
I started with embroidering a sock monkey on a newborn-size laptee (from my Little One Layette pattern). Then I added a pair of knitted Picky Pants longies in newborn and, of course, every little sock monkey needs a hat!
The longies, hat and sweater were all knit with Patons Classic Wool which is readily available at craft stores like Michaels and Joann, and is a great wool to start with if you’re just learning to knit!
Then there’s the Eliott Elephant set. It’s entirely possible that I’ve been daydreaming about this set since I found out that we’re having a new little boy. The elephant fabric is so cute! I made this one in size 0-3 months with small Picky Pants, so it might not fit right away. The yarn was custom-dyed by the very talented Tasha of Eva Baby Designs on BFL.
I had plenty of the coordinating Eliott striped knit, so I also made a matching hat and a pair of knit pants (from my LOL pattern, as well).
Now, I just need this baby boy to come out so he can try out these clothes that I’ve been working so hard to create just for him! I know, patience, mama–baby will come when it’s time . . .
An I-Spy Quilt for a Sweet Little Boy to Cuddle
A nine-year-old little boy from the local church where we’ve worshipped for the last several years passed away a little over a week ago. His name was Montana. Although we weren’t close friends with the family, we worshipped with them and our children went to Sunday School together, and my heart breaks for them. I can’t even begin to imagine what a difficult time this is for them. Montana had a four-year-old little brother who’s left to grow up without his big brother now, and I really felt the leading to craft something for him–something that might bring him a little comfort.
I’ve posted before about the I-Spy Quilt that I made for Jamie and how much he loves it. Collecting all those different blocks left me with quite the collection of blocks leftover, and I knew right away that would be the perfect thing.
The finished quilt measures about 40″ X 50″. A good lap-quilt or nap-quilt size for a preschooler. I like that the I-Spy blocks make it fun, too. In fact, Jamie and I played “Can you find the race car, dinosaur, football . . . ” with it before I threw it in the wash when it was all finished.
I left out batting and backed it with minkee. I love the way this makes a nice drag-around-the-house quilt that’s easy and compact to fold, but still feels soft and warm.
I also added a label to the back to remind Dooley of how very much he’s loved by family and friends.
