woodsy quilted baby blanket

another backpack

One of my favorite projects for little ones is this floppy little backpack. The straps are adjustable and the color and style possibilities are endless (see previous versions here, here, and here). It's a KWIK SEW pattern and comes together easily.

This bag I made for a first birthday and included Mike Austin's Monsters Love Colors book. It's a fun little story about mixing to make different colors. Atlas loves it and we hope his young friend will too!

dino hoodie

My model is two years old and this gift is for a little boy who just turned four, but I think the cuteness is evident despite the poor fit. This is a Chico zip-up hoodie from Target. I followed the directions in this tutorial to add felt dino spikes.

my little prince

How cute is this little crochet crown!? The pattern can be found here. It's in Dutch, but with a little Google Translate a little guesswork it's not too difficult to figure out.

map mats

When we first moved to Alexandria, we got this old chair for $25 off Craigslist. It was not in fantastic condition, but it was super comfortable. We finally got rid of it when the frame broke. There were wood pieces and springs sticking out, it really wasn't worth the salvage, but I kept the comfy cushions for just such a project as this.

I used two chair cushions and two thick foam pieces from JoAnn Fabrics and covered them to make mats for Atlas to lounge on and make forts out of. I imagined a reading nook. He of course had other plans, and they have mostly been jumped on, which is fine by me.

The panel of fabric is something I bought a long time ago thinking of Atlas, but I didn't know what to do with it. My mom had the same impulse and lack of inspiration, so I ended up with two maps, which allowed for some necessary overlap. The numbers on the back match well and I love the bold print.

family

A couple weeks after my last blog post, our youngest surprised us with an early arrival. In the time since, I've completed a few projects, but obviously I haven't posted anything. I blame sleep deprivation and adjusting to life with twice as many little ones around. I'll catch up a bit and hopefully get some new stuff done in the next few weeks as well.

pretty pink baby shoes

Close friends just finished all the paperwork to adopt a little girl... now it's just a matter of waiting. Waiting is hard, so to help make the anticipation a little sweeter I made a pair of tiny baby shoes featuring a fun black and white with pink fabric I found as a fat quarter. The pattern is one I've made before, and this time I added a bit of embroidery to personalize them.

"Mind Your P's And Q's" baby blanket

I just finished a small quilt for a baby girl expected at the end of August.

This was my first time using a "charm pack" for a baby blanket. It's a variety of fabrics from Keiki's Mind Your P's And Q's collection. I found the fabric searching for coral and turquoise prints to match the nursery. It was a little brighter than the colors I originally imagined in my head, but the fun letters and animals in the print totally sold me on the fabric. I couldn't find much yardage available online, so the pre-cut stack of 5x5" squares from Pink Chalk Fabrics seemed like a great head start. I got a little more inspiration on design from Pinterest. Unfortunately I didn't get the quilting completed in time for the shower, but I'm well ahead of the baby's arrival, so I don't feel too tardy.

water fun

Our community has five pools available to residents through the summer. They are all kid friendly, and there is even a splash park for the little ones. I wish I could say we take full advantage of these resources, but my energy levels and mobility (not to mention fear of maternity swimwear) have not been helpful in making it happen. So we thought about putting a sand box in our yard this summer, but decided the mess and investment wouldn't be worth it. Instead we went with a water play table.

I bought the large storage tub from JoAnn Fabrics because I was there and saw them, but they are widely available. It's the kind that is designed to slide under a bed, so wide and shallow. Eventually we'll put it up on blocks in back, but since we're working on the deck, the temporary home is on the front porch.

I ordered stacking/nesting cups designed for water play as well as the funnel/wheel toy from Amazon. As it turns out Atlas favors the large plastic cup and mixing spoon, but we've had fun playing with all the items.

 

A neighbor saw us playing and brought out the elephant watering can. It's been a huge hit as well.

Here's to staying cool and splashing around in the summer sun!

baby quilt in progress

I don't want to give too much away, but here is a snapshot of my current project. I'm hoping to finish up by this weekend!

baby shoes

I've been following Shwin & Shwin, a blog about kids clothes for a while now. There are a lot of sewing blogs out there, and a good number of blogs about sewing kids clothes, but this blog has patterns and tutorials and all kinds of detailed info. It's not just a place where the creator posts photos and brags, it's actually helpful! Also, the stuff they make is really well designed. I especially like that the boys clothes are just as unique as the girls clothes. It's easy to add ruffles and other embellishments when you're sewing for a little girl, but I'm more impressed with the details they put into the little menswear.

I made the shoes below for friends who just found out they are expecting a little girl. The pattern is based on this one for newborn mary jane shoes. I love the little pleats and comfy felt lining. My first attempt I cut along the line that is apparently supposed to be the seam allowance, oops, and they ended up doll-sized. I made another pair of the mary janes and forgot to take a picture before giving them away. This pair I skipped the strap and went with the ballet slipper look. Ta da!

sugar and spice and everything nice

I had so much fun making cake pops for a gender reveal party for some close friends of ours. They opened a box of balloons to find out they are having a girl! I was in on the secret ahead of time and put my best effort into decorating these yummy treats.

The inside is white cake with cream cheese frosting and peppermint extract. I wasn't sure about the combination of the cream cheese and mint flavors, but I remembered seeing a cream cheese mint recipe on Pinterest, so I went for it. With a dash of red food coloring, the pink color fit the peppermint flavor and the girly element. The coating is Wilton chocolate candy melt, and the writing is the vanilla variety. I used a plastic baggie with a trimmed corner to write with the candy onto wax paper and placed it on top of the freshly dipped pops. Yum!

costume: aviator

So a nasty cold completely derailed my costume making plans. I was miserable for over a week and spent any and all extra time resting and trying to heal. My plan was to use the sweatsuit pattern I drafted to make a fox costume. I had it all designed in my head, I had all the materials purchased, and I was so excited.

When we left for Michigan on Saturday, I had to make the hard choice to leave my project behind. I didn't want to assume I could borrow sewing equipment, and I didn't want to take time away from our visit with family. I cried.

We were invited to trick-or-treat with Atlas's cousins, which necessitated a costume, but I couldn't bring myself to go buy one. We decided to work with the sweatsuit I had already made, add the wings we got on the flight, and crochet a hat and goggles to complete the look.

The hat and goggles pattern is designed by Yarnovations.com and I purchased it on Etsy. A quick trip to Michaels for yarn and a few other supplies was easy. The hat was super quick and easy, the goggles slightly more time consuming, but also pretty basic. I used the exact yarn suggested by the pattern and a plastic cup for the lenses. I'm really pleased with the outcome.

I'm planning to use the materials I bought for the fox costume on a winter jacket inspired by this design and loosely using the Baby in the Hood pattern in Handmade Beginnings.

 

"things that go" birthday party

My little man turned one today, and we threw him a great party. He loves anything with wheels, so we focused on "things that go".

train and car frosted sugar cookies

semi sized sign

car made from a box

wheel-themed cakes that spin

oreo pop favors with rims

car-themed board book favors for kids

birthday boy loving a new toy

wintery grey baby cap

Continued crochet efforts: this warm winter wear is for a cute little one being dedicated today.

 

sweatsuit refashion

I bought a big sweatshirt from Walmart at the beginning of the summer (it was clearance on top of already cheap) with a refashion in mind for myself, but I ended up using it to make a cute as pie sweatsuit in about 12-month size.

I am planning to make a Halloween costume for Atlas - a furry creature to be revealed at a later date - and I want to base the design on a cozy one-piece outfit we already have. Since this is my first time drafting a pattern, I figured a practice round would be a good way to start. I opted for the sweatshirt remodel because the half zipper option allows me to avoid any of my own zipper/buttons/snaps. As a result, it's not the most diaper-change-friendly outfit.

I started by tracing the original garment - turned inside out and flattened on a roll of Ikea craft paper. I left room for seam allowances and hems.

The design is super simple - a single front panel cut on a fold, opposite back panels, and sleeves.

I cut the pattern out of the XL sweatshirt utilizing the front zipper, collar, and even the cuffs. It took a bit more time to get everything lined up correctly, but in the end it saved me a bunch of effort hemming and finishing the garment.

I couldn't resist a final touch of style. I had plenty of extra fabric to make little shoulder things - what are they actually called? Anyone?

Add buttons and an adorable almost-one-year-old!