we LOVE Ed Emberley!

Norah's birthday dress

One of the fun things about having a girl is getting to make clothes for them, as I am slowly discovering.  It's been hectic around here and I hate to ignore this sweet mellow little gal while her exuberant brother has a big birthday bash filled with friends and fun.  

 I cut into some hoarded  Japanese Kokka fabric for this little reversible apron dress.  It is lined in pink Kona, with some ric rak and an appliqued matryoschka doll on the reverse. A couple vintage buttons from the button jar finish off the shoulders.

The series of photos was taken as Brian was taking a break working on the porch roof. She is all about walking everywhere, now!

Such a sweet dress for our sweet gal!  Now I gotta go windex the door again.  Happy birthday, Norah!

Summer Flies

Finished knit! Summer Flies shawl (pattern from Ravelry) using some stash mohair yarn. It came together pretty quick, though the yarn wasn't as soft as I'd hoped. I think I'll make another using a different yarn. Maybe it's the mohair?

sleep sacks

How can I begin to tell you how much I love these wacky gnomes from this print?? I got a yard to make myself an apron, but instead I made one for Bennett, and had enough left over to make Norah a sleep sack.
I used the pattern from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book I got a while ago. It turned out so cute!! The back is more of the red and white dots, the inside is soft white flannel, and the binding is bias tape made from brown Kona cotton.
Ugg! So cute! I tried getting some shots of the gal in it, but she's a wiggle worm. I'll have to keep trying.

I used Riley Blake prints for the front of this one, following the pattern in the book. I had big plans for these fabrics (a quilt!) but time ran short, so here we are. It has brown flannel on the inside, and I used more of the brown Kona cotton for the trim. All in all, super cute, though the late afternoon photo shoot doesn't do the photos justice.

For the back I used my favorite print from the line, a green "Road Trip" pattern. This one is sent off to a new little guy, so here's hoping he enjoys it!

Also thinking today

Thank you Etsy, and thank you Anna Maria Horner for posting this on your blog. Take a minute (only about 5 minutes, actually) to watch...

Now off to use a few quiet moments to craft by hand.

While we are waiting...

So here we are a week past my due date, and still no sign of the elusive new member of the family. We were so sure this kid was coming early! All those heavy duty contractions beginning at 36 weeks! Already dilating! Lost my plug!! Sigh.

Leave it to parenthood to remind you there is nothing you can count on, no guarantees. You know what they say about people who ASSUME. So much of the process is learning to release, let go of any expectations you have and just "go" with it. In that vein, and trying to stay positive, we have gotten a TON of stuff done in the meantime, in between flood warnings and the Rapture, that is.

Deep freezer purchased and stocked: check.
Major yard cleanup and mulching: check.
Cobwebs swept up: check.
Potty training complete: check.
Cars cleaned out: check.
Mount Washmore and Mount Foldmore in the laundry room defeated (thanks, Mom!): check.
A few closets and storage spaces cleaned out: check.
Baby clothes washed and ready: check.
Nice hair cut: check.
Pedicure: check.
Bennett in big kid bed: check.
Kitchen and bath floors scrubbed on hands and knees: check. Didn't do much, by the way.


Burke's Grief Quilt for this year complete: check. Now I need to figure out what to do with it: Sell it and donate the proceeds, give it away...


Baby Quilt for the new one completed: check. It's from Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear book, a favorite of Bennett's when he was little. Choosing a unisex theme was kind of hard since we don't know yet if the babe is a boy or girl...


And the back. I used a simple purple batik and added a strip of stripes from the front and more of the kids.


Swing set assembled: check. Separate post coming on that insanity. Imagine Ikea. In hell.


New bed for squash, cukes and pumpkins: check.


Rest of the garden in: check. And planted by yours truly in efforts to bring on labor.


I even got pretty far in the quilting of Bennett's tool quilt! I'm trying to emulate wood grain with the quilting. The sun has not been cooperative, so these are the best photos of the quilts I have right now, but more when it's done.

Anyhow, we are still waiting. If there is not much happening by Monday we are going to begin the process to file formal eviction papers. As Bennett says: COME ON OUT, BABY!

Score!

I've been jonesing for a few sewing books lately, and found that many were not available through our local library. So, I finally indulged a couple weeks ago. I really lucked out and scored this awesome book at my local Half Price Books... and the patterns were still in it!


Heather Ross is a tremendous illustrator and fabric designer, and I keep hoping the baby will be a girl so I can make MOUNDS of these:
And even if it's a boy, I've got some fabric lined up to make several pairs of these from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book:
Then there's this awesome pattern for a quilted sleeper, also in Handmade Beginnings.

Maybe this is what that scrappy pile of fabric will turn into!

Bennett's SUPERmittens

He calls them his SUPERmittens because they have SUPER Powers. Best worn with his bike helmet, hand-me-down Spiderman snow boots (thanks Sasha!!), big boy underpants (yesss!) and not much else.

I used this pattern on Ravelry, my other guilty pleasure! They were quick and fun, and a great way to practice for the Valentine's Day socks in progress for Brian... maybe I'll get those done by his birthday in July.

Fancy Sleeve

A fun sleeve for the hubby's new Xoom... I'm in love with the print! Almost as much as he's in love with the tablet. He hasn't been able to find a sleeve he liked to keep it in, and has been worried it would get damaged or scratched. So, I made him a temporary sleeve this afternoon until he finds his "ideal" holder.

I quilted the layers (cotton print outsides, a layer of batting middle) before assembling the teal flannel lining to give it some squish.

Now he can actually take it places!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

I love Eric Carle!




I have had this fabric and played and played with ideas for well over a year. Finally I am getting it done! I used the tossed animals fabric and made fun wonky blocks to highlight them along with a block of the children in the corner, then added the complimentary stripe print as the sashing.



Now onto finishing the back (I have a lovely purple batik print I think will go well with the front) and figuring out what to use for the binding... maybe some of the children print? The brown print I used on the front? What do you think?

Swap!

I have a mountain of precious scraps. Tiny pieces of awesome fabric, too small to make something useful, to big to throw away, and I love them desperately. For our February Modern Quilt Guild meeting we were to make something Valentine-inspired. Bad photos, I know, but you do what you can at 4am, right?

So, I used a quick Keyka Lou pattern I had to make a sweet treats bag, using some Lizzy House scraps and a bit of a Japanese fabric with sweet little deer and lots of candy.

Even the button looks like chocolate! I lined it in a simple brown polka dot and filled it with truffles.
Yum, yum yum!

Digital Felt

All week Bennett has been craving a digital watch of his very own.

Digital Felt

All week Bennett has been craving a digital watch of his very own. I blame it on Opa, who let Bennett wear his watch (and showed him how to light it up!) last weekend. He was so enamored, he nearly charmed my dad out of it (sucker!). Bennett grudgingly let the watch go, with the promise of another from Opa next time we got together.

So, until then, I whipped up a replacement with some felt scraps, a few small buttons, and a bit of velcro on the band.





The watch face was quickly stitched into place on the machine, then the digital numbers embroidered in floss. I only stitched the front and back of the watch face together, allowing it to slide up and down on the band.


He could not be more pleased!