A few sewing projects

I had started this mini-quilt for Elsa when I was pregnant and set it aside and totally forgot about it. I found it half-finished when I was digging through my fabric bins looking for a dress fabric for the baby and decided to finish it up. It was a super easy quilt and I finished it while drinking beer with Jan as he played with the cats. Three squares (bamboo batting, muslin back, and pretty cotton top) sewn together and turned right side out, then double topstitching running around the perimeter to make a sort of fake piping, and four topstitch lines (top to bottom, side to side, diagonals to diagonals) quilting it all together. BAM!

Pretty fabric, no? I used hot pink thread to topstitch, because hot pink loves that green. (Hey Brooke! THAT GREEN IS MY FAVORITE COLOR!!!)

This is I think my first attempt at baby clothes. I used a pattern from Lotta's book (p.s. I love her style but dang, the impreciseness of her hand sketched patterns drive me bonkers and there was an omission in the sewing directions that made me have to go back and fix stuff, so I was kind of annoyed) and this is what came out:

Cute!! I love her idea of the little stuffed friend sewn in to the pocket so she always has a little thing to play with. I kind of want to do this to all of her clothes. I used the soft cotton gingham I picked up at JoAnn's the other day, some polka dot linen bias tape from Matatabi, a scrap of Cloud9 blue birds fabric for the pocket, a scrap of polka dot flannel for the friend (with bamboo fiberfill inside), and some satin cord for the string.

The back has a hook and eye closure making a little peephole so her giant head can fit through:

It's of course too big for the peanut so this one will have to wait a little while. Little dresses are easy and rewarding to make though, so I'm thinking I might make a bunch. 

There's gotta be a contest I can submit these to...

Commemoration

I sewed up this little diddy for Elsa's room today. The fabric calendar was printed by Lisa Rupp (love her designs) which is normally sewn into tea towels, but I asked Lisa for a custom listing of just the fabric so I could make this out of it. Have I mentioned how I love Etsy??

I was too lazy to make my own bias tape out of this perfectly matching aqua gingham fabric I had so I just cut a square of it two inches wider and longer than the calendar fabric, folded it over a half inch once on each side (and pressed) and then folded it again another half inch over the edge of the calendar fabric and pinned and then sewed around the inner edge, just like with bias tape. Easier and has a little more heft to it to than if I just did bias tape.

I looped a length of black ribbon through it to hang it but that wasn't sturdy enough to keep it flat, so I cut a length of a bamboo skewer for the top rod. I drew a heart around Elsa's birthday (July 12th) and hung it by the rocking chair because it was pretty much the only wall space left in her nursery. I'm going to have to cool it on the wall decorations.

And there's the pillow in it's new home!

I love you GapBaby...

The Gap has pretty amazing sales. This weekend is one of their family and friends sales where everything is 40% off! That's a pretty great deal. I ordered a couple of things for myself online ($22 premium jeans! $10 lovely work sweater!!) and Lynne and I popped in there today to see the goods in person. Elsa threw a fit just as I got in the fitting room so I aborted the mission and saved a few dollars. She miraculously calmed down and was a peach when we entered the Gap Kids section of the store however. Hmm.

Auntie Lynne bought her THE CUTEST little ballet pink tiered tulle swimsuit. My dad is already passing out with excitement over seeing Elsa in her baby pool, so this picture might send him over the edge. We need to get that baby pool blown up ASAP while these temperatures are still in the 80's!

My friend Jen hooked us up with adorable little bikinis from Gymboree where she's a designer, so I reluctantly passed on buying this one since we didn't need it, to which Lynne said "Yeah no. That has to come home with  us." It's a 6-12 month size so it'll last us through the summer, and we plan to do a whole lot of swimming. "Swimming".

Something I couldn't pass up though was this amazing trench coat. It's for when she's a toddler, and is in the 12-18 month size, so she'll be wearing it when she's walking. It has the raddest neon pink piping and the buttons are so great. And it was only $19!

Tres chic. And this next dress didn't come from the Gap but it's another lovely piece just sitting and waiting for Elsa to get big enough to wear it. Our family friend Monica bought it on a whim for Elsa and it's so darling. It's a pinwale corduroy with a drop waist. So flapper-ish!

This baby has got some fashions.

Pillow craftiness

Here's a little pillow I made for Elsa last  night (I am SO happy she doesn't wake up to the sound of my sewing machine when she sleeps. My set-up is right outside her nursery door so I was a little worried, but it hasn't bothered her yet!). I used the Nani Iro fabric I love so much on the front:

And this lovely raspberry cotton gingham I picked up from JoAnn's on the back:

I was happy to find it because all the ginghams they used to have were a poly blend and this one is pure cotton. It's so much softer. I'm going to make her a ton of stuff from this.

I also put on pink ball fringe because c'mon, that's just cute. She'll probably like sucking on the balls too. And because I'm a nerd, I printed out fabric labels so everyone knows that I made it.

I bought more ball fringe in white for the lion's mane of that round pillow I want to copy, I just need to find a round pillow insert now! The pillow insert selection at JoAnn's is severely lacking.

More cuteness

It doesn't take much to get me to post pictures of Elsa up here. Two comments on the last post will do it! (Thanks Dad and Jamie!)

Elsa has been such a champion eater, with the exception of two things. Star shaped pasta with a tomato/carrot sauce (what kind of Italian is she!?) she practically gagged on and then gave me a dirty look. And frozen wheat bagels- not a fan. All the books said babies loved them, Elsa not so much. Even after they defrosted and weren't cold, she would still make this face:

Here she is with her favorite treat (Mum Mums) stuck to her chin, while wearing my favorite little fleece suit of hers:

She's super into bath time and getting very splashy so we're going to have to move her to the big girl's tub soon.

My mom calls this move of Elsa's "The Flamenco Dancer". She's usually doing it while making a spitty noise and then looks embarrassed when we start laughing.

I can't resist. I have to post more from this Jude/Elsa photoshoot. They are too dang cute! Here she is trying to choke Jude out with exuberant love:

Whoa... he's looking at me. WHAT DO I DO!?

Sit back and watch him intently while he plays with my buttons.

When I work from home and take a break, I strap her to me and we water the garden together. She likes it, and I'm prepping her with the gardening knowledge she'll need when she starts her Seedlings for Sale business with Jude. Jerod has it all worked out. They'll grow seedlings from seed and then wheel them around the neighborhood in their Radio Flyer wagon selling them to suckers neighbors. They'll be millionaires by the time they start kindergarten!

Just some recent cute baby shots

Happy birthday Grammie!

Grammie turned 90 years young yesterday! Happy birthday Grammie, we love you! My dad's parents lived into their 90's and my Abuelo on my mom's side is 92 years young and going strong. With these genes coupled with modern medicine, Jeff and I are going to live to be 138. Mark my words.

Boo Boo

Elsa woke up this morning with mystery scrapes on her sweet fat baby cheek. I just gave her a manicure last night so I don't think her nails could have done it. I blame the pacifier. Or the baby scratching gnomes that live under the crib.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vessels

These are going to be so cute for Mandy and Seth's baby shower! I think the coffee cans will hold the cutlery and the baby food jars will be for mini flower arrangements and maybe some succulent plantings that will double as party favors.

And in case you're questioning my color scheme here, the food jars are painted an ectoplasm green, which is very Mandy and Seth, and the whole shower will be a colorful fiesta. This is the inspiration (cross stitched by my mom):

And I guess we'll have some baby stuff thrown in there as well. These are fun, and fit the theme perfectly, from Etsy seller AyMujer:

Things I want to make.

Do you know what day it is? It's Coupon Commotion Day at JoAnn's!! Hide the baby, Momma's got some crafting to do. Mandy and I are going and stocking up.

I realized this week that we don't have very many throw pillows. Elsa is still a little wobbly sitting up on her own so I like to plop her on a blanket with toys and build a pillow fence around her in case she topples over. With my 40% off coupons, I'll buy several pillow forms and sew up some cute ones. I'll post pictures when I'm done, but I want to copy at least this one, spotted on Kenziepoo.

The pom pom mane kills me. Love it.

This little dress spotted on Oh Joy's pinterest board is another idea to borrow from. I like the little scarf bow sewn into the sleeve seams. Good way to bring in a pretty fabric and have a built in spit rag!

I love this tote from Fabric & Handle, and while I hate stealing ideas, it's hard to rationalize spending money on something I don't really need when I might be able to make it myself. I have that gingham fabric from IKEA that would be perfect, and I think it'd be pretty easy to sew up. The adjustable snap handles will be a good challenge for me.

I already emailed my mom about this one. I think it'd be a great collaboration for us. I'll sew up the striped flannel receiving blankets, and she can crochet that beautiful edge. From the Purl Bee.

Did I mention I'm throwing Mandy's baby shower here in April? Dia De Los Bebes themed?? That deserves a post in and of itself. I'll start working on that. I've been saving our coffee cans and baby food jars for flower vessels for the shower, and I want to do this to the cans:

And this to the baby food jars:

So much crafting, so little time!

Reading lamp

We need a lamp by the womb chair in the living room so I can curl up and read my Kindle as the womb chair begs me to do every night. That corner of the living room is so dark and needs some illumination. It's tricky to find something that will work there though, because it's a tight space, and I don't want to block the painting there with a floor lamp. I'm not sure a hanging lamp would look great there either so I've been wishy-washy about the whole thing.

The CB2 catalog came this week though and I was flipping through it this morning with the baby and saw this genius little floor lamp. There's a magnetic pole inside of the wood stick frame and the lights can be moved up and down the pole directing the light where you want it. Pretty smart, no?

This may be an unobtrusive option to my lighting dilemma. Shipping is only $5 now so maybe we'll give it a test run and see how it looks in the room.

These babies are pretty cute...