a project for the mama: February "Lady" Sweater

After knitting for my babies, husband, siblings and friends, I finally took time to make something just for me: the adult version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Sweater.

I used just over 3 balls of Caron's Country merino blend in "foliage" and am so happy with how it knitted up! The merino has a silky sort of drape to it, and, while warm, is light enough to be perfect in an air conditioned building this summer.

I also really love the a-line swing shape that it has. It eases nicely over my belly (due date tomorrow!) and will still be cute come this fall and winter when I am getting my normal figure back. :)
I really love it!!!

my preferred crafting spot

close-up of a project for Baby#2

I am comfortable on the floor. Especially when I'm doing paper crafting. Scrapbooking ...... I use a table for that, but only because you really need a firm surface to work on. If we had wood floors I'd probably do that on the floor too!
I like the floor because:

• I can see everything.

• There's enough space to have it all spread out around me, 
• and I can reach it.

On the table I tend to lose things, or stack them up or put them in a box so that I can have more room and then I forget where I put them.

Some people have entire rooms devoted to crafting (Martha Stewart comes to mind ...). I think if I had one - even with counter tops and so on - I'd still end up on the floor. It just works really well for me.

Until naptime is over, that is. :)

homemade Moses basket

After about a week of working on it, off and on, I finished Baby's basket last night.

I've been wanting to have a Moses basket for our babies, but just haven't been wanted it badly enough to fork over $70 (or more, depending on sales and the company I was looking at).

So, when I was walking through Walmart one day and saw this basket for $5 in their home decorating section, I decided to try to make/line my own. How hard could it be, right?

The first step (other than drawing up a pattern, which I figured I'd skip), was to figure out how to pad the bottom. I didn't have any batting on hand (and didn't want to spend any more money) so I folded one of the "rag" towels into thirds and laid it in the bottom. I traced the outline of the edge with a Sharpie and cut.

I sewed through the center of what was then a stack of three pieces of terry cloth to keep them from shifting.
Then I took some dark brown quilting weight material and made a sort of pocket that I slipped stack of toweling into. Sewed the end, quilted it, and the little mattress (of sorts) was done.



The first half was done, now to make the bumper!

-the layers of the bumper: inside, padding, outside-

I used material that I had in the closet for the bumper - more dark brown quilting weight and also some aqua and white seersucker from a blouse that had belonged to my Gramma.

This is the part that I really should have made a pattern for. If anyone reading this is thinking of making one, I'd really recommend doing a trial run with paper!
The bumper I made turned out really cute, just about 4" too small! Also, I tried to sew the entire thing together and forgot that I need to turn it right side out! So, more stitch ripping but both mistakes were easy to fix.

For the inside I did a colorblock pattern with the brown on the ends and the seersucker in the middle. I used the rest of the towel for the padding, and the last bit of the seersucker for the outside.

I really love how it turned out, but next time I will make a pattern and plan how I'm going to turn it right-side out!

exciting!

This is so exciting for me: two blogs have featured my projects!

Last Sunday Prudent Baby featured the watercolor silhouette that I made for Mother's Day

and this morning Along For The Ride featured the hanging votive holders.

Really, it's so fun to click over to a site and see a photo of your project and a link to your blog. :D
Ladies, thanks for featuring me!

mobile for our little Ian/Kate

Before Emma was born I made a mobile to hang over her crib using a quilting hoop, some birds made from scrapbook paper and some thread. Well, this little one is getting closer and closer to arriving, and yesterday I realized that he (or she) was still lacking a personalized sleeping space.

I still had the other half of the quilting hoop in my craft stuff, so I used it to make another mobile.
I am really suspecting that this baby is a boy, but since we haven't had an ultrasound I'm not absolutely positive (either way, we're excited!). I decided to use brown and blue colored paper for the mobile, thinking that if Baby turns out to be a "she" instead of a "he" it wouldn't be so masculine that I would need to remake it.

I used:

• a quilting hoop
• scrapbook paper
• a circle punch
• brown satin ribbon
• glue
• silk thread (I like using silk thread for projects like this because I find it is so much easier to tie knots with)

Since I had used the inside of the hoop for Emma's mobile, the half that was left had the clasp sticking off the side. I really wanted to get it done yesterday without running out to the store, so I just bent the clasp pieces over, put a bit of glue between them, and wrapped the ribbon over it all. It worked pretty well!

Fold circles in half (I used 4 circles for each pendant),

add some glue and stick the pieces together.

I wanted the pendants to hang at an angle so that Baby will have a more interesting view when he's staring up at them, so I poked the hole for the thread slightly off to one side of the center spine.

I made 7 pendants: I hung 6 of them around the rim of the hoop and the 7th I hung from the center of two threads that crossed the hoop at right angles.
Then I hung the whole thing from the ceiling. I really love how it turned out. :)

new shop listing

The aprons are up! I took a bunch of pictures of them this afternoon, but it was cloudy and only a few turned out. I'll try to take some more another day. :)

middle of the night inspiration

The idea for these little votive hangers came to me a few nights ago, during one of my (increasingly frequent) middle-of-the-night episodes of wakefulness. I think my average per night is up to three times now, and occasionally four. Just getting ready for those late night sessions with Little One!

I made something similar using mini jelly jars a while ago, but that night I had the idea to use some of the many glass votives that I have stashed here and there. (I suppose one could have too many votive holders, but I haven't gotten there yet. Or maybe I'm not the type of person that can have too many?)

I used some 18 gauge aluminum wire in about 18" lengths, and twisted it to make a ring that would hold the votive.

Then I took the loose end and wrapped it under the base, looped it around the ring and made a hanger. Twist the final loose end in place, and ...

... that's it!

a couple of new ones

I made two of them and tweaked the design a little, switching from a wide center pocket to a single ruffled side pocket. :)

I'll be listing them later today (once I've taken some decent pictures, that is!).

this afternoon

This afternoon I am:

-making up a few more aprons (with a new, tweaked design)

-thinking of something to use this piece of material for.
Maybe a wall hanging for Baby #2? I was thinking of using a bold/graphic piece, but really didn't find what I wanted. So I settled for this aqua print. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll edge it with brown .........

Mother's Day Silhoutte

I saw this idea a while ago over on Prudent Baby and tucked it away in the back of my head to use for Mother's Day.
The ladies over on Prudent Baby used the idea to make artwork from pics of Zoo animals, but I thought it might be a fun and different way to do the silhouette of Emma that I am trying to give to my mom each Mother's Day. It turned out to be pretty easy (and fun! I haven't messed around with water colors in a while!).
The hardest part was getting a clear profile photo of Emma. She was sooooooo busy that morning. :) I finally just turned on the TV and sat next to her with the camera, waiting for her to stop "telling" me about everything she saw and just "zone".
Also, I didn't have any watercolor paper on hand so I just used some heavyweight textured scrapbooking paper. It worked fine, but I think watercolor paper might have been just a little nicer. I'm sure Mom - Grammie - will love it anyway!
If you'd like one yourself, I have a listing for custom silhouettes over on Etsy.


I was about to toss out the scrap that I had used for the template and then decided to tape it up instead. Pretty cute! And I get to keep and enjoy it, too. :)

chalkboard storage jars

Have you seen all the chalkboard stuff floating around the blog community recently? There have been painted walls, framed chalkboards, mirrors, cupboards, flower and herb pots and the lists goes on and on!

Anyway, I finally got on the bandwagon. Yes, I did, and I can't believe that it took me this long!
I think I found this chalkboard jar idea on a Martha Stewart email or somewhere, but I could be wrong. I could have thought this up in my dreams ......... not sure about that. But here's a tutorial about how I did it!

I started with basic clean glass jars left over from applesauce and salsa.

I masked off squares with regular old masking tape (and squares of note paper to keep the tape straight).

Then I went over the glass with chalkboard paint and a foam brush. I gave the jars 3 coats, letting them dry between each coats.

On the first jar I just took the tape off, but as I did it I found that it look a LOT better if I scored along the tape with a knife before I took it off. Much much better. Next I went over them with some chalk and rubbed it off the prep them, and they were done!

Fill with whatever, write the contents on the jar, and then ..... ta da!

May Day with last year's flowers

These were some of the flowers that grew in my porch pots last year. It was so nice to have a bit of color growing, something fresh and pretty (and free).
This year it seems that the flower seeds - or my flower pots - are on strike. I am having such a hard time getting anything to grow! I plant the seeds, they pop up, and then wither away (yes, I do water them, and no, not too much).
It's almost as if something is killing all of them .......... or they decide to give up once they realize that they will have to grow on a shaded balcony. *sigh*.
And I had so wanted to have a few flowers to cut for the table this year.