Baby Things

I've been having such fun making baby things for Emily's baby, and other kids and babies-to-be. These are two "bath buddies" I made from leftover terry cloth (see project #2 below). The pattern was in an issue of Stitch. They have such cute things in there. There are a couple other animal faces to use on these, but since I had blue fabrics, I opted for the bear. I think I'll give one of these to Alex.

These are some hooded towels (and matching washcloth) I made for Emily. I had these two orange prints that I love, but I only had 1/2 yard of each. I started out to make the hooded towel from the pattern on the Purl Bee blog, but that one has the whole towel backed with fabric. I didn't think that made a lot of sense for a baby towel and I didn't have enough fabric for that anyway, so I just got a nice thick, double-sided terry cloth and used the fabric for the hood and the binding.

And this is my version of the baby counting book that Emily made, too - it's also from a pattern in Stitch. I agree with Emily that the pattern for this was really poor. But I just improvised and I love it - I would definitely make it again and just use fusible webbing for all the numbers and shapes.

For the cover, the pattern says to use rubber stamps to stamp the numbers. I couldn't find any stamp ink for fabric, so I used fabric paint. But I didn't trust myself to get it right the first time, so I stamped the numbers on a separate piece of fabric. Then when I had a pretty good set, I sewed that strip to the front and used the rick-rack to cover the seams.

Stay tuned...I'm still working on a quilt and a knit sweater!

Liar!

I like how Diane tries to pretend she's not crafty
http://just-humor-me.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-for-holidays.html

Emily's Redwork

Quite a few years ago, when Emily was learning to sew and embroider, she and I worked together on some redwork embroidery squares.

I think we ordered the patterns from Better Homes and Gardens. Emily was probably around 12, and we completed some blocks then they got tucked away with all our other unfinished projects. Recently I ran across them, washed and ironed them, and cleaned up a few stray threads - they looked great! So I decided to put them together into a quilt for her and/or the baby. They're a bit girly for a baby boy, so I picked a neutral sashing fabric that isn't too childish-looking. I had 16 blocks that were completed and I used those for the quilt top.

There was one extra block that was bit messy - it was probably our practice one! But I used it for the quilt label. I didn't even know what year to put on the label (!) so I just put that it was quilted this year.

And one good thing about Emily being stranded in CA this past week is that I was able to finish it while she was here!

What I've been working on lately

As pretty much everybody who has ever heard of this blog knows, I'm pregnant and due in January. The picture above is 4 weeks old already from when I was 21 weeks. Everything looks good in there and you can't see it here but the baby has the Laney ball nose! He's one of us! Here's what I looked like at 24 weeks:

Along with this exciting new development, of course, comes a lot of sewing! I've been working on a bunch of projects and will try to photograph them and post in the next few weeks.

Labor Day Weekend Labors

I had a fun Labor Day weekend. First I made a purse/backpack from a pattern from Liesl & Co. (Kathy and Reenie have already made these, and I was so impressed that I ordered the pattern for myself.) You can also order the pattern from Purl Soho in NY with the hardware included. My only advice is to order extra rivets -- I messed up several before I got the general idea.
Next, I re-covered a set of dining room chairs for Robbie and Sarah for their place in Boston. We bought the dining room set from a friend, and the chairs were red velvet. I covered them with some pretty Ralph Lauren fabric that I had on hand..... Reenie and Kathy might recognize it from the vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We made some tote bags out of it, and I still had enough left over to cover a set of chairs!

Flea Market Find!

There's a new antiques and flea market in San Francisco now at Candlestick Park, and Dan and I went on Sunday. I found this Vera Christmas tablecloth - I remember having Vera tablecloths and towels, and scarves back in the 70's. She was a very popular designer back then, known for her bright and modern floral designs. (There was another tablecloth with her bright yellow poppies design - I could swear I owned a linen towel with that design at one point!) I had heard that her designs are being revived. In fact, in New York I bought some file folders with her designs at the Museum shop. I don't think I had ever seen this Christmas design. The tablecloth is quite large, and my first thought is to cut a hole in it and make it a tree skirt - I need a tree skirt! When I got it home I realized that it's not round though, it's oval. Still could do it, but I don't know...anyone have any other ideas for ways to "re-purpose" this??

Last wedding post

Okay, one more wedding post before I move on to another set of projects entirely.

When I planned my wedding I tried to ignore the traditions that were expensive or frivolous or that I knew would cause me stress. That sounds rational, right? Until I tell you that two of the things I skipped were wedding favors and bridesmaid gifts. Sorry, dear friends and family who traveled to Baltimore on a holiday weekend, but I didn't feel like wrapping Jordan almonds for you!

That's bad enough, but thinking about my best friends who were helping with the wedding and bought a $165 dress that I chose going home without even a momento of the weekend started to feel very selfish. But what could I get for these amazing women who already have it all?And on my budget of no dollars? Like many of my wedding items, I turned to Etsy and found patterns galore for purses that I figured could make to match the bridesmaid dresses. I bought this pattern http://www.etsy.com/transaction/25755640 and tried it for myself. It wasn't quite right so I added 3 inches to the middle and tried again. It turned out really cute and I made 4 moreassembly-line style.

To make it a little more practical (I did make sure it could hold a small camera and phone, but it's still tiny) I packed a nylon grocery tote from Baggu inside too. This was a Martha Stewart suggestion and it broke my cheapness rule, but I kept 2 for myself and I love them, so I'm pretty sure my bridesmaids and bride's man will love them too.

Photo by John Waire Photo