Simple Sewing for Baby #1

I'm so excited about my new book "Simple Sewing for Baby" by Lotta Jansdotter. There are so many fun, easy projects to choose from. 

The first one I chose was perhaps the easiest, a Velcro pouch. I feel kind of lame even admitting that I couldn't just whip one of these up all by myself, but it was nice to just follow along and not have to think about the measurements. 

It's a cute little pouch that will now serve as a catch-all for Nug Bun's things that I throw in my purse. I don't always like to lug around the diaper bag, so often times I just toss a toy, binky, diaper, and small wipes case into my purse. And then they float around in there with whatever else I've thrown in and I have to dig and dig to find a binky when she's screaming in her car seat. Less than ideal, let me tell you.

So, a Velcro pouch was the solution.

The fabric is Amy Butler and I absolutely love it. So, there you have it...an easy Velcro pouch. 

 

Merry Christmas

Christmas this year was filled with good food, lots of family time, and great memories of Nug Bun's first go at opening presents and being completely, totally, and udderly spoiled! I didn't make out too bad, either.

I'm particularly excited about this...

and this...

I see some fun baby sewing projects in my future! :)

Homemade Holiday 2010

One of my best childhood friends, who still lives up in Alaska, hosted a "Knit for the Needy Marathon" this past weekend. She and a bunch of friends got together and knitted from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Everything they made will be donated.

I was so inspired by this idea (and bummed that I couldn't attend) that I decided to do something similar here in Washington at my place. The first annual Homemade Holiday Party was born.

Here's what was made:

We certainly did not stay up until 8 a.m. (my friend doesn't have kids), and we spent more time talking than crafting, but we still did manage to get some small gifts together.

I will be dropping our goodies off at Tree House today. Tree House is family housing at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. Families whose children are in the NICU or PICU at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital stay at Tree House when they can not stay in their own home each night. I wanted to reach out and bring Christmas cheer to these families because I simply can not image having a sick child, and even worse, having a sick child and not being able to spend the holidays at home. I hope these small gifts bring a smile to the faces of the families at Tree House.

Miss Plunkett

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway over at Homemade by Jill.

I was so excited to pick out new hair accessories for Nug Buns with a $20 gift certificate to Miss Plunkett.I recieved our giveaway prize promptly and I absolutely love it! The customer service was outstanding and the quality is great. The best part is how all of their accessories can be mixed and matched to create new looks without buying all new products.

I started with a short black clip, added a pink frannie feather, gwen flower in black, and a pearl diamond center. It matched her Christmas dress perfectly. 

Enough of my rambling, though, let the pictures speak for themselves.

Unfortunately, the only way I could get her to sit still for a picture was to let her chew on her shoe. :)

 I am totally, insanely, and completely in love with this little gal! 

And one more picture for good measure...

This cute couple was the best Santa and Mrs. Claus I've ever seen. Nug Buns LOVED them! This picture will definitely be cherished. 

Tree Skirt Gone Wrong

I am thoroughly disappointed with how my tree skirt turned out. It went all wrong from the beginning. I should have scrapped the idea early on, but I kept thinking I could "make it work."

The pattern was three large stars that got layered on top of each other. The biggest start called for 1 and 1/8 yard, but it was too small, so my stars didn't have perfect points at the ends. No big deal, right? I figured I was going to cover it with trim anyhow. Well, then I didn't have enough trim. So I didn't put trim on the back side that is hidden by the tree, but I know it's back there, unfinished, so it's driving me nuts.

And aside from all that, I just think the star looks ridiculous. I don't know what I was thinking. I thought it would be cute, but it's not. I should have gone with the traditional, round tree skirt. I guess I'll be making a new one next year.

What was I thinking?!?!  It's so understated down there, and we only got a 4 foot tree!
 

I didn't even pick up the needles around the tree to take a picture. That's how much I dislike this tree skirt!

To Do List

I am constantly writing things down that I want to make. Especially after I've caught up on all my favorite blogs. I use sticky notes, scraps of paper, notebooks, whatever I can get my hands on and jot done my projects. I figured why not make it part of the blog. It's over there... yep, over there... to the right. Check it out. That's my list. It's actually pretty small because I'm trying to not let myself get carried away. I'll update it as I find even more things to make and I'll hopefully remove some things (i.e. actually make them), too!

Holiday Kitchen Towels

I got this idea from Melanie over at The Crafty Cupboard a while back. I had some scraps left over from a tree skirt I'm working on (pictures to come). This is a simple project that takes only about 30 minutes. 

The best part is that this project is CHEAP. And since you'll only have them out for about a month, just wash 'em and pack 'em up for next year! 

I got  a four pack (which means I have two more... hmmm, maybe Valentine's Day towels) of white bar towels at Target for about 6 bucks, I think.  

Christmas Art

My stash of Christmas decor is weak to say the least. We've moved so much over the past 5 years that I haven't invested time or money into seasonal decor. This year, being Nug's first Christmas (not that she'll remember it), I wanted to decorate a lot more for Christmas. 

I got the inspiration for this project from a brand inspired knock-off project I saw during Crafting with the Stars over at Sew Dang Cute.

I love this project for many reasons, most importantly being that it only took about an hour! I'm SO an instant gratification kind of girl, so if I can finish a project in one night I'm more inclined to do it. I would never hack it as a quilter - too time consuming! :) 

Here's a little run down of this project, in case you're interested...

Materials used:

3 - 8"x8" canvas board

brown acrylic paint

foam brush

scrapbook paper

modge podge

scissors

*If you were one of the lucky ducks that won a Silhouette during one of the several giveaways last week this would be the project to use it with and if so, I'm sooo jealous! 

Anyways, back to it here... here's the nitty gritty... paint canvas brown, cut out letters (i did it by hand because I like that they're funky looking and not perfectly straight), apply modge podge to back of letter and stick 'em on, decorate with whatever else you'd like (I kept it simple with the stars and tree), the modge podge all over the canvas to seal the letters in place. Easy, right? 

Advent Calendar

I finished my advent calendar just in the nick of time. I was sewing along with Homemade by Jill. I'm so thankful for the sew along because I certainly would not have thought to made an advent calendar, let alone actually complete it! I'm more of a quick and easy project kind of girl, but I'm happy I stuck with it and finished (although I wanted to scrap the whole thing after I saw some of the other calendars being made... there are some seriously talented ladies out there in the blogosphere!). 

Anyways, here's what I ended up with...

Overall, I'm pleased with the final product. Of course, there are some things I would change, but I keep telling myself that Nug Buns is not going to notice that a few of the pockets are slightly crooked or that I'm pretty terrible at embroidery. My husband just kept saying "that's part of the charm," which I'm translating too "yes, it does look like a five year old made that."

Thanks Jill for the inspiration! Be sure to check out some of the other advent calendars HERE for ideas and tips. 

So, the to-do list keeps growing, but I'm sticking with my original list. Next up, more Christmas decor... stay tuned.

Goals

Does anyone else find the world of crafting/sewing a little overwhelming at times? I read my favorite blogs, usually every day, and find myself adding more and more projects to my list, but can't seem to find the time to start cranking things out. Maybe if I make a list on my blog, then I will actually follow through with it. 

Here's a list of things I want to get done by Christmas:

1. Advent calendar (actually this needs to be done by next week...ack!) DONE!

2. Christmas decor inspired by THIS project from Crafting with the Stars. I've got the canvas, and paint, but need to pick up some modge podge, paper, and crackle medium. DONE!

3. Gathered clutch from THIS tutorial. I ordered some Amy Butler fabric from fabric.com which should arrive on Monday specifically for this project.

4. Gathered flower leather purse from THIS tutorial, although I think I'll use vinyl because for some reason leather scares me (to sew with... not in general!)

5. Chic Cocktail Swing Jacket using THIS pattern from heidiandfinn. 

6. Party dress using THIS pattern, also from heidiandfinn. 

7. Christmas wreath just like ... well, shoot, I can't find the post... but, it's a yarn wrapped wreath alternating in white and red and green felt holly... you know, you've probably seen it.

8. Baby shoes using the pattern I bought about two months ago... 

9. Carmen tunic using THIS pattern that I won during a giveaway a few weeks back.

10. A wall art piece that I fell in love with at a store in University Village that was $225! I had one of those "I can totally make that" moments. I have no pictures to show, but hopefully when it's done it will look nice enough to take pictures of!

Okay, I think that's enough to keep me busy! 

And as always, if you happen upon this blog, please leave a comment, a little inspiration (I sure need it!), or just say hi! I hope you all had a wonderful, and filling, Thanksgiving dinner!

What I've Been Up To

The sewing and crafty time has become scarce around here lately. Nug Buns hasn't been sleeping too well, maybe it's teeth, maybe not. I've been thinking she's teething for months now with no confirmation, so I'm not so sure anymore. Either way, I am seriously lacking energy during the day due to the not-so-restful nights.

I've had a lot of school work lately, too (I'm working on my Master's degree).

And I've been watching two little girls part-time on early release days from school.

So, with that said, here's something I did manage to do recently...

Burp cloths for my husband's coworker's wife who is expecting a little boy any day. I just made your standard rectangle burp cloth this time around. I love the pattern I have used in the past from Homemade by Jill (btw - she's hosting an awesome giveaway, so go check it out!), but I was feeling too lazy to snip the edges to make 'em fray, so I went with the rectangle. I was happy to bust out some of my paper crafting supplies to add a little homemade tag because I rarely work with my scrapbooking/card making goodies anymore.

I'm dreadfully behind on my sew along advent calender (also hosted by Homemade by Jill), so I'm not going to post pictures just yet. Hopefully soon, though.

Hope everyone is ready to enjoy all the yummy Thanksgiving goodness that we're in for this week! Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday!

One of those days...

Today was one of those days... you know, those days, where no matter how hard you try your baby won't take a nap (and didn't sleep well last night), you're exhausted, nothing is getting done and it's just flat out frustrating...

I needed to do something, anything, to bust out of the funk. So, I sewed.

We are full fledged into the world of solids and with that comes the need for bibs and lots of 'em!

I'm happy with how it turned out considering it was my first attempt. It's so easy, even YOU can do it (yes, you!). I traced around a burp cloth that we use all the time, cut out a piece of flannel and a piece of terry cloth (so you can use it as a wash cloth to clean up the mess). The trickiest part of this whole thing was the button hole. My sewing machine has one of those fancy button hole feet that is supposed to make making button holes a breeze....yeah, no breeze felt over here! After messing with it for an hour, I gave up and asked my mom to come over and show me how to make button holes the good ol' fashioned way. It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. If you don't want to go through the trouble, though, just sew a piece of velcro on there and call it good.

Next up, a coffee cup cozie using this tutorial from House on Hill Road. This baby took 15 minutes. Seriously. We all have 15 minutes to spare, right? OK, maybe not, but it was so easy and I love a little instant (or 15 minute) gratification! I called my hubby up and asked him to bring me a pumpkin spice latte after work so I could show off my new creation.

This baby is mine, but I will definitely be making a few of these puppies as gifts!

I Won, I Won!

Woohoo! I won a pattern giveaway over at From An Igloo!

Thanks to Lille Skapet I am the proud new owner of the Carmen Tunic pattern! I'm thrilled because this little tunic is stinkin' adorable and I love that the pattern is made for size 9 months to size 6! I'm going to get some use out of it, that's for sure! 

I've got about a bajillion projects floating around in my head right now. I've decided to completely bypass Thanksgiving decor and head straight for Christmas. I just can't keep up, so figure I just had to pick one holiday and stick with it. 

I'm participating in a sew along with Homemade by Jill right now and working on this lovely advent calendar. It's looking pretty cute so far and I'm excited. 

Anyway, this has been quite the rambling post. I'm new at this crafty bloggin' stuff, but it's a blast and totally addicting. I'm sure I have zero people checking out my blog, but if you happen to stumble across it, please leave a comment, say hello, and send some of that crafty blog love my way!

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain

I recently finished reading "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein for my book club. I don't think this is a book that I normally would have chosen for myself to read, but I'm glad that it was on the book club list because I enjoyed it very much.

It's unlike any other book I've read because it's written by a dog. Well, not actually by a dog, but it's written from a dog's perspective. Enzo, the dog, to be exact. The book takes place in Seattle which was fun for me because I live only an hour south of the Emerald City. 

While this book definitely tugs at the heart strings, it's also a powerful tale of the strength and loyalty of family. I don't wait to give anything away because I think this is a great read, but I will leave you with this: ill mother, crazy grandparents, dad chasing a dream, wonderful little girl, and human-like dog. I'm sure most of us can relate to at least a few of those, so that alone makes this book an easy one to connect to.

More Apples

Remember that big ol' box of apples? I still have it. I've been staring at it all week thinking that I really need to do something, anything with those apples. So, today I made pie filling to freeze. Since I've never done this before I decided to start small (and not make filling out of the entire box of apples).

So, I got started...

I used about 15 medium sized Granny Smith apples and placed them in a stockpot with 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Then, let the apples sit for about 30 minutes.

After sitting, the juices from the apples begin to fill the pot. I cooked the apples over medium heat until sauce thickened.


By this point, this apple goodness was smelly so yummy that I decided to make a pie tonight and only freeze half of the filling. 

And, boy, I'm sure glad I did. It was delicious. I even forgot to take a picture before diving right in!