Pleats and Pillowcases

My mom cleaned out her linen closet last week, and Ev and I went over to see what we could scavenge for ourselves before she donated them.  My mom has collected and inherited so many linens over the years, it took us forever to go through them.  I did find several pillowcases I knew would be great for tops and dresses for Ev, and a vintage table cloth I plan on making a dress for myself with.  Of course I'll have to wait quite awhile before making the dress for myself, once I get my post-pregnancy/ post-nursing mom body back :)

I saw the Pretty in Pleats Top on Craftiness is Not Optional, and had to make one for Ev.  I wanted to make a country vintage version, so I used one of the blue gingham pillowcases from my Mom's, and some vintage dark blue flower bias tape I had purchased from Etsy last year.  The tiny flowers are yellow, white, and red, and matched the pillowcase perfectly.  I also used some simple white buttons I inherited from my great grandmother.

I really liked the way it turned out, but if I make another one, which I think I will, I'll make the arm holes a little bigger.  I pretty much followed CINO's instructions, except I added smaller pleats, 3 on each side instead of two.  I love the look of this top though, very girly vintage but simple too.

I would love to have added more photos, but my daughter is often in motion and difficult to stop, even for a second.  She's still here because she has a new booboo on her knee.

Sold! Now on to Crafting!

Our house has finally sold, and we're moved into our new place where I can finally craft again! Organizing the space is a challenge, but I figure if I use a lot of my stash, I will have more space.  We'll see how this goes.

I've already made the Harmony Drawstring Skirt from Sew Mama Sew, quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs.  My daughter LOVES it, and I was able to do it quickly.  I think I bought the pocket fabric from PurlSoho and the skirt fabric from Beverly's, my closest fabric/craft store.  I think the only thing I would change is to make it a couple of inches longer so she's not showing everyone her knickers!

I also made the Peasant Blouse from Pretty Prudent (formerly Prudent Baby) with some stashed fabric.  I added an inch to the length of the sleeves, since my daughter has very sensitive armpits and doesn't like anything under them.

I wasn't too crazy about the fabric afterwards, and didn't like the way it draped (or didn't), but it's still cute on her.  I think I'll try this one in a different fabric too, maybe a vintage pillowcase would be better.

I'm in the midst of about 6 different knitting projects and feeling rather buried in yarn.  I'm focusing on the Beth Pinafore for the little bun in the oven though.  I've made two of them before, one as a gift and one for my little girl, and I love how easy the set of patterns are.  I'm using leftover Sugar & Cream yarn in a variety of colors since it's cotton and easy to wash, great for a newborn knit.

I'm already planning my holiday knit gifts.  I must get started soon since the second little one is due in a month and a half!  I have so many patterns saved or favorited on Ravelry that I'm sure to find them quickly.

Happy crafting!

Caspar Babypants and Foxy Lady

I wanted to share a great children's music artist since it's basically saved me from stuck-in-the-car-with-my-daughter's-music-on-repeat insanity!

My daughter Ev loves listening to her music in the car, over and over and over.  I've heard Raffi and the Wiggles so many times I just had to find something else.

We get all of our music and books at our local public library, which is where we discovered Caspar Babypants.  We've listened to several of his albums over and over, and I actually like the music too!  My two year old daughter loves singing to several of his songs, and you have to love that there's even a Nirvana cover song "Sliver" thrown in (one of my daughter's favorites!).  Chris Ballew (Caspar Babypants is his stage name) sounds pretty cool too.  I just love all of the instrumentation that is included in his songs.  Maybe we'll have to catch one of his shows!

Here's one of his videos, "Butterfly Driving a Truck":

Ev's now into Jimi Hendrix, particularly the song Foxy Lady (I started singing it to her to get her to wear her fox pj's).  I've heard it so many times in the last two days I think I might be sick of it (can you get sick of Hendrix?).  She even turned around when we were eating at In-N-Out and yelled "Foxy Lady" at the woman sitting solo in the booth behind us!  Let's hope she took it as a compliment :)

Not So Dirty Anymore!

Since being stuck at home on pregnancy disability, my daughter and I have been doing some pretty fun, and very messy crafts.  Trying to keep her busy and engaged, while remaining off my feet has been challenging, but I've found the messier the activity, the longer she remains interested.

I ran across this Retro Fun: Toddler's Laminated Project Apron awhile ago on Sew4Home and decided it was time to try it out.  I had some oilcloth fabric I purchased for a few dollars as a remnant, and I always have homemade binding on hand.  The real trick here anyway was keeping my little one busy while trying to make this...

First, I reduced the pattern size when printing from 100% to 90%.  My daughter is a tall two year old, but I needed it a bit smaller.  Warning- read the instructions carefully.  I ended up cutting the 'shoulder tab' and 'side tab' off of the fabric instead of the pattern!  It was ok since I had extra fabric, but I apparently had a difficult time playing with my daughter and making this at the same time...either that or pregnancy brain.

The oilcloth slipped a lot when I was sewing the pocket on, so I switched to my walking foot which made all the difference in the world.  I also used the walking foot when stitching the line down the pocket in step 18 which created even stitches.

It fit my daughter perfectly, and it's soooo adorable!  This was a very simple pattern to follow, and it was my first time sewing with oil cloth.  I found that fairly simple to work with and can't wait to make something else with my leftover fabric!

Ahhhh...Smoothies

I can't get enough of homemade smoothies!  I LOVE them!  My daughter does too, and it's a great way to get a variety of nutrients into her diet.  I've tried pretty much every frozen fruit available, some fresh fruits, and ground flax seeds with blueberry.  I mix in frozen juice cubes, Greek yogurt, different varieties of juice and coconut milk.

One of my favorite sources for smoothie recipes is Whole Living.  They have 25 Quick and Easy Recipes, Breakfast Smoothies, and 7 Detox Smoothies.  My favorite recipe so far is one I found in their magazine while at work.  I modified it a little below, but here it is, the Strawberry-Coconut Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 3/4 cup frozen mangoes
• 1 banana
• 2 Tbsp (light) coconut milk (I've used both and they both taste good)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup water

I just blend it on my nothing-special-blender on chop.  I might have to stir it a couple times, but it pretty much gets everything going, and I mix until smooth.

Enjoy!

Oven Mitts, Goth Style

I love making gifts for my friends, or at least those I know appreciate a handmade gift, but I'm often faced with getting gifts for people I don't know very well.  Most recently my husband asked me if I could pick up a gift for his best friend's wife.  I don't know her very well other than she likes to cook, and she's goth, so I decided to make something!

I had this wonderful quilted oven mitt pattern saved on my Pinterest board, "Kitchen", and I thought what great practice!  I can make them for her with goth inspired fabric.  I didn't have anything on hand for the "goth inspired" part, but I did have some red fabric that used to be a sofa cover that I thought would work well for the "linen" in the pattern supplies.  I ended up finding some dark fabric at my local fabric store that had spiders and webs on it that I felt she would like.

This was my first sewing project in quite some time, so I was struggling a bit with getting readjusted to my sewing machine.  The red fabric started fraying like crazy while I was sewing with it, so I don't think I'll use it for a project like this.  This was also my first time sewing with Insul-Bright, which was fairly easy to use.

Here's the final result!  I was happy with them and will definitely be making a pair for myself in the future.

Here I Go!

After years of procrastination, I'm finally beginning my very own craft blog.  I love making gifts, and friends and coworkers are always asking me how I make them, so I figured I should start sharing my projects.  I have to admit I get most of my ideas from other blog tutorials and books, so I'll be sharing those along with photos and tips from doing them myself.

I am also in no way advanced in any of my crafting skills.  I do get intimidated by projects that have too many steps or materials!  Just about the only craft I haven't really tried though is scrapbooking (only once years ago, but I didn't know it was scrapbooking I signed up for!), but I love most others, especially sewing, knitting, and DIY home decorating.

With a two year old daughter and another baby girl on the way, it's sewing I've found myself turning to lately.  I'm even trying out making my own maternity clothes or reconstructing clothes I can find cheaply. 

I'm also now enjoying being a part-time librarian, mostly stay-at-home mom, so I'm experimenting with all kinds of things, like cooking, baking, gardening, coupon-ing, and anything that is safe to do while pregnant.  I'm also able to read more for pleasure, so I'll be sharing all of my interests with you!  Hope you enjoy!