Vintage Farm/Produce/Strawberry Party

I'm the worst blogger ever!  Well that only means life gets in the way huh?!

A few months ago was my girl's 3rd birthday party.  She wanted strawberries, and we have farms nearby, so we thought we'd merge the two.  Strawberry picking is her most favorite thing to do, so we thought that would be fun, but then last minute found out the farm wouldn't be open, soooooo we decided to just have a party with her little friends.

I did lots of searching for strawberry themed parties (not Strawberry Shortcake), and farm parties.  I didn't have lots of time or money to spend on it, so this is what we did.

First we bought strawberry plants.  Mostly Ev just wanted to push the cart around because it was her size.  She was the cutest little shopper!  The strawberry plants were going to be her party favor.  I had burlap that I bought as a remnant, and some cute pink twine I bought for a $1 at Target, so I used that to tie them up.

Then I made scalloped flags to decorate the patio with.  I traced a bowl on lots of scrap fabric, and some strawberry fabric I found at Discount Fabric in San Francisco.  I cut them in half, placed wrong sides together and sewed the round sides together.  Then I flipped them right side out and pressed.  I had leftover strips of quilting fabric that I made bias tape out of (although it wasn't actually on the bias).  I shoved the raw edges inside the tape and just kept on sewin'.

Ev can hardly contain herself.  The sand/water table was her early birthday gift.  We figured the kids would love to play with it.

My husband made this farm stand.  It's an Ikea hack I saw and fell in love with.  I cut the triangles out of red canvas with white polka dots.  I used double stick tape to attach them to the farm stand.  You can also see the strawberry party favors hanging out on the stand, waiting for little hands to take them.

Below is the dress Ev finally decided she wanted as her party dress.  I found the fabric at the Fabric Discount shop, and added some lace.  I used Made By Rae's Geranium pattern.  I especially love the fabric covered buttons.  They're so super cute!!!  That sand table was a mess when everyone was done with it.  It no longer had a water side or sand side, just wet sand everywhere.  I guess that means it was a success!

 I used washi tape in a light green gingham to decorate the chalk board with, and Clabber Girl canister to store the chalk in.

We had strawberry cake, a variety of food that was not really themed, although we put them in cute little picnic trays (sorry no pics!).  There's so much we could've done, but oh well, next time.

The next day on her actual birthday she decided to get her hair cut.  Bye bye baby hair!  She's such a big girl.  She was brave and had no problem. And here she is with her adorable A-line 'do.  Fits her sassy attitude perfectly!

Well, that's what we did!  I'll get better with the pics.  It's always an after thought to take pictures of what we're doing.  Crazy since my father's a photographer and was always taking pics of everything and everyone.

Hopefully I'll catch up and share more.  Like the cute top the Ev is wearing in the last pic.  I actually made it as a dress for the baby...well, that's for another post.

Last Minute (Zombie) Smock

As usually happens around here, I find out we're invited to a party and must bring a gift.  This was fun because it was for a sweet little two year old, and I knew just what she needed.  You can never have enough art smocks for a toddler, and it's super easy to whip up while taking care of everyone else at the same time (well, took longer than I thought, plus I threw in a glass of wine at 10pm which slowed me down...).  Drafting the pattern took longer than expected too, but in the end, it's so freaking adorable I didn't want to give it away!

I used duck cloth for the outside, I think I found it at JoAnn's, which was red with tiny white polka dots, and red and aqua fabric from Bonnie and Camille's Happy Go Lucky line for the liner.

I added pockets in the front with a decorative stitch along the top, and long ties at the sides, so it should fit the birthday girl for years to come.

And here's my little one trying it on and posing like a zombie. She told me that when she ate my brains, the smock would keep her clothes clean.  I have no idea where she gets this stuff, but she cracks me up!

Well, once I figure out my scanner (I think I'll probably end up just buying a new one, the one I have now is so limited), I'll add the pattern, although it's pretty simple to just sketch out freehand.

I know I'll be making one for Ev soon, so watch for a tutorial!

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!