Christmas Clean Up

Hi Laura,
So I think I can finally post a few Christmas gifts I made. Sorry its been so long. Life got in the way. Gosh that makes me feel old.

I made this pillow with a book pocket for R. I know it's a little big, but he will grow into it.
I made this Heart on a String hat from http://susanbanderson.blogspot.com/. It was really quick and fun! I hope it keeps M. little head warm!

This was for my knitting friend, she is a regular friend too, but we mostly knit. Feather and fan pattern in a mystery yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool. Put it on your calendars people!

All the little girls, got doll blankets this year. It was the perfect year. Just two fat quarters and a little batting with a quick hand tie.

Thanks all for now. Until spring comes!

Miss you!

Kate

New Year, New Babies, New Crafts

Hi Laura!
Happy New Year to you too! I love your repurposed leggins. They are super cute on V- and earth friendly to boot!

I hope to post more in the 2011 too! I think there will be A LOT of baby items, as I currently have 10 pregnant friends! I got my very own little camera for Christmas from my hubby so the posts should be more frequent. But before moving forward into crafting for 2011, I have to recap the latter part of 2010.


Since the begining of December 2 babies have joined us, AND my mom, sisters and I hosted a shower for my cousin who is due anytime now!

My friend Cecili, welcomed Catherine early this December. Cecili is an Air Force Major, so camo is more her scene then pink flowers and bows. So I whipped up a few pink things for her little girl.

This blanket, one yard of fleece cotton and one yard regular cotton. One side girly, one side not too much :)

I also gave her one of each of these burp clothes. So fast and fun to make. Prefolded cloth diaper and a scrap big enough to fit down the center, with a zig zag stich all around. I love it! The other two went to my cousin, Heather. More about her gifts below.

I gave Cecili two of these animal burp clothes, the other two went to my friend Melina who welcomed Canyon on Dec 23rd.

I LOVE these cupcake hats! I gave Cecili the yellow one (just a little girly) and Heather the pink one (a lot girly).

I have to admit I went a little over board with my cousins fall themed shower. If I could have done more I would have! So in addition to the 4 sewen burp cloths and pink cupcake hat from above, I also made her bibs with appliques.

And a basket weave blanket WITH ruffles in Ravens purple!

For her shower I painted up these mini clothes pins for the "Don't Say Baby Game". They are pink and orange with poka dots!!!!

My sister Emily and I made these

And I made this... diaper wreath. It's WAY easier than a diaper cake and a lot cheaper!

Also this fall, my friend Susan at work got engaged and married. This towel with scrubbies was her bridal shower gift.

And of course a little charity is needed this time of year. My sister E and I picked names for kids from a local Baltimore elementry school and made them hats per their request. It was fun! Thank you Lovely Yarns! http://www.lovelyarns.com/

And finally! This little sweater was made for Megans 1st birthday out of the same yarn from her baby blanket. I guess I buy too much yarn! Oh well! I also get too may speeding tickets!

Well, thats a post to make up for all posts! I still have a few Christmas gifts to post, but since they have not all been given out yet that post will have to wait.

Happy 2011!

Kate

Repurposed Sweater into Leg Warmers

Kate,
I was inspired today during V's dance class. Another mom was in the waiting room with me and was telling me how she cut off her daugher's knee high socks to make leg warmers to keep her daughters legs warm coming to and from dance class. They were adorable. So of course, I had to run home and try it.

Luckily, I have a box of old clothes, either don't fit, too warn or stained, sitting in the laundry room for just this type of project. (Side note: Actually one of my goals is to go through the box this year and make lots of repurposed items - pillows, dresses, pants, bathing suit, etc.) I found an old striped sweater that would be perfect for this experiment and thanks for blog searching, found this blog to model off of http://createanddelegate.blogspot.com/2010/09/tutorial-make-sweater-better-asleg.html.

So I took this sweater

And cut the sleeves off, sewed in some elastic to the top part of the leg warmers and ta-da, they are done in no time (should have been 10 minutes, but with two kids curiously into my sewing machine, more like 30 minutes).

V was more than eager to try them on. I love having a little one who loves me making her things!

So that's how I quickly turned an unused sweater into a cute and practical item for my daughter. I'm tempted now to turn the rest of the sweater into something too, we shall see!

Look I actually posted something!!!! Here's to hoping there will be lots more to share soon, Laura

New Year, New Start

Wow! It's 2011! I can't believe how time has flown. I've been married 5 years, I have 2 kids, both growing quickly into little people. Where has the time gone? As I reflect back on the year, I am a little disappointed on how unaccomplished I feel. I always want to craft more, see more friends, enjoy life a little more. This year I'm dedicated to start new and try to do it all again. So this year, I do have some resolutions: (1) craft more, spend more time doing what I enjoy, more time decorating the house, making kids clothes and just enjoying the craft store (but without spending too much money!) (2) spend more time without the kids, meaning dedicating more time to my hubby, myself and my friends (3) enjoy the kids more, basically stop looking at each minute of the day waiting until I get some time alone at night, all in all, enjoying each moment of everyday, the stressful and the fun!

Now with those 3 goals laid out there, I hope that I will find more time to blog as well. Which technically goes right along with my resolutions - crafting more and having more time with friends (since you Kate, are my friend, and my partner in crafting!). We definately need to get back to crafting days, and I need to be better at calling and having more interesting things to talk about. So with this is the start of a fabulous year of enjoying life, crafting and friends!

I'm back, but a little behind.

Hi Laura,
I am sorry its been so long since I have written. This summer was very busy with lots and lots of travel! My husband and I traveled to South Africa for the world cup in June for several weeks, so no crafting there. And then most of July and August were super busy getting ready for a BIG work event held in early September in St. Petersburg Russia. Since then I have one busy bee! I hope to have lots to share over the next fews weeks. But to keep you tied over until then, here are few picture of my work from before I dropped off the map to travel the map.

This is the Eloise Eyelet Cardi I made for V's 3rd birthday. I just had to make her something hand knit. I know she is three, but this girl loves her handmade. Great job!!!! She is girl after my own heart. I think next year we can get her started with her own needles and yarn!!!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eloise-eyelet-cardi


This is a dragon I made for R's 1st birthday. Its from the same Knit Picks yarn his baby blanket was knitted out of. The original pattern name was Norberta, but I like to call him Norm. It seems slightly more masculin, but only slightly so.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/norberta

Man I must your kids! They are both too cute!!!!

I have more pictures, but they are stuck on the camera. I hope to post again this week.

I know you have been a busy bee too. What are you up to?

Kate

Inspiration: I Spy Quilts

Kate,
It's me again! I'm back on a crafting role, hopefully I'll have to catch up again soon! :)

I had to post this inspiration. I remember you were going to make (I'm not sure if you ever finished them, I can't remember) "I Spy" inspired items. This blog (CraftHours) I follow features a dad (yes a DAD crafter!) who shows lots of options for I Spy quilts. I'm thinking I'm inspired to try this with a bunch of the scrap fabrics I have and I'm sure to collect more scraps.

Hope to see you soon!
Laura

I am alive...and crafting!

Kate,
WOW! It's been a long time since a post. Believe it or not, I have been up to some crafting this summer. I feel like you and I both have valid excuses for slacking off on the blog this summer. With you traveling to South Africa (so jealous!) and my hubby being away for most of the summer, there is little time or energy to keep up with the posting. But I promise, I am back! I need crafting to keep my sanity!

So what have I been up to this summer? Here's a few little things...

More snack bags and sandwich wraps for member of the MOMS Club. Just a little something I've been doing for the moms. Ecofriendly and super easy to whip up.

Yoga mat bag. This was my sister's birthday gift, including a new yoga mat.

A beach/sand toy bag. I whipped this up so cheap - less than $5 and in less than an hour. Thanks for Martha Stewart Crafts for the idea. This will be great for when we head on our beach vacation. Surprisingly I didn't already have one. I think a mesh bag is critical when having little kids.

Can't wait to see what you've been up to. And I will be posting again in the next two weeks with some more projects in the works.

Laura

Destruction of a sleeping bag

Kate,

Remember that tedious princess and the pea sleeping bag I made? I (and V) loved it and it's gotten so much use every day. Unfortunately it has been destroyed by my washing machine. Completely my fault, now I'm sick to my stomach. V had peed on it during naptime and just like I have two previous times, I threw it in the washing machine. I dont know what was different this time, but when it came out of the dryer, I noticed it had lots of tears. I dont know if it's fixable or not at this point. It has tears along at least 8 seams of the "mattresses".

Do you have any advice? I guess I could always resew it and downsize it a bit since some fabric will inevitably be missing now.

Here are some pics of the damage:

I have some more projects to post about that I've been working on, but I'm too depressed right now, maybe later this weekend.

- Laura

More Snack Bags from Scrap Fabric

Kate,
Wow! It's been a really long time since I've posted and a while since I've spent some quality time with my sewing machine. But I'm back, for a little while. As you know, I gave up the fabric store to save some money. Well, it didn't last too long, but I am still avoiding it for the most part. My weekly trips just to browse have stopped, I only go for necessities. For example, I only went to buy some thread, velcro and a yard of nylon for a few projects.

I've been working on more snack bags. Part of the eco-friendly transition. I'm trying to rid my house of ziploc bags and wasted plastic. I have already been using a sandwich wrap for Victoria, but still needing bags for snacks and such. (We are really into picnics with the warm weather, at least twice a week!) So I made some snack bags. All using scrap fabrics I had, all I needed was some nylon. They're cute, practical and I'm already putting them to use.

Here they are. And if you want to make some of your own....here's the tutorial I followed....http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/photos/reusable_snack_bag_tutori/index.html. They are super easy and quick, I made all of these in like 2 hours time (and that's with the kids awake and R attacking the sewing machine pedal all the time). I made them in all sorts of sizes, basically whatever sized fabric I had left.

I do have a few more to make. And I have some other projects reusing my scraps in the works. Like heming up too short pants into capris and shorts for the summer and adding some fabric to too short shirts to refurbish them. We'll see how they turn out. I'm a little nervous, but I figure I'm donating the clothes anyway, so I might as well try to get use out of them.

By the way, love the knitted bunny. Too cute!!! I dont have the patience for the finishing of those sort of things. You are an inspiration.

Hopefully I'll see you soon! Laura

Finally Finshed

Hi babe!

Well I have finally finished a project that I started a year ago FEBRUARY! What a slacker! Well, I hate seaming. And toys are all seaming. So at least she is done. She is mighty cute. Right?

I also finished this bear for the Mother Bear Project. I dropped him off at Lovely Yarn in Hamden, MD. My sister Emily and I spent the day there. Cute shop, lovely staff. Obviously, I need to work on my embroidery skills.

I was going to post more, but the sun just came out. Off to my porch with a book.

Miss you tons!

Kate

PS. Have you noticed that my pics are looking better? Thank Brian, thats all him :)

For Spring!

Hi Laura!

I was doing a little SPRING cleaning at my parents a few weekends ago and I came across a latch hook kit I brought maybe seven or eight years ago. I bought it with the intention of making for a friends wife who was pregnant. Well, I guess I never finished it. When I found buried in my old room about a third was complete. I thought about just pitching it. What would I do with a Winnie the Pooh wall hanging besides "gift" it to you? :) Ha! You would of hung me from my toes!

I felt a little eco-guilt about trashing it. It's all plastic!!!! So I finished it. It took most of a long rainy weekend on the floor in my living room watching a That 70's Show marathon, but I finally finished it a few days later.

As I was packing it up, my husband asked what my plans were for the yarn monstrosity which had been consuming the living room floor for the better part of week. And in the way he asked I could tell that he had become attached to it (he hooked 4 times). So here it stays, at my new house, until I find a reason to use it (not any time soon) or my sister has kids. Its cute right?

My friend Amy and I made these Easter/SPRING baskets from Moda

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/03/fabric-easter-basket.html

It was fun to do something besides knitting. Although I have to admit that my hand sewing is not what it use to be, so I cheated and used hot glue. Well, my hot glue skills are not what they use to be either and the baskets kinda suck. I am pretty sure it was me and not the pattern ;)

I have done plenty more, a lot of clean up and few simple things are on tap for Mothers Day and someones 1st birthday. I wonder who?

More later, craft'in sister!

Kate

PS. The sock saga still rages on and on and on.

Princess and the Pea Napping/Sleeping Bag

Kate,

A few weeks back I blogged about the Princess and the Pea sleeping bag I wanted to make here. Well I did it! It took a few long hours at night and a few mishaps along the way, but it's completed. And I personally love it. V hasn't woken up yet to see the fabulous work, but I know she'll be excited since she's been talking about it all week.

Just for a refresher, this was the inspiration for the Princess and the Pea theme http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/princess-pea-blanket.html and I was inspired to make it look similar to the Pottery Barn Kids sleeping bags. And this was sort of the tutorial I followed, except I made mine much larger, following the dimensions of the Pottery Barn Kids bags http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2009/08/sleeping-bag-tutorial-so-fun.html.

The project started with the purchase of a honey bun, which is a just a roll of 40 - 1.5" fabric pieces. 40 is the perfect number to represent the 20 mattresses and 20 quilts from the Princess and the Pea story. I got a great deal buying it off ebay. I used the Moda Me & My Sister Clementine honey bun fabric. I wanted bright, fun colors for my little girl. My favorite part was having a girls day out last weekend with just V. We went to the fabric store and she helped pick up the purple polka dot outside fabric and the purple and white gingham flannel fabric for the inside of the sleeping bag.

So with G gone all week, I spent the evenings piecing it together. Sewing the 40 strips took FOREVER! I thought it would be quick, but with the pinning, ironing and sewing, it took almost 4 hours to just sew the strips together. I'm definately glad I opted to buy the honey bun with precut fabric, if I had to cut all that fabric, I can't imagine how long it would have been. Then I used old scraps of fabric to make the princess. It took me a few tries because in my delirious state, I ironed the face applique on TWICE (yes, twice!) with the wonder-under sticking up. So rather than adhering to the fabric, it adhered to my iron. And then it took another night just to get the applique sewed on. I had to keep switching thread colors, rethreading bobbins and readjusting the settings on the sewing machine.

But in last night I completed it. I made the sandwich of the front, back and batting and added a strap. The 2 layers of high-loft batting and the fabric made for a hard sew, but my machine made it! It's time to rest my poor machine for a bit.

So here it is.....

Princess and the Pea sleeping bag/nap sack.

The princess applique!

The pea button!

Now, here's to hoping she uses it for quiet/nap time. And maybe even take a little nap!

I'm inspired to keep making blankets or projects from storytime. They're just so darn adorable.

Laura

Cabinet Upgrades & Craft Storage Space

Kate,

With the kids sick last week, I was trapped inside all week, so I decided spring cleaning was here! I tackled the laundry room/mud room off our kitchen. A space that needs much love. Unfortunately it will be impossible to paint the walls since one and a half of the walls are unreachable due to the pipes, water filter, heater and water pump that are located against the back wall. So I decided to try and spruce it up in other ways. It's been a dump where we've been piling things up to sort later. No more later, now it's time to sort, trash, store and renovate!

Remember these kitchen cabinets and the hideous countertop (you can't see it great with the picture but it was cream with swirls of gold and silver) that we replaced a few months ago?

Well, after we replaced them I asked Greg to keep a few for my laundry room. He was a little hesitant, as always, but he let me be. Finally, I got around to redoing them. I painted them and used fabric to brighten them up. Best part, all FREE! The paint was a leftover sample I had bought for our bedroom (which didn't end up working out for the bedroom) and the fabric was from a yard I bought a while ago to make a skirt and never got around to making it. I think it worked out nicely. I'm still going back and forth on the top cabinets. I may end up painting them all cream or all blue. And yes, I did paint the countertop! It was super easy. Just a few layers of paint and then a finishing coat of spray laquer.

It may not look like much, because it's still a white beat up wall and still a storage area to an extent. But in person it's a huge improvement. Much friendlier and useful!

Here are a few more things I did (that's the most impressive part, I did it all myself! No handyman Greg helping out this time.) And it was practically free. The only cost was for extra shelves ($8) and the spray laquer ($3) and a coat rack shelf for sale from JoAnn Fabrics ($9).

Added more canning storage. Just added some more shelves so I can store the abundance of canning I still have and I know more are to come this summer. I also moved the dresser from our bedroom into the laundry room and filled it with all my fabric and sewing supplies. And moved the drawers from our hall closet, next to the dresser, full of craft items. So now all my crafting supplies are in one location. And accessible even when the kids are sleeping in my bedroom.

Now that I atleast feel like the house is a little cleaner, I can concentrate on some projects this week. Greg is away for business, which means I have a lot of free time in the evenings to be creative. I've already started on a few things, so I'll be posting more soon!

Laura

The Quilt

Laura,

I L-O-V-E it! Congrats and well done!!!!!

Kate

so you think youre crafty

Laura,

I KNOW you are crafty and I hope I am a little too. But this blog http://soyouthinkyourecrafty.blogspot.com/2010/03/kids-can-do-week-6.html
is pretty awesome. I do really like the tents, but it's the Mod Podge Hand Trees which really took me for a ride. I think this might make a nice gift for someone in the future, when her kids have longer arms.Ummmm......

I don't really have much to show, because I have been working on cross stitch. That's how I knew Spring had Sprung. For me the desire to do cross stitch is just as much a sign that spring is here as flowers are. Just think how crafty the world would be if I was mother nature. Just an idea to chew on :) So, no pic's because its really slow going on the cross stitch.

I did want to let you know that Springtime on the Bay (that's what I call it) is this month. Its a crafting event put on by the Bay Country Crafters at Baldwin Hall in Millersville, MD from March 24th to March 28th. http://www.baycountrycrafters.typepad.com/. Its pretty awesome and I love to support our local crafters. I also KNOW that these ladies are crafty too.

More soon!

Kate

Fabric Play Tents

Kate,

Remember those adorable fabric play tents you originally showed me from this blog? Well, I saw this version from So You Think Your Crafty. I love it too! I love the apple tree and how the veggies and fruits can be moved. Very interactive. Sort of makes me want to buy a bunk bed for the kids. There are so many cute ideas out there for making play tents for you kids. They do look like alot of fabric and a lot of work though. Maybe I'll add it to my dream list.

Photo from So You Think You're Crafty

Here are some other cute ones for inspiration:

Perfect for that fairy party!

Photo from http://tentsforkids.com/haba-blossom-sky-room-tent/

Photo from ikat bag

For others interested in making them, there are lots of tutorials out there, including some of the links listed here and you can also buy kits from Etsy or already made tents from Etsy as well. This is just one designer of them - http://www.etsy.com/shop/missprettypretty.

Can you tell the kiddos are sick and I'm trying to keep myself occupied while they rest and veg out? There are just so many cute ideas out there, and just not enough time (and money) to complete them all!

Laura

Seuss Quilt Complete

Kate,

Thanks to our very productive (even though short) craft session on Saturday, I made huge strides in the piecing together of R's first birthday quilt. I was super excited and motivated, so I spent a couple hours Sunday and today during the ever so rare naptime to complete it. I think it's awesome! I know R will love all the textures with the soft, bumpy fabrics, cotton and corduroy. Thank you so much for your advice, help and patience as I complete these sorts of projects. It is amazing how improved I am from the first quilt I did for V two years ago.

Here is the finished photograph. The picture doesn't capture the cuteness. I can't wait to give it to him in May!

Side note: I learrned a wonderful lesson working with this soft, bumpy fabric. Don't iron it, the bumps go away! Luckily I caught on before too much was hurt.

Now on to birthday planning,
Laura

I Spy Projects

Kate,

I'm really starting to love the idea of these "I Spy" projects you have been talking about at our crafting sessions. One of the blogs I follow posted this cute featuring the same "I Spy" theme. Very cute! And great way to use up those old scraps of fabric filling up our bins.

http://crafterhours.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-spy-completed-quilt.html

Happy crafting,
Laura

Another Quilting Project in the Works

Kate,

This is probably a bit ambitious for me. But I'm on the brink of crazy because of a toddler who refuses to nap. And right now I'm tired of her waking her brother (since they share a room) and I'm tired of her in my bed, so I had a brillant idea. How about a sleeping bag all her own. V loves the one at Gamas.

This bright idea led me to spend precious naptime searching the internet for great ideas and tutorials. I found a tutorial no problem. Now here's the tricky part, I fell absolutely in LOVE with this quilt from Moda Bake Shop (one of the many blogs I stalk). I'm thinking it would be awesome to incorporate this quilt into a sleeping bag for V. It would be even better (and probably a little insane) to complete it for Easter. It's perfect, we read Princess and the Pea everyday. It's one of her favorites. And this is too adorable for words.

So the question is, am I absolutely insane to think about another quilting project while I'm still needing to complete R's first birthday quilt?

I can't wait to see you Saturday so we can start sewing R's quilt. The cutting of fabric is complete. Now it's time to work our magic!

Laura

Parenthood

Hi Laura,

Just a quick post about the new show Parenthood. I loved it! It reminds me of the movie The Family Stone- which I love. I also love Lauren Graham (from Gilmore Girls) and evidently I have a thing for Craig T Nelson. Who knew? Not me....

Check out the houses too. They are wonderful, I can only hope that one day I will have a house like that filled with a family that disfunctional.

I love it. Watch it and let me know what you think!

http://www.nbc.com/parenthood/
Kate