A New Top for Baby!

I finally got around to making the summer top for our little girl!  I found the binding to be a bit tricky – particularly when I was putting it over multiple layers.   Other than that, sewing through a lot of fabric on a small section resulted in the fabric not moving forward in the machine.  A bit of a pain, but I did manage to get it done.  A fairly simple top to make all in all.  I particularly like the ruffle.  So, without further ado – the baby top!

And here is the top with the pants I had made first.

Now, I just need to make a little matching headband and we are set!

I thought this week I would add this to  Made By You Monday over at Skip to My Lou.  One of my favourite sites to visit!

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Friday Favourites

Well, this is one seriously over tired Mom here.  My little one has not been the best sleeper this past week.  She has decided that the middle of the night is the perfect time to wake up and play for an hour or so.   All that lack of sleep is adding up and I am definitely in need of a good nap…. or two…. or three!  But enough complaining – here are this week’s Friday Favourites!

1)  SLEEP!  Would you really expect me to say anything different?  A luxurious nap in the warm Spring sun would have to hit close to the top of my list today.  Don’t you just love finding a warm sunny patch and letting the sun shine down on your face?  Pure heaven!

2) This morning I woke up in a good mood with a fair amount of energy and was singing one of my favourite songs – Orange Coloured Sky.  A great upbeat tune by Nat King Cole.

3) Fruit hats for babies and toddlers.  There’s just something cute about a baby or toddler wearing a hat that looks like a piece of fruit!  Have a look here to see a great selection of fruit (and veggie!) hats available out there!

This bunch of beautiful hats are sold by knitrgal on etsy.

4) Watching my children play and interact.  This is one of the best parts of being a parent.  I love to hear the giggles that come out of my girls when they are playing together.  I love to hear what they talk to each other about.  I love seeing their little faces light up at new and exciting things.  I love that my older two daughters are great at making our baby laugh.   I love hearing my children laugh a good belly laugh.  I love that our home is filled with the sounds of children.  I am so blessed to be a Mom.

5) Chow Mein Noodle Birds Nest Cookies.  These look SO easy to make.  I think I’m going to try making some with my kids for them to bring in to school.   The butterscotch chip version might be a good choice for nut free classrooms.  I think I might fill some with Mini Eggs and some with jelly beans.  Yum!

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Baby Blocks

I only managed to get a small sewing project done this week.  I thought I would try my hand at making some baby blocks.  Nice and quick to make.  They did make me wish that I had some basic quilting supplies like a cutting mat and a rotary cutter though! I think next time I will try putting bells inside them and maybe adding some ribbons for baby to chew on.

I hope to make that little top for my baby soon – the one that matches the pants.  I am having a hard time reading the pattern.  I am not entirely clear on what the instructions are telling me.  It will be the first top I have sewn and my first time making and using bias.  I think I will wait for my mom to come help me.

In the meantime, I am not sure what I will be sewing.  I may try another bag or purse.  Or maybe some little fabric bunnies for my girls for Easter.  I was fortunate enough to be given a bunch of fabric.  Nothing too fancy, of course, but something for me to practice with.  I wonder what I will make with it all?  Any ideas?

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Friday Favourites

Wow – is it Friday already?   This week has really flown by!

Here are this week’s favourites:

1) My crock-pot. Seriously. I love it. I throw in the ingredients in the morning and then come the 5 o’clock rush I don’t have to do anything but set the table! Such a nice relaxing way to end the day! Last night I made Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic.  My house smelled awesome and it was such a simple, yummy dinner.  Okay, with this one I didn’t have to just set the table, but the main part of our meal pretty much cooked itself.

2) I came across these cool family blocks while blog surfing this week.

I would love to make a set of these for our baby girl. I think they are a great, personalized toy and a great thing to keep when baby is done with them. Now, if only I can convince my family members to let me take a picture of them!!!  You can find the tutorial for these blocks here.

3) Another blog surfing find – felt monsters!

If you have never visited Laundry on the Line before, you should check it out. The woman who writes this blog is a teacher.  She took her students’ drawings of monsters and made them into little felt softees!   Can you imagine how exciting this would be for a child?  Such a clever idea!  It’s a great blog and I find her to be an entertaining writer.

4) ‘Home for a Rest‘.  This is a great song by Spirit of the West.  On St. Patrick’s Day we cranked up this song and danced around the house! Even the baby’s feet were kicking away!

5) Daffodils.  What a beautiful, sunny spring flower!

Have a great weekend!

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The Purse

Last night, I made the Phoebe Bag that I have previously mentioned. It was my first time sewing a purse. Actually, it was my first time sewing a bag of any sort. I have never sewn with interfacing or magnetic snaps. I have never sewn darts. It was quite a challenge!

Although it definitely looks like a purse, it is unfortunately riddled with mistakes. Sewing with interfacing was a bit more challenging than anticipated. I had thought that stiffer fabric might make things a bit easier to sew, but that was not the case. It made it harder to move and manipulate the fabric while sewing it. I did okay with the darts and the magnetic snap, which is great news.

The flap that fastens the purse closed ended up off-center, despite my best try to get it centered. Trying to get it done before my Sunday night TV show started (Desperate Housewives!), I neglected to check the flap well enough. If I had noticed before closing up the lining, I could have picked out where the flap was and tried centering it better.  I could still do a lot of picking, but honestly, I am going to call it ‘close enough’.  I think most people would not notice.  I am my own worst critic.

I also ended up with some of my fabric puckering on me. This has been an issue for me on a few projects, so I think this is an area I need to learn a bit more about. I have tried adding more pins, and this has helped a bit, but I am still getting more puckering than I like. Good thing my mom is coming to visit soon!!!

Anyway, because I know you all want to see the finished product, here is my Phoebe Bag:

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Friday Favourites

It is a dark and wet day here. I am feeling very mellow and relaxed. I could just sit and drink coffee all day.  It’s a great day to be at the computer typing away (and surfing the net).

Here are this week’s Friday Favourites:

1) A wonderfully talented singer by the name of Carmen Hillary.  She has a beautiful voice and writes all her own music and lyrics.  You can see a video of her song ‘Home’ here.   Her website is www.carmenhillary.com.  You should definitely check it out.

2) The word GOBSMACKED!  I love it!  Every time I read it in a book it makes me smile.

3) Sandi Richards cookbooks and her wonderful collection of recipes.  She has great recipes in an easy to read, easy to prepare format.  She makes me look like a good cook and my picky kids will even eat some of her recipes. This is a really good thing.  You can check out her recipes here.  We really love the Crunchy Orange Curried Chicken with Potatoes and Spinach Salad. Yum!

4) A friend recently introduced me to So You Think You’re Crafty. This blog has a lot of fun and easy craft ideas.  This week the blog features kids crafts.

5) Speaking of crafts, I love this diaper bag!

There is a great tutorial for this bag that can be found here at A Mingled Yarn.  I haven’t gotten much of a chance to look at this blog yet, but it is one that I will definitely have a closer look at in the near future.  There are so many great sewing projects out there.

Well, that’s it for today.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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Baby Pants – DONE!

Yes, the baby pants are done now. I was nervous to try a couple new things in making them, but I finally jumped in with both feet and got it done! Now, I will admit, they look a little like clown pants. That is due to the fabric I made them from. Not to worry though! The fabric the pants are made from match a different patterned fabric that I am making a top from. It will be a cute little set once it’s done, I think.

The finished pants!

And here is the fabric I am making the shirt from next to the pants.

See?  I told you it would be okay!  I think it should make a sweet little set.  I’ll probably end up making a headband out of the polka dot fabric as well.

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The Bird

Last night, while sitting at the computer, I was suddenly startled by a rustling sound at the back door. Shortly after, I heard the sound of a little bird twittering away. I looked over, and in the ficus tree that sits near our back door there was a little bird!  At some point in the day, he must have flown in through our open back door.  Funny that we didn’t see or hear him until much later.

I went and got my husband and we tried to get our feathered friend back outside.  We grabbed some sheets so that we could gently guide him.  What followed was a bit of a comedy act.  Let it suffice to say that it was not as easy as we had anticipated.  We were, in the end, able to help the bird find his way back outside.   It added a little excitement to our day though and I was able to get a pretty good picture of our guest.

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Friday Favourites

Friday today!  I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favourite things on Fridays!!

My Friday Favourites for this week:

1) Clotheslines!!!  I *LOVE* clotheslines!  I love the smell of my clothes (especially sheets!) straight off the clothesline!  Here is a wonderful poem about clotheslines!

2) This really awesome baby toy! I love everything about it!  It is soft.  It has crinkly sounds, rattles, a chime.  It is a great baby toy and can later be used for pretend play.  We bought this for our youngest daughter for Christmas and we have not been disappointed!  I actually think I am getting a bit of a fabric food addiction.  I see lots of tutorials online for making fabric play food and I have seen a lot for sale while browsing Etsy.

3) Speaking of Etsy!!  What a great site!!!

4)Raspberries.  And white chocolate.  Need I say more?  One of the best combinations out there.  I am thinking of making Elegant White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins for breakfast tomorrow.

5)  This lovely purse.  I am going to try making one for myself.  I actually have all the fabric cut out already, but I have baby pants to finish first!!

6) Spring!!!!  It was a beautiful sunny day here today and it felt so much like Spring.  My garden is bursting in the first colours of Spring – daffodils, primulas and even my rosemary is in bloom! So beautiful!

So many wonderful things out there!   Happy Friday everyone!!

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The Gift

It took me a bit of back and forth, but I eventually decided to make my dear friend a ruffled apron.   My friend is very much a girly girl and this apron was the perfect gift to show off a bit of that girly side.  I found the tutorial here .   I had looked at this apron a few times and always thought how cute it was.   It was fun to have someone perfect to make it for!

From cutting all the pieces to the finished project, it took me about 3 hours to complete this apron.  I suppose, a more experienced sewer, could have whipped up this apron in half the time.  I am very happy with how well this apron turned out and how quickly it came together for me.  There were a few little mistakes along the way.  After setting my machine to sew long stitches for the gathers, I forgot that I needed to set it back to a shorter length.  Not a big deal and I caught it fairly quickly so no harm done.  The other problem I had was getting the skirt of the apron caught up in the waist band – oops!  Nothing a little seam ripping couldn’t take care of.

Anyway, it is done now and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  Here is a picture of it for your enjoyment…

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