A Pair of Poufs

Last weekend while Jilly was gone and Mattie was napping I made my second pouf.  It took a bit longer this time, but I was being more careful and did a better job.  I love this fabric I found for Mattie's pouf, and I love that the colors coordinate so well because these girls will most definitely be sharing a room before too long.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but that's what happens when you have little girls playing on their new poufs!

I've caught Bryan a few times using the poufs as a foot rest or pillow so I guess my next one will have to be for him!

A pouf and an apron

I mentioned over a year ago that I wanted to make a little pouf for Jilly.  I finally got around to making one for Valentine's Day.  This tutorial is awesome, and it was actually super duper easy.  The hardest part was filling it- I decided I wanted beans (like a bean bag chair) instead of just batting.  There were some on amazon, but they were expensive.  Walmart had some online that was a good deal but wouldn't be shipped until the end of February.  I looked at JoAnns and Hobby Lobby with no luck.  I checked at Walmart and a woman said to look at Michael's.  I went to Michael's and the woman there said to look at Walmart.   I was feeling very defeated and frustrated so I just ordered these from Walmart hoping for the best.  I got lucky- the beans arrived just a few days before Valentine's Day.  And, even better, the box is huge so I have enough beans to make at least one more pouf, and probably two more.  And, Jilly loves it.  A raging success.

When I was worried about the pouf not being done in time I decided to whip up (ha! like any sewing project is that easy for me) an apron for Jilly.  I made an apron to go with her kitchen a couple years ago for Christmas and she's been using that one for painting and helping me in the kitchen, but it was getting small and we needed another for when we have friends over.  Jilly loves this new apron and I had a lot of fun making it, so another raging success.

Jilly enjoying all her Valentine's presents- apron (I couldn't convince her to wear some other clothes as well), pouf, and The Little Mermaid (from my parents) - a very happy girl

Stockings and Elves

One of the many, many reasons I'm glad Mattie is part of our family is that I love getting to hang up a fourth stocking.  I spent a few nights last week making Mattie's stocking so I could hang them all over the weekend.

I also added little initial tags this year.  I had seen this done a few different ways so I combined a few ideas into what I wanted.  First, I cut out letters from some glitter paper (I picked a font that I liked and printed out letters, cut them out, traced them on the glitter paper, and cut them out.)  Then I hot glued the letters to squares of felt.  Last, I glued little ribbon loops to the back so they can be hung from the stockings.  This way no one is committed to a certain stocking every year (although after making them I let Jilly choose who would have each stocking and she chose exactly as I would have, so maybe these ones will stick forever.)

Can't wait to see what Santa fills them with!

Last year my friend made an elf for her family and I loved the idea because A- I'd been wanting to make a doll and B- I think the elf you buy is kind of creepy.  So I copied her idea and used this pattern to make Ellie the Elf.  I also made a boy version for Lisa's boys.  The pattern was awesome and elves were so fun to make.

Bryan and I have been having a great time finding silly things for Ellie and Buddy (Bryan's parents gave the girls an elf as well) to do each night.
 

pre-Mattie projects

It's difficult to remember life before our sweet little Mattie, but there were a few things I was going to blog about before she surprised us and arrived 5 days early (bless her!)

Brown paper packages tied up with string-

Between Mother's Day, birthdays, and graduation I had lots of gifts to purchase, wrap, and send off (this picture only shows about half!)   I also let Jilly pick out and wrap a gift for Mattie, and we got a gift for Jilly from Mattie.  These presents kept me busy for a few weeks.

Another dress-

 

We got new curtains for Mattie's bedroom, but I still loved the fabric from the old curtains so I channeled Maria von Trapp and made a play dress using this pattern.  Jilly loved this dress and wore it for 3 days straight, and now I can't get her to put it on at all. Typical.

Mobile-

Bryan and I spent a whole night debating the pronunciation of mobile- is it mo-buhl, mo-beel, or mo-bile (with a long i)?  Anyway, making this mobile for Mattie was a perfectly fun and easy project.  I used this tutorial.  

After Mattie arrived I looked back over my "To Do Before Baby" checklist and was shocked that I never got to 'clean the blinds.'  Maybe before our next baby... but don't hold your breath.

Summer Dress #2

My grandma gave me lots of pretty purple eyelet lace fabric last summer and I'd been looking for a way to use it.  I finally used this tutorial to make a dress for Jilly.  I love her tutorials so much because they have lots of great pictures and are easy to follow.  

 And Jilly loves this dress, which is saying a lot because we have had some rough two-year-old weeks full of tantrums because her dresses are "not working."

I wanted to take some pictures of Jilly in the dress before she went to bed so we walked over to the newly-blooming rose garden in our neighborhood. 

Jillian loved the flowers and was especially fascinated by the snail we spotted hiding under one of the bushes.

Spoiler Alert: there is a coordinating dress for baby sis and I cannot wait for her to get here so I can enjoy my matchy girls.

a dress for Jilly

I have finally accepted the fact that pants/shorts/anything that doesn't have good spin factor are no longer going to come near my daughter's body (without a huge fight, and at this point I have lost all the fight in me.)  So thus I have begun Operation: Summer Dresses.

I actually started this dress last fall.  I bought some jersey fabric to make a maxi skirt for me (side note: I made the waist a little too big so now it fits me perfectly and is my very favorite article of clothing as seen here.)  I decided to use the leftovers to make this dress, but it was already too late in the year so I made it for this spring.  Unfortunately I planned on Jilly growing about 3 sizes over the winter.  The dress is pretty big on her but that only adds to its spin appeal, and means she'll be able to wear it next year as well.  When I pulled the dress out last week all I had to do was attach the collar and hem the dress (which I did a terrible job on, but it's a play dress so we're calling it good.)  It is far from a masterpiece, but she likes it and I am thrilled to check something off my "Things to finish before baby" list.

Jilly is also modeling her new obsession- necklaces.  There are at least three around her neck at all times until I pry them off for her to go to sleep.  Never in my life have I met a child more girly than this one.

Quilts for Kids

Almost a year ago I read this post on the Quilts for Kids program.  It's an effort to provide bright, hand-made quilts for children in hospitals.   I thought this would be a great way to get going on my first quilt.  Because the fabric is free (apparently it's not free anymore, you have to pay $6) I wouldn't feel the pressure of having made a big financial commitment.  Also, I was pretty sure (and right) that my first quilt would be no family heirloom.  Not that I didn't care about making a quality blanket to donate, I just thought that not having it around for me to daily analyze all of the flaws was a good idea.   And lastly, I thought it would be a fun service to give.

So I registered late in the summer for my quilt kit.  Unfortunately my kit arrived a few weeks later right when I was in the throes of my first trimester.  It sat in the bag waiting for me to have the energy to actually do something with it.  And then the holidays happened and it sat some more.  One of my goals of 2013 was to finish this quilt by the end of January.

I didn't quite finish in January, but February 6th is close right?  Once I got going it was a fun and not too difficult project.  All of the fabric strips and detailed instructions are provided.  After sewing the quilt top together, I bought some batting (the only thing not provided) and quilted it with my machine then bound it.  And now it's ready to send off in the morning.

The easiest skirt ever

Since Jilly wouldn't wear her Red Riding Hood cloak (I realize I've now mentioned this approximately 15 times, I'm not bitter or anything) I knew she needed something red to wear for Halloween.  So I came up with this skirt, and it was the easiest, fastest, most gratifying sewing project I've ever done.

I started with a shirt that came as a pajama set but I didn't really ever wear it so it had found a home in my giveaway/think of some way to use pile.  I cut it off right below the buttons, but with a different shirt you'd just need to measure how long you want your skirt to be and add 2.5 inches for the waistband.

 Fold under the top edge about 1/4 inch and press.

Fold over the top about 1 1/4 inch- enough for your elastic plus a little extra

Pinny pin pin pin. You perhaps are a more confident seamstress and don't need as many pins as I do, but I pin the heck out of everything I do.  

 Sew the casing.  Be sure to leave about a two inch opening to pull the elastic through.  Some tricks I have found to be helpful-

 1. Sew on the front of the skirt so it will look straight, 2. Wrap a rubber band around your sewing machine to use as a guide again so your seams will be straight

 Use a safety pin to pull your elastic through the casing.  Try it on your little person to make sure it fits then sew the ends together.

 Turn out the extra edges and sew them flat (I hope the pictures makes more sense than my explanation)

 Stretch out the fabric on your opening, pin, and sew it up (on the front of the skirt again)

 Spread out the gathers and you are done!  Easy, peasy right?  It took more time to write this tutorial than to make the skirt. 

Maybe, just maybe, you'll get to see a picture of Jilly in her costume tomorrow.  I'm digging around for every form of bribery that could possibly be used.  But, please don't hold your breath.

Christmas Advent Calendar

I had some leftover fabric from the stockings I made last Christmas so I browsed pinterest and came up with an advent calendar.  I didn't want to be scrambling on November 30th, so I got it done early.  And ever since I started thinking about Christmas, I can't stop!  I want jingle bells, Christmas cookies, and a decorated tree.  But, until these things are appropriate, I'll just enjoy my calendar.  Here's how you can make one too. 

You need-
Christmas fabric
batting
fusible webbing
printed numbers 1-24
felt (1 sheet of red and 1 sheet of green were plenty for me)
bias tape
wooden dowel
** You don't have to use batting, you can just make fabric pockets.  I wanted mine to be a little thicker.  If you don't use batting, start at step 6)

1. Cut out 24 squares of batting approximately 4 1/2 inches long (doesn't have to be exact, but can't be smaller)

2. Cut out 24 strips 8 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in.  I used leftover fabric from my Christmas stockings

3. On the back side of the fabric strips make a mark halfway along the long sides (at 4 1/4 in)

4. Pin a square of batting onto each rectangle at the halfway mark.  The side of batting along the halfway marks should have a straight edge, but none of the others need to.

5. Sew around the square as close to the edge as you can.  Repeat for all pieces of fabric.

6. Decide what order you want the fabric pieces to be in on the calendar.  Either leave the pieces sitting out in the order you want or take a picture to keep handy.  (This will make sense in the next few steps)

6. Print then cut out the numbers 1-24.  (I used Bernard MT Condensed font in size 180.)

7. For every number, cut out a piece of felt and a piece of fusible webbing the same size.  Make sure you choose the color of felt you want for each color of fabric.  (for example- my green plaid fabric was first and I wanted a red number on that fabric so I made my 1 out of red felt.)   

8. Peel off one side of the paper on the webbing and iron the fusible webbing to the felt.

9. Pin together in this order- felt on bottom, fusible webbing in middle, and number on top backwards and facing down.  Then carefully cut out the numbers.

10. Fold your fabric in half so it is now a square

11. Peel off the paper on the back of the numbers and iron them to their correct squares.  Be sure to do this on the side of the square that does not have the stitching from sewing the batting and the fabric together (this is a mistake I made as you can see.)

12. Once all your numbers are ironed on fold each piece of fabric so right sides are together.  

13. Stitch around the three edges (not along the fold) and leave about a 1 1/2 inch opening along the bottom.  (Sew inside the stitch you already made to connect the batting to the fabric.)  Then snip off the corners and pull the pocket through the hole you left open.

14. Iron your pockets flat then topstitch along the top edge about 1/2 inch from the top.  

15. Pin the pockets on the large piece of felt (with help from your little assistant.) It would probably be a good idea to measure and make sure your pockets are evenly placed, but let's be honest, I am way too lazy to do that.  Sew the pockets to the felt around the 3 bottom edges (leave the top open so it's a pocket!)

16. Pin the binding around your felt.  Be sure to fold over the end and overlap it.  Then sew it on!

17. To make straps to hold the calendar up cut 5 pieces of fabric 4 in x 7 in.  Fold over and press the short ends about 1/2 inch.

 18.  Fold the strips in half lengthwise, right sides together, and stitch up the long side so you have a tube.

 19. Use a safety pin to pull the tube through so it is right side out.

 20. Loop the strips and decide where you want them to go then stitch them on along the same seam you made for the binding.  Slide a wooden dowel along those babies.

 And you are done!