Baby Sewing

A while back, when our Border's was going out of business, I snagged a couple of sewing books.  One happened to be Growing Up Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee.

This book is chock full of super adorable things to make for babies and kids.  I can't wait until this little guy is old enough for the teepee on the front cover.  Our grandma made us a similar one when we were little and it was so much fun.  

A week or so ago, I tackled cleaning out my super messy sewing room closet to discover quite a bit of scrap knit fabric.  I remembered that there were quite a few knit things in Growing Up Sew Liberated, so I decided to make a couple today.  I made the "All-by-myself Bib" and the "Baby Sleep Sack."

I love this envelope style design.  There is a little PJ set with an envelope T-shirt that I might try to make soon.  If you sew and have babies or little kids, I would highly recommend this book. Now I can't wait until I have a cute little model to show off my creations (the cutting mat just isn't doing them any justice)!

Diaper Stacker

Since I started my Backyard Babies stash with a fat quarter bundle and then purchased some extra yardage, I have some random left over pieces.   I saw this cute Diaper Stacker Tutorial and thought I'd gift it a shot.

The directions were fairly straight forward until the end when you have to attach the bottom to the rest of the stacker.  I think I pleated wrong in one of the earlier steps so this gave me some trouble.  I kind of just gritted my teeth and sewed, hoping for the best.  The seams look a little wonky, but it works!

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the caterpillar (of course).  I added piping instead of a ruffle to top.  I need a baby-sized hanger to hang it with so I can get rid of the fabric scrap that is currently pinned to the back.  

Happy Thursday!

More Nursery Sewing

I have one or two more sewing projects on my to-do list for the nursery, but I think for the most part, the bulk is now finished.  Today I made a crib skirt from some of the fabric from yesterday's delivery.  To conserve fabric, I made it 3-sided since the crib will be pushed up against a wall anyway.

Since we don't have an actual crib yet, my craft table is doing the modeling.  I also used a tutorial from MADE to make a crib sheet.  The sheet took me under a half hour to sew.  Putting the elastic through was literally the most time-consuming part.  

This fabric is so cute.  From far away it just looks like a geometric print, but up close it's really those little helicopters (at least that's what they were called in my house) that fall from the trees.  It's called Samaras from the Backyard Baby collection (from Patty Sloniger's line by Michael Miller Fabrics) and can be purchased here.   Here is a photo of the crib sheet and skirt together to give an idea of what the crib will look like when it's made.  

I also made the valences for the nursery this week (I've been sewing up a storm over here--that's what North Country winters are good for).  I chose to use the Birch Forest fabric because I like how it looks like vertical stripes.  

For some reason the molding in this room is painted white but the window frames and base boards are painted this weird khaki color.  I think painting everything white is on my to-do list before the baby comes.  

Finally, after searching Syracuse for the perfect rug a couple weeks ago, I broke down and ordered one from Target.  Online it looked sage, but the reviewers said it was more of a pale lime green.  That seemed perfect for our needs, but in real life it looks more bright lime green.  Because we are painting the furniture aqua (we think), we decided to keep the rug since it will be a nice contrast against the furniture.  

Can't wait until we can put it all together!  I'll keep you posted!

Finished Blankets

After an exciting fabric delivery from UPS today, I was finally able to finish my baby quilt for the nursery.  I added a little "E" monogram to the corner using my handy Silhouette Machine.  Rather than attempting to sew it on with my sewing machine, I thought it would be easier to just hand stitch it on with a blanket stitch.  

The colors on this next photo look a little off with this lighting (the colors in the above photos are more accurate), but here it is, in all it's glory: 

(Yep, that's my bathroom...it's harder than it seems to photograph a quilt, even a mini one)

I backed the quilt in one of my favorite fabrics from the collection, Windy Day. 

I love the little dog with the swing...

A few days ago, I also finished the Bobble blanket using the tutorial provided by Maybe Matilda.  I think it's super adorable and I kind of want to make a regular-sized person version.  

And finally, a slightly better photo of the Turtle Pillow (Jeff left his camera on "dummy mode"  so I hardly have to hit buttons...and my photos are still bad).  

Hopefully I'll have more baby project updates soon!

Turtle throw pillow

                                                              

Today I whipped up this little pillow for the nursery.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the turtle,  then I appliqued it on with my sewing machine.  I have never pieced together a border before-- not that it was terribly difficult,  it just took some extra math.  I think it will be a cute touch to the room.

Success!

After my major nursery wall art fail, I decided to go back to the drawing board.  Besides the running ink, I wasn't liking where the printed art was going.  I thought a good way to showcase some of the adorable prints in the Backyard Baby collection would be to use fabric on the canvas.  I thought I would give the Silhouette Cameo another try at cutting (since that is it's main function) and braved it with fabric.  As it turns out, the fabric is WAY easier to work with than paper.  When I tried cutting paper, I kept ripping my design when I attempted to pick it off the sticky cutting mat (patience and carefulness are not by best qualities).  With the fabric, ripping was not an issue.  I was also concerned because rather than using the Silhouette fabric interfacing, I just used the generic interfacing that I already had on hand.  After a little tweaking with the blade setting, it worked wonders!

I will post better pictures when they are actually hanging on the wall (which will be a while).

After cutting the designs, I actually ironed them onto the blank canvas (who knew you could iron onto a canvas!?  That was a bit of a scary thing to try).  Once they were stuck on, I sealed them in with Mod Podge, and the two on the right are both still wet.

On a side note, I ordered all of the fabric for the rest of the nursery today.  I'll keep you posted with my progress!

Snowed In

(Excuse the muddy paw prints on the floor)

Looks like we are sitting tight this weekend!  Stay warm!

23 Weeks

Well into the second trimester and I'm feeling pretty good.  The bambino is rolling up a storm and I have a bit more energy than the previous trimester.  The exact moment that I invested in a huge vat of dill pickles, my pickle craving subsided and moved into an ice cream craving--specifically any ice cream with cookie dough or brownie bits, but more ideally--both (thank you Stewart's Brownie Cookie Sundae).

(20 week ultrasound--It's a boy!)

My co-workers have decided that I am officially "popping" and I even had one patient last month interrupt a class I was teaching to ask "when is junior due?"  Lucky for him, there really is a junior, as that could have made for a fairly awkward rest of the weight loss class.  Besides co-workers, friends, and family, I have not had any strangers try to rub my belly yet, thankfully.

You probably won't be hearing from me for a few days--heading to Long Island tomorrow.  Have a happy weekend!

Lessons Learned

Today I decided to try out the Silhouette Cameo that Jeff so thoughtfully gave me for Christmas.  I must admit I have been a bit intimidated by this thing thus far.  After opening it, it appeared to be way more technologically advanced than I had hoped.  Since one of the items on today's To-do list was "cut something with the Silhouette," I thought I would give it a go (obviously, today's To-Do list was not super strenuous).  It was pretty simple to figure out how to cut, but I need to invest in some little tools to pick the fine little details off of the sticky cutting mat.  Until I find those tools, I may only be cutting large, simple shapes. (I tried to make an intricate Valentine's Day card...it was a hot mess.)    

I did enjoy playing around with the Silhouette design software.  I have about zero artistic ability and I don't consider myself creative by nature, but I did come up with some cute little designs for nursery wall art (in my opinion).  I was hoping to find 12" by 12" cheap frames, but at Michael's today, 2 packs of canvases were BOGO free so my thrifty self took over and I picked them up instead.  I was quite excited for my Mod Podge-filled afternoon, when I quickly realized I should have sprung for regular frames instead.

It was all fun and games at first....

..but it soon turned into a wrinkly, gooey mess...

I also learned today that you should not try to Mod Podge over anything printed with a regular printer or else your colors will run--who knew?!

At least I tried...

Baby Blanket Progress

One of the first things I did when I found out we were having a baby was start to look at fabric for the nursery.  When we found out we were having a boy, I quickly decided on the fabric collection "Backyard Baby" which I purchased here from the Fat Quarter Shop.   Ordering from this shop was a breeze.  I ordered the fabric on Tuesday morning, it shipped that day and arrived at my door by Thursday afternoon.  I love all the adorable colors and cute patterns.  It's hard to pick a favorite, but I really like the two tree designs and the green print with the bugs in mason jars.

(pardon my poor photo quality...Jeff (my husband) has yet to teach me his mad photography skills)

I wanted to make a baby quilt that would showcase the prints nicely, so using the tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew found here, I made a disappearing nine patch quilt.  I had been wanting to try this block for a while now (since Allison made it look so simple and fast) but had been waiting for the right opportunity.  The quilt top came together within just a couple of hours and I'm loving how it came out!

I'm waiting to finish the quilt to I can add a monogram to the bottom corner.

On our long trek to and from KY recently, I started this cute little crocheted bobble blanket as well.  Lucky for me, I chose the perfect shade of yarn that matches the Backyard Baby Collection perfectly.  Here is the progress thus far: 

And a close-up of the cute little bobbles: 

I found this tutorial over at Maybe Matilda's blog here.  It had been a few years since I had crocheted anything, so I had to look up the stitch definitions, but after a few minutes, I was rolling.  I crocheted one entire skein of yarn on one leg of the trip.  I have yet to tackle the ruffle borders, so that might be a different story.  

Stepping into the Blog World

For a couple of years now, I have been secretly stalking dozens of blogs--using great (and free!) tutorials, finding yummy new recipes, and gaining some real inspiration.  I never really had the desire to start my own  blog until now--as life is changing in a BIG WAY.

Already parents to 2 fur babies, my husband and I are expecting our first little baby boy in the spring.  Because we live in upstate New York, and our closest family members live in Long Island and most of the rest in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, I thought that a blog would be a good way to keep everyone up to date with our adventures and progress into the next chapter of our lives.

Being a slightly more crafty and foodie than some of my other family members and friends, my sister often asks me, "what's it like to be you?!"  Well, this is my response....