Halloween

For Halloween this year, we couldn't decide on something just right for all three.  So - the two boys went together as Calvin and Hobbes.

Here is Calvin.  We put tons of gel and hairspray in his hair to spike it.  The shirt was from Old Navy.  Black pants were Target I think, and the red Converse we bought at Target.


I made Hobbes using a tutorial from Instructables. Totally time intensive, but SO worth it.  This plush will be cherished for a long time.


Here are the boys checking out their story.


Hobbes, meet Hobbes.  Braden's costume was actually from Target, and I added the white fuzzy front.  After I took the picture, it bugged me that his ears weren't black so I added that.  I didn't change his feet, just left them the way they were.  Not totally authentic or handmade, but it worked.


My dear daughter had a couple medical run-ins early in the summer, and became fascinated with nurses - thanks in part to a couple fabulous nurses.  One of them had a sparkly headband, so that's why the headband is a part of the costume.  I made the scrub top & pants.  Fake Crocs from Target, stethoscope from Dad, RN pin from Grama J (an actual RN), and black bag from the church nursery dress-up box.


Happy Halloween from my three!

grama's apple smocking

I have to brag about my mom here.  Look at this beautiful dress she made!


Yes - my mother did all this smocking on the bodice.  Do you see the piping at the top and bottom? Cute little detail on an already beautiful dress.


Another cute little detail - the waistband with buttons at the back.  Check out the piping again on the Peter Pan collar and sleeves.


I know - it's amazing!


Thanks Grama J for my beautiful dress!

alphabet apron

Check out Abby's alphabet apron!

The ruffles on the skirt part of the apron were an alphabet fabric I've had in my stash for a while.  I just serged the bottoms and stitched them on the pre-made apron.

The pocket is made from chalkboard fabric - perfect for practicing her letters and writing messages.  The pocket holds the chalk and eraser until next time she needs them.

It was the perfect item for A day at preschool, and a wonderful way to kick off the letters of the week.

firefly

My mom and aunt made this beautiful baby quilt.  I love Eric Carle, and this book was the perfect inspiration for a quilt for my summer baby.

Here's a close up of the firefly fabric they used as a border.

They quilted a firefly in various places all over the quilt.

The backing was Eric Carle blue fabric as well.

Here's 2-1/2 month old Braden enjoying a late summer afternoon outside on his quilt.

Thanks Mom!  Thanks Aunt Nancy!

back to school

Time for a back to school dress!


I grabbed some Heidi Grace fabric and got to work.


Using one of my favorite Olabelhe patterns, it sewed up quickly


and off to school she went!

THREE!

Our family became a little bigger this summer!

Meet Braden.  He is about one month old in this picture.
Stars kind of became our family theme for the year.  There are now five of us, each a part of the star.  I used a star flannel fabric for his coming home blanket.  Not that he needed one - it was seriously the hottest part of the summer when he was born.  I think the high hit 100 on the day he was born.  The star on the shirt is yellow fabric with stars on it.


The "Big Brother" (for the second time).  Same yellow star fabric.  Loving his role, just making a weird face because he is squinting in the sunlight.


The "One and Only Sister".  I really wanted a special title for her since she is a big and little sister.  This seemed fitting.  Same yellow fabric for her letters.


Here's all three of them.  I am so lucky!

Dr. Seuss quilt

Not only did our family welcome Braden this summer, we welcomed a new cousin. Baby E was born 10 days after Braden. She's the third girl in her family, and mom loves Dr. Seuss - so we went bright and bold! This is her quilt.  It's pretty straight and simple piecing.

In the corner I have a little red heart - a detail I try and include somewhere on all my niece's quilts.  The yellow border fabric just has some simple yellow lines.  Three of them - she is the third child after all.

The middle blocks also have hearts and swirls quilted inside of them.



The red binding is the same fabric as the middle sashing.  The backing has characters from many of the popular Dr. Seuss books.

The red sashing has phrases from Dr. Seuss books.  Along one edge, "A person's a person no matter how small".

Welcome to the world, Baby E!

spinning butterflies

I made Abby a spinning dress in April.  My sister-in-law and niece loved it so much that I made another one.


I used a green, black, and white butterfly fabric with matching ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  Every girl needs hairbows to match a special dress!


I love the halter style more than I thought I would.  It takes a lot of yardage to get the long straps, and the swirly skirt - but it is worth it when you see the twirl factor!

Happy Birthday, G!

turtle stuff for baby B

Besides the turtle quilt you saw yesterday, the new baby has a bunch of matching goodies coming his way.
This romper is a simple pattern with facing at the neckline.


The romper has snap tape at the crotch for ease with diapers.  This babe will be cloth diapered (I am told) and I don't quite know how that will affect the fit.  Hopefully it works out.


The romper buttons at the shoulder are a bright green.  They are not purely decorative, they can be used for ease of dressing as well.


I tried something new with this burp cloth - piping.  It feels a little silly to have such a fancy "puke rag" as they are sometimes called in our house, but I think it looks really nice and makes for a classy edging.  Who says you can't have a fancy puke rag? haha.


The lovey blanket is turtle fabric on one side and a light green minkee on the other side.  Even though there's not a lot of orange and yellow on the fabric, I included yellows and oranges in the grosgrain and satin ribbons to coordinate with the quilt and because I think they look great together!


This fuzzy cube has a few minkees, fleece, turtle fabric, and white dots mixed with a lot of grosgrain and satin ribbons.  It is full of textures for baby to enjoy and explore!


Here is the matching hat.  It is a fully lined bucket hat.  Now that it's done I kind of wish I'd tried to include some piping on it - maybe made out of the binding from the quilt.  Either way, I think their babe will look adorable in it!


So many goodies for Baby B to enjoy!

turtle quilt for baby B

This turtle quilt is for my cousin's baby, due in July.  My cousin and her husband have actually seen turtles headed to the ocean - pretty amazing, I'm sure.  Add that to my bucket list, please!  When she saw this quilt a few years ago, she told me then to keep it in mind for her someday.  I am so excited that I finally got to make it for her!!


The turtle tracks around the edge are actually three wavy lines meant to be the part where the turtle's body drags along, and the bumps on the edge are the "paddle" marks they make.


The turtle applique was zig-zagged around the edges, and then zig-zag quilted on the orange swirl.  The yellow "sand" underneath was tightly quilted for texture.


The squares around the turtle applique were quilted in wavy lines to imitate the ocean waves.  The "blue" squares turned out various shades of blue and teal because of variations in the fabric.  I lvoe how it looks!


The binding is so beautiful - I love how the greens, blues, and teals all change and evolve around the edge.  I just need to work on the corners.  They are not easy for me.


Best wishes to S&T on their new arrival...whenever he arrives!

crossover dress and knit pants

One of my three nieces had a birthday this month, and this was her special outfit.  The pants were originally going to be capris, but I am never a good judge of length for her and didn't have a chance to measure her - so they ended up being more like pedal pushers.  They are made out of a green ribbed knit.  The dress is made with coordinating fabrics from Hobby Lobby (which has matching ribbon too - bonus!).  The green ric rac I had in my stash.  To be honest, if I do this pattern again I will be really tempted to rethink the straps.  They are not finished nicely in my opinion - you are supposed to serge or zigzag the edge and put the ric rac over the top.  I don't see why you couldn't have made it a tube instead for a more finished edge, but didn't realize it until it was too late to change.



The back of the top has green heart buttons to hold the straps on and yellow buttons to open up the back.

wordle for boys

Have you ever heard of Wordle?  It's such a fun way to play with words.  When I taught, I used it a couple of times with kids.  I love how you can change fonts, colors, and the shape/design of the word layout.  Most importantly, you can change how big the words are according to how many times you use the words in the text.

The boys are going to share a bedroom, and I've been trying to incorporate a few touches for both of them, rather than just 7 year old boy stuff.  I wanted some wall art above the crib, so I decided to make my own Wordle.  I played around a little on the actual website, and then decided to just go for it myself with vinyl.  It's a little hard to tell, but I used light blue, dark blue, bright green, olive green and red.  The red is for "big" and "little" because I wanted them to stand out a little.  I asked Conner for a couple of words that meant boy and brother to him, and added some words that made me think of the boys too.  After giving my (sporty) brother a preview, I realized I forgot to cut one of my Silhouette files - so I'll be adding "sports" "baseball" and "soccer" another day.

I also added a little border above the yardstick chair rail on the crib side.  A few tools for the baby to dream of using when he gets older.  My Silhouette has been getting a workout!

I think the boy's room is officially done now - only seven more weeks until the due date.  Just in the nick of time!