Squirrelly Bottoms!!

Muchkin needed another pair of Longies, and I didn't like that his pants didn't have shirts to match to make a "PJ Outfit" so I did what I do best --  went ahead and made it myself!  Here's the result!

   

The top is embroidered with a happy squirrel with a bushy tail, eating his acorn!

And the pants were made from an angora sweater -- super soft.  

I was actually able to get 2 pairs out of the sweater and gave the other pair away. 

The waistband is leftovers from another wool sweater that was the perfect color!

Here's the second pair I made :-)

Birthday Apron

So, I had a great idea of what my sister Jessie may need/want for her birthday, but didn't have the perfect cotton to do it with.  So off to the thrift store I went, with Munchkin of course.  I was looking for a lovely floral with enough fabric for the front of a reversible apron.  And what did we find? This perfect blue floral skirt!  The front of it became the solid side of the apron. The back became the pockets and the ties.  A neighbor had generously given me the seersucker about a month ago.  When I brought the skirt home and held it up to my other fabrics, the seersucker instantly caught my eye.  They look perfect together, like it was meant to be!  I love it when that happens!  My favorite part of the apron is the feminine darts at the top!  So, what do ya think!?  My sister loved it :-)

Introducing: CeCe Monster!!

I received an Evite from a friend for her daughter's one-year birthday party: a Monster Bash!  What could I possibly make for her other than a monster!?

I've been wanting to make one of these recycled wool handheld softies but didn't have the opportunity till now!  Munchkin did show a hint of interest in this toy, as opposed to totally ignoring ALL THESE TOYS I made him so far.  So maybe I'll make him one of his very own.

New passion of mine...Aprons!

Okay, so I NEVER have worn aprons, not once -- until I became a mom. Spit up and peas, and having to change my shirts every few hours made me much more open to frilly aprons that made me feel like a woman again.  I made my first last year from a little girl's dress (pictured above, but don't look too closely at the stitching!)  I loved it and have been thinking of making another ever since. Then, a friend of mine recently completed construction on her dream home, and had everything she could possibly need for it, so I was stuck for housewarming gift ideas.  Then it dawned on me -- a feminine apron!  Every mom needs one!

Making hers gave me the confidence to make one for myself as well (though it didn't give me the time I would've liked to do it...heehee!) And I typically try to recycle used clothing, but it's more difficult to find playful/colorful patterns.  So when in Walmart, I randomly came upon a HUGE rack of bandannas.  They weren't all your typical paisleys either!  These two prints screamed, "Hey, I'd like to be an apron!"  I agreed!  What do ya think!? 

This was SEW simple.  I mean it!  I just topstitched the 2 bandannas together, folded down the top corners into the inside of the apron, and added an ad-hoc, handmade binding (straight grain) for the waist ties.  (Yes, I could've cut off those top corners, but I wanted greater absorbency since I use aprons as a hand towel quite often.)  Seriously, these were just about as simple as sewing can get!  And made in under 30min -- you CAN'T beat that :)  

Quick Longies!

 I made these 100% Cashmere longies for a friend's daughter who turned one year old. They're made from thrifted sweaters, of course, and are SOOO soft.  They fit her perfectly, which was a near miracle considering I totally guessed how big they'd need to be!  I used the same design of the striped longies blogged about HERE.  My favorite thing about them is the lollipop appliqué!  I thought it would be more difficult with wool, but it went well.  I'll have to post a tutorial sometime. 

They were SO soft, in fact, that I felt guilty not making a pair for my son as well (pictured below).  Since Munchkin is cloth diapered I put a "butt-panel" (as I call it) into his pair.  It's basically a V-shaped panel in back that gives more room for his well-padded bum! And I did the same fold-over waistband and cuff for his pair as well, so they'd last him longer in both height and width.   

What do ya think!?

My love affair with Bed Caddies!

So I had made a bed caddy/pocket organizer a few year back in a serious hurry...didn't even go out to buy fabric for it, opting instead to simply use an old bedsheet. But it was before I knew ANYthing about sewing and was even more impatient to see it DONE than done well!  Thus, I didn't take many measurements, and probably didn't backstitch or pin, etc. I'm still a "whip-it-up as fast as possible" type crafter, but that project backfired bigtime. It now has holes and ink stains from storing the pens upright instead of sideways, hangs a bit low to the floor, and is just plain worn out. No, I won't post a picture and make my sewing skills lose all their credibility! We'll just leave it by saying: "Many lessons learned!"

So I needed to make a new one. One that was more thought-through, and precisely measured and carefully sewn. I measure once, twice, and fit it before finally sewing it. I even had enough forethought to sew in dowels at the bottom to make them hang straight!  No, I still didn't pin much at all, because I simply HATE pinning. And I rarely steam press anything, but I did inventory exactly what I wanted in it, and designed the caddy around that. Thus, the "his" side differs a bit from the "hers" side! And I just happened to have the perfect heavy-weight backing fabric I needed, which also coordinated with our bedding. To be honest, with the amount of fabric accumulating in my sewing room, that phrase occurrence is becoming less of a coincidence!!!

So here's the result; what do ya think!?

 We  LOVE IT!

They're so easy to make AND functional -- my favorite :-)

Want to make one yourself!?  As a general rule, I don't put enough thought foresight into my projects to actually make tutorials, but you can find a very thorough tutorial HERE, if you're *sew* inclined to make one of these for yourself!  

Functional Sewing!!

Functional Sewing is the best kind, but is great when the pieces are decorative as well

#1 Problem: MAIL EVERYWHERE!! Solution: Pocket Organizer

We have had a mail problem ever since we were married; but, in this house, which has no dining room, our unsorted mail has taken over our kitchen table time and again. So I finally just took a couple hours while munchkin slept and hubby watched basketball (BORING...) and made a mail organizer once and for all! For the mail itself, I probably only needed 3-4 pockets, but now I have pockets for magazines, bills, coupons, items "to be filed," items that "belong out in my car," and misc junk. I had never used bias tape so that was quite exciting, and EASY!! It made the project look so "finished" and store bought. I used leftover fabric from my window treatmenst in the living room. And since it's on the back of the front door (and I didn't want to do anything permanent like drilling holes, heehee) I used velcro.

#2 Problem: TOYS EVERYWHERE!!!! Solution: Toy Totes

And these "beauties" were an idea from the frugal mama inside me. But they were a bit of a flop due to haste! They could've been quite nice, but I couldn't find a good tutorial online and didn't want to ducktape ALL the seams, so I only used packing tape on some of the sides, skippin the corners. And well, I'll admit they're a bit flimsy. Yes, they were inexpensive to make, but if the fabric wasn't a steal, and had I actually bought the few rolls of ducktape, these wouldn't have been cost-effective to make. Oh well. they're done, and most of his toys fit in them which is really all the matters. What baffles me is how the mail sorter is nicer in person than the pic shows, but these boxes appear much nicer in their pic than they actually are in real life! Haha! His books will be moved eventually (they're too heavy for these flimsy totes), into a bookshelf similar to THIS ONE or THIS ONE (made by me of course)! But we'll leave that project "on the shelf" for now ;P

**Update 5/16/2010 : just found this little tutorial online for anyone who wants to try to make these. It's pretty much how I did them except I sewed them. I would suggest taping the entire way up and over the corners though.

My first of many Longies!!

These projects could've easily appeared in my previous post about how productive I've been lately. However, these 2 projects have been a LONG time coming; so, I felt they deserved their own post. I've been brainstorming them for more than a year.  No joke. Before he was born I researched how to make these, but had never really done much sewing where the pieces had to *fit.*  In other words..."I don't DO clothing!" I made munchkin some pants for his Halloween pumpkin costume, but it was too cold for him to wear it, and so they're buried in a bag somewhere and he never wore them outside the house. But the pants below thrill me to see them on his little bum!!  And, I didn't have the courage to cut up a wool sweater till now. 

They're called "longies." If you're not familiar with them, they are wool pants which have been felted (shrunk so they can be easily washed in the washer) and can be lanolized to repell moisture if the diaper leaks at night. They're mostly worn on cloth diapered babies due to their anti-bactierial, and water-repelling properties. Short versions are called soakers. Because wool has the property of absorbing up to 30% its weight, if the baby wore fitted diapers they can us soakers as diaper covers. On non-cloth diapered babies they're worn because they're static-resistant, super soft, largely stain resistant, and do not need washed after every wear. The longies I made (below) are from thrifted wool sweaters nonetheless.  "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" right!?

They are just the right warmth for nighttime PJs, even in summer!

Time flies when having fun!

Boy, have I been busy in the past month without even realizing it! But, before I forget, there are new pics in his photo albums!  So what have I been up to exactly? Gardening, Crafting, Sewing, Baking, you name it...Here's the tally!

1. Tag Blankie for a newborn baby in our family (plus a pair of booties I forgot to photograph, sorry)

I love when I ship thing to the recipient because I can finally post it to the blog for all to see it!

2. Pair of house slippers for munchkin.

I love how they crocheted up exactly the same, even though it was a variegated yarn.

3. About 10 onesies I altered into shirts so he can wear them with his cute, colored cloth diapers!

4. Pair of adorable pink slippers for a friend's little one!  The pic doesn't even do them justice -- so cute!

5. About 5 really cute bibs from some old flannel receiving blankets!

Plus, a few simple cloth wipes/burp cloths from extra bib fabric.

The pattern is inspired by the bibs that my sister's best friend makes for her,

but instead of using snaps, I just use a baby diaper pin so it's

tight enough around his neck that food doesn't end up down his shirt!!

6. I even managed to bake an Amish Friendship Bread that was passed along to me at a jewelry party I managed to attend, sans bebe ;-) I only found one taker for the starters though. I hope she likes it! I had them all ready to go in pretty bags and everything :( Oh well!

7.  And I CAN'T forget to mention this Buggy applique set for a friend's daughter who's turning one soon!

I had been planning out this outfit for her for months, hoping to do all the ladybug appliques by hand with a blanket stitch, but really wanted it to hold up in the wash better than handmade, so I machine appliqued all except the jean pocket. I had read lots of tutorials online, and had done appliques where you satin stitch your way around the raw edge, but this was just a simple straight stitch about 1/8 inch into the cutouts, leaving the raw edge exposed. The lady bugs were sourced from a fabric that I found at a goodwill. The little shorts with those cute buttons are definitely my favorite. On the back are 2 ladybugs: one sneaking out the side, and one really big one on the other "cheek!"  I can't wait to see them on her!!

AH, and as far as my garden goes, I chose not to do quite as much as in past years. Not due to money or motivation, but more-so due to time. It takes a lot of time to plant and water all the front beds, deck flowers, and the backyard beds as well. Time I'd rather spend with munchkin! (I only get to garden during munchkin's morning nap due to the afternoon heat.) But the tasks I have chosen to do, have certainly kept me going these past few weeks. Transplanting and uprooting some *mistakes* were at the top of the to-do list. Then, I was able to transplant probably 40 iris and 30 daffadils, some spiderwort, and some spearmint. The clematis vine (below) was in full bloom last week with over 100 blooms on it! Yes, I counted them! The mistake I referred to was approx. 95 gladiolus bulbs that I tried to grow in partial sun, knowing full well they needed full sun. Lesson learned: don't think you know better than the planting instructions!! So, some are still in the ground still and some are in pots, but ALL 95+ are looking for a new home. I may end up posting them on our local freecycle site in the fall.

Pictured behind the clematis is munchkin's new swing (a gift), which he has thoroughly enjoyed swinging in daily! It's in a nicely shaded spot so he's able to swing even in the afternoon heat after he gets sick of playing inside. I hope you enjoy the new pics in his photo albums (linked on the left side of the blog) and have a GREAT week every one! Thanks for reading!

Christmas & New Years 2010

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope you had a glorious time with family and friends. We certainly had a wonderful first Christmas as a new family. As always we celebrated by enjoying quality family time together: playing games, reminiscing, making snowmen, cooking, crafting, and baking. Munchkin soaked up every minute with those big brown eyes, seeing his nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! Here are some pictures of the highlights of our time together, as always there's more in the online photo albums on the left hand side of the page.

My niece Maria and I (and the nephews too) made a snowman!

Actually, she had the idea of decorating BOTH sides, so he was a human snowman on

this side and an alien snowman on the other (hence the alien horns and ears!)

So cute! Thanks Ben and Jake for finding the arms and teeth!

My 2 beautiful sisters!

We were all in Christmas colors so I said "Hey, sit down and we'll take a picture!"

Jess had strep throat and you can't even tell!

This is his great-grandmother! She loves his "black eyes,"

which was actually my mom's nickname for me when I was a little girl.

Aunt Bonnie calls Munchkin her "Chocolate Marshmallow"

Aunt Jessie wasn't allowed to hold him since she was sick :-(

And while we know presents and cookies certainly aren't the focus of the season, they are both a whole lot of fun, and my Christmas post wouldn't be complete without pics of the handmade items I've been working on in secret.  I crocheted a set of soft wool animals for him to play with, a fleece blankie, and a silky tag blanket for nighttime. His gift to me was homemade: the sweet sound of "Mama!!" Many of the gifts we gave this season were handmade: wool sweater snakes (sewn), quirky monsters (crocheted), a monkey (crocheted), and a special wool hat, mittens, and scarf set (sewn). Next year I plan on doing even more handmade items, but will need to start MUCH earlier since December is a blur for me now! On the cookie menu were: 12 dzn peanut butter blossoms, 7 dzn crescent cookies (total flop!), 5 dzn cut-out sugar cookies, and 7 dzn peanut butter cookies. My favorite to bake (and eat) are the blossoms -- only 4 ingredients andanyone can make them. The cut-outs are beautiful and tasty, but they are SO much work, so next year I'll change how I do the sugar cookies. I'll make up the dough after Thanksgiving, bake them in early December, and then finally decorating them close to Christmas.

No, Munchkin isn't as fascinated by these as I thought he would be right now.

He seems to like toys he can tap, bang, shake, etc,

but someday he will love these! Right!?!

This set was for Maria (she's wearing them in the snowman pic!)

And she's so perceptive. She actually noticed on her own how wool doesn't absorb moisture from the snow like cotton does. She's so smart!

Ahhh...and these are the scary monsters for my youngest nephews Ben and Dan!

What a great idea for them, and they seemed to really enjoy them!

Ben, especially, seemed to enjoy playing with the monkey in back (the front one was Munchkin's).

The mouth-watering Christmas delights that are... "Peanut Butter Blossoms."

These are so easy to make I taught Maria how to make them quite easily!

And last but not least are the classic sugar cookies!

I just thawed some out today and they are just as good as the day I made them!

All in all, 2009 has been quite a full year to say the least. We have:

* celebrated our 5th anniversary (although we weren't able to get away for it)

* had a baby (AND I survived postpartum somehow!)

* traveled countless times to my mom's, dad's, sister's, cousin's, and grandparent's

* (I've) learned that Hubby is a better daddy to Munchkin than I could ever have drempt!

* met lots of new mom and baby friends. Munchkin and I thoroughly enjoy playdates/storytimes

* (I've) fallen in love with my house all over again -- for how it's accommodated a baby, all his stuff, my craft and sewing projects, and my growing fabric stash!

Our New Year, however, has been bittersweet. Some of you are aware that my brother-in-law, Mark, passed away early January 3rd quite unexpectedly. He was so young. Please keep my step-sister Debbie in your prayers as well as their young son David. (Here is a link to their blog.)

Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring. And thanks for being a part of each of our lives! Even if we can't travel to see all of you in person, it's nice to know we're able share bits of our life with you through our blog. And keep in touch -- we LOVE to hear from you!

Munchkin is 7mths old!!

So I fully realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record when I state once again, "I can't believe he's 7 months old now...." But he IS, and now has TWO teeth as evidence (bottom, fronts). They truly drive home the fact that he is no longer a sweet little "baby" anymore, but a growing little boy! His attempts at crawling don't help preserve my baby image of him either! After a few playdates with some crawlers, he figured out how to turn from back to belly which led to turning around 360 degrees on his belly, and eventually scooting backward! So crawling may be just weeks away! He's also holding his bottle on his own almost the entire feeding! And very special to me is that he certainly knows who Rupesh and I are, making peek-a-boo much more fun these days! He's not yet vocalized a single "mama" or "dada" yet, but that isn't to say he doesn't tell us stories all day long! One of his SILLIEST discoveries is arching backward to look at things upside down -- us, Dora, Ellie, you name it! It's sooooo cute!

And boy is he growing, but no longer in width; he's finally lengthening out ;) No worries though; he still has those cute ham hocks! He's trying new foods all the time. Thus far, he's had oatmeal, rice, "multi-grains," prunes, bananas, lentils, sweet potato, pumpkin, white potatoes, sweet peas, and asparagus, his favorite! He's only reacted negatively to carrots and apples thus far. And he's tried a pinch of cinnamon in his pumpkin and loved it! I can't wait to see if he likes avocado and butternut squash this week!

This month has also ushered in for him one unfortunate first -- an annoying cold :( We had hosted a playdate at our house (kids were all seemingly healthy), but ultimately he woke the next morning with a stuffy nose. (So sad...) He didn't develop a fever, so I wasn't overly concerned for him; only one day he certainly not sem himself (irritable & sleepy, etc.) His cold didn't effect his sleep AT ALL, for which I am very thankful; because, he has been sleeping just like a baby should: long, and deep!

Now that we have a child, and more sleep, we've been going out to do more things to explore this fair city we call home: fall festivals, autumn drives, pumpkin patches, etc. Having a child makes Halloween festivities much more fun too! He was a little dinosaur since it was too cold for him to be a pumpkin, though we did not go trick-or-treating due to rain. We did attend a Halloween party and a "fall festival" that had a petting zoo. We also visited a big pumpkin patch. Both produced some incredible pictures of Munchkin!

After MANY photos were snapped...he was DONE being a dino :P

Poor Guy!

His cold brought on a first for me as well: cabin fever!! Since he's been sick, I can't go anywhere with him -- can't see our neighbor and her precious 7wk old son, can't go to "BookBabies" at the local libraries (which I enjoy almost as much as he does), can't go to Goodwills to kill some time (very sad about that one), and can't even go grocery shopping or run errands with him :( At the very least, I been able to leave the house to workout & grocery shop. This situation HAS led to more sewing and crocheting than usual! Some pics of those projects and others are below, as well as the reason you visit the blog -- more pics of Munchkin :)

And don't forget, there's always MANY MORE pics of him in the

"photo albums on the left side of the blog!

Here's a hat I made him in like 15 minutes!

And you can see his 2 front teeth a bit here (if you click on the photo).

Here's another hat I crocheted for him just this week!

Here's a simple single crochet blanket I mad for him recently.

He seems to really like the texture and softness of it!

I like how simple, but classic it is!

Here are 2 hats I had made for hubby's nieces before we went to see them in Denver.

This is actually a back-view of them; they have flowers on the front!!

And here is a whale and snake I made for Munchkin from an thrifted, felted wool sweater!

This is a hat and pants set that I made for him to wear with a pumpkin costume, but I quickly realized Halloween would be too cold for him to be a pumpkin, despite all my hard work :(

They were simple "T-Shirt pants" ;)

And if you've read THIS far, then you might be interested to know that my workouts are coming along quite well! I've now lost almost every pregnancy pound using the elliptical machines and the exercise ball, and getting back into doing my yoga routines again. I wouldn't have expected the exercise ball to be this effective for my abs, but am using the gym's machines for my arms and shoulder strength. A welcome change in appetite (decrease) has also occurred since weaning him, so I no longer feel hungry every 2 hours! All these efforts are paying off :) I have packed up ALL my maternity clothes, and now about 5 pairs of my old jeans fit! So I'm on track to meet my goals by the end of the year! Yay!