Oh baby

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby in the next few weeks. Okay, not everyone, but three people. As a result, I have a marathon of baby showers to attend, followed by the actual births, for which I will probably send a gift as well. And me being me, I feel obligated to give something handmade. I know the expectant mothers probably don't expect this (or maybe they do), but nevertheless, I feel like it's something I should do. The problem is, everyone can't get a quilt. It's just not possible, folks. So here's what I came up with. Burp cloths. They're fast, easy, & cute. And they are something that every mom can use. I found the tutorial at ANewChelseaMorning through SMS.

So here are my gifts for shower #1, which was Saturday afternoon. I tried to post on Saturday, but blogger wouldn't let me upload any photos. Three hours before the shower, I just had the two onesies.

Isn't the back of this one cute!

I made these three burp cloths in about an hour, including picking out the fabric and pressing everything. Which was definitely the hardest part. Actually, the hardest part might have been finding cloth diapers in this town (I'm told the dollar store has them...didn't think to look there), but I bought the diapers a couple of months ago.

Here are a few more I'm making for another shower this weekend, for a very stylish & very small young lady. Now I just need to make some for my niece. She's 5 months old, and she has very few handmade gifts from me. She punishes me by drooling and spitting up on me. Hence the need for more burp cloths. I'm a bad crafty aunt.
I try to make up for it in snuggles and kisses when I see her though. At least I don't call her Stinkerella like her daddy does.

My kind of bouqet...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Apron-y

I promised you last week that I did some crafting over my extended blog break, so here we go. First off, I made an apron for a Christmas family gift exchange. I actually won it back, which I was quite excited about! Most of the people on that side of the family like country/farm stuff, so I used fabric from Moda's Bunkhouse line. I love the worn-looking "bandanna" prints in this line.

The pattern I used is the Four Corners apron pattern by Vanilla House Designs, which I actually mentioned here in my very first blog post! I love this pattern...I talked about why I love it in my first post. In short, it is very quick and easy, and made a perfect gift (especially since I ended up bringing it back home!).

This apron is pictured in my first blog post, but here I am wearing it at my booth at the Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show in January. (Not my fave picture of myself...looks like it needs be stretched vertically a bit. And I've had my hair cut off shorter since then. But at least it shows what the apron looks like on an actual person).

And because just about everything is cuter in a smaller size, here's the kids version!

So cute! I especially love it in this "convenience" printed patchwork and oversized polka dot fabric by Loralie Designs. Makes me wish I had a little one to dress up in it...my niece needs to hurry up and grow into it!

I've also been trying to catch up on cutting fabric for quilts I have planned (before all my fabric is gone!). This pile is for the 2007 Kansas City Star block of the month, Borderland in Butternut and Blue. It only calls for 12 fat quarters for the blocks, but I want to have options!

I need to choose fabrics for this year's KC Star block of the month also. If you don't live in the KC area to get the newspaper (the blocks come out on the third Sunday of the month), you can buy the patterns here, or wait for the book to come out in October. Since I missed January, I think I'll wait for the book to come out...I won't get started on the quilt until then anyway!

Back to the drawing board

Here is the halloween costume I made for myself. Sorry for the headless photo.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's HUGE. You're supposed to put elastic in the waist, which I haven't done, but it would still be really big. A better "belt" would help, but to me it looks more like a female Star Wars jedi than a Spartan lady. A Spartan lady wouldn't be wearing yellow-toed footie socks either, but I think the socks are the least of the problems with this. I'm very disappointed, because I don't feel like what I made looks anything like the picture on the pattern.

Maybe I'm just missing a cape and some hair extentions.

My husband suggested taking up the "sleeves" (it's supposed to be sleeveless). That helps, but then it gets all bunchy in the chest.

So I decided to just scrap the whole bodice and start over with something I'd done before that is more what I had in mind.

So this is the new bodice that I've made. Now I just have to figure out how to attach it to the back of the costume and take up the skirt about 4 inches. Oh, and put in a zipper or velcro or something because I won't be able to fit the costume over my head once I put this new, more fitted bodice on it.

On a happier, less frustrating note, I declared myself finished with my pink & white ripple afghan. Is it very big? No. It is square? Definitely not. (Although photoing it from the smaller end does make it look more square). Will it keep a baby warm? Certainly. I figure there's no sense it blocking it since it's just going to get washed so much. And I know my sister won't block it. That's just not something a mother of a toddler and a newborn has time for.

The ripple stitch pattern comes from this book. I can't remember exactly which stitch I used (and I don't have the book with me), but it was a crochet stitch shown in red, white, & green. I am definitely planning to make another project from this book sometime in the near future. This time, however, I might try knitting. I downloaded and printed this knitting tutorial the other day. Now all I need are knitting needles and time to practice (ha). There isn't a yarn shop anywhere near here, so I think I'll stop next time I go to visit my parents and get some good needles and yarn. I could order online, but I have no idea what to order. If there is one thing I've learned from crocheting, it's that yarn and fabric have something major in common...you get what you pay for. My Wal-mart yarn shopping is a thing of the past. Some bad habits are easier to break than others =)

More Halloween

Here is my pumpkin quilt with the borders added. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, but I had a revelation this morning. While I was at the computer eating my cereal and reading blogs, I saw Tonya's latest post and thought to myself, "I should have put letters in the borders." So I think that's what I'm going to do. Inspiration has yet to hit me over the head with an idea for a project in her class, so I'm just going to start making letters with this quilt in mind. I'm not going to take the current borders off, however, until I have new borders ready to put back on it.

We went grocery shopping last night, and I went to a local home dec store this morning to by my mother-in-law and my dad birthday gifts. So I've done quite a bit more shopping than usual in the last 24 hours. Naturally, I picked up some things for myself along the way (I'm really bad about that.)

Clockwise from the left are:

1. The lastest issue of American Patchwork & Quilting, full of fun Christmas quilts.


2. Thank you cards that I couldn't resist buying for myself this morning at the home dec store.


3. Sticky notes (also from the home dec store) that say, "When you're on your third margarita, stay away from the phone. Never mind how I know this." I've never had a bad phone experience after drinking margaritas, but they are my favorite drink, so I had to have this notepad.


4. Bias tape for my Halloween costume (see #5).


5. A pattern for my Halloween costume. We have a costume party to go to at the end of the month. I wanted to be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, but my husband didn't like that idea. We recently saw the movie 300, so he wanted to be Spartans. I grudgingly agreed. So now I'm going to attempt, with my very limited sewing skills, to make myself a Spartan wife costume. I'm going to make the longer one, but without the wrap. I'm thinking I can use bleached muslin for this, but we'll see. If you've never seen the movie, here's a picture of the queen. This is sort of what I'm going for, minus the cleavage.

Notice what the guy in the background is wearing? Yeah, well, we haven't really decided what my husband's costume is going to look like exactly. He doesn't have any leather underwear, and he wouldn't look that that guy in them even if he did, so we're going to improvise a bit. Don't worry, I'll definitely post pictures of us in costume on the big night.