New Pattern News - Circular Needle Organizer

Hey everyone. I seem to be doing a great job keeping up with my 2-posts-a-year schedule, eh?.

I had to share some exciting news with you anyway...duh duh duh daaaah

 I finally got the new pattern tested and into my shop! It took me a whole year to get this thing tested and ready so I'm pretty darn excited. And just in time for me to leave on a little trip around the globe tomorrow. We're headed to England to find out if we're, gulp, moving back over there. Let's just say I'm not quite as excited about a transcontinental move as I am about the pattern.

I hope to blog about some stuff when I get back, but here are a few things I've been up to.

Someone in my house recently turned 4. We had a Doc McStuffins party and I got to make the costume.

 I recently made a ghost costume too. :)

I made a sweet baby blanket for a friend in Australia. I think the baby is about 4 months old now and still hasn't received said blanket. We'll see the daddy in the UK next week so I might as well hand deliver it, right?

Here's the bear I made for the same little peanut. I used this pattern from Amy Gaines, so cute!

A friend of ours from my husband's office also had a baby this past September. She told us she really likes giraffes so this is what I made for her little guy.

All scrap yarn too. Pretty good, huh?

And I guess this must be my biggest project lately. I had a huge bag of t-shirts in my hallway for about 4 years and finally opened it up. A friend of mine collected these Hard Rock Cafe shirts from all over the world and asked me to make him a t-shirt quilt. Let me first say, I hate t-shirt quilts. I'm sorry, I just think they're ugly. Not my thing. Anyway, I am pretty proud of this thing. It's a queen size and I think it turned out great. The owner is beyond happy too. The common color scheme of the shirts definitely adds to the quilt's success. 

Hope you're well and crafting.

Springtime Top from Little One-Yard Wonders

  I picked this book up not too long ago and decided that I'd actually make something from it! That's a rarity for me. I love pattern books, I never use them (except maybe the knitting ones).

 I went for the "Springtime Top" because I already had some fabric that was perfect and hadn't been allocated yet. It's a cute top, perfect for summer or as a jumper with a shirt.

Based on the measurements given in the book, I went with a size 4T. My daughter's measurements were an inch smaller than the chest size given. And just in case I decide to make it again in another size, I used my trusty carbon tracing paper (it's so old-school) to transfer the pattern onto my fabric.

I like this pattern because it only has 4 pieces. If you don't have a lot of free sewing time (in my case, non-Etsy related), 4 pieces is great. I was able to whip this top up in an afternoon while Pickles was at preschool.

It turned out ridiculously cute, even without the rickrack, I didn't have enough of the color I wanted.

I used white elastic for the button loop instead of fabric. I really despise turning tiny bits of fabric. It worked great.

Pickles called it her "new pretty dress" when she put it on. Then about 2 minutes later she wanted it off because it was too tight below the arms. Figures. I know I have a barrel chested kid...I know. I thought that I was rounding up on the size, but it turns out, I wasn't. I have to say, this book wasn't overly clear on sizing. I looked though the front sections to see what it had to say, but didn't find anything. Lesson learned, again. Make a size bigger than the size you think is bigger.

So, I made another one. Again, no purchase necessary.

Also cute.

Here it is in action, with some shorts I made from this pattern.

I made the second one in a size 5 with smaller seam allowances. She'll wear it this summer and that's about it.  By the way, she's laughing in this picture, and very hot.

Sewing Machine Solution or My Old Blind Eyes

Hey, it's me again. Are you impressed that I didn't wait a year to post this time? It's not a major post, but it's something.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about my sewing machine. It's a PFAFF something or other. The point is, I can't see the guidelines & numbers they put on the machine. I have been thinking for ages that I need to print out a little ruler to stick on the machine so I can see better. Well, I finally did it! Yay for me.

Cream marks on a cream background. Very helpful indeed.

 Here's what I have now...so much better.

Ahh, I don't even feel like I'm blind anymore. Hooray!

Umm What

I just realized I haven't posted since last June. June! That's like a whole year ago. ugh. I've definitely been getting those thoughts again. Those, "I should blog about that", thoughts. Really. 

I'm still knitting....

 sewing...

 

  crocheting...

and being a Mom. She's 3 1/2!

 

What I really need is some human contact. So if anyone is still out there I'm going to try really hard to write some posts so I can just know you're there. :)

Just note: Most of my time is taken up by a small human, so bear with my if all I can talk about is this kind of thing...

Hey, it's a craft!

Our Weekly Calendar

 This is what I've had floating around in my head the last few months (yes, I said months!).

I wanted to make a weekly calendar to help Mimi understand the days of the week as well as help her know what's happening each day, and this is how it turned out.

I wanted each day to be a different color, so I chose 7 colors of flannel for each day's background. I had these in my stash, I guess that sort of tells you how much sewing I do (and how much fabric I have).

I used my cool, cool Silhouette Cameo to cut out the lettering. I love that machine, by the way. I am not a scrapbooker, but I use it for so many things.

I ironed the lettering to the backgrounds. I have to tell you, picking the right colors for the lettering was really difficult. You just don't know if you'll be able to read them until they're on the fabric. I redid most of the days at least 1 or 2 times until I was satisfied.

Next, I sewed them all together and chose a border and background (also from my stash). I used flannel on the back so we could flip the calendar over and use it as a big felt board too.

I made the little activity pieces using iron-on transfer paper for my printer and some cool images I found mostly online. I added the lettering myself. I just ironed the images onto white felt and cut out the shapes, easy.

I sewed some pieces of rick-rack into the top so I could hang our calendar on a dowel. Mimi still hasn't seen it, but I think she'll be pretty excited. Right now it's out of her reach, but at some point I'll find a place to put it where she can access it better.

What d'ya think?

Keep This Kid Learning

As I mentioned in my last post, we go to a local co-op preschool once a week and we really love it! As with any other non-profit organization, our preschool needs to raise some money. This year they'll be organizing a Move-A-Thon. We'll get out the stroller on April 27th and head out to the park for a walk.

Since we don't know a lot of people (and have no family) in the area I thought I'd set things up so I can beg for donations online. Pretty clever, eh? So, if you'd like to throw a few dollars towards a good cause, just click the "Donate" button to the right and give, give, give!

Thanks so much!

UPDATE: Thanks for donating!

Easy Handmade Toddler Activities

 At some point I will not begin a post with something like, "gee, it's been a long time since my last post!", but not yet. I really have been meaning to get some of our new crafty activities on here, really. (WARNING, this is a long post too). We keep pretty busy around my house, and I'm glad to say a lot of what Miss Mimi does is handmade, yay! Here are some of our latest activities...

Sensory Bins

 We love a sensory bin! Mimi has had a huge bin of rice in my sewing room since last summer (should have taken a picture, sorry about that). It's got about a dozen baby food jar lids and a water wheel (very inexpensive beach toy) and she just loves it. I like to go with what she enjoys, so I've started to do a new themed bin every month or so.

In February I dyed some rice purple and pink with some natural colored rice mixed in. I got some heart candies at the dollar store and threw in some sequins and sparkly puff balls. I try to provide some scoops & dishes in matching colors and it's just enough to keep her going for 15 or 20 minutes on the kitchen floor (sometimes longer). Mimi is pretty good at keeping the rice in the box, so I haven't had a lot of trouble with messes. We always make sure she cleans up what she spills as best she can too...good practice with the broom & dustpan.

 This month we're doing split peas, gold chocolate coins and some buttons. She likes putting things in the orange bowl and either trying to shake them out through the hole or closing them in with the lid. I have to say, those "Take & Toss" bowls with lids (I got mine from the grocery store) are one of the best "toys" we've had. After St. Patrick's Day I'm going to leave the split peas and switch to a Spring theme. Tiny silk flowers, plastic carrots etc.

Marching Ribbons

 At our co-op preschool we march. When the teacher gets out the marching ribbons, the kids go mad! My kid is a ribbon-hoarder too, so I thought we'd better make some marching ribbons we can use at home. Ours are made with some plastic bracelets I got in the $1 section at Michael's and some spools of $.50 ribbon. I think it cost me about $5 to make 24 of these. We keep them in a little box with a lid and dump them all over the floor when we feel the need to march.

 Button Snake

I've seen lots of these on the web & Mimi is particularly interested in buttoning right now, so here's the version of the "button snake" that I made.  I used 2 buttons (about 1") and an 8" length of 3/8" ribbon. All you need to do is sew a button on to each end of the ribbon and you've got your snake. The squares are just bits of felt with a slit cut in them so Mimi can thread the button through. This is so simple and so entertaining, and taking the buttons off the snake is a whole new, more advanced, activity. This is great to throw in your bag when you need to keep your toddler busy for a few minutes.

Feltboard

 *Warning* This project can be addictive proceed with extreme caution!

I've been planning to cut out some cool felt shapes for a long time, but I never could decide what to do. Then it came to me...clip art! Yes, clip art. I bought some great clip art on Etsy and printed the designs I wanted onto printable iron-on transfer paper. It's pretty easy, but not cheap. Mimi just about died when she saw Goldilocks and the three bears though. I just got some bigger pieces of felt for the backgrounds and clip them over her art easel. We've got a cool alphabet, Goldilocks, some fish, a farm and some other woodland creatures. My only tip is to use white felt for the shapes or they just don't show up well.

Playdough

At the moment, playdough is probably the #1 loved past time at my house. I think we first tried it right before Amelia's 2nd birthday (it was our giveaway for the party). The first time I made it, I used this recipe and found it to be really great, especially the batches I made for the party. The colors you see above are all colored with gel food coloring. 

This time, I decided to try a new recipe that doesn't require cooking (but you do need boiling water). 

I colored these with Kool-Aid and I like the results. Here's what I learned when making this round of dough:

1. Start with less water!

I poured the full 2 cups right in and never could get the stick out...I made a 2nd batch of orange and started with 1 cup of water, then added a bit as needed.

2. I had to add quite a bit more flour and oil to get the stickiness out.

3. This makes a pretty sizable blob of playdough.

If you use Kool-Aid to color the dough, it goes into the water before you add it. If you don't want a huge amount of playdough in 1 color, use food coloring when you knead the dough so you can divide it onto different colors.

4. If your child loves playdough, don't leave it out until it's perfect. 

I tried halving the recipe last night to make a smaller amount of Kool-Aid dyed dough and I put too much water in. I made the mistake of putting it on the kitchen table and guess who saw it this morning and wanted to play with it?! Now I've promised to remake the pink so she can have it. 

5. Cream of tartar does not go a long way.

Those teeny little bottles of cream of tartar from the grocery store will make about 2 1/2 batches of playdough. If you think you'll be making more, buy in bulk. I just ordered a 1 lb. bottle for way less than what I'd pay for that quantity at the grocery store. Here's what I got. Now I can make dough with reckless abandon.

We've got a whole jar of cutting tools we use with playdough along with these awesome rolling pins from Lakeshore:

Playdough is great because we can play with it in so many ways. I've given her everything from a bowl of buttons to plastic silverware and farm animals, it all seems to be met with delight.

Okay, so I've gone on and on about our fun times. I'll leave you to it now. Here are some links to the sites I'm loving right now with great toddler ideas:

Counting Coconuts

The Imagination Tree

hands on : as we grow

No Time for Flashcards

Teach Preschool

Handmade Toys or How I Entertain a Toddler

As I look around my house, which is now pretty much overrun with kid gear, I notice a few things made by me. I thought it might be nice to share a few (and also let you know some things that have been popular around here).

Exhibit 1: The Tag Blanket

I made this before Amelia was born, or when she was really little, but it only became popular in recent months as a blanket for Amelia's cuddly toys and dolls. She is nuts about laying a stuffed kitty or some other "doll" on the floor and throwing a blanket over them. She pats them on the chest and does it again...and again...and again. She spends all kinds of time trying to get the blanket just so, very amusing. For the record, Amelia was never into this when she was a baby. She also completely ignored Sophie, just sayin'.

Exhibit 2: Jar of Crocheted Gumballs

It has been my experience that a lot of anything small is a very good toddler entertainer. This has been on a shelf in my sewing room for a few years now and is one of many things now in Amelia's possession. Go figure.

 Exhibit 3: Apron

I whipped this up one day while Amelia was napping. She has a really cool play kitchen, and the seamstress in me insisted she have an apron to go with it. She loves to wear it and to adorn her toys as well. And I had to make it reversible because it's just more fun that way.

No really, she likes it.

Exhibit 4: Crocheted Cherry Pie

I found some really cool tiny baking pans at the dollar store and had to put something in them. I crocheted this little pie to fit the pie pan. I have no idea how I'll make a bundt cake, but the banana bread (not shown) is coming along great. The more fake food, the better, I always say.

Exhibit 5: Tea

Amelia has a very cool coffee maker, which she really enjoys, but I wanted to be fair to Nick (he's a tea drinker). I made this little tea bag in about 10 minutes this past weekend. I imagine it will get lost at some point, but I think it's pretty cute anyway. Amelia seemed to like dipping it in the mug.

Exhibit 6: The Fluff Ball Stuff

Apparently, this activity is very popular in the "toddler busy bag" world. Most of my friends are in a toddler group where they made these. It's the simplest thing in the world but has definitely filled some time. All you need is some of those disposable bowls with lids that you can get at the grocery store, some fluff balls from the craft (or dollar) store and a knife. Cut a hole in the lid of the bowl and you have a new game. I have found that the fluff balls themselves, and the 6 or so bowls with lids, have been just as fun on their own.

Well, those are few of our handmade toys. I hope you like them, Amelia does!