Craft Hope

I just came across a great ministry that finds out needs of organizations then asks people to craft specific items that will be sent around the world. Their last project was handmade dolls going to orphanages in Nicaragua. Before that it was pillowcase dresses that went to Mexico. This time they are requesting everyone make booties, caps, and light weight blankets to keep newborns warm in India. Miracle Foundation will be taking all the handcrafted items with them on their trip to India.

If you want to know more about Craft Hope, would like to contribute or know someone who would you can check out their website.

I'm currently crocheting some booties to send in. BTW, booties are so quick to make, but with Kaitlyn and Neal around... it takes forever to make one. Last night I counted and recounted my stitches, but (grrrrr) if Neal didn't have to keep rattling off numbers over the phone. I finally gave up.

About-face

I've gone from sewing to crocheting. I think the new sewing machine has me to intimidated to try it. It has a computer in it that makes sure the needle always ends in the up position.

One of my projects is a crochet blanket for Kaitlyn. I'm using Jamie Baby Yarn by Lion Brand and a honking big crochet needle. My goal is to have a big weaved, light weight blanket she can cover with even when it's to hot to be covered. She likes covering her face when she sleeps, but if it's 83* in the house I hate to give her anything to cover with. I'm doing it as a simple granny square.

My second project which should have been done by now is a top for Kaitlyn. I've done all the "skirting" for it and just need to do the actual bodice. If I had dug into the pattern and figured out the bodice it would have already been done. It's not a hard pattern and it's free for anyone who would like to give it a try.

Inspiration

I need some new inspiration to get back in the saddle again. I still haven't put Grandma's birthday present together and her birthday was last month. Oops! I have fabric for Kaitlyn some sleeping pants that I really need to get to because it's getting colder. I haven't washed it yet which is really what's the hold up. I have some bows for Kaitlyn that just need the clip and center knot glued on. I know if she had an outfit they matched I would have put them together right away.

I did make her a tiny green bow recently just because. It's as long as the clip it's on. I haven't made her one that size since she was about 6 months old. I go through periods of wanting her to have something small in her hair and others where she needs a big bow.

Here's the small green bow.

This is a big bow I made for her new dress.

I got some fabric in a couple days ago for me a skirt and Kaitlyn a couple dresses. I really need to get to them. I would hate to transport fabric to our new home.

You would think this new play pretty would be enough to get me going again. I actually haven't taken it out of the box yet.

Done!

Here's the finished product. Kaitlyn wasn't to happy about having them on. I think she's tired and cranky. Don't you love her Tinkerbell panties over her diaper? Hehehe... It's really warm today and when we were putting her down for a nap I could foresee her diaper coming off with only a dress on. To save her the trouble we took the dress off her and slipped the panties over her diaper. She has been running around like this for the last couple hours.

Anyway, back to the leg warmers or leggings, whatever you want to call them. They were easy to make and would have only been easier if I didn't have to go look at something Kaitlyn had about four times, change a diaper, dig Hot Wheels out from under the sewing machine and so forth.

The only tall funky socks sold at the BX were Mud brand. If I wanted them in white I had to take the ones that said "spoiled rotten", "boy crazy" and so on. I decided for $6 a pair I would just stick with the black and polka dotted ones.

Here's a random picture from today.

Kaitlyn dumped out her cloth diapers (mulitple times) so she could get into the basket.

Nanoo Designs

I'm thinking about getting this pattern from Nanoo Designs. I'm not a big fan of the new trend of adding aprons to every dress, but it looks really good on this dress. The sunflower dress is super cute.
I also like this dress from Nanoo Designs and have considered getting this pattern for a Christmas dress.
Okay that's the end of my random pattern plug. I actually don't own any ebooks from this author, but I see potential in many of her designs. I like seeing what people add to personalize them and she gives you the perfect pallet to do so.

All Done!

I finished my skirt today. I would have finished yesterday, but life was marching on. Here's a couple pictures of it for you. Although it looks longer in the picture, it's only 21" long.As you can see it's reversable. Both fabrics were supposed to be dresses for Kaitlyn. She'll now have to wait for my next fabric order to get a couple new dresses.

My one suggestion for anyone wanting to make the skirt, which was supper easy to sew and understand the direction by the way, would be to measure where you want the top of the skirt to be. The directions for the skirt say to measure your high hip and shows (a drawing) what I understood to be a couple inches above the hip area (biggest point). Well... my skirt hangs on my hips because I should have measured higher..

Okay... I have to give up typing because Neal keeps talking to me so I can't think to type properly. Sorry if I repeat or do not fully explain something; you now know my handicap.

Twirl Skort

I never posted a picture of Kaitlyn in her twirl skort I made a couple months ago by Sew Sensible. Here she is Thursday. She did have yellow bows on her pigtails, but this picture was taken post nap. Her shirt says something like "Daddy's Little Girl".

Here's the bonus to it being a skort. She can pick the "yuck" off her feet and not show her panties (or diaper in her case).

I must admit the grass did feel gross. I never remember grass feeling soggy after a rain, but ours did this day. It almost felt like we were walking on slime to take these pictures.

Here's one more picture I'll leave you with. We took this last night.

She found the glasses yesterday that she got from Santa last Christmas. She thought they were so funny, which they are. She was streaking in her diaper hence the lovely drawn on outfit I "made" her.

New Project

I must show you this. I've pushed aside all my other projects to give this one a try. Yesterday YCMT sent out their news letter with this new ebook for sell. It's actually on sale until the 10th I believe. I didn't need to wait until the 15th because:

1. I've been wanting to try making a skirt, and


2. This is their first women's clothing sewing pattern

I bought it and pulled out some fabric to give it a try. I would have had it done last night if Kaitlyn wasn't so clingy. I'm going to try finishing it today.

Recently I finished a top from a Simplicity pattern. It was supposed to be an easy pattern, but I still got lost while trying to follow it. It made me appreciate all the free tutorials I've been finding online and You Can Make This with their great ebooks. I just wish they had more women's clothing.

I'm using fabric I bought to make Kaitlyn outfits so it won't be the most ideal skirt, but... whatever.

All-In-One Romper

I thought it was about time I showed you pictures of Kaitlyn in the All-In-One Romper I made a couple weeks ago. She wasn't the best model for me yesterday I wish I would have tried again later. I took these right before we left for the post office.

This shot is blurry because she was running around.

She wore this to church a couple weeks ago and afterwards we all had a picnic at a local park. Some locals came walking up and a girl about 10-12 said, "Look that girl is wearing a clown suit." I was shocked she was so rude. Do children in the UK never wear colorful clothes? Personally I think it's cute. The one thing I would change if I had it to do all over again is the pleats at the bottom. Because the fabric is so bright you really can't tell if it's pleated or ruffled. I think ruffling it would have been easier.

One other thing about the romper is the sizing starts at 24 months. I didn't know this when I bought the ebook or I probably would have chosen a different pattern. It still fits Kaitlyn, but the legs should be shorter and the crotch not almost down to her knees. =)

New Clothes

A couple days ago I finished Kaitlyn's Tiered Dress by Belle Elysse Boutique. The fabric sure is bright, but I like the results. Originally I was going to put ruching between the tiers with the same fabric as the bodice. I believe I have ruled that out now. Oh, who knows I may stop being lazy and tackle it. I have yet to try ruching.

Here's Kaitlyn in another pair of Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible. I make these so much I no longer read the instructions. Maybe that's more a testament to how easy her patterns are rather then my memory. These pants have bears on them. I attached a bear from the fabric up on her shirt and zigzag stitched around it. Of course no outfit would be complete without a matching clip or bow.

If you want to know how to make it do what I did. Hehehe... I traced the design off the computer. Yep, I saw, I liked, I made. As you can see miss bear is about 3" tall and 2" wide. She has four loops for a body and three for a head. The original bear had three rhinestones glued on for a necklace. I had these pink/purple beads and they matched the pants I made for Kaitlyn so I used them for a necklace. The bear really doesn't need anything around it's neck, but it did give it that little something extra to girly-girl it up. I used a two tone ribbon on it's head; I had it and have never used it so I thought this was would be a good chance to use some.

Pre-Wash & Swap

You must ALWAYS pre-wash and dry your cotton fabric before making a garment. Sigh. Tell me why I don't just throw all my fabric in the washer when it arrives in the mail? I have no idea. For a while now I've had some fabric sitting, still in the box, in our spare room. Today I decided to pull it out and make Kaitlyn the dress from an ebook I bought a couple months ago at least. With everything laid out I was getting ready to cut out the bodice when I realized the error I was about to make. I hadn't washed my fabric yet. I was disappointed my project would have to wait. I grabbed up all the fabric I have for any intended project in the future and washed it all. I also stripped the ironing board and put the cover in the wash too. Neal has starched his uniform so much there is a nice browning coat of starch all over the ironing board cover. Now that I starch my fabric before sewing it I'm only adding to the problem.


So picture me with all my intended clothing fabric in the wash as well as the ironing board cover and I now have nothing to do. I decided to pull out the remaining fabric from the purse I made a week and a half ago.

Instead of the white panel I have some green and black fabric I'm thinking about using. I cut out the front strips (15" instead of 18") then had to stop. I'm not sure I like the green. I'm now debating using the white again or adding a splash of color with some blue or orange fabric I'm planning on making Kaitlyn a dress out of. I decided I wasn't in a rush to sew up the front panel seeing how even if I did I still couldn't finish the purse until the stinkin' ironing board cover comes out of the dryer. I'm back to square one with nothing to do.

On a totally different subject if anyone would like to do a swap for a cloth grocery bag hop on over to swap-bot. I'm doing a swap for a handmade or store bought grocery bag along with two small kitchen items. The kitchen items can be something like a frig magnet, dish towel, or even a recipe. You must be signed up by July 28th to participate.

Another swap I'm hosting is for children's travel toys. In this swap you buy 4 small toys, coloring book, crayons, or any other toy or activity item for a child 1-5 years old. The sign up deadline is July 31st for this swap. I'm excited to see the fun items Kaitlyn will get for our long flight back to the States in a couple months.

Disappointed

I made a purse yesterday from the free pattern you receive when signing up for the You Can Sew This newsletter. I expected it to be a small purse; all the pictures I've seen made it look small. Last night I was going to Neal's graduation from Airman Leadership School (ALS) and had to dress up for it. Yes, dressing up was mandatory. I thought The Debut purse would look good with my dress. I pulled out my black and white fabric and got to work. Before I sewed it together I found myself starring at 18" long strips. I thought, "this can't be right. The purse is supposed to be small." I double and triple checked that the measurements were right. Sure enough I was supposed to be making a mammoth purse. The only real problem with the purse and ebook was I simply didn't expect it to be big. Needless to say I finished the purse and put it away. I ended up taking a small blue purse a roommate bought me on her Thailand Trip. It small and flat enough I could probably slip my passport in it. It has a long strap that makes it look like it should go around your neck. I tucked the strap inside and opted to carry the small bag. I haven't given up on The Debut purse. I'm going to try it again, but this time I think I'll make the strips 13-14" long rather then 18".

Look at all the hair Kaitlyn has. It's getting thick. I believe it really helps I have kept it cut short so all the hairs catch up with each other. A couple days ago I saw a woman I know from MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers). MOPS isn't meeting over the summer so it's been a while since I have seen her and her daughter. Her little girl is Kaitlyn's age or older and has thin stringy hair. Trimming it REALLY short would help, but the child just doesn't have much. It seems like there are three different types of hair growers. You start really growing hair at: birth (I mean a lot that you don't lose), after 12 months or 24 months. If I couldn't have a child with hair at birth then I'm thankful she at least started growing hair at 12 months.

Sunbeam to the Rescue

I bought an iron Friday night and got to work. I finished the cloth grocery bag for the swap, Kaitlyn's All-In-One romper, and my place mat handbag. The purse actually turned out well. It's plan, but works for me. I put three pockets on the inside; a big one on one side and two smaller ones on the other. I made the smaller ones big enough for my cellphone in one and a pack of gum in the other. I'm not sure what I will put in the bigger pocket, but I did find today that my keys fit in there nicely. Originally I was going to make a smaller pocket for keys so they will be easy to find. Don't you hate dropping your keys in your purse then having to dig around to find them? I really hate that!

Slacker!

I really need to get on the ball. Three evenings ago I bought the ebook by Sew Sensible for the All In One jumper. Don't ask me why since buying the cheap fabric I have been obsessing about getting the ebook for the jumper. Well now I have it, the fabric is washed and cut out yet there it sits.


I know it's random fabric, but Kaitlyn doesn't care. When I finally put it together she will prance through the BX with it on causing everyone to stop and give her plenty of "ooh" and "aah". Thanks Aimee' for making me look good. =)

My second project newly waiting on me to complete is a place mat purse. I wish we had better options on base, but the pickings are few. I really want to try it so this milk chocolate place mat will be my ginnie pig. I forgot to look through their handful of fabric options to see if anything would match or give a nice contrast. I just happened to be buying this brown and gold fabric anyway and thought it would work for the lining.

Project #3 is a cloth shopping bag for my first swap on Swap-bot.com. Have any of you done swaps on Swap Bot? I'm a bit nervous of people swapping junk. Does anyone know of a good group of people who swap handmade items like throw pillows and handbags? Is Swap Bot the way to go for such swaps?

Pillowcase Dress & Boutique Bottoms

I thought I would add my second project from today on here. I made Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible to go with a pillowcase dress I made. Both of these are for a baby gift. Kaitlyn was a bad model hence her head being cut out of the picture and it being blurry. It's hard to snap before they do sometimes. =) I made the pants a little different then the pattern calls for. Usually you don't put elastic or the cuff on the bottom; I did so it would match the pillowcase dress. If you look through my blog a little bit you will see maybe five other pairs of Boutique Bottoms, but made with a ruffle and no elastic.

Diaper Clutch

Tell me why it's so hard to measure sometimes? It's as if my mommy brain takes over and suddenly I'm unable to think clearly. I was trying to make a diaper clutch out of two flat quarters and wouldn't you know even with using a cutting mat, large ruler and rotary cutter I still didn't get the measurement right. I really don't know what my problem was. I didn't have any other fabric to match what I just messed up so I went for other scrap fabric. I had found some I was wanting to use on a diaper clutch for a young mother. I figured it was "cool" enough a 19 year old would like to carry it around. Since I couldn't decide on a back up plan (read "fabric choice") for my diaper clutch I decided to tackle Stephanie's. It came out really well. I followed the tutorial from Blessed Roots. Once I finally decided I do know how to cut fabric it came right together. I didn't put a button on it. I'm still doing a bit of a debate, but I think I will use Velcro. Being a mom of a rambunctious 18 month old I know how important it is to change a diaper then chase down your child. Fighting a button is just out of the question. With Velcro you could change the diaper and have the clutch back together and ready to go before your child has the chance to bolt. The picture above is the one Blessed Roots made. I only used two colors on mine; the interfacing is all that's different.

It's Easy Being Green

Last night I tackled the task of making a cloth grocery bag. We really hate using plastic bags because you can't recycle them. Sure you could re-use them once or twice yourself, but when your done with the bag, it's done. I heard someone say once when you throw something away it really doesn't go away. Your trash gets buried somewhere.

A while back we started requesting paper bags. Sure they are not as easy to handle and they take up more room in your car, but they can be recycled. Instead of being such a selfish, "right now", always easy, nation we need to really think how our actions may be effecting our environment.

We've done the cloth diapers so why not try using cloth grocery bags??? Almost five years ago I needed some sturdy fabric to cover something with so I searched the clearance fabric at Walmart. I walked away with some pale green fabric for $1 a yard. I bought more fabric then I thought I needed and was surprised when the project took even less then expected. For almost five years about four yards of the fabric as been stowed away until yesterday. For the body of the bag I used this tutorial by Wisdom Of The Moon. I didn't feel the bag handles in the tutorial were the best choice; they were not made to be strong being simply tacked onto the top. I decided to use this tutorial from Making Something. The bag turned out great. I love how the bottom of the bag turned out. Because it's all one piece it should hold up better. I made the handles out of the same fabric. I cut two 4"x22" strips. I folded them in half, ironed, opened it up and folded each side into the fold, then folded it back in half and ironed. It made the handles 1" wide. I then sewed four seams down each handle 1/8" apart. I did the same thing to the top of the bag. Oh, give me a moment I'll see if I can get a good picture of it.

I didn't take a picture of the bottom corners, but you can kind of see they are folded up just like the instructions said they would.

Here you can see the four seams I put in the top and handles of the bag.

Here you can see how generous the size is. Maybe I should have loaded it up for a better idea. I really see now why Sara said she wanted to make some smaller bags for canned goods. Maybe I'll stitch that one with red thread or put a strip of random fabric on it so the baggers at the commissary will know it's for cans. By the way you all should really check out Sara's blog. She has a lot of helpful tutorials on there. I've had a lot of fun clicking through all the blogs she has linked from her site.

Now I'm off to make another bag. Another project I recently made was a diaper clutch for a baby gift. I'll have to show that one to you later.

Socks and Easter oufit

Not only can she say sock, but she can now take them off. Several times yesterday Kaitlyn walked up to me saying something like sock while holding a sock up for me to see. I would put the sock back on her foot and a little bit later she would do it again. My one sock wonder has done it twice today and currently only has one sock on.

Kaitlyn has a dry cough right now. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I wish it would quickly go away. I could hear her coughing off and on last night.

I finished Kaitlyn's Easter outfit over the weekend. I know I was cutting it close, but the ribbon just arrived in the mail Friday I believe. I was a bit disappointed the ribbon wasn't the pink/peach color I had hoped it to be. I really didn't have time to reorder so I used it anyway. It does match the flowers, but seeing how they aren't the predominate color well... yeah, grrr. I was worried about buying green, but now I'm thinking I probably should have.

These are her SewSensible Boutique Bottoms. They came out great. Because she wears cloth diapers I had to redo the waistband casing to give a little bit more room for her big tall diapers. You can see it a little bit in the picture above, but it's not as bad as it first was. I've made her a second pair of these and added a little extra fabric to the top so they will be higher.

She wasn't being a good model. This was the best front view I could capture of the Stripwork top from Dainty Designs. I wish you could see how well the top goes with the bottoms. Maybe we can get a better picture Sunday.

I actually made her another outfit over the weekend. I used Wizard of Oz fabric and my SewSensible Dress Top and Boutique Bottoms pattern.

Kaitlyn knew just what to do with the purse. She smiled when I showed it to her and stuck out her arm. She is really into purses right now which makes scraps a good thing. I've seen her several times with her other two purses on her arm and around her neck. She likes filling them up with Little People.

I'm not sure I've said this on here before, but for those who are just learning to sew or would like to tackle your first pattern SewSensible is a great place to start. She give wonderful directions complete with pictures. Personally, I can't just read directions and do something I need pictures. The pictures in the two SewSensible patterns I have are excellent. I would highly recommend trying them out. You can find her patterns at You Can Make This. Check out the links above.

Finished!

I finished Kaitlyn's top and pants. I should have put a long sleeve shirt on her for the picture, but I grabbed a short sleeve onesie and goodness my child is white. I now know if you are going to wear bright clothes you need a colored top too or you look pasty. I would now like to present one pasty child. LOL...

New Tops

I tried out the patterns I mentioned a few post back. Here's the stripwork top.

The day I finished this one the fabric for her Easter outfit arrived. I really need to order the ribbon so I'll have it in time. Now don't judge the top because of how she looks. She is still in her PJs without a bow in her hair. I'll admit she's looking a bit rough this morning. Around her feet is a purse I made to match her top. This top goes well with a light blue pair of blue jeans she has and a yellow flower clip in her hair.

Last night I was almost finished with the dress top pattern when I ran out of thread. =( I had to call it quits when I was almost done. I still need to put the elastic in and finish top stitching. Being the impatient type I put the top on her and pinned it up.

The booty really isn't this big on the dress nor is Kaitlyn's booty that big. Remember I pinned the dress in the back. There should be elastic there. It's much cuter in real life. When my fabric arrive in the mail I was disappointed to learn the fabric for the pants was out of stock so... Kaitlyn is pants less. I actually had just enough of the top material to make two ruffles I'm going to add to some cheap Walmart pants that are to long for her anyway. If I don't get the ribbon in time this may end up being her Easter outfit.

Maybe this is a little better view. I couldn't keep her still while I snapped pictures. She thought it was funny to walk to me and fall into my lap. Goodness my child is looking homely today.