Gingham Crib Quilt

A few months ago we bought some new things for my son's room. His crib and dresser are light wood and his crib sheet is mint green with a white blanket. I loved everything together, but I needed to add a bit more color. I loved the idea of adding navy and a mustard or orange color.

I found the perfect grey, blue, and navy fabric at Super Buzzy in Ventura. 

I calculated how much fabric I had and how big I could make the quilt. If I did 4 inch squares (5" including the seam allowance), I could make a 45"x55" quilt, roughly the size of a crib quilt. 

I had just enough of each color to make this happen. I had a half yard of the grey and navy fabrics and one yard of the blue. Here is the gingham pattern all laid out:

Fabric all cut!

Once I had the gingham pattern sewn together, I started my search for the perfect fabric for the backing. 

I found the most perfect fabric at Joann. I fell in love with it right away. Its a white cotton with navy, blue, and mustard X's. The pattern is so simple and delicate, just what I had hoped for. It also made the decision easy for me: the binding had to be mustard!

My little helper!

The most time consuming part was stitching the straight lines on each side of each seam. It took a long time, but it was worth it. No other quilting technique would have don't this quilt justice. 

I found the matching shade of mustard quilting cotton from Quilty Pleasures. 

The "X" fabric perfectly matches the mustard binding and the blues. 

All finished! Just in time for the weather to get a little chilly! 

The best thing about quilts is that they get softer and softer with each wash. I've loved to watch my son grow attached to his new quilt. Every once in a while, he will drag it around the house with him after he wakes up from a nap and it makes my heart melt. 

Felt Sea Creatures

Around the same time I made this, I also started to make a baby mobile. I really liked these ones so I started to make little sea creatures out of felt.



Now, nearly a year later, I still haven't done anything with them. I had five little sea creatures hanging from string just waiting to be hung on a mobile. Maybe it was because we have been sharing a room with Peter, or maybe its simply because I wouldn't know what materials were needed to make the rest of the mobile. Whatever the reason, they've been collecting dust.

We are finally moving to a bigger place and Peter will be getting his own room! Long overdue. However, I still gave up on the mobile idea. Instead, I cut the stings off and just threw them into Peter's toy basket. He loves all the little toys that he can hold easily, examine, and (of course) put in his mouth! It makes me so happy to watch him play with these little creatures I made for him.

The turtle is his favorite so far! Also, Christmas jammies are fitting him early. He is growing too fast!

I made a whale, two types of fish, a starfish, and a sea turtle.
The whale was my first attempt. The shape is a little awkward, but I like the contrasting stitching. The turtle and the striped fish are my two favorites.

I plan on making Peter a lot more felt creatures. The next ones will be bigger and more three dimensional. 

Halloween: A Spider, His Web, and His Prey

My first of many homemade halloween costumes for Peter!

We decided to go as a spider, his web, and his prey.

Being in the pest control business, we thought the spider theme was a perfect choice for the family. 

I was so excited as soon as we came up with the idea for these costumes. The first thing I did was look through my craft and sewing supplies to see what I already had that could be used in making the costumes. I found some felt, some fabric, some wire, and some ribbon that I figured might be helpful.

I was able to make the wings with supplies I already had. I used some wire to shape them and then made the fabric cover out of white tricot fabric. I then used a black sharpie to draw the wing details.

Close up of the wing detail. Not perfect, but it turned out pretty good!

The wings would be pinned to the back of Jesse's shirt.
Next I made the fly's big eyeballs. I cut four circles out of a dark red fabric, the same fabric that I cut Peter's hour glass out of. Of the four red circles, two were bigger and two were a little smaller. I attached each small circle to a big circle, turned them right side out, stuffed them, and drew a honeycomb pattern on them. Then I glued them to a beanie. That was it for the prey's costume! 

For my web costume, I cut a giant circle from two yards of fabric to make a poncho. I cut evenly spaced curves around the edges and sewed white yarn around the whole outer edge and the rest of the poncho in the shape of a web. This was the most time consuming part of the process, but I think it turned out great.

I used the leftover fabric from the poncho to make the extra legs for Peter's spider costume.

I stuffed the extra legs and glued them onto a black outfit I bought for Peter.
I also hand stitched the hour glass onto the stomach.

It was so cute to watch Peter crawl around in his spider outfit. It is the perfect costume for a baby in the crawling phase.

All three costumes done!  Jesse is wrapped up in yarn as the prey. We even went a little farther and put a tiny bit of fake blood next to Peter's mouth and on Jesse's neck!
We got one quick picture on our way out to trick-or-treat, but mostly just to say hi to friends in the neighborhood. We got in the car to drive to a few houses and Peter fell asleep immediately! We visited one family and then went home. 

We are so excited for next halloween when we can take Peter trick-or-treating!

French Terry Shorts Remake

When Peter was super tiny, I bought him these shorts in a 3-6 month size, hoping they would fit him for the summer months. However, despite the fact that he is only five months old, Peter is already comfortably fitting into 12-18 month clothes. Needless to say, we are in need of some bigger shorts. (This project was on my to-do list on this post.)

I love these shorts I got at Cotton On Kids. They are so cute and comfortable and they are made of french terry fabric. Peter is so comfortable in them!

Peter's curious little hand exploring my pattern making station

I traced the small shorts, added about a half inch to each side, added more for seam allowance, and cut out my pattern. I know a half inch added on all sides is a lot to add, but I wanted these shorts to fit him for a long time, and the shorts I traced were a few sizes too small.





The shorts ended up fitting him great! The fabric I used is so soft and stretchy. I used the wrong side of the fabric for the waistband to match the cuffed hem on the legs.
I will definitely use this pattern again and possibly draft a larger size as well for when Peter outgrows this size. 

Nursing Friendly with Bell Sleeves Update

Here are some pictures of me wearing the dress I recently made.

The trim detail and subtle color contrast turned out even better than I expected! The front zipper makes nursing easy and discreet.

If I were to remake this dress, I would add some length and I would add even more fullness to the bell sleeves.

Close up of some of the details (and of Peter!) 

Baby Peter!

Baby Peter was born on March 6th and we cannot believe how in love we are!

He is big and very long (no surprise, I am 6'0" and my husband is 6'6")!

He has the sweetest face and the sweetest voice and we are so lucky he is ours.

From out newborn photoshoot with Rachel Marie Photography

For his coming home outfit, I brought a cute blue and white striped sleeper and a navy beanie I made. Sadly, the beanie was too small for him! 

So he has yet to wear something made by me. I can't wait to make him some cute clothes. He is two weeks old and has officially outgrown his newborn clothes. On to 0-3 month sizes!