crafting by amy

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

2/23/2010


ACK! I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since my last update... I've been making stuff, I just haven't had time to get pictures of it and update here since I was busy trying to get ready for Baby Girl's baby shower that was on the 20th (it was LOTS of fun)! So this is going to be a big one... been working on lots of cool stuff (though I still haven't managed to get the last 3 dresses made for the little lady).

I guess I will start with stuff for the nursery.
First up is a super quick and easy liner for a metal bin. I found the bin under my bathroom sink and the inside was a little worse for wear so I decided to whip up a fabric liner to put in it to protect all the little things that would end up in it in the nursery. Simple but effective.


Next up in the nursery was the changing table... I bought it second hand and the shelves just weren't looking their best and plain white is boring, so I spruced them up with some contact paper. Again, simple but effective. Love it! (I didn't get a before shot of it so you will have to settle for one with the middle shelf still left to be covered, they all looked the same before, plain and white)


And lastly for the nursery were a couple different "art" pieces for the walls to go with the pink/green elephant theme... the first is made with fabric and heatnbond (mounted on a piece of 12x12 corkboard) and the 2 smaller ones are made from paper. I love how they turned out, just have to decide where to hang them...


Next up... how about some edible crafts...
A Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, made for my baby brother (yes, I know he's 23 now, ACK, but he will always be my baby brother), who's a Valentine's Day baby. Yes it was quite delicious and yes it was made from scratch.


And some treats I whipped up for the shower. They are just pink (strawberry) marshallows either dipped in or drizzled with melted chocolate and then covered in pink sprinkles (which are hard to see) and oreos covered in regular and white chocolate, also covered in pink sprinkles... YUM!


Hmmm... what's next... how about some baby gifts... I know, gifts for OTHER people's babies... that's insanity!
Another batch of changing pads... these turned out REALLY cute. They are reversible with flannel on one side and either a super soft terry/minky fabric on the back (that's the green) or a jersey knit on the back (that's the polka dots, that one is my fav). The ones with the green backs having binding all the way around, the other though was thin enough I could just sew it and then turn and topstitch it.


And another "Betsy" (pattern by OwlyBaby), pillowcase style dress, like I said before, for a gift for my husband's old officemate who is expecting a daughter in May.

OK... how about some crocheted stuff!
I FINALLY managed to fnished the Yoshi amigurumi I have been working on since October... I have 2 more of them started, hopefully I can get them finished in a timely manner... we'll see. Started with a pattern, but ended up working off it quite loosely since the pattern designer was not a native english speaker so following the pattern was a little tricky. I think he turned out quite despite it all!


And a purse, made from a pattern I found in an early 80s "Learn How To Crochet" booklet... I happened to have the purse handles in my stash from swapping and when I saw the pattern that used the exact handles I HAD to make it! I love the puff stitches!


Oh! I almost forgot this super simple project. I use these little cards to write quick notes to send with swap packages. I had a TON of these paint color sample cards from when we've been picking out colors to paint different rooms (can you tell we like color, you should see the house), and I couldn't figure out what to do with them until I realized they would be perfect for a little note, so I got out my stamps and went to work... they are perfect... another simple, but effective project!


And last, but certainly not least... my FAVORITE project from the past 2 weeks... I made it today without much of a plan, these handles were also received via swapping and I knew I wanted to make a fabric purse with them, I just didn't know how to go about it... after much head scratching I came up with this design and I LOVE IT! I want to keep it, but I will probably swap/sell it away, I don't need another purse, especially one that wouldn't make a very good diaper bag.

Monday, February 08, 2010

2/8/2010


Update, update, update! YAY!

This past week was a light week for crafting... I had to split my time with cleaning (the house was a disaster), so there's not too much to share.

First up are 3 pairs of PJ pants (from quilting cotton) for Q. Had to make him something with all these dresses and such being made for his baby sister, he was starting to get jealous. He picked up the fabrics for them, all his favorite things.


Just one dress this week. Made using Simplicity pattern #2668, size S (6 mos). This dress was quite a pain, it has box pleats, a zipper and a round collar (that was the worst part, which is why it's a little fidgety). Obviously I forgot to switch my thread to a better color and didn't realize it until halfway through, so I just didn't bother (the collar was making me mad and I just wanted to finish it). But it turned out cute and I love the fabric, so it's OK!


More playfood for Q, some crocheted noodles, he's been asking for some spaghetti for a while, so I whipped these up, they were super quick!


Next up, 3 pairs of some super simple/plain reusable/washable nursing pads, using some old (from when Q was a baby) Gerber birdseye cloth diapers, they are 4 layers thick and are a nice lighter weight pad. Just serged around the edges, super quick project! I am planning to make another 3 pairs of heavier ones using flannel and some Gerber prefold diapers.


And last up a set of bibs, they are quilting cotton with a double layer of birdseye cloth diaper inside. I will be resizing the patterns for future bibs, these turned out a bit on the small side (especially the neck hole of the round one, there's no way a baby's neck is fitting in there).

Monday, February 01, 2010

2/1/2010


I meant to get this posted yesterday, as my final January post, but oh well...
January turned out to be very productive. I made a total of 53 items (if you count individual things that are the same), that's kind of awesome, so I am hoping to keep the madness going through February as well.

First up, some felt playfood I whipped up for Q, he has been bugging me about making him a salad so when I ran across the lettuce leaf shape I printed it out and went to work cutting and sewing this pile of lettuce for him to make salads with. Was a quick project, even though I hate making felt playfood (I prefer to crochet it).

Obviously it's already being put to good use!

Next up I found some prequilted baby fabrics in my stash, I have no idea where they came from or how long I had have them but I decided I was going to use them, so I cut out 2 identical changing pads and grabbed some quilt binding from my stash and in no time I had 2 quilted changing pads. I love instant gratification projects!

Both are the same, one side is the animals/dots print and the other is the pink gingham, just the color of the binding is different.

This next item is probably my favorite thing I made last week. It's a reversible pouch sling, made using knit fabrics. I just love how it turned out! I used the Baby Sling Tutorial on the Handmade-Adelaide-Baby website, it was super easy and pretty quick (once I got it cut out, knits can sometimes be a little tricky to cut).

Q's bear "Mommy" is helping me model how it works. I am really looking forward to using it!

And now for what you all have been waiting for... this week's installment of adorable tiny baby dresses!

First dress was made using the "Itty Bitty Baby Dress" pattern from the Made by Rae blog. It's SOOOO tiny, think newborn/preemie size, I need to get a shot of it with something for a size comparison (it's hanging on an infant/toddler hanger, was a SNUG fit). I didn't make the dress exactly as the pattern does, for the bodice I actually sewed the outer parts together along the side as well as the lining pieces and then I sewed them along the straps RST and turned and topstitched them, then sewed the whole bodice to the skirt, this is how the other patterns I have been using did it, so it made more sense to me... though I am pretty sure the end result is the same. This is the only new dress pattern I tried this week (don't worry, the next batch of dresses are from 2 new patterns as well).

How cute is this fabric?! The print is SO tiny, so I thought it was perfect for such an itty bitty dress!

Next up is from the same pattern as the dress in the fish fabric from last week's post (McCall's 3598, this one is size 2 though). I have loved this fabric since it came out years ago, so I was excited to finally get my hands on some, I think it makes a very cute toddler dress (even cuter with the matching undies!).


And last but certainly not least... my favorite dress from the week... I know, how could they possibly get cuter, I will tell you... CUPCAKES! Made using the "Betsy" pillowcase dress pattern (same as the Owl dress last week, pattern by OwlyBaby) in 9-12 months size. This is another fabric I have been drooling over for ages, I can't believe Joann's had it, but I am quite pleased they did. I also got it in blue, haha.


(Lighting is weird in my craft space, so 2 pictures to get the full effect, anything with red tends to get weird with my camera).

And now to get busy on Feb.'s items... I have a bunch of stuff cut out waiting for me to sew it this week, so check back next weekend for more new stuff! YAY!