Pinterest Challenge: Aden and Anais Swaddlers

I'm working on a few baby gifts this week. It corresponded perfectly with the Pinterest challenge going on over at Young House Love. I've had some "Pinspirations" in mind.

The Wiegands

I've been drooling over this bold, black and white baby blanket above. It looks like a knit, but I chose woven cotton gauze for my project. Like Aden and Anais swaddling blankets (TUTORIAL HERE).

I also have been loving all the triangle/tribal type prints that are popping up.

See Kate Sew

The Wiegands

Here are my Pinterest inspired, hand stamped, swaddling blankets.

They're cotton gauze, a little stretchy and beautifully breathable...happy baby!  For gifts you can roll them up and tie with cute ribbon and a little tag. I love that the colors and patterns are a bit nontraditional for babies, I get tired of dinosaurs and animals.

For my blankets, I decided to go with potato stamping so that I could have complete freedom on size and shape...not to mention it's cheap.

I cut the potatoes in half then scratch the shape into them with a blunt pencil (if it's something more complicated) then carefully cut around it with a knife. You have to dry it off with paper towels every so often because water leeches out of the potato and can give you some bleeding if you're not careful. They will last a few days if you wrap them up with plastic, and they work best if you stick with a single color per stamp. You could start out stamping with your lightest color, wipe off as much paint as you can, then go darker at the end--dark to light makes a bit of a mess. 

For the color gradient on the black trees blanket, I applied paint to the stamp with a foam brush then stamped three times before reapplying paint. I always use tulip, soft, matte fabric paint and stamped it in a completely random pattern, I like it! 

The other blanket is all triangles of different sizes and colors.

I'm in love with this one.

Hope these gifts will be enjoyed! Visit THIS POST for a complete, step by step tutorial on making knock off Aden and Anais Swaddlers. 

BLOOPER: 

Funny story ...I picked up a 99 cent foam stamp from hobby lobby...here it is:

Hmm, devil face? Perfect for a baby blanket right? 

Heel no! It totally looked like an owl before stamping. I blotted out the scary mouth feathers and it took some of the frightening out of this little blanket. 

I just want to know who is in charge of checking to make sure stamps don't inadvertently look like devil faces. I think Hobby Lobby in particular would be horrified by this.

(owls to the left, devils to the right... hands in the air! sorry, that sounded so much like a line dance that I couldn't resist...)

Dreams

Do you remember being a senior in high school? Or maybe a college student and having all these wild dreams? I don't know about you but a lot of mine had something to do with success...fame and fortune...American Idol...

Then the semesters start flying by and you finish college with a degree that's a little more practical than maybe what you had in mind. 

Your life includes somebody else now and you have new plans together, a few years later and maybe a chubby baby. 

The days keep flying by and you can't even remember that person who wanted those things you thought you wanted--things that didn't involve potty training or sewing stuffed robots. Life is so much richer and more full than you imagined it would be. There are hard days of course, but those are the ones that make grace all the more obvious by contrast.  

A pastor said yesterday, "The greatest gift Jesus can give you is to tear away all the dreams you have for yourself...then He overwhelms you with His grace." You are left standing with empty hands so that He can fill them, not your inflated ego or talent or career or money or carefully laid plans...because a life with Him at the center is the only one that can fill...and not just sometimes. 

His dreams for you are always best. 

Costume Tutorial: Plump Pumpkin

Last Halloween my bigger boy wanted to be a monkey so I snatched up a super cheap costume at Old Navy (they carry a pretty cute assortment every year and they usually go on sale before Halloween, just FYI :). 

I'm all about dressing the babes in things that I know they won't want to wear later and I never like to spend a ton, who knows if they will be awake to wear it...so...the Plump Pumpkin costume was born. It was easy and relatively quick. The wedges take a bit of time, but the 3D texture is totally worth it. This is a good project to do during naptime with a few episodes of Downton Abbey rolling!

Can anyone resist a little, fat baby dressed as a pumpkin?

You Need: 

1 Yard of orange fleece and a few scraps of green (I had some leftover, but add a little extra if you're

      making a larger version, my little guy was wearing about a 3 month size here)

polyfill or scrap batting

snaps (sew on or with a snap setter, you could probably get away with velcro)

matching thread, sewing machine, etc...

*Sleeper, sweatpants, tights or other clothing of your choice to go under the costume. I had a cute orange and black striped sleeper that worked perfectly. What we are making here is sort of a jumper. 

To Make:

1. Build the Foundation

Note: You could skip this step if you have an orange onesie-bought or dyed-that you want to use.

2. Make the wedges
Each wedge is two pattern pieces sewn with right sides together. Leave a small opening to turn right sides out and stuff with polyfill or scrap batting. Then stitch the opening closed. They should look like crazy carrots...

The number and size of the wedges depends on the size of your child and your preferred spacing. I wanted them very close together and the largest two are a little longer than the length from neck to crotch opening.

I used two extra large, four large, four medium and two small wedges. You want to end up with this.

The largest center wedge reaches from the neckline to the crotch opening (one in front and one in back), then they descend in size-the smallest being under each arm. Use the onesie to estimate the length of your wedges, width is up to you. Here they are all laid out so you can get a feel for the variation in size and how many you will need (these are sewn together but not stuffed yet).

After you complete the wedges, pin them in place on your foundation onesie (photo above), adjust as needed and sew them on by hand. I just did a few little hidden stitches at the top and bottom of each wedge. You could get fancy and sew them on in other spots as well or use some fabric glue, it really just depends on how you want them to lay, how active your child is and how finicky you are as a sewist/mama. I didn't mind a little twistage. :)

Fun, simple costume with lots of room to personalize. Link back and leave comments or send pics if you make one! I'd love to see it!

I'll be back this week or next with the hat pattern and tutorial! Gotta love a pumpkin hat!

2013: Cherish

Last New Year's, I saw a blog post about choosing a word to be a sort of theme for your year. I chose "Abundant." When I wrote that post, I had just found out that I was expecting Baby V and was feeling a tad overwhelmed. I knew we had a move coming up and a very busy 19 month old boy. This was exactly the word I needed for last year and I tried to apply it to life. It's so easy for "work at home" moms to get into the habit of "woe is me" type thinking. Because we are basically on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we have to schedule around naptimes or hire a babysitter to be alone for five minutes (that includes a shower :); we can really get into a funk and take it out negatively on the people around us. To be able to stay at home with my babies is an incredible blessing, I know other mamas who would trade anything for that and I don't take it for granted. I don't want to just appreciate, as I said last year, I want to "revel in the blessings" that God has piled into my life. 

One of my favorite moments of the day is around 6:30 am. V usually wakes up about 5:30, I cuddle him in bed with me and he will usually doze until P wakes up and runs to our room. He jumps into bed and I hold V on one side and P snuggles up on my other side. There is absolutely nothing like it. I know in my head that I am blessed with two sweet babies, but being physically smothered in blessing is something else. Sometimes I can't catch my breath because I'm so overwhelmed with the joy and responsibility and privilege of being their mama. I lay there and bask in the feeling of those two little bodies curled up around me--one wiry and strong and never still and the other soft, limp-limbed and heavy with sleep. 

Then the sun comes up and I speak unkindly to my boy when he disobeys or I complain to my husband that I didn't have a moment of peace all day. At these moments my heart and words are so ungrateful. In thinking selfishly of myself, I lose an opportunity to cherish these crazy moments. It's not going to be long before my little guys aren't dumping 1 lb bags of sunflower seeds out on the kitchen floor or getting out of bed just for a hug from mama in the middle of the night. This year my word is going to be "cherish." I want to record and soak up and live in this busy, busy year. I'm going to sew projects that I don't really have time for because my baby asked for a cowboy fireman's hat. I'm going to stay up late after they go to bed and read "Growing Kids God's Way" because I want to be the best mama I can be and because I cherish their little hearts and souls just as much as their little bodies. I'm going to scrape crayon wax off the dining room table and paint off the floor. I'm going to do hundreds of loads of laundry and bury my nose in the smell of fresh, clean clothes on the bodies that I love so much. I'm going to try some messy new recipes and let my baby help me cook, even though it will mean some wasted ingredients and a little extra clean-up. I want to cherish his enthusiasm and curiosity. 

This year I want to cherish my children and my husband, but my goal also is to cherish my relationship with the Lord. I'm going to spend more time in His precious word, the way He's chosen to reveal Himself to His people. I want to cherish the word and store it up in my heart so that in moments of stress or craziness, He is what pours out and not ugliness.

Cherish 2013: I'll let you know how it goes.

Tutorial: Draft Stopper + Noise Muffler=Sleep Sweeter

I love this thing. It helps me keep my sanity. 

Having two young children has taught me something: two babies awake at 2 am and howling for the attention of just one person is really not fun. The scenario is that the infant cries for milk and the toddler hears him and awakens...screaming. I decided to make a little something to keep this scenario from repeating itself every three hours until the end of time... (read that again but with a slightly frantic tone of voice). 

Don't get me wrong, there are tons of GREAT things about having two very young babies (one 2 years and one 7 weeks, to be precise), but sleep deprivation is not on my list. I'm one of those people who can't remember words when I'm short on sleep. Like last night I was trying to tell a story and couldn't remember the word...wait what was it again?...oh, yeah...werewolf. 

So I made this thing and it was really easy. It has multiple purposes--it stops drafts, blocks out noise (both while looking a little more chic and a little easier to manage than a towel stuffed under the door) and helps us all sleep a little sweeter. 

You need:

heavy-weight fusible fleece

home decor weight cotton 

   -2 rectangles

   -width= 9 inches+door thickness 

   -length=width of the doorway plus one inch

sewing machine with a sharp heavy-duty needle, thread, iron, yardstick, disappearing marker

5 lbs of rice

1) Cut out your pattern pieces. Two rectangles of home decor weight cotton using the specifications above, then back each piece with fusible fleece (leave about 1/2 inch of fabric 'unfleeced' on one short end to make it easier to stitch closed at the end.). The fleece helps make the stopper feel more sturdy, reinforcing the fabric, and it also takes up some space so you don't need quite as much rice to fill it. 

2) Pin fabric right sides together, with 1/2" seam allowance,  sew along both long sides and one short side. Turn right sides out through the open end. Now you should have something that looks like the photo below (without the two lines of stitches in the middle, that's the next step). 

3) Using the yardstick and disappearing marker, measure in 4 inches from each side seam and draw a straight line (the distance between the two lines should be approximately the thickness of your door). Using matching thread, sew along each marked line-stopping about 3/4 inch from the open end. Then you should have this:

Closed end:

Open end from top:

Leave some room so you can turn the raw edges under:

4) Sorry, I didn't photograph this next step because my hands were full of thousands of grains of rice. You could use a funnel, but I took my chances and it worked out ok. Fill each side of the stopper with rice, be sure to leave enough space for folding under and for your machine foot and don't fill the "under-the-door" part.

5) Now tuck the raw edges in, pin, and stitch across the opening--forward and back stitching securely. Trim any loose threads and slide it under the door!

I love mine! The best part is that it slides with the door, no adjusting or slipping on towels (that happened more than once in my house). They really do help block noise, I tested it. This thing is for real!

Comment if you make one and love it or if you have suggestions to make it better!

(The cute red chevron fabric came from Hobby Lobby). 

Knitathon: Chevron Baby Blanket

I finally finished my chevron blanket for the new baby! It actually didn't take that long to knit, but I was scared of binding off so it sat around with one row missing for about 2 months. This fear turned out to be totally unfounded, binding off was a snap!

AND!! I love it! The cotton feels so thick and luxurious.

The colors are so vibrant, especially with the combo of cool colors and warm colors...it's got a little ombre thing going, I think :)

Does this remind anyone else of a sunrise? With the bright orange sun peeking over a serene ocean of blues with white capped waves...

Ok, ok, I'll stop. But really, learn to knit and go make this blanket. You, your baby or the recipient (if you make it for a gift) will be thrilled with the results! 

(Free pattern at Purl Bee. )

Swim Time!

Yesterday was a beautiful day, perfect for the pool...then I remembered that P doesn't have a pair of swim trunks. He outgrew everything last year. During nap time, I sat down at the machine and whipped up a pair from a pattern I had drawn up about a month ago (traced from Target, Circo brand shorts). I've had shorts for P on my project list for a while now.

These are made out of a cotton/poly blend from Hancock's, love this fabric. It's kind of water repellent, stretchy and non-wrinkly. I did a simple casing with wide elastic then I quarter pinned, stretched out the elastic and sewed a few more rows of stitches to give it that waist band look and keep the elastic from flipping over. That's the worst!

Label in the back, plaid matches up (woot-woot). 

Flat felled seams on the sides for durability and cute factor...

Faux fly and button closure.

Little man who is never still... we are ready for the pool. 

Knitathon: Chevron Baby Blanket

I have been super busy this past week: working on Etsy orders, hanging out with P, and packing for a move several states away. It's full-on summer here in NOLA, 100% humidity and in the 90's most days. We go outside, but it's quick and usually either a sprint from car into other air conditioned places or playing in the water-popsicles are required.

I'm also busy with a project. I have to confess, this is something that I've been obsessing over for months and months now. It's a chevron, knit baby blanket. I haven't been able to stop looking at the pictures and glancing over the tutorial since it first popped up on Purl Bee.  I pinned it right away, then again when Dana at Made was knitting her own version. I finally took the leap and ordered 8 balls of worsted weight, cotton yarn when it was on sale at Joann's a few weeks ago, along with a pair of size 11, cicular knitting needles. I have been a devout supporter of crochet up until this point, so it was an absolute miracle to me when I started to see the pattern emerging in those first few rows.

Now, I'm completely addicted and I might never go back. While crochet might be easy to shape, there's something about the feel and look of knitting that is beautiful and rewarding. I am seriously thinking about making a garment or some socks next...yikes. Just because I'm thinking about it doesn't mean it doesn't scare me! One thing I love about knitting is how portable it is. Sewing is not portable, even embroidery requires all kinds of tools, different threads, needles, etc... But this! I can stick it in my purse and take it anywhere! I am looking forward to knocking out several stripes during a long car trip next week!

Isn't it awesome! There's a little something retro about the colors and pattern, but still modern. This picture doesn't really do justice to the colors. The orange is "hot orange" and the yellow is almost neon. Is anyone NOT obsessed with neon colors right now? I just bought hot pink highlighter nail polish yesterday! 

These are the other colors. Stripes in graduating colors from hot to cool, I am trying to find a nice light gray to go between the white and robin's egg. I think that will make it absolutely perfect. Since I'm using 120 yard skeins instead of the 150 yard that Purl Bee's tutorial calls for, there will be 8 different colors instead of 7.  

I'm in love...

Toddler imagination...

Last weekend, W and I took P for a walk on his bike. It's one of those fun trikes that has a handle for parents so you can steer for him. He loves it! Family walks are one of our favorite things so we enjoy it too.

W and I were walking along talking when we realized P was talking too...to himself.

"Basketball?"
"No!"

"Ride?"
"No!"

"Leo?" (our dog)
"No."

"Ahh-sahide?" (outside)
"No!"

"Elmo?"
"No!"

"Apple?"
"NO!"

He went through these many times over, we were laughing so hard once we figured out the gist. He was listing all the things he loves and asks for a hundred times a day then filling in what we would say (totally unfair because I usually say "OK," except for the Elmo thing).

It's amazing, isn't it? He's not even two but he's having imaginary conversations about his thoughts and feelings on what we let him do. Unbelievable! Can't wait for those teenage years.

"Wheelie?"

"Absolutely!"

Girl?! Boy?!

I bought two baby things before we found out what we were having...

This little confection. It's a baby swimsuit, have you ever seen anything sweeter?! I am crazy about the colors and mix of large and small polka dots. I would totally wear this swimsuit...maybe if it was in my size with a little more support up top... 

I also bought a set of light gray and cream bodysuits at Old Navy, with a tiny pair of striped sweatpants and a little hat with ears.

            Well, I won't be using that little swimsuit anytime soon, we are having a boy! I am so tempted to keep it though, it's 6-12 months so there is a good chance a girl born in any season could wear it at some point. We are so excited about a boy, a little brother for P, another mischief maker, someone to hang on my other leg while I'm cooking dinner and beg to go "ahh-sahh-ide" (that's the way P says outside).

I think this soft, little hat is so cute. Can't wait to put it on a fuzzy, baby head.

I'm going to be working on a quilt for this new guy. It will match the one P has (oranges and teals), but with some different colors and patterns. I'm using a few prints from Moda "Grow with Me." These trucks and a really cool light gray geometric pattern. I'll post more on that later. I'm using THIS PATTERN by Jaybird quilts. I think it will be really fun and modern, I'm thinking of doing a self binding (like on my picnic blanket HERE) and doing the actual quilting by hand, YIKES! I've just fallen in love with the look of it and Purl Bee is super inspiring-possibly to my detriment.  Look at those teeny tiny stitches?! It's an art form.