Baby Hats

Literally, a 20 minute project!  I don't get many of those, right?  Three little baby hats...

The plain blue one on the left is, literally, just plain.  The yellow one in the back has ears (ears!!!) but is also very simple.  The football hat is copied from Make It and Love It's Fleece Football Hat tutorial.  Very cute idea!  I'm hoping that at least one of these hats (which I made all slightly different sizes) will fit the little dude they're intended for.

New Curtains

Imagine my surprise when my daughter (holder of the largest bedroom in the house - fully decked out with toys, mind you) informed me that she preferred her brother's room.  After my initial surprise, I thought to ask her why.

She wanted her room to be darker, like her brother's.

Aaaaah, darker I can do!  Off we went to shop in my fabric supply.  I didn't have enough of any one (interesting) fabric to make a whole curtain panel, so we went 'patchwork-y'.  She loves them!

We did pick up some curtain lining at JoAnn's - who knew that stuff was only $6/yard!  Add your coupon and I got my two yards for only $6.  Nice!

Now her room is officially as dark as her brother's.  Even if it is a bit much...

Clutch

I made another one of Anna's gathered clutches.  My mother requested one made out of the same material I made mine, but in a smaller size. 

This one ended up being roughly 6 inches long.  It turned out pretty cute (darned red duck cloth, though - really hard to get a straight topstitched line on that!!!), but it's a bit too small to be comfortable to use on the inside.  I'm not sure how much I'm loving it.  Hopefully it'll work for the times my mom wants it!

Valentines 2012

Gotta love a $2 valentine project.  $2 for all 22 of my kids' classmates.  Wahoo!

Well, $2 for the little bag of Target dinosaurs (located in the Valentine section at Target).  Everything else I had.  I had my big kid write out "ROAR" and scanned it into the computer.  I added the explanation 'That's DINOSAUR speak for Happy Valentine's Day' and printed it out on cardstock.  The other side of the valentines have my kids' pictures along with "Love A" or "Love N". 

Miss A helped me sew up one of the pieces of (folded in half) cardstock but quickly lost interest.  It probably took me about an hour (between playing games, reading books, making snacks, and answering questions) to sew up the other 21.

Both kids' classes are primarily made up of boys, so I figured dinosaurs were a sure-fire win for valentines day.

Pretty cute, right??

Heirloom Bonnets (Part 2)

I did find the photos of my previous two bonnets!  Both were made using the same Simplicity 3840 pattern. 

Here's the first one:

And the second:

Heirloom Bonnet

I love these sweet little heirloom bonnets.  I had a request from a friend, and was glad to make this darling little thing for a much anticipated little girl.

And they really do need to be white on the outside, don't they?  So pretty.  I lined the inside with some pink/grey stripes.

These bonnets are really easy to put together.  I used Simplicity 3840, and made this one the newborn size....because it's just too sweet.

I have made two other little bonnets like this.  I'll have to see if I have the photos anywhere.

I dare you not to smile...at my Monster Pillow!

Can you do it?  Can you even look at this without smiling??

Oh my gosh, seriously.

It's not very often I smile my way through a project, but this one was just too great.  I saw this project not too long ago on Make It and Love It.  I think any little guy or gal would get a kick out of this Monster Pillow.  This Monster is going to a little guy we're catching up with next week, and I am honestly a little sad to let my Monster go!

I used different colors for the front and back, 'cuz it's fun!

Don't you hate it when you read craft blogs and the author does a 'review' of a pattern but all you ever hear is how great that pattern is?  Or if it wasn't great, the author says that she (or he) did something wrong, and if "I'd only followed the pattern".....that drives me bananas.  Most patterns have a sticking point or two.  It would be nice if people just laid it out there, so you knew what to watch out for when putting something together.

That in mind, there are a couple of things I'd like to say about this project. 
(1) The author tells you to use fusible webbing.  Since I know that fleece stretches badly and can be difficult to applique neatly, I liked that idea.  What worried me was that I know you don't want to (if you can get away with it) iron fleece.  It was really hard to iron the webbing enough to get it to stick without scorching the fleece.
(2) Wouldn't it be great if the monster's mouth was a pocket?  Just sayin'.
(3) Sewing through all those layers of the hair was a beast.  And I was using my walking foot.  I went back and forth over each strand of hair to make sure it was secure, and it's certainly not the prettiest stitching I've ever done.

This is the first time I've really tried to finish a project using an 'invisible stitch'.  Not a shabby job, if I do say so myself!

I LOVE this project.  No doubt it won't be my only Monster Pillow!!!

Tinkerbell Dress

Is it bad that I had to order another set of 10 doll hangers to hang all the stuff I'm making for Baby A?  My daughter really doesn't like to wear dress up clothes, so maybe I'm channeling my dress up wishes elsewhere.  At least she does like to dress up her doll.

I have gotten more mileage out of my 99 cent Simplicity 5705 pattern, between the Princess and the Pea dress, the Ariel dress (which I apparently haven't shown you yet), and now, Tinkerbell!

I'd say Baby A looks pretty satisfied, wouldn't you?  I used leftover fabric from making Miss A's Tinkerbell dress, which I promise to show you soon.  The dress' wings detatch, and there are a little pair of matching undies that go under the dress.

Since the doll has been wearing her Tinkerbell costume (wings and all) for three days straight...night and day...I'd say it's a hit!