Jenny's Triangle Quilt

My friend Jenny saw my Instagram posts about my first triangle quilt.  She casually/jokingly asked if I would make her a pink & navy triangle quilt for her soon-to-arrive baby girl.  I sort of laughed and gave her a "I wish I had time for that..." response.  But then I could not stop thinking about how cute that would be.  Navy and Hot Pink?!  It had to happen.  And it happened.  In one weekend.  I just love it, don't you?

Basic Baby Pants

These Basic Baby Pants by Sweet Baby Dolly were so easy!  They are "newborn/infant" size -- I think they fit Gus for months 1-3. 

C'mon, Smile Gus!

 

Visit Sweet Baby Dolly's Etsy shop for more patterns, or just for yummy color combination inspiration!

Garter Ear Flap Hat for Gus

I had yarn leftover from Gus's Baby Jumper, so I made this hat that I'd had my eye on--The Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho.  It was easy, fast, and so cute!  Find the pattern notes here on my Ravelry Page.


The quilt he is laying on in this picture is our family's Comfort Quilt!  Remember this?  Feels like we took that pic with Baby Henry just yesterday.  Love love.

Baby Jumper : Handknit Baby Pajamas

What is less practical than handknit baby pajamas?  Well, I can probably name a few more things, but this is pretty impractical.  But it was just one of those things that I wanted to knit for my sweet baby boy.  When you knit something for someone, it's like tangible evidence of thinking of that person.  With every stitch (well almost every stitch....I do watch football while I knit....) you are thinking about that person, remembering them or just dreaming about them, if they're not "here" yet!

So there I sat, in my orange chair with my feet up, usually before Henry's 6am wake-up, busting this thing out even though my hands were going numb (ugh, pregnancy) for my baby GusGus.

 Front

 

 

 Back

So sweet! 

And what did GusGus do every time I put him in this outfit?  Pooped on it of course, just like I thought he would!

Oh well. :)

Notes:  This pattern was "Baby Jumper" by Pinar Ürün Sizun, found on Ravelry.
Knit with Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in "Blue-Green" (1910)  <--machine p="" washable="">
If I were to knit it again (and I might!), I would make it more long and skinny, in the body, arms, and legs.  But I loved this pattern and it was quite easy!

The link to this project on my Ravelry page is here!

modern woodlands baby to-go bag

I might start calling these Baby To-Go Bags.  I made this one for myself with Emily's Modern Woodlands fabrics .

 A Zippered Bag!  

Everything fits inside with some room to spare.

 Snack Pouch and Burp Rags

 Changing Pad - with a layer of clear vinyl for quick mess clean-up.

Now I'm ready to take this squirmy babe on lots of spring outings.

baby stuff!

Now wouldn't this be the perfect baby shower gift?  I've been experimenting with making burp rags, changing pads and snack pouches.  And of course, everything has to be the right size to fit in a cute bag.  Personally, I don't like lugging around my giant diaper bag when I can help it.  This bag is just the right size for quick trips!

 The changing pad (yellow polka dot item, with the button) and snack pouch have vinyl inside for quick clean-up.

Or maybe it's an Easter basket?

DIY monthly onesies: the perfect baby shower craft!

You know those adorable onesies Henry has been wearing for his monthly birthday pictures?  Remember how my friends made them for me?! If not, go back here. Well, Sara and I loved the idea so much that we decided to do the same for the sweet Reneé who is expecting her first baby at the end of March.

Let me tell you that this was THE CRAFTIEST shower I've ever attended. Reneé has some very very creative and talented friends!  She got crocheted booties, knit hats, hand-sewn burp cloths and bibs...it was impressive and inspiring.  So clearly her friends were going to design some amazing onesies!

 

(note that crocheting was happening during the shower - love it!!)

I just love how they turned out:

Want to do your own baby shower onesie project like this? 

Here's what you need:

-12 onesies, in various sizes that will theoretically fit the wee one at each "birthday"  (I love Carter's brand!)

-Various fabrics for your guests to choose from.  Girlie? All-Boy? You can have fun here choosing your color scheme or theme (Reneé didn't know the sex of her baby yet, but knew she was going to have woodland creatures in the nursery, so we used lots of owl/tree/leaf fabrics)

-A pack or two of "Heat'n'Bond Lite" - find it here.  You will use this to create iron-on pieces from your fabrics.  Make sure you get "Lite" if you want to stitch the appliques on after you iron - for extra sturdiness.

-Water Soluble Pens (here) or Disappearing Ink Pens (here)

-Several pairs of sharp scissors

-12 labels of some kind so guests know which month they're creating

-Iron and Ironing Board

-Optional: Number Stencils, Circle/Oval/Square Stencils, Any other stencils you think may be useful

Prep: (before the shower)

Label each onesie with the month it should be.  I used safety pins/cardstock pieces like this:

You could also use sticky labels that could be removed later!

Cut large strips of your fabrics, about 7" x 21".  

Cut strips of the Heat'n'Bond Lite, about 6" x 20" One pack (linked above) will give you 6 20-inch strips.  So order accordingly - if you are using more than 6 fabrics you'll want more than one pack!

Iron the "sticky-ish" side of the Heat'n'Bond strips onto the WRONG SIDE of the fabric strips.  Use the no-steam setting on your iron. If you have cut the pieces to the measurements above, you'll see that the Heat'n'Bond pieces are a little smaller than the fabric pieces - this is so you don't accidentally iron them to your ironing board, which is a sticky mess.  You can trim down the excess fabric after ironing if you wish!

These strips are now ready for your guests!  That's all you'll need to do until the shower.

Optional: You may want to experiment at this time with making a sample yourself so you can give your guests good tips and become skilled at ironing on the pieces...so you're not fumbling at the shower. :)

At the Shower:

Before guests arrive, set up an ironing board and iron station.  Also set up a table with all the materials: fabric, pens, stencils, scissors.

Give each guest, or pair of guests -- if Mom-to-Be has lots of friends, a onesie.  Explain that they should make a design that represents the number on the onesie they received.  You could even print the picture of Reneé's onesies (here) or my onesies (here) to give them some ideas!

Then guests should...

Choose fabrics and stencils.

Draw designs directly onto the right side of the fabric with the water soluble or disappearing ink pens.  Tip: larger, bolder pieces are much easier to work with than smaller, skinny pieces.

Cut out the designs, then peel off the paper backing.

Arrange the pieces as desired on the onesie. 

Take onesie and all the pieces to the Ironing Board Station where the pieces can be ironed down.  

Carefully iron the pieces onto the onesie just as you want them to appear when finished. You can overlap pieces too - no problem!

That's it!  Super easy!

Optional: The ironed on pieces will stay put, but won't hold up extremely well to tons of drooling (the 2-5 month onesies will really take a hit) and washing.  If you think the baby will wear them more than just for the one photo-op occasion, you can stitch the pieces down with a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine.  This can be done after the shower and then given to Mom-to-Be as a finished set.  Not necessary, and a bit tricky, but they'll hold up much better!

Finally, this deserved mentioning...Reneé's mom had a special design in mind, and she even brought a sketch to the shower so she'd be ready to go.  It didn't go with a particular month, but so what?  We used fabric markers to write the words and to make the sun's rays.  Don't you love this?!?

This lucky little one will be loved so very much.  Can't wait to meet Baby Weston!

bernie boy!

 

 Baby Ressler is here!  After calling him "Speck" and "Sumo" for so many months, it takes some thought each time to remember to now call him by his real name: Bernie!

Auntie and Cousin Love

Can we just talk for a second about how much I love the people in this picture?

I was a little worried that Bernie might take Henry's place in Opal's heart.  But I think she has room for both. :)  The shot above reminded me of....

(Was that really almost 9 months ago??)

Henry loves his new bro-sin so much!  I'm hoping Bernie can teach Henry something about taking longer naps.  Henry is going to teach Bernie about sleeping like a good boy at night...and about growing giant cheeks.

Congrats, Ressler Family!

fantastic mr. fox

As I mentioned before Christmas, I took some time off for some much needed other-than-Etsy crafting.  My sissy Shannon is expecting her first baby in a few weeks, so I knew I needed to give the little guy some handmade love. Since the theme of the nursery is "Woodland Friends," I found this super cute Mr. Fox pattern.  It was so easy and fun! 

 

 

When I gave it to her at our family shower, Auntie Chris asked if I could make one to give to her friend whose last name is Fox.  Of course!  This little guy is an Arctic Fox.

 

 

I highly recommend Dolls and Daydreams if you are looking for doll patterns.  Sarah's instructions were very easy to follow and included lots of pictures.  Plus everything in her shop is crazy adorable!  You can even get patterns to make clothes for the dolls.  Um, how cute are these?!

happy halloween!

OK - just a FEW more pictures of Henry in his Halloween costume!  We went to daddy's office for some trick-or-treating.  That's about all this little owl could handle. 

 

 Daddy taught Henry all about TPS reports.

The hat was a last-minute addition - didn't even get a good picture of him wearing it with the costume:

In case you're interested, I got most of the inspiration for this costume from here!

Happy Halloween everyone!

phoebe bag

My good friend Morann's dear sweet Pheobe was born a few weeks ago, so I made her this little bag.  If you're child #3 in the family, you need make sure your stuff is accounted for, so the fact that her name is right on the bag may prevent her brother or sister from swiping it. :)

The first letter is machine-stiched and the rest of the name is hand embroidered...

 It's reversible!

 I've been wanting to offer these in my shop as mini diaper bags - and finally got it listed!  Thanks Morann and Phil for the opportunity to make a sample!  Go see it in my shop, why don't you?