A Dress for Raven

Back when Raven was very, very small... maybe two months old?... I decided that I would knit her a sweater for her first birthday pictures.  Not knowing what size it would be (and neglecting to think about the fact that September is still HOT in Iowa and one-year-olds don't need to be covered from head-to-toe in 80-degree weather), I knitted a rather large sweater.  And... even though my gauge was correct, the sweater ended up being Way. Too. Big.  In fact, I don't doubt Julia could wear it.

Thank goodness I tried the sweater ON Raven a few weeks ago.

That left me wondering WHAT in the world I would put on this child for her pictures.  Julia's pictures were special in that she was sitting in (her) great-great-grandma's rocking chair... I really wanted Raven's pictures to be special too.  Especially considering that there is little doubt that the second child get somewhat less attention than the first child did... i.e., poor Raven often gets the shaft.

I searched online for a dress befitting her beauty, and found a wonderfully cute one and it was ON SALE at crazy8.com, but two days after ordering it, I received an email saying that they were sorry, but the dress was sold out and la-dee-dah.  So, the search began again.  I found these dresses...  Dress #1 and Dress #2, and while neither one truly said "Raven" to me, they gave me an idea and hope.

 

So, I packed the kids in the car two weekends ago and took them to Des Moines to Joann's, and after some searching, I found fabric and ribbon to make Raven a dress.  I used one of the dresses I know fits her well as the pattern, and went to town.  Part-of-the-way through, I tested it to make sure it would fit her, and I finished it tonight after she went to be.  Voila!  I am VERY happy with the results!  It took everything in me to keep from waking her up just to see if it fit.

 

Looking forward to having Raven's pictures taken in this dress... yay!

 

erin

 

 

My friday shirt...

I totally love the t shirt transfers...  And I have always loved this design from Ravelry, which I have pilfered for my own wearing pleasure.

My updated craft room

Here's how I spent my last weekend....  I've made my own little crafting/sewing sanctuary in our basement spare room.

fabric

What will this turn into...?  Eventually you will know!  (My stack is on the right; my friend Nancy's is on the left.  YAY!)

I Heart Hot Glue

I've told two people today that I was going to name this blog post, "I Heart Hot Glue", so there you go.

A few weeks ago I saw this great blog tutorial for a pettiskirt... it is calling my name it and it is definitely on the "to do" list. But, besides the skirt, I was drawn to the satin flower headband... it looked easy and yet pretty and elegant... and I hoped she would write a tutorial for how she did the headband.

Well she did.

Now... I felt I needed a reason to make these headbands for the girls, and Raven's up-and-coming 1-year pictures were the perfect excuse. I had found similarly cute headbands on http://www.etsy.com/, and while I loved many of them, they were all a.) $12 a piece or more and b.) simple looking enough that I KNEW I could make them.

So, while pondering what to have Raven wear for her pictures this last week, I decided a trip to Joann Fabrics in Des Moines was in order and that I would be making these headbands... and yay, here they are!

And, to be honest... I think the total time I have into both of them is an hour... maybe even less? The cost? WAY cheaper than the $12 + tax per headband... and, there is one left over for mom to wear in HER hair too on a bobby pin. Yay!

Picture descriptions:

Picture #1: My "tools"... satin, scissors, a lighter, and a circle-generating object.

Picture #2: Another asset... and the love of my life today... a HOT GLUE GUN!

Picture #3: The "accessories" to my flowers... pretty buttons and beads.

Picture #4: My flowers, completed!

Picture #5: Attaching the flowers to the headbands (I used stretchy lace.)

Picture #6 & 7: Headband Model... JULIA!

Picture #8: Headband Model... RAVEN!

Picture #9: Julia and Raven together -- Mom, we LOVE our headbands!

Picture #10: Complete!

Almost There

I wanted to post this picture to show how very *close* I am to finish a sweater for Raven... one more inch of ribbing and then all I need to do is stitch up the seams and block it... yay!  I have given myself a deadline of 5 pm tomorrow (to finish the knitting... the rest might take a little longer), so here's hoping I find some time between today and tomorrow to add one more inch and bind off. 

I am making this sweater for her first birthday, mainly for picture reasons, since it will still be a little warm yet to wear a sweater in September, but it should fit her well this winter.  I am excited to post a picture of it when I am done!

erin

More Little Gifties

I am having fun making little Tag-Along Blankies for my friends' babies... I made three the other night for the three newest ones... two girls and a little boy.  So much fun!  My girls love these little things and I hope the new babies do too!

A Wonderful Gift...

My all-time favorite quilt block is Dove in the Window.  (My all-time favorite quilt block that I'll actually make... Log Cabin.)

Dove in the Window is a difficult pattern to find... and a difficult pattern to make.  So, imagine my delight when my dear friend Chrissy offered to tackle the beast to make a fabric-matching quilt for Julia (she completed one for Raven the day Raven was born... oh, yeah!).  She set out on the adventure and I will say, this quilt was definitely about the journey and the destination.

Imagine my further delight when this quilt showed up at my front door earlier this week delivered by Linda Schminke of Quilting Corner here in Pella.  Chrissy had sent the quilt top with me so that I could take it to Linda to discuss the quilting in it (beautiful!) and Linda and Chrissy took care of the rest (transaction-wise).  Chrissy and I discussed briefly the possibility of this quilt being done in time for the Tulip Time Quilt Show, but if she is anything like me, I know she is a busy woman (even more so than me, I think!), and I wasn't expecting to see the quilt finished.  So, it was such a fun surprise to see Linda with a finished quilt -- bound and everything!  And... done a full week before it was even needed for the show!  Thank you to Linda for binding the quilt...

... and of course, MANY THANKS to my darling friend Chrissy for being willing to attempt this beauty... it was difficult, but oh so gorgeous in the end!  I love the quilt... and obviously Julia does too!  (She couldn't get enough of rolling around on it and saying, "Ooooh!  Pretty!")  Thank you, Chrissy!

love,

erin

Baby Gift

There's nothing like your friend's water breaking to finally put the fire under you to try something you've been meaning to try for a while in terms of a baby gift...... :)

I had picked up a cute packet of fabrics (thanks to Janice for introducing me to these cuties) and some soft flannel and backing fabric and thought I'd try my own little Take-Along.  Julia has a Taggie Blankie that she has always loved and I always meant to make some... this is a version of that... instead of the ribbon tags, I put satin blanket binding around the edge.

Then I had a little fun... my machine does lettering, so I programmed in the name of the new baby-not-yet-born-as-of-last-night and stitched it around the edge... I can't wait to give Allison and Jeremy this little giftie when I meet their new baby girl... yay!  (So, come on, Allison...!  Woohoo!  So exciting!  Can you tell I am excited to hear about this  baby being born?  I love babies and love that so many of my friends are due this month... yay!)

erin

Diaper Bag!

I love to make bags... and it has been a long time since I made a diaper bag, so it was fun to make this one.  I will get this out there right away... I am itching to take it apart and fix a few things but I won't... because, well... taking a bag apart and having it go back together even remotely nicely is a pain... and, well... I don't really *want* to take it apart.  (Ha, if the recipient wants the "issues" fixed, THEN I will take it apart!)

I made this for my friend Janice, who is expecting at the end of the month.  She had this stack of absolutely FABULOUS "children's fabric" that she brought out at the retreat in February, and I'm fairly certain I drooled on it.  Funny enough, I had bought a yard each of two of the fabrics in the pack she had... great minds!  She mentioned she wanted to make a diaper bag from it, and I had just finished a bag and was itching to make one from scratch, so I offered up my services.

Sure, sure, that was almost two months ago... I had pieces done but kept neglecting to buy a zipper when I was out, and I needed the zipper to really solidly put it together.  I finally put it on my shopping list this last Friday and actually remembered to buy the darn thing...!  So, last night I finally found the time I needed to finish piecing this cute bag together.

I threw in some of my own fabric from the two yards I had bought... I love the patchwork'd-ness of this bag, but at the same time, I felt like some solidness was needed to round it out, so used cute green owl fabric for the gusset and strap.  I used a white with green polka dots on the inside.

I am fairly happy with how the bag turned out, though I would change the side pockets... they are too long and start too high... I think they will be basically unusable.  And, I normally don't use a gusset... I wanted to try it out... I might go back to my "old way" of doing things.  It worked out fine, but seemed a little more work for not anything that I didn't already get from my "old way", and it also made the inside of the bag loose... not my fave.

Things I loved about it, though... what a great opportunity to practice more free-motion quilting and have I mentioned out cute the fabric is...?

BUT... Janice... I hope you LOVE it anyway... and if you don't, I know someone who can fix the things you don't love about it.  :)  Either way... thanks for the chance to make a bag for you!

erin