Craft-A-Little

Well, despite my insane list of things to do before my baby is born (due date= less than 3 weeks away!!), I decided that I wanted to participate in the Ice Cream Social hosted by Amy.  I meant to blog about it before I actually finished my Ice Cream dress and shirt, but it just didn’t happen.  Remember the insane list that I mentioned?  

So…my results of the ice cream social…

A dress…

I had been debating the linen of a pink fabric for the top and bottom and in the end I decided on the linen and I love it!  This is going to look so great on Little Helper!  Well, whenever it fits.  I made a 3T and I am pretty sure it will be huge on her.  She won’t try it on yet though.  I haven’t put a button on it, so she refuses. 

I made her a shirt too- also in View C. And 3T.  And with no button yet, so she won’t try it on.  So particular! 

(Sorry for sideways photos.  I was so surprised that they worked and I couldn’t easily figure out how to flip them after they were uploaded.  I didn’t want to push my luck!  I do have them rotated in my flickr stream.)

I also finished the baby sleep sack for my brother and sister in law and their little girl that is due a few weeks after my baby.  I LOVE how it turned out!  I did a horrible job of blogging the process, just after I promised.  But I just didn’t have time!!  Especially because I did have some frustrations along the way. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t like that the pattern didn’t involve a zipper and I couldn’t decide on a back fabric.  Well, as much as I wanted to do a zipper, I don’t quite think that I am an experienced enough sewer to start adding in zippers yet- well, at least not on this pattern.  I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it without having made it before.  So, I stuck with velcro.  And the back fabric- I chose this dark pink that I actually had originally purchased to be part of the ice cream dress that I made for Little Helper and then decided not to use.  I think that it works perfectly! 

Here is the finished product:

I just LOVE how it turned out.  I really hope that my brother and sister in law do too!  I lined it with flannel as suggest in Anna Maria Horner’s pattern.  I didn’t find the instructions to be all that clear though.  I was a little disappointed in them.  I don’t know if I am just spoiled with O+S directions, or if these just really weren’t that great.  I am not turned off from the book though- I do really love the sleep sack!  And there are a few other things that I still want to make from it. 

I am also working on 3 quilts that I want done before the baby is born.  Well, I guess it is 4.  Hmmm….   One (stripe quilt) of them just needed the binding to be re-done.  I did the machine sewing on that a few weeks ago and it has been waiting to be hand sewn to the back.   Another (block quilt) needed a back, quilted, and needed binding.  Oh- and yeah- those were both supposed to be gifts.  Haha.  Not anymore!  I also had a colorwheel quilt top done and another top made with some Tula Pink Plume charm packs.  Little Helper has claimed that one.  She insisted that I put and A on the back for her name.    So here is where I am on these:

1.  Stirpe quilt- my mom is had sewing the back as I type.    She is visiting this weekend and didn’t want to sit around and do nothing.  I suggest she work on quilt bindings.  Funny story- I asked her how she did this part on her quilts.  She said that she gave it to her mom to do.  So, I am learning quickly!

2. Block Quilt:  I basted it, quilted it, made the binding, sewed the binding on.  Now it is waiting for my mom to finish sewing the binding on the stripe quilt.  Just kidding- it could be waiting for me to get to it. 

3.  Colorwheel quilt:  basted and ready to quilt.  I am taking vacation on Wednesday and I plan on staying home from work all by myself.  I am thinking that I might quilt it on Wednesday. 

4.  Tula Pink Charm quilt- I am in the process of quilting it!  I have the binding picked out, I just need to get to that part!  I have decided to try some flowers from a tutorial from Oh Fransson.  So far it is going pretty well!  I am almost halfway done and I expect to be done with quilting it tomorrow. 

I just tried to upload this photo and it errored on me.  I guess my luck ran out!  I am showing you a picture that is of a pretty good flower.  They aren’t all this nice.  But, they look pretty good!  I am happy with them. 

Well, I think that I am going to go do a bit of knitting- I have a blanket that I need to finish before this baby is born!  I didn’t have Little Helper’s blanket finished until she was 1- I need this one to be done before he/she is born! 

Have a great night!

Well, I still can’t upload a photo to my blog.  I keep forgetting to have my IT dept take a look at it.  I think that the problem is that I am trying to upload photos that are too big.  So, I need to learn how to make them smaller before uploading them.  I am sure that I will learn that soon!  In the mean time…I am using flickr.  Unfortunately, I can’t get my blog to link to flickr and I don’t know what the deal is with that.  But…my IT dept isn’t home tonight, so it will have to wait.  For now, I will just link you to photos on flickr. 

I have a few things to share…first…I finished my doll quiltfor DQS9.  It isn’t as fancy as most of the ones that people are making.  I kind of feel like mine isn’t as cool as everyone else’s.  But I really like it.  And Little Helper keeps asking me if it is hers.  I have had to promise that I will make one for her.  But since I put the first letter of my partner’s name on the back, I have told her that hers will have an A for her name on the back and that is how she will know it is hers. 

I am also working on the sleep sack for my neice that will be born in September.  It took me a while to choose fabric, but I finally did!  Here is what I chose.  I kind of went back and forth on whether I wanted to follow the same idea that AMH did in the book and do 2 in squares for the patchwork front or if I was going to switch it up and do something different.  In the end, I decided 2 in squares (well, I cut them to 2.5 and finished they are 2 in).  I decided on the squares for 2 reasons:  I really like how it looked in the book done that way and I feel somewhat short on time and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing something and then end up not liking it. 

I did think that rather than doing a 20×24 in rectangle as suggested in the book, I cut out my pattern front and used it as I went to just sew together enough squares to cover the pattern.  I think that this picture shows what I mean.  And here is the fabric not covered by the pattern ease. 

Now I have 2 decisions to make. 

1. What fabric should I used for the back?  My husband has suggested thisone.  This fabric looks totally different in person than it does in thie picture.  I was really trying hard to figure out if it was the same one.  I was thinking the clouds.  What do you think??
2. Do I want to try to add a zipper?  I really prefer sleep sacks with zippers, but I am not sure if it is a good idea to add a zipper the first time I make it.  I am not sure if I am that experienced of a sewer yet!  I have to go to Joann’s tomorrow for some flannel lining and velcro anyway, so I might pick up a zipper and see how things go!

I am hoping to have this sleep sack done this weekend!  Hopefully I will be sharing finished photos of this by the end of day Sunday.  I also have to admit, that if I have a little girl, I might totally copy the sleep sack that AMH did in her book.  I just so LOVE the one that she did in her pink Little Folks Voile.  It is also possible that if I have a boy, I will just copy it, but in blue. 

I love baby sleep sacks.  They are pretty much my favorite piece of a baby’s wardrobe. 

Here is Little Helper in my favorite one that she ever had, sleeping in our bed when she was 2 months old.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but it is white with tiny little pink polka dots on it and pink edging.  I got it on sale at Pottery Barn Kids shortly after she was born. 

For Mother’s Day, my husband and Little Helper gave me Anna Maria Horner’s latest book Handmade Beginnings and there is a pattern in it for a baby sleep sack and I NEED to make one.  But I have decided that I actually need to make 2.  I want to make one for my baby, but I am going to wait until after he/she is born so that I can make it gender specific.  And it won’t be used right away anyway- this baby is due in August! 

The second one that I need to make is for my brother and sister in law.  They are going to have a little girl shortly after my baby is born.  This is where my stumped post title comes in.  I can’t decide what fabric to use!!!  I am trying to make something girly that isn’t too pink.  And I have enough fabric that I should be able to pick something out that isn’t all the same fabric line and isn’t all pink, but is sweet and girly.  But I am stumped.  I don’t know what to use.  I don’t know for sure what sort of patchwork front I want to do.  I am stumped. 

So where does this leave me?  I will tell you.  I am going to take the process pledge.   And my first thing to post about is going to be this baby sleep sack for my brother and sister in law- well, I guess it is actually for my neice. 

The first part of my process is going to happen today.  I am going to look through the fabric that I have and I will take some pictures of some combos that I am thinking of.  I will share those with you soon!

I, Rebecca, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear.   I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.