Family & Friends
In My Backyard
I’m not a huge fan of the heat here in Dallas. It’s supposed to hit triple digits this weekend. Ugh! I do, however, love the life that shares our backyard. We’ve had a few beautiful visitors the last few weeks. We had a woodpecker and a bluejay, both of whom escaped my camera lense. Then this robin couple . . .
. . . and this cardinal dropped in.
We have a sweet rabbit family that shares our backyard.
There are apples on the apple tree . . .
. . . and pears on the pear tree.
Pears are not the only thing nestled in the pear tree, though . . .
We’ve only caught a peek at mama and papa bird, but we think they’re mockingbirds. What’s sharing your backyard?
Worms in Dirt
Hungry for some chewy worms and yummy dirt?
Mix up some mud (or maybe instant chocolate pudding) and be sure to lick the spoons, mixers, bowl . . .
Pound the dirt (or perhaps chocolate sandwich cookies) into teeny, tiny pieces.
Let the (gummy) worms wiggle their way down into the muck.
Serve it to Daddy after dinner and try your best to convince him that they’re real worms!
Eliott Elephant Little One Layette Modeled!
I do realize that I missed the whole entry period for the Rae’s Spring Top Week. It’s a little sad that I didn’t get to enter a top, but this little guy has been keeping me very busy, and who could look into those beautiful blue eyes and complain? I do, actually, have the tunic that I wanted to make partially cut out . . . maybe I’ll finish it this weekend?
Charlie is growing so fast. I won’t be able to squeeze him into this outfit for too much longer. It’s the wrong season for it now anyway. Now that our little photoshoot is done, I’ll pack it away.
The beautiful blanket behind Charlie in the pictures was crocheted just for him by my mom. It’s gorgeous in real life!
Just one more . . . don’t you want to squeeze him?
Ladybug Diaper Bag #2
My friend, Michelle, is a week overdue with a new little one. I promised her a diaper bag like the one that I made for us, but with a new little one of my own, it’s taken me a bit to get it finished. Michelle let me pick out the fabrics, so I really hope she likes it! I love how it turned out. Maybe having a cute new diaper bag all ready to go will encourage baby girl or boy to come out and meet us?
I used the Ladybug Diaper Bag pattern and made the same modifications that I did for the Mom & Baby Bag I made for Charlie a few months ago. The changing pad is a layer of the cotton woven in the bag backed with organic bamboo/cotton velour. It’s soooo soft!
Little Lambs Diaper Shower Set
The double baby shower was last night, so I can post the set that I made for the second mom now. Oh, and I happened to hear that she did read my blog post about the first mom’s set and almost convinced herself not to scroll down and see if hers was posted, too. Hee-hee . . . I’m so glad I kept it a surprise!
This mom uses cloth diapers, so I had a great time sewing diapers and knitting soakers for her. She also sticks to natural fabrics like cotton, hemp and wool because of her children’s allergies.
I recycled two 100% cotton knit receiving blankets into four fitted diapers for her using the free Darling Diapers Newborn Pattern.
And, I knit her two soakers (wool diaper covers). For this first one, I used the free Snapdragon Soaker Pattern and Mosiac Moon’s Coastal Sunset colorway on Cestari.
I knit the second soaker using the Frantic Mama Soaker Pattern which also happens to be available free. (Both soaker patterns are quick and easy to follow and produce really nice results!) The yarn is this one is Purewool in their Omekua colorway.
I think both moms really liked the sets that I created for them. I can’t wait to see their new babies wearing them!
Jump for Joy – Spring is Here!
I love spring! It leaves me in awe every year watching creation, barren after months of cold weather, burst forth with bloom. I took my youngest four to a park yesterday to enjoy the green grass, the wildflowers and the beautiful weather.
They’re all growing so fast. Sometimes I just want to freeze time. Jamie showed us that he can climb across the monkey bars!
Charlie slept in the stroller while we played, so I’ll share this picture that I snapped of him last night. We like to start the sci-fi love really early around here!
Cupcakes & Stripes Baby Shower Gift
I have a double baby shower to attend this weekend, and I’ve been working on gifts in my little bit of free time. One mom is expecting a baby girl, so I sewed up this sweet cupcake set for her.
I used Rae’s Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern for the dress. I love this pattern! The end result always looks so professional.
I sewed up the matching bloomers using my own Newborn Baby Bloomers tutorial.
This mama is planning to use disposable diapers, so I also made a Diaper & Wipes Case for her using Jan Andrea’s tutorial.
It is entirely possible that I tried the dress and bloomers set on Baby Charlie to see how it fits. Shhhh . . . don’t tell on me! It is so adorable on. It’s a tiny bit snug on him at just over 11 pounds–I think it would be a perfect fit on an 7 to 9 pound baby. (I was nice and didn’t take pictures to tease my little guy with when he’s a teenager.)
The other mom who is being honored at this shower reads my blog, so I’ll have to wait until the shower is over to show off her gift. I don’t want to spoil the surprise!
Magic Yarn Ball Swap
Not much sewing going on around here at the moment. We’re mostly feeding the baby, changing the baby, enjoying the baby, repeat. I did join a Magic Yarn Ball Swap, though. I loved doing this the last time it was hosted, and I knew it was something fun that wouldn’t take too much of my time. In a Magic Yarn Ball Swap, you purchase yarn and little goodies for your swap partner, then you wrap the little goodies up in the yarn ball so that your partner finds surprises as she knits or crochets.
I chose Cascade 220 wool yarn for both of my swap partners. They both have little ones in cloth diapers, so they’ll likely be knitting it into longies or shorties. I searched my house and came up with all sorts of fun little things to hide inside–handmade soap, wax tarts, various knitting tools, tags for handmade clothing, elastic, chocolate, tea, hot cocoa, . . .
And just because he’s so cute, and growing so fast, our snow baby, Charlie, at one month old:
Baby is here!
Baby Charlie is here! Warren Charles “Charlie” arrived last week in the biggest snowstorm in Dallas, Texas history. A record 12 1/2 inches of snow!
I love this picture of Jamie and me (and Baby Charlie). It was taken in our backyard about 12 hours before he was born.
Charlie was born weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. We’re all enjoying him very much!
Diaper Bag Set for Mom and Baby
Yep, still pregnant and trying to stay busy until it’s time. Little bit really needed a diaper bag. I bought the fabric for it quite some time ago (Bloom and Grow by Riley Blake), but I hadn’t found just the right pattern. I know I could have made one up–I actually started to a few times, but sometimes, you just want someone else to do all the thinking for you. Yesterday, I happened on the Ladybug Diaper Bag pattern from Sew Spoiled and fell in love!
The pattern is a downloadable pdf, so I was able to get started right away. I spent most of the day working on it yesterday. (I actually thought maybe all the up and down, standing to sitting, that making an involved bag requires might help get labor started. It didn’t work.) I purchased my copy of the pattern from the website YouCanMakeThis.com. They have a 20% off code that is good through today: SUPERSALE.
I did make a few modifications, not because there was anything wrong with the pattern, but more to make the bag exactly what I wanted. I’ll detail those as I go.
Here’s the front. The biggest modification that I made was taking 3″ off of the width. I tend to be pretty minimalistic in the things that I pack in the diaper bag, so a slightly smaller one works well for us (yes, even with cloth diapers). I also brought the magnetic snap on the front down about an inch. I wanted it to close a little more tightly than the one in the picture on the website.
And, the back. I did two elasticized pockets here as the pattern recommends.
Here’s another modification that was really easy to make–a little “hidden” pocket on one of the side panels for my cell phone.
Inside, I added a divider to make it a mom & baby bag. Here’s the mom side with a couple of pockets for business cards, a pen, etc. I left out the zippered pocket, but now I wish I’d maybe put it in the divider.
Here’s baby’s side with three elasticized pockets instead of the two that the pattern calls for.
The pattern was really easy to follow and understand. The pictures of each step were great! If you’ve purchased any of my patterns, you probably already know how much I appreciate pictures of each step. I think they make getting a great result from a pattern so much easier.
A few of my favorite things about the pattern itself: The look of the front of the bag is so unique and really attractive. The small flap closure makes getting in and out of the bag quick and easy, but still provides some protection for the contents inside. The adjustable strap is awesome for going from shoulder to stroller–you could even add some length to the strap to make it long enough to go across your body, if you like to wear your bags that way. Adding iron-on interfacing to both the inner and outer pieces (although it does take awhile to iron it on) makes a really nice finished bag that stands up on it’s own (a great feature in a diaper bag).
Since this will be my “purse” for awhile after baby arrives, I just had to add a matching wallet and key fob. The wallet pattern can be found at Wired Up Designs.
I’m so excited about using my new bag. I think I’ll work on adding a few more accessories while I wait for baby . . . a changing pad, a wet bag . . . hmmm . . . what else?
