Clementine Likes Yarn

Took a quick break from the swimsuits and sundresses yesterday to start this Gnomey Hat by Hello Yarn (spotted recently at SouleMama as well). You know, the sort of project that makes perfect sense when you're about to leave for Mexico [end sarcasm].


Except somebody started eating my yarn during the fitting...

Fairy Tale Quilt

Too many things to blog about, too little time. That really sums up how I feel right now as time with two hands free is so hard to come by. I've got a purse pattern in the works (ack, why can't I do that faster??), a new dress for Mexico I want to show you, a baby quilt that's almost finished, and then the other day in a moment of inspiration/insanity at Fields in Holland (Michigan), I bought swim material. For a swimsuit. For me. Yes friends I have completely lost it.

And I wish so badly that these pictures weren't so grainy, but I'm just going to barrel ahead with this post anyway and not obsess about it. HURRAH HURRAH I am finally finally finished with Elliot's fairy tale quilt!!!


I figure I have about six more months before he decides he'd rather have Star Wars sheets (overheard during book reading: "Wuke faw in Jabba's twap!") than his mama's choice in bedspreads, so I'm glad I got this finished now. Not to mention how excited I am to have the real estate free in my sewing closet. Boy howdy.


He loves the fairy tale pictures (Gingerbread Man, Wizard of Oz, and Jack and the Beanstalk) and has been pointing to the various figures and animals and talking about them.


It was started last year (I posted a preview pic here, those Rocket PJ's still fit him by the way) with Superbuzzy fabric that was ordered maybe a year before that, so unfortunately as far as I know you really can't get any of this fabric anymore. The checks are Moda and the stripes are old IKEA fabric.


The pattern for this came from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing, which my dear friend Giedra also used to make a quilt for her toddler as well. I totally stole the idea from her, so now we both have BTRS quilts for our toddlers. You can see a preview of hers here, it's so cute with owls and turquoise...and we were just talking about these the other day, which is what motivated me to finally finish. So thanks, G!


Mine's slightly different than the book pattern in that I added 12" of chenille to the edges. This really explains in a nutshell why it sat in my closet for so long. The chenille was kindof a nightmare to work with, compounded by the fact that all of the fairy tale fabrics are mid-weight canvas (that's why you've seen them here and here before), making this a puckery disaster. I salvaged it...but NEVER AGAIN I TELL YOU. Just learn from my mistakes, will you? Use quilting cotton for quilts. And nothing else.

Oh and I also wanted to show off a closeup of the vintage Irmi lamp that I refurbed (cleaned up, retouched paint, rewired) and now lives in E's room:


The ferris wheel winds up and plays "Somewhere over the Rainbow." I love it.

New header y'all

How embarrassing. It's been a month of fall, and I'm just getting my new header on...


(Just including it here for all you subscribers...)

For the lower half

Two toddler boy bottoms for you today...

My mother-in-law came to stay with us a couple of weeks ago and potty-trained Elliot over the course of a week. What a saint. It's been so great. My diaper laundry went to half overnight. We are a little short on undies so I made these cute little helicopter ones with Bonnie's pattern for undies, adding a little PUL in the middle to help with accidents:

Bonnie's blog is worth checking out; she does all sorts of great sewing with knits. I "met" Bonnie during Spring Top Week last year. And looking up her blog address I just discovered that she has a new newborn layette pattern out too--so awesome!

Elliot loves them because they have helicopters. I love them because (unlike his Thomas-the-train ones) he can actually pull them up and down by himself. One of those little problems you never think about when purchasing store-bought undies.


Now for the other underthing...we're going to Mexico with Mr Rae's family next month, and of course it didn't occur to me at the end of the summer to look for a suit that would fit E (hrrm, you'd think I was busy or something). This pattern was in the Ottobre Summer 3/2009 issue (click on 3/2009 issue, page 18), so I thought I'd give it a try.

I won't lie, this one wasn't easy. I would never recommend trying this pattern without a serger, and I still wish I had an overlock machine for the leg seams. But overall I'm pleased with the result, and they look SO european on him it's just adorable. This picture really emphasizes the flaws but it looks better in real life. I'll try to remember to post pictures when we come back. The two colors also contrast more in real life; the navy is darker and the turquoise is brighter.

Other things I'm working on:

• I've been reading Getting Things Done by David Allen (any GTD folks out there? this is a personal organization system that has developed a cult following for it's effectiveness/simplicity) and so this past week I finally got my email inbox under 1000. Yes you read that right, it's insane. I know that there are hundreds of people still waiting for answers from me to requests and inquiries, so hang in there...right now I'm still catching up on stuff from the summer...
• Got the Olive and Archie PDF pattern set from Elli for my birthday...so cute! It just screams Christmas to me, so I'm putting that one on the list.
• This morning I'm going to kick it into High Gear on the Bonsai Bag pattern so that those who wanted it can get it soon. For those wondering, it will have recessed zipper instructions included.
  

Oh and I must be completely insane, because I started this last week too:

Wherein Rae eats a little crow

I'm going to have to take back some of my words here, because look what fits???


I will concede that the pattern DOES actually fit a 0-3 month old, as my babe is (a rather large) 2 months and the top fits quite nicely. It works over a onesie since it's a little cold outside, which is fine because that solves the V-neck issues as well...


And what's even better than a cute baby dress? A SMILE. Something we've been seeing alot of around here lately, and how fun is this?

Happy Weekend everyone!

Here, fishy fishy fishy!

Finished this week: A pair of summer tops for me and Elliot...too bad it's already fall!

For Elliot I modified the basic boy's collared shirt with a placket and mandarin collar (here's the you-can-do-it tutorial), and added two pockets low down; I know it looks a little odd but this way he can stash his matchbox cars in there.

And here's mine:

(I tried to do a cute mother-son photo shoot but most of the pictures are of him squirming out of my arms...)

I spent a couple of naps messing around tension, stitch length, and how tight to wind the elastic thread on the bobbin and I think I finally figured out the shirring thing! Hooray! Victory is mine!!! This has got to be the easiest top in the universe, it's basically a tube of fabric that you shirr (is that a verb?) for about 8 inches down (or so) and then plop a pair of ties onto. I serged the bottom and top with a rolled hem so the most time-consuming thing about the whole deal was pulling out the extra shirring; I originally did about 10 inches which was too much. The Mendocino Sundress pattern came from Heather Ross, as did the fabric. This is the Mendocino line which you've seen on this blog before (click on the Heather Ross label at the bottom of this post to see more). I shortened the pattern so it's a top, not a sundress.


I think it makes a great post-partum top, and doesn't everyone have a little flab around the mid-section they'd like to hide? I would imagine this looks good as a maternity top too.
The funny thing about the shirred top is when it's off, it's actually narrower than the toddler shirt:


And here's my little man showing his off for the neighborhood:

Bonsai! Rae's New Fall Bag.

Here's my newest bag. I'm calling it the "Bonsai Bag"*


I'm really digging orange right now, and these colors really get me in the mood for fall. The ties even look like little leaves. Since it's pretty much felt like autumn all summer long here in the Midwest, I'm not experiencing the usual shock to the system, round of denial and all the wishing that summer would last just a little longer. No way man. Fall, bring it on! Stop messin with me already.

I'm really interested in your feedback on this bag. I can't tell if it works or if it's too much. I tend to go over the top with stuff, and I'm aware that the orange poms might qualify as Too Much. But I saw a bag in an Anthro catalog with pom-poms around the top a while back (not there any more) and ever since then I've wanted to make a bag with them. Does it help to know that I also wanted to put orange poms around the neckline of the unicorn top, but restrained myself? I'm not sure.


This fabric (Good Folks fabric by the lovely Anna Maria Horner) lent itself perfectly to a little hand embroidery (you can just see the orange stitches in the pic above). I already have plans for another one; I'm imagining so many options for the center panel -- maybe some more embroidery on a solid background (birds? trees? an owl?), quilting, applique, or another showcase fabric? It makes my brain hurt thinking about what you could do with this if you had one of those fancy embroidering sewing machines (I don't). And instead of the pom-poms, maybe some ric-rac or a ruffle...

I can see this with metal hardware too...maybe those silver rectangle thingies?

I really like the size of this one; it's pretty large so it holds lots of stuff. I made it with a magnetic snap but I think it would work better with a recessed zipper. I took pictures while I made it, so I'll put this out there like I usually do: if there's enough interest in this I can make a pattern available. Meanwhile I'm on to bigger projects. I really really need to finish Elliot's quilt before it starts to cool off outside.

Also, from the Completely Unrelated Department: I wanted to let everyone know that a couple more licensed Toddler Backpack Sellers are offering custom backpacks (please contact them if you are interested in a custom backpack):
www.teachermom.etsy.com
calicodaisy

*the name was my seester Elli's idea. It makes no sense but I like it. And I love that it reminds me of that ridiculous show Banzai! which was completely insane but the Mr Shake Hands Man segment still makes me laugh when I think about it....