the dora reward

Today I took my youngest to the doctor to have her bandage taken off. Three weeks ago she fell on a chair and wedged her fingers between the chair and the baseboard resulting in fractures and deep cuts. When he took the bandage off I was a little fearful of what I would see. But, they looked amazing (a bit gross with the black fingernail and remaining stitches) and have seemed to have healed almost perfectly. She still has fractures in her fingers, but those will heal on their own over time. As she took a nap today I decided to make a blanket for her to have when she woke up as a reward for being so dang good today and throughout the whole thing. She LOVES Dora the Explorer and it's one of the few words that she can say, so I bought some Dora fabric at Hobby Lobby that she wouldn't let go of. I am not a fan of buying stuff (clothing, fabric, shoes, etc.) with tv characters on them, but it was kind of cute when she wouldn't let go of the bolt and kept saying, "Dora, Dora, Dora." So, I gave in and found a pink and white polka dot to go on the other side. I made it like the scallop blanket in Amy Karol's Bend the Rule's Sewing book, but with just two layers and bigger scallops. It turned out fine - it was quick and she loved it. That's all I wanted.

simplicity 5695 and other stuff

I have had my parents in town for the last week and a half and it has been bliss. Totally wonderful for both me and the kids. My dad left Wednesday and I sent my mom sadly off today and am trying to help my three year old understand that I can't call her and just tell her to come back even though he wants me to. In the past few weeks I have attempted the Built By Wendy Top semi successfully because I think I need a bigger size (this does run small, right?), made sleeping bags for Webkinz, sewed some pjs for a nephew, and watched my mom make me the Emmeline Apron. After she left today, I decided to delve in to a dress for my youngest. I used a Simplicity pattern 5695. It was a simple dress and I love how it turned out. It's a 2T and she is 18 months so it's a bit big on her, but something to look forward to.

does a better apron make better cookies?

Gage had a cute lime green apron that we bought a few months ago, but we (okay it was me) decided to dress it up a bit. I did give him the choice of what animal he wanted on the front and monkey it was. Fits him perfectly - both the apron and the monkey! I think he was a better chef with this apron. We made some yummy chocolate chip cookies and even added a few dark chocolate m & ms for mom.

i tried these too - so glad i did

I think I am quite the copy cat sometimes. I do think of my own ideas (sometimes), but I like to copy what others have done because it's oh so cool. I love reading all of the great ideas out there on the web. What did I do before this? Was I more productive because I wasn't on the computer as much or less because I wasn't as inspired as much which leads to creating? Intersting thought. Well, I have seen these lounge pants made all over the web (check out the cute ones at Linaloo here) and I had the Amy Butler "In Stitches" book with the pattern so I thought I would try them out with the thrifted sheet I found at a garage sale for .50 cents. I only ended up using half, so basically these lounge pants were .25 cents (.27 if you add a bit for thread!). You can't beat that or their comfort. Yeah, I am on the hunt for more fabric to make a few more pairs of them whether that be a thrifted sheet or whatever. Anything that is comfortable will do! Love em.

yep, we finally tried it

This freezer paper stenciling is so great. I think we are the last ones on the planet to give it a whirl, but we did this week and we (the boys picked the designs) are hooked. I followed a few different posts about it - here - here - and here. There is actually a flickr group dedicated to the lovers of the craft here and I saw so many cute ideas. We just made a shirt for Gage and one for Boston. Trevor doesn't have any extra t-shirts that aren't already printed on first, so we'll have to go out and get some of those. I really love the prints on the onesies (of course) and will be branching out it that world soon I am sure. I also just bought the only fabric paint I could find at Hobby Lobby, but I read that this is the best paint for these sorts of projects. So, I'll have to investigate that. In the meantime, I am searching the closets for available t-shirts and dreaming up new stencils!

i'm in love with onesies

I love making these onesies, as you can tell. Felt is the easiest fabric for me to work with when it comes to appliques. I love it and so many colors. Unfortunately, there aren't too many fabric stores around that have felted wool, so I have been making them with the acrylic stuff (cheaper and tons of colors), but I will admit that it's a tiny bit harder to work with than the felted wool. I have been washing the onesies first and then I wash them again when I am done to make sure that everything is staying in place. I don't want them falling apart when I give them away. "Great gift Traci...it fell apart the first time my baby wore it!" That's something I fear I will hear. So, I am trying to give them run throughs and still hoping they look new. If I do a lot of stitching or embroidery on them, then I add a layer of light fusible interfacing the the inside to cover up all the thread and knots.
Here's the lowdown - 1. vintage caboose iron on transfer 2. snail out of felt 3. guitar out of felt 4. heart to patch up the tiny hole i made in the bum cause i caught it up in my machine. there's always a solution!

teddy bear onesie

Just another one to keep on hand. Of course, my friends that are having girls are slim - everyone is having boys these days. But, I can't help making some just in case and because I am in a little girl world right now.

more popcicles

We found a great steal on rotten bananas at the store (.15 cents a pound) and we froze them all. We made smoothies with a few frozen bananas, some cut up strawberries and a few spoon fulls of vanilla yogurt. The smoothies were great, but the popcicles that we made from the extras were better. I think we will experiment with popcicles all summer.

birdie tote

I had to come up with a diaper bag that the ladies at my church could easily make to donate along with baby products to a local charity. My friend, Melissa, had come up with a pattern for these cool tote bags a few years ago and we revamped it to work as a simple diaper bag as well. I beefed up the straps (on the final pattern, I made them even wider than the ones in this photo) and added a long, divided pocket on the inside that is actually sewn in the seam. It's big enough for a wipes case and two bottles. Here is the final product. I will include the instructions (I want to make sure it's okay with her first) soon since it is so easy to make.