Diaper bag for a friend

One of my very best friends is having a baby girl (after three boys!) and she chose pink, taupe and brown for the nursery with an elephant theme. I was thrilled to find a fabric line in those colors that's available right now so I could make her some special things for baby Hannah's debut, sometime in December. I made her this sturdy diaper bag. I hope it matches her decor (I haven't seen any pictures yet) and that it will get used for play dates or diapers or something.

The dimensions are approximately 18" wide, 15" tall and 5" deep.

The elephants make two spacious front pockets on the front, lined with the pink, white, taupe striped fabric.

On the interior, there are four pockets, two large, two small on one side and a zippered pocket on the opposite side. You can also see the magnetic button closure here - my first time using this closing technique but it was surprisingly simple so I may use it again. This interior pocket is 9" by 10".

 

The back of the bag has the same elephant print from the front pocket and pink contrasting

 edging. I used the 70 weight Pellon interfacing for this bag so it's very sturdy and stands up all by itself. I also added it to the handles because I prefer substantial handles. I used the tutorial from Sew Like My Mom as a general guideline for the bag.

I made a bunch of matching goodies for little Hannah to fill it up with. My favorite is the minky blanket in Amy Butler's Lotus flower. I've been saving this fabric for something special.

I made it larger than average so it could be used in the stroller or car and as a safe play mat for baby. I used to use these all the time when I needed a safe, soft place to lay my little one for some tummy time, especially at someone else's house. I also used one for William to designate his safe play area, ie no big kid toys allowed on the blanket. Minky is supersoft and the texture appealing. I made a border out of the Amy Butler fabric on one side to give it a more finished look.

 I had more leftover fabric than I intended to have so I also made a diaper clutch bag in coordinating fabrics.

It fits the travel size wipes and two diapers but can be used for all kinds of other purposes. It has a velcro closure and a grosgrain ribbon pull tab.  I like the pink elephants on the inside.

I also made a soft changing pad with one thick layer of fleece and an interior layer of cotton quilt batting. I never liked how thin my changing pads were and even though this one doesn't have a waterproof layer, the whole thing can be tossed in the washing machine.

It folds up in quarters and has a velcro closure.

I also knit a baby cardigan for Hannah in Madeline Tosh superwash. I think it's really cute but I think the size is too large for a new baby. I followed the pattern for a 0-3 month size but I'm pretty sure what I've ended up with is more like a 6-12 month size. The pattern I followed is available for free (thanks Carole!) and is a top-down construction, my favorite.

I think the bag and home made goodies are finally ready to go to the baby shower with me. I hope she likes it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Tea leaves sweater in ocean palette

 

I forget exactly how I began knitting this sweater. It wasn't planned. I had five minutes to grab a pattern and some yarn before taking the kids to an indoor bounce house to play during our terrible heat wave (upper 90s for a week) so I would have something to do for two hours while they got their energy out (parents aren't allowed to jump).

So using some leftover Malabrigo merino (my favorite for its soft, squooshy, warmth) I knitted this up in size 8 for my daughter. The colors are marine colors for her love of all things oceanic and piratical - emerald green trim and bobby blue for the main color. She chose the buttons herself from our button collection. None of the buttons match exactly but they are all the same size and same dark navy color.

Most importantly, she loves it. It is soft and in her favorite color - she loves all things blue. And, I finished the pattern from start to finish without wasting anything or procrastinating. (This is something I'm always working on!)

I'm glad that she likes it. I can't wait to see her wear it under a long-sleeved shirt or turtle neck this fall.

The Tiny Tea Leaves pattern is available on Madelinetosh by Melissa LaBarre or on ravelry. There's also an adult version of this sweater, which is the original version.

Big boy bedroom

Big boys need big boy beds. So, I built one for my big boy using the plans for a toddler farmhouse bed from Ana White. I built this bed back in October of 2010, but had so much going on then (as I do now!) that it took me a whole month to sand and stain it. Then, in December when my mom came to visit, she put three clear coats on top of the stain to give it a bit of shine and to smooth out the lumber. Because I wasn't ready to move my big boy to his own bedroom, which would be two flights of stairs away from mine, I decided to renovate our walk-in closet to serve as William's first space of his own. It's close to my bed if he needs me but far enough away that he may as well be in his own bedroom.

William likes to snuggle into his big boy bed with the duvet cover I made for him from recycled materials. It's empowering to think that I made everything for him (bed, sheets, pillows, decorations) except for the mattress.

The paint color in his room is a soft neutral tone, called Sand dollar from Sherwin-Williams in Duration, a low-VOC paint that is easily washable.

The pair of round pillows I made following the tutorial from StarDustShoes. They don't match exactly because I'm trying my hardest to not purchase any new fabric and to sew only from my stash to put a serious dent in it. The only fabric I purchased for William's bedroom was the cotton checkered print I used to make his fitted sheet and pillow case (and I only have a 4" x 6" scrap leftover!) and the airplane fabric for his round floor pillows. He loves airplanes and I wanted him to have an airplane-themed space to call his own. I intended the pillows to be a simple place to sit while we read bedtime stories as well as for decoration.

And of course, there are two airplanes on the wall. William seems to be pretty proud of these because he likes to show people his airplanes, which goes something like this, "Dad-ee, Dad-eee, See! See! Airpla-ane! Two, airpla-ane!" with lots of excited gesturing. I've cleared out two of the walls of the shelves that were there, holding clothing but have a little more to go until the space is truly William's. I'm hoping to build a simple drawer with handles to slide beneath his bed to hold some of his favorite bedtime stories. It would be wide and shallow, but perfect for holding an extra blanket and some books. Use of space is priceless in this house, which is much smaller than out last house.

My hope is that William will see this as his own special safe space and will enjoy napping and sleeping at night in his big boy bed very soon...

Reusable produce bags

We try to use our reusable grocery bags when we buy groceries (admittedly, sometimes I forget and leave them in the trunk) but I end up using so many plastic bags in the produce department, it seems that I'm hardly making a dent in the amount of plastic we use. I finally took an old curtain made of 100% polyester and turned it into a set of six produce bags that I can reuse.

The material is translucent so the attendant at checkout can still read labels or count items through the fabric, but it's strong and washable so I can use them over and over. It took me less than an hour to make six and I used ribbon that I had on hand for the closure.

Room enough for at least a dozen pears, or potatoes, apples, etc. but small enough to be brought along without taking up room. Although I made my own in various sizes (longer ones for carrots, wider ones for apples) there are some tutorials I found on the web. Here's one that uses mesh. And some that are made from sheer curtain fabric like mine. You can also purchase them such as this nice set made by LoveForEarth on Etsy.

Heart Potholders

For Valentine's Day this year we had a "crafternoon", where we got together with some friends and made Valentine's. For the moms, who never get enough appreciation for the hard work they do, I made a batch of heart potholders in pinks and reds. Here is the one I made for my kitchen, in my signature blue colors.

I have found that if I use double or triple batting quilted together, my potholders last for a long time and don't result in burnt hands. When we get sick of them, our kids can use them in their play kitchens.

This is a great project to use up leftover fabric scraps as each potholder requires less than a fat quarter of fabric to make. I made a heart template that I liked out of newspaper, and cut it out of my fabric on the fold (the same way you'd cut a heart from folded paper). I liked this heart shape for its wide design. (I didn't want a pointy heart for a potholder.)

Then I layered two or three layers of warm and natural cotton batting behind it, pinned the layers and quilted them together. After quilting, I trimmed the batting neatly to match the edges of my fabric heart, then pinned the backing to it and sewed on my trim. Voilà! A little love and country charm for my kitchen.

What's old is new

Two years ago, someone sent Savannah this cute dress that has been well loved.

She's outgrown it but instead of passing it on, we decided to recreate the dress as a skirt so she can enjoy it even longer. I've been meaning to spend more time creating clothes for the kids from things that I have outgrown, stained, or worn through, so why not recreate from her own wardrobe?

By cutting off the straps and the top seam, and adding a 3/4" non-roll elastic waist band, voila, the dress is now a skirt. Something new from something old and all we had to do was sew in a few straight lines. With all the snow we have on the ground right now, it probably seems silly to be sewing a cotton skirt like this but soon we'll take our winter escape vacation to Florida where she can prance around the sandy beaches with her new skirt.

I can hardly wait!

Sara's Workshop

I don't know how the elves at the North Pole are doing, but my workshop is in full swing! Thanks to Ana White from Knock-off Wood, I've created this for the special little girl in my life (who will be receiving a special doll this Christmas from her Nana).

Savannah's doll bed for her special Christmas gift, Julie (an American Girl doll).

I modified the plans a bit: I made the bed longer to accommodate an American Girl doll and instead of using 5 1x3s for the head and foot boards, I used 6 1x2s, so mine is more narrow like a regular full size bed, only doll sized. We worked on the quilt together and I sewed the pillow and pillowcase while my daughter's sweet little head was brimming with sugar plums. The quilt is her design and she approved the prototype. The fabric is leftover from a log cabin style quilt that I made for her. I couldn't resist sewing a mini European-style pillow sham for the bed.

The bed is a farmhouse style bed, the second one I've built. I painted it this afternoon in Divine White, a Sherwin-Williams Duration paint (ie, low-VOC). I wish I had a picture for you of her doll in the bed for size. For now, this is the best I can do. Since Julie has a rabbit in her stories, she will have a rabbit doll of her own to snuggle with in her new bed.

I can't wait to give this to my daughter on Christmas morning. She's going to be the happiest little girl in the house! Plus, I built the entire bed out of scrap lumber that I had lying around in my scrap bin in the garage, painted it with leftover paint, and used fabric scraps from my bin, so it cost me close to zero.

"Real" pillow and pillowcase. My daughter is in charge of all stuffing so she stuffed the pillow herself with her nimble little fingers.

What's going on in your workshop?

Reading nook

With the great spring weather, I've been spending most of my spare time outdoors. The garden and grounds have needed lots of work around here and we've been planting raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries like crazy. Fortunately, the spring also brought a new surge of energy for me. There was a corner of my house that has been filled with stacked boxes and picture frames since we moved in. It was a little-used area but also an eyesore where dust bunnies liked to hang out. Finally I transformed it into a peaceful and useful nook, with a little help in the babysitting department from my mother who is visiting.

This is the landing at the top of our stairs facing north northeast. I painted the wall in an accent color, and ended up custom mixing my paint to make it the right shade. Two coats later, it seemed just right. The farmhouse bench I built using plans from Knock-off Wood except mine is a smaller size to fit the landing or hallway. The curtain valance and pillow I created from a yard of this rich tapestry-like fabric that I had custom-ordered last year from Joann's for the downstairs bathroom. When I decided on a different fabric altogether for the downstairs bathroom, it left this lovely fabric folded and unloved in a plastic bag until now. Fortunately, it brings out the golds and reds in my oriental rug and gives the accent wall a golden rather than brown look. The fabric is so thick it didn't need to be lined and the valance is a simple rod pocket curtain without a ruffled header.

I finally got a pile of picture frames off the floor and on the wall. Some of them needed a pretty good dusting... A few are new frames all mixed and matched in white and gold awaiting pictures of future family events. The rug is a wool Chobi from Pakistan, meaning "like wood" in Farsi because of the dark earthen and woodsy colors typical of the style. Chobi rugs are among my favorite of the new oriental rug styles. They've only been imported into the US for about 15 years.

Here's the before picture, except beside those boxes jammed in the corner under the window, you have to also imagine a pile of framed pictures and artwork all stacked up and covered in dust. From cold chaos to warm calm. Ahhh. Next I tackle the office.

Hammock pillow

I recently purchased and installed a hammock. Really, what took me so long? This is a simple but important addition to our outdoor landscape and we'll enjoy many hours relaxing together in the hammock this spring and summer. I thought our hammock was missing something though, so I decided to make a pillow for it. The least expensive found online was about $40 but I could purchase a yard of all weather fabric for $13. When sewing for outdoor furniture, it's really important to choose one of the weather resistant fabrics. The fabric I chose is from Waverly's outdoor collection and many users before me had rated it very highly, saying that the fabric had withstood 1-2 years of being left outdoors without fading or mildewing. This was important to me because I'm not the type of person to run outdoors because it's about to rain to grab the hammock pillow...

The pillow is 16 x 32 and filled with polyester fiberfill, which I had lots of help stuffing into the pillow from the two rascals above! I made a small velcro strap for the back of the pillow to keep it on the hammock when there's wind.

My quality control department (see above) approved the pillow before it was put into use. With the small amount of leftover fabric, I made a lined bag that velcros onto the side of the hammock. We quickly discovered this can be useful to hold the contents of your pocket, sunglasses, a pacifier, or your empty popsicle stick...

One Way to Reuse a Cork

A cork can come in handy for a variety of projects around the house but here's one suggestion.

I'm really attached to a pair of trivets or hot plates that I have because they are in my signature kitchen colors, china blue or willow blue and white. However, over time the original felt pads have worn off and now when I use the trivets, I risk ruining my table with the heat that is transferred right through the bottom. (I have been using oven mitts beneath my hot plates for months now to prevent any damage to my dining room table surface - but this is time consuming, hard to explain, and could look better.)

I sliced a regular cork into about 10 2/10 of an inch slices as equal in size as I possibly could with my very sharp Henckels knife. Then I carefully super-glued these new "pads" onto the bottoms of my favorite trivets and voila! my trivets are as good as (okay better than) new.

Touch your table the next time you serve something hot and see if your hot plates could use a little cork makeover as well. (If so, you get to get one more good excuse to open a bottle of wine.)

Upcycled Airplane Duvet

I purchased this airplane fabric a while ago with the intention of making a duvet cover for William. He inherited his sister's petal pink crib-size down comforter, which is lovely and warm, but you know, pink.

I found the fabric on etsy from Whimsie Dots, a shop that specializes in fabrics from vintage sources and upcycled fabrics. This fabric is reclaimed from a flatsheet and was very easy to work with.

I liked the airplanes because the first time William saw an airplane it happened to be landing at the Albany airport. It flew right over us and he was mesmerized....

I decided to use three ties on the bottom to close it rather than velcro, buttons or snaps. I made the ties from two inch strips of fabric that I sewed close and then turned right side out with a safety pin. On the bottom edge, I also sewed in about 5 inches on each side to give the comforter a lip to sit on in the corners. This plus the tied bows appear to be working very well. When I went to school in Paris some of the children I took care of had duvet covers with a similar system.This also takes care of one of my crafty New's Year resolutions, only twelve to go.

 I hope the little guy likes it. It will be his for a while...