"Sewing Up" more for BABY

What a good weekend....it was a whirlwind for us, but a good weekend. We hosted our women's retreat at church on Saturday, with the theme, "Awaken". There's no better season to talk about being awakened to God's love, than spring. I led worship for the first time, "growing" me out of my comfort zone....but I had wonderful friends and a sweet hubby who plays guitar and drums help lead with me and that brought all the comfort in the world. God is good...and he gave us Spring to prove it, huh?

So, I've "sprung" into sewing, now that I feel so much better and am only a few months away from little man's arrival. I mentioned using up some Heather Ross scraps that were graciously sent to me by my buddy, Kerri. Without all those generous scraps, I probably wouldn't have been so excited to whip out all these baby goodies. Here's what I've been working on today:

The pieced top of a lovey for my little buddy, with an appliqued kimono-style Gerber top to match. (don't you love those side snap shirts in the beginning when you're going through a package of diapers every day??)

Another pieced quilt top for a lovey and some cutie-pie pants for my friend's baby girl, due in June....I still need to run out and get some elastic to finish the waist and some minkee to back these lovies.

Aside from all the sewing fun today, I keep stepping in wet spots on the floor because we're doing some potty training "boot camp" with Titus today....so far, lots of accidents to clean up, but he's going to be a pro by the end of the week, I believe! ;)

Homecoming Outfit for Baby

Ever since we discovered that we were expecting another boy, I had all kinds of projects on the brain that would use up some of my favorite Heather Ross scraps. I knew I wanted to try some comfy crib shoes after seeing all the cuteness Kerri had in her old etsy shop. Then, it turned into a whole outfit for my little guy's homecoming...

(the pants in this photo are made from the "Kimono PJ" set in Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. However, the crotch is extremely shallow, so I'll either have to modify it or find a different pattern...)

...then I made a couple pairs of crib shoes for upcoming baby showers

A HUGE thanks to Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew for trying and recommending Joanna's Crib Shoe Pattern, found HERE. (And, thanks Allison for giving me the idea to use some Katie Jump Rope with my Heather Ross scraps :) Joanna also has a cool pattern for a bean bag on her blog that I'd love to check out!

....And, now my sewing machine looks like this...and the hubs is once again mourning the loss of his "nice, clean, dining room table"....ooowah ah ah!

Embroidery Hoop Silhoutte

I love silhouettes. And silhouettes are all the rage right now, it seems. I wanted to try something new to create keepsakes of my little guy as he grows, and came up with this inexpensive embroidery hoop option.

I started by taking a photo of my son in profile, in front of a lit window. I printed the photo as an 8x10" on cardstock, so that his head was close to life-size. With my scissors, I cut around as many details as possible from the neck up.

Using a large embroidery hoop from JoAnn's, I cut my fabric large enough to fill the hoop and inserted it. It's also helpful to put some Elmer's glue around the inside of the hoop, to lock your fabric in place and keep it from getting loose. When it was tight like a drum head, I placed my cardstock cutout on the fabric and traced it in pen.

I already had some basic black acrylic craft paint...a small bottle will be plenty. It helped to have a small detail paintbrush for the outline and also a large craft sponge/brush to quickly fill the empty space with paint.

To help me remember how old he was in this silhouette, I'm thinking I'll attach a small hang tag from the brass top that says, "18 mos." Wouldn't it be cute to have a wall of these in the nursery of all different sizes, fabrics, and stages of growth?

For some professional silhouette keepsakes, head over to Vana's site, Le Papier Studio.

My favorites are her lockets (have one, love it!) and new vinyl wall decals.

Giveaway Month!

WHO does not love a good blog giveaway?? Okay, how about giveaways for the whole month of April??

One of my favorite quilting guy pals is hosting a giveaway month on his blog: "I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts". If you haven't seen Ryan's work, head over and peek...I dare you! And, make sure to enter this week's giveaway for a Melissa and Doug stacker....very cool. Thanks, Ryan!

What's New?

Okay, I've been lazy....REALLY lazy. But, we have some friends coming to stay with us this weekend from out of state, and I need to Spring clean something fierce. Have you been slacking so that you can sew too?

I made these blocks to catch up in the Sew Kid at Heart Bee.

And, made these little notecards for Solidia with scraps from her block above.

I guess that doesn't really LOOK lazy, but the next photo will tell the truth about my week...

I just finished off this little box while talking to you...don't tell Titus...they were really his cookies :(

Snails and Puppy Dog Tails!

That's what little boys are made of.....and it looks like we'll be having another BOY!

Our ultrasound confirmed yesterday that baby is in fact going to add to the Eldridge basketball team that my husband would no-doubt love matching jerseys for :) I'm so excited that Titus will have a little brother. And, don't worry, I was just lazy enough to not make any little dresses for myself, so I'm definitely not sitting and sniffling about the frilly bloomers that "could have been" :) hee hee!

What this does mean, is that my whole nursery idea for a boy just took effect and I'm ready to get my spiderweb quilt work-in-progress ready-to-quilt. I just need a great paint color for the walls...hmmm....

Little Dresses

Well, I won't lie...I have little bitty dresses on the brain. And I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and make a few, since there's another baby boom in our friends and family...so far ALL girls :)

I saw Amy Butler's "Little Stitches for Little Ones" when I was on a date with my hubby at Barnes & Noble recently. This book is FULL of adorable handmade baby ideas that are numbered 1-4 for difficulty. It also comes with a pocket full of patterns.

My first attempt is going to be the "Easy Empire-waist Top" on p.75

Have any of YOU used this pattern/book? Any tips??

I'm going to start with Heather Bailey's new "Nicey Jane" fabrics in aqua and yellow...LOVE 'em. I'll let you know how it all comes out!