Knitted Hat and Sweater for baby girl

Here's my first attempt at a sweater. It wasn't exactly easy, but I learned a lot in the process. I got the pattern off of LionBrand.com, along with the thick & quick chunky yarn. I used size 13 US (I think) needles and it took me about a month to do (here and there).

This pattern had me do the sweater in chunks (right front panel, left front panel, back, sleeves). I thought at the time that this was a pain, but now I'm working on a sweater that's knit up in just two big pieces (front and back) and I'm finding it a lot more difficult, boring, etc. (More on that to come.) Anyway, by doing this pattern, I learned how to do pockets, edging (not sure if that is what it's called), and a collar. There are several mistakes, namely I sewed the seems up wrong. You can kind of see this in the sleeve where it's bunched. But oh well! It's done. Next time I'll know better (if there is a next time! Ha!).

As for the hat, I think it's cute, but the size is for a 12 month old. It is seriously big. I tried it on my son's friend who is 3 and it fit her perfectly. Well, I'd rather it be too big than too small, right? I have the bottom of the hat rolled in this picture just so it wouldn't look too enormous next to the sweater. Ha!

My Daughter's Baptism Dress

By the time my daughter's baptism rolled around, she was almost 6 months old, and too big to use the dress I was baptized in (aside from that, the gown was in another state with my sister.). So I decided I would sew a dress for her! I'd never sewn any articles of clothing before, but I saw this as a challenge. AND, I had a deadline. So I got to work.

Well, I think it looks pretty. It turned out well enough. But if I were to do it again, I would've made it a lot longer. My daughter kept flashing everyone while we were on the altar (very squirmy!). I used just a regular jumper pattern, which worked fine, but several extra inches would've helped. Also, I now know that 100% cotton is not the same on all fabrics. This was quilter's fabric and definitely not as soft as another fabric labeled 100% cotton. I know this now.

In the end, the pictures look good enough. It's the smiling baby in the clothes that mattered most. :)

The Bug Blanket

One afternoon, while my daughter napped, my son decided he wanted to sew. And this is what we came up with. He picked out the "bug fabric" and I picked out the green fleece, both leftovers in my stash. I cut the quarter-yard of bug fabric in half and sewed it together and my son picked which ribbons he wanted as tags. I pinned the right sides of the two fabrics together (with the ribbons stuffed inside), sewed all around (with extra enforcement on the ribbons) and left a little opening to turn the blanket right-side out. I let my son remove all pins (this is his kind of sewing!).

And here we have it. A small, fun, tag blanket!

Sesame Street Flannel Taggie Blanket

I have gotten into the habit of letting my son pick some fabric every time we go to the store. (I like to see what he chooses. Plus, it inspires me to make something that he really likes the looks of.). So at one point, we ended up with two different types of Sesame Street fabric which hung around our house for some time before I figured out what to do with them. 

Here's the result.

A medium-sized taggie blanket, perfect for my young daughter to lie on! The back of the blanket is a solid piece of maroon fabric and the front was divided into large rectangles. I quilted the blanket by stitching the top down, outlining the rectangles. A very quick project, indeed. 

The Boy's Quilt

I really wanted to do a cool, boyish quilt for my son. I wanted something that wasn't babyish so that it could appeal to him as he got older. In the back of my mind, I thought, I'd love to make a blanket that he'd even feel comfortable taking to college with him. I don't know if that will happen, but this is what I came up with. I love the blue-brown color scheme. I flipped through a few different quilting books to get an idea HOW to make a quilt and to get some design ideas and then came up with this. It's  perfect for his toddler-sized bed right now and I think it'll still be big enough to cover him in a twin.

Here's the back. I like how my son uses the blue stripe as a road for his car!

Disclaimer: Don't look too closely! Mistakes abound, particularly around the edges!

Nifty Little Bags

These are currently storage bags by the 

front door. 

For a while, I was on a bag kick and these are two examples of small-ish bags I made. The white and red one is fondly called "The Bug Bag" in our house and it stores my kids' sunscreens and sunglasses and a floppy beach hat that I can fold and tuck inside. The bag is hung right by the door so I can grab these essentials before we head out.

The other bag was a little more complicated to make because it has a lining. In it, I keep my sunglasses, my husband's sunglasses, our adult sunscreen and outgoing mail. It hangs above the Bug Bag right by our front door.

I learned a lot by making these two bags and it's neat to see that some things I made can be very useful around our house. They help me stay organized and who couldn't use a little organization, right?

Little Quilts

I made this quilt for my son using 4x4" squares of fun, kid fabric, mostly flannel. I put two squares from each type of fabric on the quilt so he could play a matching game. I have to admit, this great idea was not my own! I got the idea here at one of my favorite craft blogs, Make and Takes.

On the back of my quilt, I put a solid piece of alphabet fabric. My son really enjoys naming the letters and hunting for as many A's (or S's or Z's, etc.) that he can find! I can't wait until my daughter can enjoy this quilt too. It's been fun to watch my son's interest in it evolve. At first, he just liked looking at all the pictures. I'd say, "Where's the zebra?" And he'd find it and point to it, feeling all proud of himself. Now I'll say, "Where's the zebra? Can you find its match?" Or he will pull the quilt off the shelf and ask to play. And he'll initiate the matching game himself! As he grows older, it seems like this quilt offers more opportunities for different types of play, which is part of the reason why I love it so much. I've also made a couple smaller versions of this quilt. They make good gifts too!*

*I seldom give things that I make as gifts because 1) Sometimes they take so darn long to make and I don't want to do another one after I've made one for my child and 2) I find something else I want to make and want to move on. But I did make one of these little quilts for my nephew when he was born. He was the exception. As far as I know, he enjoys it very much and that makes me happy!