Pre- baby finishes!

I did get a few more projects finished while I was waiting anxiously for Owen to show up. First, I finished the second finger and sewed in the tails on my third pair of fingerless gloves:

These ones are made of a cream wool, and more or less match my favorite crochet hat. The second pair of these that I made I gave to my sister-in-law for Christmas, and forgot to take a photo of. This pair is by far the tidiest of the lot, and on the sixth thumb hole, I finally figured out that "pick up two stitches and knit" means to pick up the stitches that are already present on the sides of the glove, rather than to cast on two new stitches.

This means that one of these thumb holes has the distinction of not floating around, held together by stitching in the woven-in tails of the thumb hole, but instead is actually attatched to the body of the glove on all sides.

I forgot to keep the label on the wool, but it is really soft and warm, and it shows up the cables nicely, so I'm happy with how these turned out. I think my next knitting project might be legwarmers. I want to knit something for the baby, but I'm afraid that he'll have grown out of it by the time I'm done. Maybe I'll start on some fall hats in August - I'll start with Andrew and work my way down, that way if they don't fit one child, there is a chance that someone else will grow into them.

The second thing I finished was the bag I was talking about in my last sewing post, the Nikki Tote (pattern from here ). I was a little nervous about this bag because of the pleats, the interfacing and the curved corners. I've never sewn a bag that wasn't of the sew-two-rectangles-together variety, so this one scared me a bit. But with all my experience sewing softies and clothes, I'm not sure why curves and pleats seemed so intimidating, as I've done both in the past.

I was really happy with the results. This bag is giant - just the right size for a laptop and some work files or for swimsuits, towels and lunch at the park. Last year I used my MEC backpack or a reusable Loblaws (Superstore) bag, but they both lacked a certain panache.

The pattern was really simple to follow and the pattern pieces fit together beautifully. As an experienced sewer I could finish it quite quickly - probably without interruptions this would be a half-day to a day long project. I used some of my favorite fabric, which has currently been reprinted - Freshcut by Heather Bailey. These reprints don't quite match the original fabrics, so my idea of using this mum pattern in a quilt with them wasn't going to work. The interior print - this yellow - is by far my favorite print in the line, and so I wanted to use it as a co-ordinate.

One great thing about this pattern is that although it is really clean on the outside, it has big pockets on the inside. These big pockets fit a commuter mug, or a good sized waterbottle, or a power cord (or a tin of pencil crayons). I thought it would be fun, since it will probably hold cup-type things, to pick a fabric that would remind me of the pockets' purpose.

The other side of the bag also has a "small" pocket, just right for my wallet, keys, and cell phone (plus a soother). The top has no closure, but because of the angle of the handles and the top of the bag, it stays securely closed, which is great.

Andrew did me a favor and posed with the bag to show you just how big it is - of course this had to be done with proper drama.

Little Projects

Sewing is a great way to distract yourself while you are waiting for a baby. Today is the baby's due date, but technically I am 41 weeks pregnant, so I have one more week before I get induced. In any case, I thought I would show you guys what I've been stitching to keep myself busy and close to home.

First, more fabric baskets. I love this pattern, courtesy of maya made . I had a couple of fabric baskets in use here, but one was actually originally from the change table, while the other was actually an Easter basket. So I decided I needed some new, kitchen coloured baskets. One side is the grey (courtesy of Ikea) while the flip side is the blue peacock pattern, courtesy of Art Gallery fabrics (don't remember the name, sorry). These are the biggest square baskets I've made so far, and I like the size - I might made some for Emma's toys, now that she's starting to have little - bits toys.

Next up is actually a re-working of something I sewed a while ago. This was originally a soft laundry basket, theoretically for the boys' laundry. However, they never used it. This basket was twice as long, with red canvas and no lining. I basically cut it in half, cut another circle for the bottom, and added some heavy duty fusible interfacing in between the layers.
 I love blocks, because they are open ended and all our kids can play with them at once, despite being 2, 5, and 7. So I wanted them out where the kids could see and use them, instead of in a closed bin, where they were before.

Next up is a pattern I've wanted to try for a while from Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing for Babies". It is a basic diaper bag. I made the bag as the pattern requires for me, out of blue canvas (this is a medium weight organic canvas - the same as the red in the last post. It is from tonic living . The other is a lined variation I made for our daycare provider, as it is our last week of daycare, and I wanted to make her something to thank her for all her work.

I put the pockets on the inside of the floral bag, as I thought it looked better with a clean outside to display the big print on the fabric.

I didn't add any interfacing to this bag - just a strip of flannel in the bag handle - but the Kona cotton is pretty tough and tightly woven, so hopefully it will stay together.

My version is simpler, with the pockets on the outside. I thought it might be nice to have a fairly gender neutral bag for diapering stuff, so Dave can use it, too. I might get some fabric paint and stencil something on the outside - I haven't decided yet.

Next, I wanted to make a little light stroller / car seat / travel quilt for the new baby. As baby #4 will have to come along with whatever the rest of the family is doing, I thought he should at least get a snuggly blanket for cool days.

This quilt was really quick - I have hoarded two charm packs of Funky Monkey fabric for several years now, and I decided I would use it for something for me.

The back is a 1/2 m of yellow flannel sock monkey fabric that was leftover from a quilt I made for the boys' cousin. I put a border of charm squares along the edges to make it a nice size for baby. The front is charm squares stitched together, and some brown flannel I picked up at Fabricville (the local big box fabric store). I sandwiched it with another layer of flannel, pillowcase flipped it, and tied it with red embroidery floss. The ric-rac ties are handy for tying the quilt to strollers or car seats, so it can't get kicked off. One of the best things about this quilt is that is is heavy enough to keep baby warm, but light enough to roll up and tuck in your bag.

Finally, I finished these change pads. I actually cut these out for Emma, but I didn't ever sew them together.

These are also from "Simple Sewing for Baby". I don't know why I didn't finish them, because they are, well, really simple to make. They roll up and velcro together so that they fit nicely in any bag, and they took me one night to make.

The outside fabric is an Amy Butler Nigella print that I bought on sale a couple of years ago. The inside fabric is something I picked up at the fabric store in Melfort. It is really old-lady ugly, but I love it. In polyester it would be the kind of thing my grandma would have made a house dress out of. There is something about it that makes me smile. I always dream of it being mixed into a quilt with aqua blues and silvery greys, but I've never been able to find enough co-ordinates to make it into something pretty, so here it is in all its ugliness, ready to hide stains instead.

Next up (barring baby actually deciding to show up) is a big pleated hobo-style bag. For some reason, it makes me really nervous and I've been putting off making it. I've never made a "real" bag with interfacing and pleats and really nice fabric, so I'm kind of anxious about messing it up. It is all cut out, so I just have to not mess up sewing it together (and hope I cut it properly). Wish me luck with both the bag and the baby!

[Un]Productive Saturday

Or would the proper Postmodern Punctuation be Un/Productive? Not sure. Okay, enough obscurity.

In any case, I had plans for today. I was going to get work done on my Fab Little Quilt (I shall have to show my progress on that sometime). I was going to finish editing my chapter in the Crosstalk Daycamps Manual. I was going to fold the laundry (I say that every day . . . that way one day it will get done). And then the boys decided to start playing one of their favorite games this morning - Softies in the Kingdom.

Softies in the Kingdom is one of those wonderful games entirely invented by Aaron and Andrew. It involves all the stuffed animals in the house, and it has been ongoing for over a year. Sometimes there are dramas involving lost family members that need to be reunited. There are dragon attacks, spy missions, burned down houses and destroyed communities that all require the entire relocation of the softies from room to room all through our house. Usually by the end there are bears and hippos and tigers and monkeys strewn all over the house in every room as they have become casualties in some epic battle or natural disaster, and the whole thing ends with a few lone survivors and a massive clean up operation.

Unfortunately, Aaron has determined that there are just not enough scary bad guy softies. There is one giant tiger and one dragon puppet, and other than that, there are no really evil looking bad guys. So, today Aaron decided it was my assignment to solve this problem.

I agreed, with plans of making little round black dots with horns and fangs and red glowing eyes (the three things required of the softies). And so I started cutting out pieces and fusing fabric to webbing and getting things ready.

And Aaron walked by and asked, "But where are their arms?"

So I cut out arms and started sewing again, and I got the faces fused and stitched on.

Aaron walked by again and asked, "Why don't they have any legs, Mom? They need legs."

So I cut out some legs and started sewing the horns and legs together, when I realized that if I just added some claws, then they could "roll their terrible eyes and bare their terrible teeth and wave their terrible claws". And at the very end of the day, we ended up with these:

Terrifying, aren't they? Here they are devouring my bills and looking at a takeout menu - guys this bad obviously don't cook themselves.

And here they are hanging out on a shelf, waiting for some cutsie softies to come by so they can jeer and make clever remarks.

I photographed the process of making these guys, if anyone's interested in a tutorial . . .

You Know You Haven't Been Sewing Much When . . .

your 7 year old mentions it. Yesterday, Andrew said, "You sure don't have much time to practice your hobby anymore, Mom."

Yes, its true. First trimester pregnancy plus working plus a husband with two grad school seminars in two weeks plus grabby, non-sleeping toddlers have worn me down.

Fortunately, first trimester is over and I'm starting to regain my energy, the seminars are finished (and papers not yet begun) and we've decided that non-sleeping toddlers are to be rocked to sleep by DADDY. Ah.

First on my list: finish my mermaid quilt.

Just the binding left to go. I plan to sew it on the front today and hand sew it while watching the finale of Project Runway Season 7 (have you seen that one yet, Sharon?).

Second: Jedi robes

I know, its yellow not brown. Trust me, I've heard about it already. But the brown was 19.99/m and this was 3.99/m. Doesn't Yoda have a yellow robe, and Obi Wan at some point? I'm going to finish the robes, and try to find photos of Jedi in beige robes.

Third: a Cheeky block for Kat and finish up Sarah and Molly's Free Peicing Study blocks

Fourth: Quick change trousers in cordory

Also, in case you're wondering how to study Philosophy in a house with 3 small children, here is the solution, as presented by Dave in the midst of preparing a seminar last week:
 
Yep, that is earplugs worn under noise dampening headphones. That's my hubby, the stylish one in our family. And yes, that is what my table usually looks like . . . sigh. Okay, off to sew before I start tidying the table instead.

Tiny Mini for a friend

A friend of mine from church is turning a signifigant age (starting with a 5) soon. She didn't want a big party, but her family wanted to find a way for her friends to honour her none the less. So they sent out an email, asking people to write a few words or make a few images, less than 8X11, that they could compile into a book. I decided this would be a fun opportunity to make her a mini quilt. This is what I came up with on my afternoon off this Thursday. The blocks represent her warmth (teacup), faith (cross), love of the imperfect and whimsical (wonky heart) and hospitality (Montreal houses have flat rooves, although I think this one is a little exaggerated). I hope she likes it.

It was nice and satisfying to do a little project in an afternoon. It made me miss my mini quilt swap days, although I don't have the time to reliably swap right now.

This finished off around 7X7,a nd the backing is the same as the binding -- I simply folded it over and machine bound it, because I was in a hurry. Don't look too close or you'll see where I zig-zagged the folded over corners flat so I wouldn't break my needle.

In other news, October has decided to announce its presence. We woke up to a chilly house (we've only had to turn the heat on for two days so far this year) and a cool, grey day. Happy fall, everyone!

One of my least favorite parts of my new job is the commute. I spend about an hour and a half on the bus/metro/bus each way. My classroom doesn't have an overhead projector, but it does have a video projector hooked into the ceiling and a screen. So I've taken to typing out my notes in Power Point and carrying my laptop to and from school. This means my laptop travels with me on the bus / metro / bus twice a day and all around the school, since I don't have a key for my classroom (which is another story altogether). So, this of course means that my laptop needs some stylish protection.

If you combine this with the fabulous half yard of Echino fabric that came with the fat quarter pack I ordered from Pink Chalk Studios , the answer was obvious:

This was a really cool piece of fabric. The front and the back of my laptop case were each strips, with green and purple "fields" of fabric in between them. There was just enough to cut it into this laptop sleeve.

The pattern is from Oh Fransson's blog ( on her small projects page), and as with all her patterns and tutorials, the instructions are easy, the method of sewing is elegant and the results are beautiful. This blue topstitching is, I think, my favorite detail. See how it matches the birds' wings? The best thing about it was that it was accidental: I was being lazy and didn't switch out my bobbin thread when I was sewing the flap. I liked the look so much that I switched out my thread to topstitch the top of the laptop sleeve, too.

I'm not showing you the inside because it is pretty plain. The pattern calls for flannel, and the only non-juvenile flannel I have right now is a natural cotton colour. I figured the outside is dramatic enough.

Even I can admit that sometimes there is such a thing as too much drama.

Whew! Real Life has been Busy!

Hello, friends! Well, this full time job thing is busy, especially when you throw Easter in the middle.

These are Easter eggs we dyed at church -- I took all the Sunday School kids and did this craft with the help of the youth group so all the teachers could sit in church on Easter. It went pretty well, except when word got out among the moms that we were taking the kids to the park and they panic-ed about Easter dresses getting muddy.

These are the Easter baskets I gave the kids -- they only got a few candies and some lego guys (that was their request) so everything is gone already. These are based on the pattern by maya made. I bought this organic duck canvas a long time ago at tonic living , and didn't ever get around to using most of it, so I was happy to use it to make these cute little baskets.

I've been shopping in the shed this weekend. These are, ironically, clothes for Emma - leftovers from her brothers. I figure with a few cute flower appliques and ribbon trims and we can have a cute little brown and blue and grey wardrobe for Emma. Fortunately I was more given to buying the boys brown over blue. And a little blue never hurt any girl's wardobe, now did it?

I also found some shoes that might fit Emma (well, the yellow boots were hers already). Can you tell she likes shoes -- she started grabbing them before I could even snap the photo. I love these little See Kai Runs so much I may have to pick up a girly pair. The pair that does fit her are the completely wrecked blue and red ones.

The boys had a perfectly lovely day pretending that they were soldiers -- complete with lego guns, goggles and helmets, hidey holes behind the couch and in the bike storage (and even in their fort for a while -- imagine that). And, of course, as you can see from their lovely faces, war paint and blood. Sigh. Boys. But they were happily busy all day long with this game, so I didn't complain, I just scrubbed them up well before church.

I Did Make a Few Christmas Gifts . .

None of the main gifts were made by me, since I'm not so good at creating the plastic molds used for creating legos. Although I did BUILD enough Lego on Christmas day that I should now be considered a Jedi Master of Star Wars Lego construction. Seriously, if only I could use the Force to put all those tiny pieces together . . .

On a complete tangent from the gifts I made, I was super proud of Andrew because he actually put together Plo Kloon's starfighter almost all by himself. He did get frustrated at one point, but that was because he had made a small mistake (that I also made when I went back to rebuild it for him) about fifteen steps before he got frustrated. So I unbuilt the ship, and rebuilt it (twice) up to the point where he had made the error, then handed it back to him. He did almost all the rest himself. That was some pretty intense building for a 6 yr old.

 Okay, right, so what was I talking about? Yes,what I made for Christmas presents. Well, mostly I made these for the boys,  plus one I have no photo of for my neice:

 These are the Child's Colouring Wallet pattern that I bought at JCasa on Etsy. It is pretty easy to follow -- I made three simultaneously in about an hour and a half, so I'm guessing that you could make one in about 30 min, maybe less if you had made some previously. One of the most fun things about this pattern is matching the fabrics for the outside and the inside.

The brown dinosoars / dots one is Aaron's, while the space on is Andrew's. Kaylee's was an irridecent orange Tina Givens print with crazy birds, plus hot pink polka dots and this cute alice in wonderland print on the inside (in other words, colours only a 4 yr old girl could love).

I also made the two year old cousin a sweet little playmat and pouch, but the photo of it is on the dearly departed Lappy. If you really want to see it, its on my Flikr stream. I just can't seem to figure out how to pull it over here from there right now when I'm typing with a sick baby on my back. We added about half of the boys' car collection, because they never use their cars anymore. The other half we'll keep for little car-obsessed guests.

New Pants!

What do you do when your three year old wakes EVERYONE up super early, including the baby, and her clothes are wet and you only have the energy to grab the nearest tank top to put on her, and discover that it is this ridiculously cute ruffle tank? Make baby pants, of course!

These are just right for Emma right now! I hemmed them a little shorter than the pattern, and they just hit her ankle when she's sitting. This means they will protect most of her leg from the bad spring mosquitos.
She seems pretty happy with them. You can sort of see in this photo, but the repeat on the fabric ended up being just the same size as the pants pattern, so the fabric repeats all the way around the pants. Yay for big Amy Butler prints!


They are also just slippery enough for scootching / crawling (we're just figuring out the former and hopefully she'll be slower than Aaron was) without being too slippery.
And they just fit over a cloth diaper. I was a little sloppy with the elastic casing, its actually supposed to be higher. But I guess if I need another pair to be a bit bigger, I can always add a gusset.

I think there will be a lot more of these in Emma's future. What's not to love about cute, hand made pants in 20 minutes?

No baby yet, but lots of nesting.

No, I haven't had the baby and just forgotten to tell you all.

I have however, finally figured out a way to kick my other children out of my bed (again) without buying anything new. You see, while we were on vacation, Andrew and Aaron shared a bed or mattress everywhere we went. So Andrew got used to sleeping with someone again, and he didn't want to give it up. But he has a single bed, so him and Aaron couldn't really share it. The end result was that everyone was back in our bed, and we were getting squeezed out.
It was really a simple solution. Well, simple for me, and a bit more complicated for Dave. But I let him go away for a full week a couple of weeks ago, so he owed me at least a morning's worth of moving and carting:


We moved out guest bed / futon back into Andrew's room, and now the boys sleep together in there. Now we have room for the baby in our bed. Yay!

I am also still sewing like a mad woman. I am about 25 back stitches and 4 nails away from finishing the little changing area I've set up, then I can take some photos, but here's one of the parts I like the best:



These baskets are awesome. I am so tired of buying plastic bins that my children manage to destroy in weeks or days, that I am just going to buy crates or make more and more of these. They are really roomy, and only take a few hours to put together once you know what you are doing. The big bonus is that they have quilt batting on the inside, so they use up all those odd bits of batting I have stacked in the basement closet.

The pattern was a PDF from maya*made . You can also buy them in her shop, along with lots of other beautiful things. And she has a great blog, too. Definitely worth checking out. The inside of mine is some natural canvas I picked up at my local fabric shop, and the outside is some cordoroy I have kicking around. Oddly enough, aside from intensely coloured quilting cottons, my other fabric obsession is cordoroy. When I find one I like at a decent price I tend to buy metres of the stuff. Like, two or three metres of it. After all, you never know when you're going to need 3m of baby blue fine whale cordoroy, right?

In any case, I digress. I shall show you my whole changing area tomorrow after I finish my wall pockets.

I am also still working on this:



I was at a bit on an impasse, so I posted it on Flikr and asked for all my wonderful crafty swap buddies opinions. I got some good suggestions, so I'm not almost finished to top. One of the things I love about Flikr and the internet is that I posted the photos first thing in the morning here, during my morning "its 5:30 am and I'm not awake yet to do anything useful" internet surf, and I got responses from people in Europe right away who were probably doing their "Its late at night and I don't feel like going to bed but I'm too tired to do anything useful" internet surf.

In any case, I'm hoping I can get at least the quilt top done before the baby comes. And since I"m trying to use up the fabric I already have, it may end up being backed in the rest of that 3 m of baby blue cordory.

Taking the Plunge (and what makes me happy about Handmade)

For my birthday, I spent an afternoon and evening in Saskatoon by myself. I decided to do all things that I enjoyed, rather than rushing around trying to "get things done". Ironically, this was in huge contrast to my last trip to Saskatoon .

I managed to avoid the mall all together -- a good thing to do when you're 8 months pregnant and barely fit into your maternity clothes -- and mostly wander down Broadway st., the area where a lot of the cool little shops can be found. I picked up a fun new hat, and some arm warmers, and then drove a little further down the street to get this:
One skein of chunky Alpaca wool, and one pair of size 10 bamboo needles. It was funny because when I asked the lady to show me the wall where they had chunky wool, she walked me over to the wall that had a lot of acrylic blends and fuzzy things, and basically told me that it was good to pick something pretty smooth and not too fuzzy for my first try. So I went and wandered down the wall and found that on the other side were all the Saskatchewan alpaca wool. It was so soft and cozy, I decided I had to try it. I brought it to the counter and asked the lady, "Will this be easy to knit with?". She responded, "This will knit up like a dream. This will be addictive."

While in Saskatoon I also indulged in two decaf pumkin lattes, and had an excellent wrap with grilled veggies, this fantastic salsa and melted feta cheese. Yum. It was a great day.

On a more recent note, this is what our couch has looked like for the last couple of days:

My feverish son snuggled under the very first quilt I made. The quilting is starting to unravel on this quilt; it has been dragged around so much in the last 4 years. But it reminded me of why I love making handmade things for my family and friends. I love being able to wrap my children up in things I have made for them. I love sending out soft, snuggle-y reminders of love to those who are too far away for me to see regularly. It becomes a tangible symbol of something I often find hard to express in words.

Repurposing Change Pads

So, I have these old change pads:
As you can see, they've seen better days. The fabric on them is all pilled, and has picked up lint from everything that passed it by. Not only that but they've picked up this odd, crunchy feel to them. I figured that with a little refurbish, however, I could still use them for our new baby. So I cut out some flannel around the same size as the change pads, and decided I would just stitch it to one side so the baby would have something soft to lay on, and we would use them for a third time around.

That is, until I stitched the first one together, and started cutting an edge off so I could flip them inside out:
Are you asking "What is THAT?". Yeah, so was I. That is these crusty little shards of plastic stuff. I don't know if it was originally vinyl or what, but it is now these horrible, hard yellow things that break apart to the touch. I don't think I want to be laying my baby anywhere near those. I feel bad that I used them for the other two boys, laying them right on top of that vinyl nastiness.

Since I live in the land of polyester and plastic, I have a few fleece blankets kicking around. Every time I have a baby I am given about 10 more. I decided that they are water resistant enough to be the back of some new change pads:

Conveniently enough, I didn't even have to guess at the size, because the flannel top was already cut to the size of my old change pads. I just had to cut the blankets to approximately the same size and stitch them together. So, yeah, if you want to make some, put your two layers right side together. Stitch around the edges, 1/2 inch from the edge, leaving a space. Flip, press, and topstitch. Ta da -- cute new change mats.