Baby Sewing

I know, I know...'not more baby projects!' But, yeah, that's what I got. I've been meaning to share these for a couple weeks now, but I've been spending more time in front of the sewing machine and less time in front of the computer.

First up, I made a couple pairs of cloth baby shoes. I was originally inspired by these since I had scraps of the same line of Heather Ross fabrics leftover from this quilt. The inspiration shoes use this tutorial, which looks like it puts out a very nicely made finished project. However, since my scraps were smaller than I thought and I didn't have any of the fleecy stuff for the soles, I ended up using the tutorial here for 3-seam baby footies.

The finished product

I also wanted to show photos of the insides, since I added little 'details' with some of the smaller-scale images on the fabric:

"Leetle Doggies"

"Leetle Froggies"

These came together really easy and I was able to use stash for everything but the gripper fabric for the bottom of the shoes, which I had purchased on sale when I originally thought I would be making the other cloth shoes. (I'm notorious for only reading instructions half way, I read about the gripper fabric but not the fleecy stuff and I didn't feel like going back to the fabric store right then.) I still plan to make the original shoes, but I also want to make some like the booties from the Little Stitches book. You can see some nice ones here.

I also made a bunch of bibs out of scraps from various projects. I followed this tutorial. In some cases, I even sewed fabric scraps together to make pieces big enough to make the bib front or back pieces. Here are the fronts:

And I matched each front fabric with a back piece of flannel in one of these three prints as best I could:

The only cost associate with the bibs was the remnant of monkey flannel I bought for $2 (I'm a sucker for monkeys :) and the pack of snaps...The snaps are key by the way. I opted for the hammer-in kind and I'm glad I did. They look more 'professional' and seem like they will actually hold up to lots of on and off tugging and use.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm currently looking into tutorials for baby slings and hope to have one worked up pretty soon.

Happy Birthday, Nasus!

Wishing our beloved Nasus a very Happy Birthday. She's the wonderfulest woman and the greatest friend we could ever have asked for.

Our other beloved friend, MJ, and Nasus at a certain wedding

Hope you're enjoying every minute of you day! We love you!

Amy Butler Patchwork Throw

One part of the reorganization effort going on around our house is finishing up partial crafting projects. And one such project taking up valuable baby-conversion space was the Amy Butler Patchwork Throw from In Stitches that has been in the works since July 2007. I got through a good portion of the project on vacation that summer (farther than I actually planned), but it sat in a bag with all the leftover fabric on the floor of our bedroom since then...and yes, we are a tidy folk ;-)

Over the last year, I've thought about reviving this project many times, but I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. There were a lot of problems with it when I put it away and I kept envisioning the nightmare that quilting on a jacked up quilt top was going to be. The positives were that since beginning the original quilting, I had since purchased a walking foot for my sewing machine and completed a ton more quilting and sewing projects. I knew this would help with some of the pulling and puckering issues...but nothing was going to erase the poor sewing on the top of the quilt. And like most things, it pays to have the right equipment for the job and the quilting ended up going much smoother than I had envisioned.

A word of warning for those attempting to make this project...it's a bit strange at least in my limited experience. You don't actually piece the top together like you would for a normal quilt. You sew a large piece of muslin together then attach the patchwork top pieces according to the pattern. Then you (basically) applique another layer of smaller patchwork pieces to the throw top. Then you sew it all together. I'm sure you can see now all the room for error in this project when you have a novice sewer without the proper equipment.

Another issue that caused even more inconsistency problems was that I hand cut each fabric piece with scissors...not a rotary cutter and mat. I also pin basted the throw together...which I will never do again. While I'm generally one for the less gimicky option when it comes to things, I really do love my adhesive basting spray. It keeps things so smooth and wrinkle free, which really helps in eliminating puckers and other problems.

Now, lets talk about the fabric choices for a moment. I saved a ton of money on these. Mainly because I actually figured out how much I needed rather than going by the generous recommendations in the book. This saved me about 1/2 of the fabric requirements! I also got them online and on sale. I did my best to pick out things that would work together, but there are a few that I would not have put together if I had been selecting these in person. The good thing is that because they came from an Amy Butler line that was current at the time (Belle), the colors do coordinate. For example, the same robin's egg blue is seen in almost all the prints. However, there are a couple 'spotlight' fabrics that dominate a bit. I'm not worrying about this issue, since the patchwork nature of the throw is more hodge-podge than matchy-matchy.

As for the quilting itself, this is where I stopped looking at the pattern. I just randomly quilted lines on each piece of fabric in alternating directions using the guide bar on my walking foot. In a couple places, I mixed it up even more and made slanting quilt lines or lines in alternating sizes. I didn't worry about being crazy precise here, but the guide bar does help you fake symmetry really well ;) Finally, I backed and bound the throw with the same fabric. You can see a better representation of this particular fabric here.

This is a project that I am happy to be done with. Given all the problems, I am very happy with how it came out. I'm also very happy with the leftovers that I am now in the process of turning into bibs...wonderful bibs of many colors!

FO: Wedding

September 28, 2008
Halekulani Hotel
Honolulu, HI

The trip started off not so great- I caught a nasty cold! Like, two days in! I don't even remember the last time I was sick before this, and then to get sick the week of my wedding? Are you kidding me? It was so horrible. I was a disgusting mess. I'm pretty sure grossing out one's future husband isn't on the wedding planning guides' "to-do lists," but I couldn't do anything about it. Oh well. May as well break in that "in sickness and in health" thing early, right? ;)

Thankfully, I recovered enough to enjoy the wedding day completely. Despite having to wake up at 3:30am (downside of a morning wedding - future brides, take note!), it was a wonderful day! B and I were surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) calm - no stress - and the whole day just flowed. The wedding was casual, intimate, and low-key. I was overwhelmed by the love and joy I felt from our friends and family that day. My family is made up of, not only my biological parents and their families, but also my step-parents and their families. And the greatest thing is that they are all friendly and get along. I sometimes joke about my "crazy" family, but I am really so proud of it. And my friends - those who were at the wedding and those who were there in spirit - I am truly blessed to be surrounded and supported by such amazing people. I was especially overjoyed that my loopy girls were able to share in the event. It wouldn't have been the same without them there!

photo courtesy Dis

The ceremony itself was short and sweet, and performed by my brother-in-law, who became ordained just for this event. It really meant a lot to us to be married by someone special who knows us well. It was perfect. The reception was really fun, filled with lots of chatting and laughter, and a ton of yummy food. Our friends and family remarked at how much fun they had, which made me really happy. Yes, it was supposedly "our day" but it really did mean a lot to me that our guests had a good time, too. Especially since some had traveled quite a way to be there.

I really couldn't have asked for a better day. Of course, it goes without saying that I would have loved for my mom to have been there, but she really was, in spirit, and in all those who thought of her that day.

post-wedding self-portrait on the balcony of our hotel room

Memories:
- Getting ready in the morning with my sisters, stepmom, and B's mom and sister.
- Steve and Lisa, our fabulous photographers, cracking us up during the pre-ceremony photo session, which really put us at ease from the start.
- The weather, the reception room filled with light and Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head in the background.
- Rex's added humor to the ceremony, especially the vows to include where B promised to wear all the knitted items I make for him and where I promised to stick with B through all his skateboard, snowboard, golf, etc. injuries. Nice touch.
- More than one of my dad's relatives commenting on how much I looked like my mom (my parents divorced when I was little).
- The flowers- my bouquet and the centerpieces - flowers in all shades of green - arranged by my stepdad. (My stepdad was a florist.)
- The very sweet toasts from my sister Ash and our friend Chris.
- Our friends all laughing and having a good time.
- The food. The bacon-wrapped scallops, the side of Kobe beef, the scrupmtious Sunday brunch buffet, the coconut cake, the cupcake tower, the champagne...
- Taking my bouquet to my mom's grave after the wedding. (Only to find out that my stepmom had already dropped off flowers from one of the centerpieces. I have the best stepmom in the world!)
- B and I reminiscing about the day. "We're married!"

It's a....

So, I'm sure you are anxiously awaiting the details of Nonnahs' fabulous wedding last weekend, but except for confirming that it was indeed most fabulous, I'm going to let her share the details once she returns from her honeymoon. In the meantime, my plan is to fill in with baby news and baby projects!

We had our 20 week ultrasound last Wednesday and we did find out the gender...Final guesses everyone?

It's a boy! Here is one of my favorite photos:

I love his little frog legs :) Everything seems normal (and boy does this little guy move!) except he has ever-so-slightly enlarged kidneys, so we will probably need to have a follow up ultrasound in another couple months. We've also had the privilege of being stuck in the cycle of 'abnormal' Down Syndrome screening results, which sounds scary, but is really just a probability game. In the end (after a genetic counseling appointment and another more detailed ultrasound yesterday), we've decided that we aren't going to do any further testing and just go with it. I'm not stressing about it and our guts tells us he is healthy. Besides, if his current activity level is any indicator, we are going to have our hands full once he is out and about! Ack!

I also thought I would share a little 20 week tummy update. I took this in Hawaii at one of Nonnahs' favorite beach spots:

As for projects, I finished up my version of the Get Ziggy sweater (Ravelry link here).

I knit the 12 month size with one hank and a little more (maybe 1.1) of Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Spring Tickle on size 8 (and 6 for the ribbing) needles. This was a great pattern! It was also the first baby knit I've finished that actually seemed to be fast to me. Not really anything else to say about this one since everything was straight forward and the yarn was fabulous!

I've also finished up some sewing projects. I made up half a dozen burp cloths using my leftover fabric from my quilt class quilt (btw - I bet these colors make a lot more since now that you know we were thinking about starting our family at the time!) and cloth diapers.

I used this tutorial but without any embelishments (it was hard to find ribbon or bias tape to match all three color sets and I didn't want to buy something different for each one...this was a stash busting project after all!).

I also made another half of a dozen burp cloths from this tutorial (burping cloths) with two flannel prints.

I had planned to follow this other tutorial originally, but was going to modify them without the batting and without the fringe, so when my sister-in-law forwarded me a link to the other tutorial, I just followed that one instead (since it didn't require me actually re-making the pattern piece).

I also made a little travel blanket (instructions courtesy of my friend Cora) with the rest of the duck flannel and a piece of complementary print cotton. Again, I left off any embellishments and just kept it simple.

And while we now know that this baby will be a boy, I'm still planning to continue to make unisex projects because like I said before...you never know what will come next!