Costumes, Part 1

I've finished the main part of one of the three costumes I'm making this year. Baby Ivy is going to be a monster, at her big sister's request. This turned out completely different than I originally had in mind, but I'm pretty sure it is better than my original plan.

The basic gist of how I did this was:

1. I traced a jumper of Ivy's for the general shape.
2. Cut two of each side out of this great lime fleece
3. Cut tentacles
4. Sewed the pieces together, wrong sides together with a hole left for turning it right side out. I left the hole in an area where I could easily hand stitch the pieces together since I didn't plan on topstitching them
5. Turned them right side out, using a wooden skewer to help with the tentacles
6. Hand sewed the tops of the front and back together, sewing in the straps
7. Hand appliqued the eye on-- this was easier than a standard applique because I used fleece and felt so I didn't have to worry about it unraveling
8. Hand sewed the front and back together.
9. Tried it on the baby

All in all, it took about 4 hours, not including the scrapped original plan that I started and gave up on. Not bad I don't think.

There are sure to be more finishing touches, but the main part is DONE and FITS. Now on to the main part of Lorelei's.

Made it Monday:: Minky and Flannel baby blanket

For a friend's baby shower, I made her this minky and flannel blanket. The nice thing about making stuff like this is first of all it's pretty easy, and second of all it saves a lot of money.

I made this by simply turning and topstitching. For those who don't know what that means, this is how it works:

• Cut two pieces of fabric to the same size
• Place them inside out against each other-- meaning the "good" sides are touching each other and the back sides are facing out
• Pin around the edges and then sew around the edges leaving a small opening for turning it right side out
• Turn right side out
• Sew along the outside again to make a nice edge, making extra sure to catch the edges that were left open when turning it

Then you're done!

There are a lot of different things some people do for each step-- like some people press the fabric after turning it right side out (I only do this with cotton) and some people pin after turning right side out (I only do this with really shifty fabric like satin) but the general concept remains the same for any of it. This technique can be used for so any different things, from blankies to fabric "high chairs." If anyone wants better instructions than this I found this link for you at Prudent Baby

A blanket like this can cost easily $40 with nice fabric if you bought it from a boutique, but you can make it for the cost of only 2 yards of fabric (of course the price varies depending on what fabric what you choose)

Besides the money savings, and complete control over the fabric selection, I also love that it is a simple enough project that little "helpers" can't do too much harm. Lorelei spent as much time as she could petting the minky while I was sewing this, which is the main reason I didn't pin this blanket when top stitching it-- didn't want my helper to get an owie.

Fixed!

I think I managed to fix the comment weirdness on this blog finally! Unfortunately it meant all my comments that were in that system are gone now. Pretty sad, but half the time I couldn't tell I had comments to respond to anyways so .. at least now I can reply to comments!

I also finally got my new laptop! Back up and running, and working on a TON of backlog. In the works are "made it mondays" again. There's one scheduled to post this monday, and hopefully I will get some others up as well. Without a computer I was crafting a lot, so I have a lot to share.

Still no laptop

But I cancelled that order and ordered a new one through a different company. Hopefully 2 weeks and it'll be here. I still can't believe how long Dell was taking-- a month and a half delay when I gave up on it, with no actual explanation.

I have a TON of projects to share that I have been working on since I've had minimal computer access, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a toddler in a sprinkler, a bowl of ice cream, and a goofy baby on a table.

on the homefront...

I've been having technology nightmares recently, so haven't been online much in a way I can post much.

A while back my house was broken into. Then a great friend lent me a laptop. She hadn't used it much because she never really liked it, and it turns out it was a lemon, and past warranty and it died. I went out of town for a while and as soon as I got home I ordered a new laptop (hoping insurance money will exist soon) and the delivery estimate keeps getting pushed back.

I now have more than a few pictures to edit (numbering in the thousands!), sessions to get put up, a laid off husband at home, and only one laptop between us! As he has said... "I'd rather have only one bathroom than only one laptop"

Here (on my photo blog) are a few vacation pics if you wanna see some pretties... otherwise... I'll be back soon, I hope! I have a baby birthmark treatment story to share..and vacation stories.... and growing baby stories and pictures.

2 year horrors!

I had to take Lorelei to get her two year shots today. I anticipated tears and screaming and fits. I tried to get someone else to watch Ivy so I wasn't dealing with upset toddler and possibly a cranky baby too. But in the end I was there hauling in a carseat with a three month old, leading in a two year old to a doctors appointment-- her first one where she is old enough to really coherently tell me she doesn't want to do this.

She was a dream all through the appointment, and aside from the little girl who ran up to her and scared her when we first came in, she was a little bubble of happy right up until the shots, going along with everything she was supposed to and even opening her mouth for the nurse practitioner without problem. When time for shots came, I told her we'd get apple pie afterwords. Laid her back and she got the shots and screamed, but only for maybe 10 seconds! It startled Ivy too but she calmed down with only a to rocking her high chair. Moments later we were ready to leave, Lorelei following me down the hallway announcing "apple pie!" to everyone in sight!

I love it when I've braced myself for a bad time but then everything goes so well!

And where do you store YOUR diaper cream?

Lorelei's 2nd birthday party was yesterday so her room was a mess. She looked around for a moment after I set her down this morning and said "Cream." Not a usual morning word I just stared at her for a moment until she said "diaper cream"... then she went to the fridge of her laugh and learn kitchen and pulled out a tube of Desitin and gave it to me.

One of the kids that was at the party is quite a climber and her mom had found her on top of the changing table throwing stuff on the floor from the shelves above it. I guess Lorelei rescued and hid the cream from the other kids, which I am grateful for.... but the play fridge? hah...