10 more things I made this year.
Posted by Christy Miller on Monday, 1 September 2014.
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As I prepare to re-enter the paid workforce, I have a mix of
emotions: excitement to go back to a job and and a workplace I love;
sadness that someone else will get to enjoy my daughter's delightful
company for the majority of the day; and a wee bit apprehensive about
how I will balance my commitments. But mostly, I feel grateful that I've
been able to spend this amazing year with my baby and family. And also some quality time with my sewing machine.
Looking back, I realize that amidst the
steep learning curve of first-time parenting, I was actually able to get
quite crafty. After all, everyone else kept havin'
babies and birthdays right along with us, so I had good reason to head up to my sewing room instead of watch Nashville every night (but I did that, too.) So here's a round up of some
of the other things I've made throughout this past year that I didn't get a chance to post about.
1. My own nursing cover
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| I am super pregnant under there!! |
I
felt like most of the nursing covers out there were a little too
fancy-schmancy for me, so I decided to make my own. It was my first time
working with boning, and I learned an important lesson about looking at
the direction you want your print to travel on your finished product. I
joked that this project should be called 'kamikaze birds" because
instead of flying across the cover, they are all diving. Whoops!
2. Silly snakes with my niece and nephew
Instead
of a store-bought Christmas gift last year, I invited my niece and
nephew over to make "Silly Snakes" with me. We had so much fun choosing
how each of their snakes would look, cutting out the felt, and
practicing using the sewing machine. It was really special for me to be
able to teach them a bit about sewing and their snakes turned out great!
Bonus: I learned how to felt sweaters. On purpose.
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| Choosing their pieces of felt. |
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| Putting the pedal to the metal! |
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| Lily's snakey |
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| Owen's mean ol' snake |
3. Hadley's stroller quilt
This was the first time I've designed a pattern on my own. This is what that looked like:
I
based it on a pattern from Moda Fabrics for a much larger quilt, but
wanted something smaller for Hadley's stroller or carseat. I bought some
delightful fabrics that I thought she would love to look at and I
backed it with pink corduroy, which means it should last forever.
I
finished it just in time for a springtime trip to Vancouver where we
spent lots of time walking around in the rain, so it was a good thing to
have!
I also tried applique on this project. Uh, it's supposed to look messy.
4. Minky blankets and puppy
Another pattern I wanted to try was for these minky baby blankets that were supposedly
easy to sew. Precision was key here; the second blanket went a lot more
smoothly, but I came up with a lot of rhyming words for "minky" that
were not complimentary while working on these.
I gave these to two new babies in my family: my cousin Erin's daughter Stella was born a few months before Hadley in 2013 and my cousin Lori's daughter Emily was born in May of this year. Stella also got a little puppy with her blankie - plus I loved this fabric I got at JoAnn in Phoenix and had to make a little something extra with it!
I haven't met Emily yet, but I hope her snuggly blanket will suffice until I can give her a hug!
5. Cathedral playmats
By special request, I made another cathedral playmat for my sister's new baby this spring. I seem to have quite the supply of Oh Deer!
fabric layer cakes by Moda, so I also made one for my own little baby,
but by the time I got around to it, she was almost to big to fit on it.
What's that saying about the cobbler's children having the worst shoes?
That applies here.
I think I'm done making these now.
6. Burp Cloths
My sister sent me this pattern for burp cloths
some time ago, but I didn't think about making them until I was
pregnant and couldn't find nice-sized burp cloths anywhere. I opted to
use flannelette for mine, which has just made them softer with each
wash. I made a set of six when H was born, and have made many more sets
since for friends and family. They are just too handy for everything
from spit up to snotty noses to spilled beer (for after the baby is
FINALLY asleep).
7. Nutty the Squirrel
Early this spring, I was fortunate to take a workshop with the incomparable Boolah Baguette. We squirreled ourselves away and spent the afternoon making these cute little stuffies.
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| What a great surprise! |
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| I named him Nutty. |
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| Most importantly, he tastes good! |
I've made
another one since then, which I gave to my niece Lily for her 6th
birthday. She is taking very good care of "Squirelly", making sure he
gets plenty of fresh air and exercise!
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| Safety first! |
8. Grace's Sundress
Yes,
I love my nieces, I really do, but I don't love making clothes. I knew
this. I've always known this. But every so often I feel like I should
try it just to see if I still dislike it.
Grace's sundress reaffirmed that I should stick to things other than clothing.
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| Size 4? I don't think so. |
I made new armholes (easy enough) and started adding length. I thought I would add two additional panels of fabrics (for fun - ha!), but I just couldn't decide what length to make it. At one point, someone told me it was long enough for an 8-year old! (Grace was turning 3).
Well, after a lot of hemming (insert laugh track here) and hawing, I finished it up.
And Grace looks adorable in it (as she does in everything!), which makes it all worthwhile.
I just hope that my sister-in-law never has
to turn it inside out for any reason. Yikes.
9. Lilah's Apron
And
for little Lilah's birthday, I decided to use some of my favourite
fabric of this children's parade to make her an apron. As evidenced by
Grace's sundress, I know nothing about how big children are (even my
own), so I have
nary a clue if this thing is enormous or not for Lilah - she may only be
able to wear it comfortably for high school home economics. Which would
be embarrassing.
I gave it a fun little pocket with a bunting on it. I hope she gets into lots of messy fun with it!
There
were a few other projects throughout the year that I think I would
categorize as a fail, so I'll spare them from this post.
But by far, my most successful project this year. This life... EVER is...
10. THIS AWESOME HUMAN BEING!
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| I love this kid. |
Here's to a new era of craziness with this little wonder!
