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 

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.

Choosing their pieces of felt.

Putting the pedal to the metal!



Lily's snakey
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).

I make mine using fat quarters - you can get two nice sized cloths out of each piece of fabric.



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. 

What a great surprise!
Unbeknownst to me, my wonderful coworker Erica had also signed up for the class so I had a sewing partner in crime. It was a really fun afternoon and my first time making anything like this. I was really happy with the finished product.

I named him Nutty.
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!
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.

Size 4? I don't think so.
First of all, the pattern was totally wonky. The first attempt with the size 4 pattern yielded a very tiny dress - the armholes were completely non-existent and it was so short! I should have WALKED AWAY. But I didn't.

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!

I love this kid.
Here's to a new era of craziness with this little wonder!

Katie May's Quilt

Posted by Christy Miller on Sunday 25 May 2014.
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A very special baby calls for a very special gift.

The baby in question, little Katie May, had a wee bit of a rough welcome into the world, but I'm happy to report that she's cute as a button and a very laid back three-week old (which, for anyone who knows her father, is not genetic!)


This sweet little gal needed a sweet little quilt to let her know that we love her!

I bought the Hopscotch lap size quilt kit from Periwinkle Quilting (of course) intending to make it for my own baby girl, but once her nursery began to evolve, it didn't quite seem to fit anymore. I knew the right baby would come along for this project eventually and she did!

My trusty assistant helping me with chain stitching the charm squares for the quilt top!

The lovely thing about this pattern is that it is all straight lines, so putting the quilt top together was straightforward (and a lot of fun!) The fabric in the kit was also really cute - kind of vintage and country at the same time.

Determining the design of the blocks

Adding the red sashing really made the blocks "pop"!
Last part of the quilt top: the floral border
Because the quilt top is so girly, I opted for a more modern backing fabric. I had bought the end of the roll of one of my favourite prints (featured in my first quilt!) a while back and was excited to use it here.

Cutie bicycle print for the backing fabric!
I knew that I wanted to take this project to a professional quilter, since the simple pattern seemed to require more than just a "stitch in the ditch" (which is all I'm capable of).

I'm so glad I did! Lynette from Ladybug Quilting worked with me on coming up with a design I loved - a whimsical loopy ladybug and flower print - perfect for baby K.

Back from the professional quilter - I love this quilt!!

Loopy ladybugs with a variegated thread
The last order of business was to trim the batting and add the binding. I'm happy to report that with more experience, my hand stitching has gotten marginally faster and it didn't take me nearly as long to finish up the binding on this quilt. Perhaps it was my mom telling me that she could hand stitch the binding on a lap size quilt in ONE NIGHT that lit a fire under me.

An evening on the porch and a cold beer helped get the job done.
Ta da!


Yes, she is one very special baby, but she also has some pretty special parents, and I'm glad a piece of Prairie Sown will be a part of their lives with Katherine.

Joel: When did you start quilting?
Me: When I turned into an old lady!



Speedy car blanket.

Posted by Christy Miller on Sunday 13 April 2014.
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This was a fun baby gift that I whipped up in an evening.

 
I had fun matching up some of my different fabrics, but wanted to feature the fox fabric that I bought on a trip to the U.S. 

What does the fox say? Probably "I'm sooooo cute!"
I settled on five complementary strips to create the top and backed it with brown minky. I used a lime green thread for contrast and did a two lines of top stitching around the blanket.


It measures about 19 x 25" and makes a cozy car or stroller blankie for spring and summer. Which is perfect, because the baby who we gave it to lives on the coast! But our resident baby gave it a snuggle first!