Kid's Yellow Boxy Toiletry Bag

Our good friends just had a baby and when they saw the boxy toiletry bag that I made for Lawson they requested one for their daughter, too, but not in too girly colors.  I whipped up this fun yellow bag with a cute monkey fabric lining for them.  It feels even more boxy to me than the first bag since it is pretty much a square shape on the top.

Once I had made the bag, I couldn't resist filling it up with some other fun baby gifts before I sent it off to our friends!

So I pulled out these monkey bibs and shoes that I had made before, and some baby pants I had made before too, and then I made a new pair of baby pants to include, too.

Congrats Jen and Laurel and welcome baby Riley!  We can't wait to meet you.

Craft update: more socks, baby booties, and a new sewing machine!

I haven't had much time to post but I still have had quite a lot going on on the craft front.  In knitting news, I finished these socks...

and then I quickly made a pair of fetching mitts (to match this hat which I had previously made) - they have been great for fall weather.

And I have started the L'illo sweater for my nephew (who is 2 1/2 months old) - making it in the 12 month size since he is already wearing 6 month size clothes and I want them to get some good use out of it.  I didn't take a pic yet but will at some point. 

Finally, my sad knitting news is that halfway through the second sock, I left the dragonfly socks I was making on the metro :(.  I put in a missing items report and was hoping they would turn up, but it was several months ago and no word, so I am out of luck.  They were my first lace socks, too... I already have the yarn picked out for another lace pair, though.  Oh well.

In sewing news, I made a few pairs of booties for my nephew, in larger sizes since he has mostly outgrown the original ones I made him.  I made them using the same pattern that I used before, but I enlarged it 5% and 10% to make larger booties.  I initially enlarged it more but it turned out to be too much... hopefully these sizes will work well and fit him for a while (the larger ones will probably not fit him for a few months).

I also made some monkey booties to match the monkey bibs I had made earlier, for a gift for friends who are expecting.  I am sad that the scraps from this monkey fabric I got for a baby quilt about 3 years ago are almost all used up... they have been so fun to use!  I have decided this means that I should get other fun kid/baby fabrics that I can have just to play around with.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Finally, my most exciting news is that I got a NEW SEWING MACHINE!  Wahoo!!  I will probably post more about it later, but the short story is that my old sewing machine was given/loaned to me by an old family friend, and it is a 1950's singer featherweight... which is lovely and solid as a rock, but can also be frustrating because it often has issues with tension, and only goes forward and backwards... no zigzag, no buttonholes, no nothing.  I had been thinking I would save up and get a Bernina, but then I saw this Brother machine reviewed on Amazon and it sounded too good to be true... I figured, at this price even if it doesn't last forever, it's worth a shot. 

Brother CS6000I Sew Advance Sew Affordable 60-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine



Amazingly it even came with a walking foot and a free-motion quilting foot, in addition to all the normally-included feet.  I am super excited but also a bit overwhelmed... I am used to working out projects within a very constrained universe of sewing options (as I said, forwards and backwards), so all these stitches and feet are giving me so many ideas that I'm not sure where to start.  So far, all I've done is read the instruction manual, but tomorrow I am planning to get set up and give her a try!  Wish me luck!

Baby bibs and shoes

I was super excited to find out today that I won the giveaway on the long thread for the book fa la la la felt!  This is the first blog giveaway I have won, so that was exciting, but mostly I am psyched because I love making holiday crafts, and this looks like it will have lots of great ideas.  I thought that now would be a great time for this post which I have been meaning to write, and which was partially inspired by a post on the long thread.  I thought the baby shoes were adorable and although the idea of making shoes had never occurred to me, it turned out they weren't as hard to make as you might think. 

Inspired by a different post on purl bee I have also whipped up quite a number of baby bibs.  The bib and booties together make quite a cute matching set!  Here is the back of the bib shown above (and the fabric which I used on the inside of the shoes):

As you can probably tell, I made a number of changes to the bib pattern.  I drew my own shape (mostly because I didn't feel like bothering to print the pattern, but I think I like the shape that I came up with better), and I didn't include a pocket.  I also decided that the bibs would be more parent-friendly if I made them with snaps rather than just ties, so some that were already made I added snaps in the middle of the back, and then on the next round of bibs that I made I put a snap to one side and adjusted the strap lengths.  The bibs and the shoes are both a great way to use up leftover fabric - I have been enjoying continuing to use the fabric leftover from Eli's quilt.

These are the backs of the same bibs:

Monkey!

I just finished this baby quilt for my friends Sarah and Amanda who are having a baby next month. They haven't seen it yet so I hope they like it!! I saw the monkey fabric in a store in NH and loved it and decided it would be perfect for a baby quilt.

Here's a detail of the monkey block design:


And here is the fun monkey pattern on the back: