Paper Mache Turkey 2013

Making a paper mache turkey for a Kindergarten project.

Surprise Package!

The other day I got a surprise package in the mail from one of my best pals, Lillian. She is relocating from NOLA to Paris and was de-stashing. HUGE win for me!!!! I couldn't believe it when I opened the package. She knows me so well!

Check out all my new-to-me vintage loot!

Fun postcards.
Scarf and placemat/napkin set



Ribbon perfect for boy clothes. If we have a boy, I am doing the room in submarines and whales, so these will be perfect for baby and definitely for Henry 5.

Vintage fabrics!

Vintage patterns!
I love this John John pattern. The shirt has a Peter Pan collar, which I have been looking for. The size is right for Little Henry for next summer. The shirt would work for a girl too.
I adore this coat and hat! Perfect for a boy or girl.

I finished the vintage bell bottoms for Henry the Fifth. Simplicity Pattern 7204 purchased from ebay. I used vintage corduroy and vintage floral fabric for the pocket contrast and linings. The pattern is a size 4, so I added elastic to inside and shortened the pattern and added cuffs to make them fit. I need to move the buttons for the inner elastic since they are still too big!
Next time I may add another dart in the back to help fit them.

Scrappy Tea Cozy

I have been drinking a lot of tea lately with the chilly weather. I was getting tired of my tea in the pot cooling before I was done drinking it.
So today, I pulled out a bunch of scraps and went to work. The cozy is lined with scraps of chenille from all the bibs I have made and has a thin layer of cotton batting in the middle for insulation. I think it turned out really cute.
Now for some Sleepytime Tea and local honey from our CSA farm. Yum!

True Up Favorite Fabrics of '09

True Up wants to know about my favorite fabrics of 2009...

- Favorite Print from [Country of Your Choice]- Taiwan, the bicycle print from Tine at bytinster

- Favorite Handprinted Fabric

At Green Olive on Etsy. I wish it was in yardage!!

- Favorite Digitally Printed Fabric- The image on the fabric from Henry’s Daddy Doll

Favorite Home Decor Weight Fabric or Collection – We are plannning to reupholster a victorian couch from Henry's grandfather. I want to do something similar to Nie Nie's couch pictured here.

- Favorite Trend (Motifs) – hedgehogs and mushrooms

- Favorite Trend (Colors)- turquoise and orange

- Favorite Novelty Print – Petit Ecole purchased from Superbuzzy

-

Favorite Floral Print I made a 50’s style dress with this pique from Hancock Fabrics.

- Favorite Organic Print or Collection I love the collection at Volksfaden.

- Favorite Holiday Fabric or Collection – Michael Miller’s Funky Christmas

- Favorite Juvenile Print: Boys – monkey’s for Henry’s romper

From Matatabi

- Favorite Reproduction Print or Collection – Marcus Brother’s Aunt Grace. I have a few, but I am thinking of one of them for café curtains in my kitchen

- Favorite Solid/Nonprinted – anything that coordinates with my prints and is on sale!

- Favorite Fabric Shop – online: Superbuzzy, ReproDepot Walk in: G-street, local: JoAnns

- Favorite New Fabric You Worked With in 2009- craft weight fusible Pellon. OK, technically not a fabric, but it is new to me and helped make cute fabric boxes for my son’s toys.

Bloesem Giveaway

Bloesem hand knitted these baby booties to give away on her blog!
http://bkids.typepad.com/intro/2009/12/what-can-you-win-text-what-do-you-do-textthis-giveaway-ends-sunday-20-dec-and-winner-will-be-announced-monday-21-dec-he.html

Bib and Burp Giveaway

It's Giveaway Day! I am participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day. I am offering a pink and brown bib and burp set. Both are backed with pink chenille and the bib has a Velcro closure.
I am willing to ship internationally. The colors look washed out since I took the photo at night with a flash. It is cuter in person!
To win, leave a comment on this post telling why Henry the Fifth has a pacemaker. (hint: check here.) Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you, either by email or thru your own website. I do not SPAM, nor will I forward a bunch of annoying emails to you.
The winner will be picked from among the correct answers using a random number calculator.

December 3rd Giveaway!

On December 3rd I will be participating in Giveaway Day. On this day, you can go to Sew, Mama, Sew and find a list of crafters/bloggers/sew-ers who are giving away items on their blogs. Check back here December 3rd to see what I am giving away. No need to leave a comment yet. Just be sure to leave one on December 3rd!

The New Hipster

I made this for Henry the Fifth from Burda Pattern 9707. I have another one cut out, but sewing is really hard with a toddler running around!

Last Chance for a Free Bib and Burp

I will be drawing a name tonight. I will use a random number generator. Hubby suggested one of his Dungeons and Dragons dice for the random number generator. Nerd.
Leave a post at the original giveaway post to enter. Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you via your blog or an email address.

Denver Fabrics: A reason to move back to Colorado

Often, as I have searched online for various fab rics, I have come across Denver Fabrics in my searches. This week, my future SIL needed to go look at wedding dress fabric. She asked if I wanted to tag along. To look at fabric. Like, duh. Of course. Since we were in Colorado, I was hope, hope, hoping that we would be going to the famous Denver Fabrics. Sure enough, we did.
It is huge. Not as big as G-street in Maryland, but really really big. And they had sales. Lots and lots of sale tables. Needless to say, I got a little distracted. I found colorful elastic to make bands for my bentos. I found 3 future skirts. I found suit fabric for the baby, or maybe another skirt, or cute stuffed animals. I found the $1 a pound table where they had all sorts of ugly fabrics with a few hidden gems.
I was generally a good girl, but it is a good thing we don't live near there.


My favorite of the bridal shopping pics I took. MOTB,

the Seamstress and outrageously expensive beaded lace.

Sock Monkey Bib and Burp Giveaway

My first Giveaway!! I am giving away this sock monkey applique bib and burp cloth set. Hand made with all new materials. Backed with baby blue chenille. I can vouch for my handmade bibs and burps holding A LOT of baby barf. They are very absorbent and have great coverage for your messiest solid food days. Velcro closure. Machine wash any temp, dry any temp, pre-treat with spray-n-wash for stains.

Open to all (three) of my readers! I am willing to ship overseas for this first giveaway. Although my readers consist of Hubby who lives with me (duh), neighbor who I can just hand them to, and buddy who lives in CONUS.

To enter leave a comment on this post. Link to your blog or leave an email so I can contact the winner. If you don't want to publicize your email, find mine in my profile and send me an email in addition to your comment. I will not publish emails or use them for any purpose other than notifying the winner.
I will use a random number picker to choose the winner. Last entry accepted November 6th, 2008 midnight EST. Drawing will be November 7th, 2008.

addendum: extended entries to Midnight Nov. 7th.

Birthday Gift and an Embarassing Photo

One of Henry the Fifth's little girlfriends turned one a few days ago. For her birthday, BabyH commissioned Mommy to make her "The Cutest Dress Ever." I think I succeeded. She is a little swimmer, so the mermaid fabric I've been hording was a perfect match for her personality.


She is the same weight as Henry, so the poor man had to try it on. He looks so strange in a dress.
I also sent some Green Bay Packers coffee sleeves to keep Henry on he daddy's good side.

Fabric Party Hat Tutorial

I wanted to make a sock monkey party hat for Henry the Fifth's first birthday. I couldn't find a tutorial for a fabric party hat. This is my attempt at documenting how I made his.

Materials:
Paper Party hat
shirt box or cereal box
fabric of choice
matching and contrast scrap strips/remnants
fusible interfacing
pinking shears
scissors
ric rac
needle
thread
1/4 inch elastic

1. Open a store bought paper hat and trace onto an old box top or cereal box. Cut out template. You can use the actual paper hat as your template if you don't need it for guests later.
(There is a PDF template by scholastic here, but it is small compared to a store bought hat.) (Note: on my template I left the tab used for a paper hat to connect together. This was not necessary and will get cut off. Next time I will omit this tab.)

2. Using the template, trace and cut out your fabric and fusible interfacing using pinking shears. Make sure the sticky side of the interfacing matches the wrong side of the hat fabric.

3. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric following the directions on the interfacing.

4. (This step was added later when I realized the hat needed reinforcing.) Cut three 1 inch strips of interfacing to run from the top to the bottom of the hat. Iron on in equidistant spacing. Depending on the weight of your hat topper, you may need more reinforcement. It is possible to add later as needed, just easier to add now.

4. Measure and cut 2 lengths of ric rac to trim the perimeter of the hat bottom. Machine sew onto the hat. I chose contrasting colors I later picked up in the hat topper.

5. Fold the hat right side together matching the edges. (Note: on the template I left the tab used for a paper hat to connect together. This was not necessary and will get cut off.)

6. Sew hat edge with right sides together with 1/4 inch seam. If you haven't already, cut off the extraneous tab.

8. Turn right side out.

9. Make hat topper.

9a. I made a huge pompom following this tutorial by Molly Chicken. The pompom came out beautifully. Unfortunately, the weight of it was too much for the hat to handle, even after reinforcing.

My pompom circle.

Cutting the pompom.

I don't have a photo of the hat with the giant pompom squishing the hat down.

Hat topper, 2nd attempt....
The following is the fix I did to create a smaller pompom-esque fringe for the top of the hat.

9b. Cut 10 to 15, 1/2 inch thick strips of matching and contrasting fabric approximately 6 inches long. (I pulled about 10-15 strips out of the cute, giant pompom I made.)

9c. Thread a needle with matching thread. Knot the end. Push needle thru fabric at the top of the hat so the knot is on the inside of the hat. Then, push needle and thread thru the middle of all of your strips. Arrange strips on the thread so that they hang down in all directions. Bring needle and thread back down thru the fabric strips and thru the tip of the hat again. Repeat until the topper is secure. Be sure to keep the strips from getting caught in the loop of the thread as you sew.

(This is actually an after party shot, as you can tell by the buttercream frosting on the hat!)

You can sort of see how I sewed it on here.

10. Measure a length of elastic to go under the chin of the birthday person. I set the hat on the baby and held the elastic in place. If your birday person is not available, then guesstimate.
(In this view you can see the reinforcing that I added.) Hand tack the elastic to the inside of the hat on either side, making sure the seam is in the back.

PAH-TEY!!!!

(Launder: I hand washed his hat with woolite and it kept it's shape nicely.)

Please comment with questions so that I can edit the tutorial to future use.