Reinterpreting the pink princess

Does anyone else get a little tired of the pink princess theme?  I love pink and purple and princesses and sparkles and glitter and fairies and rainbows and unicorns and happily ever after as much as the next girl, but I just can't quite bring myself to actually buy or sew with cheesy pink princess fabric. 

But my little girl LOVES pink princesses and wants a pink princess dress.  And a pink princess school bag.  And a purple princess dress.  Etc...  so I'm always trying to dream up ways to reinterpret the theme and make things "pinkalicious" enough to capture her imagination while still appealing to my sense of style.  So, a big "Thank you" to Miss Heather Ross, for designing Far Far Away 2, the ultimate princess collection of fabrics, done in a sophisticated color pallate that still incorporates the all-important pink and purple. 

After hoarding this fabric for quite a while, too anxious to actually cut into it and make anything, I finally made a few skirts, which I'll show you if I ever get it together enough to take a picture while she's actually wearing it!  More recently though I made a tote bag - inspired by Lainey's recent slew of princess drawings.  I love how she's so proud of her artwork, and likes to explain what she's drawn, and tell us little stories about the people in her pictures. 

She was "just a little bit blue in her face."

"She is purple and blue.  Her crown is TURQUOISE."  Not blue.  Not Green.  Turquoise.  Thank you very much!  And "it sits on TOP of her hair!" 

My favorite simple tote bag tutorial is this one  from Skip to my Lou.  It's not only lined, but fully reversible, and I love to sew things that are finished so well they are as nice on the inside as the outside.  I didn't make my tote the same dimensions - but otherwise followed her instructions.  

The larger areas are appliqued wool felt, and the detail work is embroidered.  I added in Lainey's signature too, and "08/11" so we'd have the date. 

In just this past month, Lainey's preschool teacher taught her to make her "E's" stand upright, instead of laying down and napping.  (We both LOVE Miss Kim and Debbie)! 

I photocopied and reduced the two drawings that inspired the design element on this bag, and made a little laminated tag that is sewn into the bag in lieu of a name tag!  Lainey loves to point out how she made it, and mommy made it.  What a fun way to collaborate w/ my daughter!  And to preserve a tiny bit of her voluminous artwork! 

So, where's the Heather Ross Princess fabric in all of this?!!  The lining!  It is this gorgeous purple sleeping beauty print.  Now to get really brave, I'm going to try making a Far Far Away 2 "princess dress" using the  Oliver and S Ice Cream pattern for the first time.  Wish me luck!

A quilt for Jack

Yay!  I finally finished Jack's quilt!  It is just like Lainey's, made with patchwork squares cut from his baby clothes, with a minky backing to keep it soft and light.

 

It was so much fun to go through the giant piles of tiny little baby clothes and decide what to cut up for his quilt.  And I used lots of little extras, like buttons, pockets, and patches too. 

A little onesie from Aunt Ann, who is known for finding gifts with people's names on them!

A patch from his first pair of "COOL" jeans, and the little crab from the outfit he wore in his birth announcements!

Little pockets for any treasures he collects...

A little bit of hand embroidery (not my specialty)!  I hope Jack knows how loved he is, every time he cuddles up with his new quilt and drifts off to sleep. 

The mail must go through!!!

We all got new shoes recently, and as the shoeboxes began stacking up, I got inspired to make something out of them.  What does one make with a bunch of empty shoeboxes, you ask? 

I'm so glad you asked!

I spraypainted them out on the driveway (got some funny looks from the neighbors), and turned them into mailboxes for Dog, Cat, Fish, Bird, Frog, and Pony. 

Why, you ask? 

I thought it might be fun to make a matching game for my little ones - with pictures, words, and numbers!  So once the mailboxes were labeled, I made letters and postcards for them to deliver.

And what do our little mail carriers use to haul the mail around to all of the mailboxes?  Why, mail bags, of course! 

I used Skip to my Lou's reversible tote bag tutorial, with a rainbow home-dec weight material and a bandana as the lining fabric.  

So much fun!!!  I hope they'll like playing with it!  And, the song is stuck in my head!  The mail must go through.... no matter if it rains or snows, the mail must go through!  No complaints though, it replaces "In the garden of vegetables" as the current "stuck in my head" selection, and none to soon either! 

Happy mailing!

Thank you Alicia Paulson



Find Alicia's book here.



I never would have made a quilt if it weren't for Alicia Paulson.  There are lots of great projects in her wonderful book, "Stitched In Time," but the one that caught my eye was the baby quilt.  I think what really got my attention was that she made it seem simple, and unintimidating.  Completely within reach, even for someone new to sewing and quilting. 

Thank you Alicia Paulson!  I'm so happy that my little girl gets to snuggle up and sleep with a handmade quilt from her mommy, made from some of her most-loved baby and toddler clothes!  And I get a little trip down memory lane, without digging into garbage bags of old clothes hidden up in the attic! 

It was a lot of work, cutting up the clothes, cutting the squares, stabilizing the knit fabric squares, fusing and top-stitching the small squares (from fabrics that weren't big enough to yield 6.5" squares) onto the larger ones, piecing it all together, quilting, binding... but it was so worth the effort. 

This was made slowly, over a few months time.  There were a few interruptions - other projects to make, little ones to care for, boo-boos to heal, a business to run, birthday parties to plan... you know the drill! 

More than once I made a detour to the baby album, just to remember what she looked like when she wore the little pink and green turtles print, the newborn romper with smocking, or the shirt with the little cupcake applique. 

It's really a kind of functional scrapbook.  Full of memories and love.

Lainey and I went to the fabric store together to choose the backing fabric, a hot-pink super-soft minky.  I love how the whole quilt is light as a feather, and whisper-soft, more like a light blanket than a heavy, stiff quilt.  Perfect for a little girl!

A little pocket for her treasures!

I hope that she grows up knowing how special she is, and how much her momma loves her!

Another rag rug

Long time no talk, right?!  Well, first, look at these gorgeous flowers!!!  They sit on the dining room table and smell so good, and make me smile every time I walk by. 

I've been crocheting again... making a new kitchen rug.  Tried to use up all of the fabric that's was purchased with best intentions but just didn't quite work out.  (Read: make room in stash closet for some of the new fabrics I've fallen in love with)!

So, hopefully you won't think that some crazy crocheting clown has taken over around here, because I warn you, it is a LITTLE bit colorful. 

It's broad stripes, of multiple fabrics cut in 2" strips of "yarn," starting with turquoise, green, brown, yellow, purple, white, red, and brown again.  I crocheted along a thick off-white yarn with the fabric as well, for some texture. 

 It's a little crazy, but fits right in with the rest of my kitchen/children's art gallery!

The wacko decor of this whole room makes me feel as happy as the flowers do!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Dear wise readers,

This morning we woke up to this mess!  All of the clothes from the closet and dresser, plus all of the books and toys dumped into a huge pile on the floor.  And baby Jack's first words to me this morning  were, "Lainey did a mess!"  He then proceeded to joyfully play in said mess, while his sister protested, "we BOTH made the mess." 

Suggestions?  Advice?  Sympathy?
All of the above?! 

Sincerely,
OneTiredMama

The Entry

I've been threatening to make a rug for our front entryway for about 5 years now.  Pretty much ever since we moved in.  Periodically, I'll go on a shopping quest, where I'll look in local shops, scour the internet, and mention it to my mom, sister, and best friends incessantly....  but I have had no success in finding the right rug. 

Am I picky?!  Yes!!!  I wanted something in white or off-white with a dash of light tan or something, and oval shaped.  So I'd look all over, and then threaten to make one, and then just live with the little square piece of carpet that they cut for us last time we got new carpeting.  Ugh! 

I mean, who in there right mind would MAKE a RUG?!!!  Well, it turns out that people all over blogland do, and they even give ideas and tips on how to do it yourself!  Yeah!!!  Five years is a long time!   Maybe I should have done this long ago?!!!  Ugh! 

So apparently there are a few different ways to make a rug, but mostly I saw them either braided, or crocheted.  Since you'd have to actually sew a braided rug together, and I don't like trying to sew through big heavy thick stuff too much, I decided to crochet mine and avoid that hassle! 

I used off-white cotton knit fabric, with a thick strand of yarn (with a copper thread) along with it, and crocheted this with a GIANT hook.  It took about 9 yards of fabric, cut into a continuous 2-3 inch strip.  To cut it, I started from one end, and cut a (approx.) 2.5" strip, stopping about 2" from the end.  Then I moved my scissors over 2.5" and started cutting a parallel strip from the other end.  I repeated this process until the entire yardage was cut in a continuous strip.  (See figure below, where the dotted line is the cut line, and the red dots are where I stopped cutting). 

So, it took about 4 hours to make this.  I started with a chain of 5-6, and then went around and around, increasing every few stitches, in order to make it lay flat.  If you don't increase enough, it starts to curl up into a bowl shape, and if you increase too much, it will be wavy and rippled, so you have to keep trying and see what works well.  (And ripping out stitches as needed)!  I only stitched into the front hook of each chain, to make it less rigid. 

It sure felt good to throw out that old scrap of carpet!   Next I think I'll work on something new for the kitchen!!!