Placemat

This is one of the set of four placemats I made for my friend Elaina, who got married on June 9. The red is the same colour and material as her bridesmaids' dresses.

Mei Tai

It's 1:15 in the morning, but I finished it! I'm so proud of myself! So now, if Aaron cooperates, I can wear it to the wedding tomorrow!

Why do I need yet another baby carrier? And why was it worth staying up so late to finish it? Because Aaron is over 30 lbs. And I will likely be carrying him for several hours tomorrow, at the wedding. My ring sling is wonderful, but puts weight on only one shoulder and hip. My baby trekker is also wonderful, but has lots of velcro and clips that have to be done and undone whenever Aaron wants up or down (Which is a lot). The velcro also gets noisy, especially in a quite place like a church! And my shawl... well, that one's going to take a lot more practice before I go out in public with it.

My Mei Tai spreads his weight across both shoulders and my entire waist and is virtually silent, just the whisper of fabric moving against fabric.

I used a combination of patterns from the 2 following sites:
http://www.greendotsewing.com/pages/FrankenKozy.php
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/asian.html

All laid out, flipped over so you can see both sides.

Flower side closeup

Stripes side closeup

Out of thread...

I've been making wedding gifts and have run out of white thread so I can't work on them anymore until I get more. I have a pretty purple thread and I'm looking all over trying to find SOMETHING, anything to sew with it. No ideas are popping into my head yet. Anyways, I'll post pictures of the wedding gifts after the weddings (no peeking, you brides!).

My first quilting adventure!

Ok, so it's not a quilt! It's a pillow for Richie.



He gave me a book on "log cabin quilting" for Christmas. I thought it was how to do quilts that look good in a log cabin. Turns out it's actually a style of quilting, and has nothing to do with what accomodations the quilt is in haha. It's very easy since it's just sewing strips of cloth in a clockwise pattern. I used leftover material from the pants I made Aaron to sew this pillow for Richie. It's 1' square and about 2" thick. I'll give it to him for his 18th birthday on February 19. So if anyone sees this blog before then, DON'T TELL HIM!

I thought it would be cool to give him the first thing I made using the book that he gave me.

Toddler Scarf

I made this scarf for my friend's 20 month old daughter. It's simply 18 dc wide, and each stripe is 6 rows thick. I made it with Bernat Soft Boucle, which is my favourite yarn for fabrics that will be against the wearer's skin. It's sooo soft.

Blanket for Sprout

Now that the blanket has finally arrived, I can post it! It was a surprise for my friend Deb who is expecting her second baby late December/early January. I started working on it in June and finished it on October 15 (I was working on multiple projects at the same time, see the bookmark and toy balls I made also.)

It is approximately 33" x 37" so it will hopefully last him/her through the toddler years as well.

You can view Deb's post about it here:
http://ladyofport.blogspot.com/2006/10/blanket-especially-for-sprout_20.html

Balls

Here are the 3 balls that I croceted for my nephew, Seth's, 1st birthday. Here's another picture:

Bookmark

I made this for my friend Emma's 21st birthday. It took me about 8-10 hours to complete. I haven't worked with thread since I was pregnant with Aaron, so I'd forgotten how much longer it takes! This is what it is supposed to look like:
The design in the heart-shaped part of it isn't quite as crisp as in the original. Not bad for a first try though, I think.

You can find the free pattern here:
http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/10bookmarks/elepineapplebkmk.shtml

Aaron's pants

I am sewing Aaron 2 pairs of pants out of the above materials. One will be camouflage with blue cuffs, and the other will be blue with camouflage cuffs. I will post pictures as it comes together.

JULY 13
I finished the first pair of pants last night, with the exception of the waistband elastic which I have to go buy today. I also cut out the second pair of pants.

Silly me, I cut out the second pair of pants before comparing the first to one of Aaron's other pair of pants to see how it would fit. They are about 1/2" shorter but I usually have to roll up Aaron's pants anyway. If they end up being too short (or as he grows taller), I'll remove the cuffs, sew on 1" more material (since the cuffs are about 1 1/4" wide), and put the cuffs back on. The cuffs will cover where I've sewn on the additional material.

July 14:
I pinned the elastic in last night and tried them on Aaron this morning. They fit perfectly, so I will be sewing the elastic in today, then they will be done! lol you can see the extra length of elastic hanging behind him in the close up picture. Don't tell dh that he was playing with his cell phone! ;)

Green Booties

I have completed one bootie and am halfway through the second one. I will update the pictures when they are both finished. They are size 12 months. Might not fit Aaron, but it's the largest size the pattern gave. I will give them to my nephew, Seth, if they don't fit.

Update: July 12 - I finished both booties. They are too small for Aaron, so I gave them to Seth and they fit him perfectly. I forgot to take a picture of both of them finished, but the 2nd was identical to the first, so you can imagine the pair :)