snug as a bug

Let me begin by saying that this snuggie wrap blanket (not to be confused with a snuggie) is my favorite baby project to date.  It was inexpensive, not too time consuming, and only a little frustrating, which is more than I can say for the everything bag.  Another one of Amy Butler's designs from her book Little Stitches for Little Ones, it was much easier than the bag and I wouldn't hesitate to make another.  

I lured Matt down Route 2 by telling him we could go to Harbor Freight Tools if he would join me at Joann's.  When we arrived I convinced him to pick out the fabric... I figure he should have some say in this child's accessories since I've basically been choosing everything.  I think the dinosaurs are pretty cute considering the usual selection available.

The blanket features a tie that slides through two button holes at the back for securing the baby once he or she is wrapped up inside.

It's lined in fleece for extra warmth and cuddliness...

and the hood is just plain adorable, or at least it will be once there's a baby's head inside of it.  I made the 0-3 month size and I'm planning on making one in the 3-6 month size for later use, but next time I'll pick out the fabric... maybe some of Alexander Henry's spotted owls!  We'll see what the next couple of months allow for.

back to school

image source

After fighting the feeling that autumn was approaching I finally have to give in to it... school is back in session as of tomorrow!  Fall doesn't actually begin until September 23rd but when that bell starts ringing regularly at 8:50 a.m. Monday through Friday it sure seems like the seasons have changed.  Even though I'll be at school (a.k.a. work... I call it both and people are often confused) during the week instead of gallivanting around town I hope to keep up with the tiny hummingbird.  Be on the lookout for more sewing projects, New England fall activities (hooray for apple picking!), places to eat in RI, nursery progress, and eventually the arrival of our baby!  It's going to be sooner than I realize, I'm sure.  So wish me luck as I attempt to maintain some of my carefree summer spirit as I begin a new school year with my third and fourth grade students.  I'm looking forward to a successful start for all of us!  

the everything bag

Operation Baby Preparation Project #2 was the everything bag from little stitches for little ones by Amy Butler.  Let me begin by saying that this project is not for the faint of heart, or at least not for a beginning/intermediate sewer (I still can't get over the fact that I must refer to myself and like-hobbied people as a system for transporting sewage) such as myself.  Luckily my cousin Shannon (who makes amazing children's clothing, for sale in her Etsy store Bella Couture Designs) wanted to make the bag as well so we worked on them together and after, oh, seven or eight hours we had completed both of them.  Overall I'm really happy with how mine turned out.  Two of my fabrics are from Erin McMorris's Park Slope collection, birds and flower field in teal which I used for the pockets and lining.  The main fabric is Anna Maria Horner's dance floor in teal from her Garden Party collection.  I didn't pay careful attention when cutting my side pocket fabric out of the bird print and thus ended up with bird flying north and south rather than east and west, but I don't think anyone would notice unless they looked closely.  Or unless I point it out, which I have done every time I've showed the bag to someone.      

The pockets are roomy and the divider is a nice feature, too.  I actually used the bag for about a week and loved how organized I was.  My usual bag has only two pockets and is large enough to fit a change of clothes complete with shoes and a plated banana bread (I've done it) including all the normal purse things so you can imagine how easy it is for me to lose things inside.  I can't wait to fill this one up with baby things.  Anyway, if you decide to try your hand at making this diaper bag make sure to check out the corrections here and get a good night's sleep.   

rock-a-bye

What do you get when you combine a hand-me-down cradle, a gigantic piece of leftover fabric from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley collection, and a scrap of minky dot?   

A beautiful place for baby to sleep while he's teeny tiny!  My cousin Shannon and her husband Matthew very kindly gave us the cradle that they used for each of their three kids, but along with it came outdated tan and blue teddy bear bedding.  I decided to remedy that wee problem by going through my stash and was lucky enough to find some fabrics that I knew would work for a baby boy and a girl, too, if one ever comes along.

I recovered the bumper and made new ties for it with the help of my friend and teacher, Lorraine.  

She also showed me how to make a simple cradle/crib/bed sheet so now I can whip them up quite easily.  I plan on making a few more for the cradle so we can mix it up a bit.  Also in case of accidents (*wink).

Now all we need is the baby!

Leah's Flock of Triangles

This quilt is almost a year old at this point as it's been used by a very sweet baby since she was born.  OK, well almost since she was born.  I didn't quite have it finished in time.  Anyway, I asked my cousin TJ to bring the quilt to a family cookout so I could take some photos.  I had handed it off to him and his wife for their baby Leah last October without documenting any of the process or finished product.  So here it is, the second quilt in my quilt roster, Denyse Schmidt's Flock of Triangles (crib size) from her book, 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Projects.  

I used five different Stonehill Collection fabrics (available at  Jo-Ann's), repeating the pink leaf in the binding and the brown polka dot on the back.  My favorite prints are the bright on white floral and the green.  The design was surprisingly manageable for a beginner like myself and I would definitely make it again.  My one problem was getting the bottom points to stay pointy... a lot of them ended up inside the seams of the quilt top but I don't think it makes the quilt any less pretty!  

Here's ten month old Leah wrapped in her quilt, no doubt wondering why she's bundled up in August.  With lots of babies due in the coming months I should have lots more finished quilt posts coming your way!    

we be jammin'

After many hours in a hot field, many more hours in a hot kitchen, and maybe one more hour in a reasonably cool dining room I have adorable jars of jam that are perfect for giving as gifts or hoarding for oneself.  Which is what I'm doing so far. 

I scoured blogland for cute canning paraphernalia and ended up using labels from eat drink chic.  (There are loads of others - check out the tags and labels from domestifluff, labels from A Sonoma Garden, and more labels from merriment design.)  

I printed the labels on sticker paper to make it easy on myself.

The red checkered fabric was in my stash so I simply used my pinking shears to cut squares for each jar. 

The 'homemade with love' tags were adorable but I didn't end up using them on the jars.  I have to admit that I changed my mind about them because I didn't have the right kind of string for tying them around the jars and I didn't want to go to the store and buy some.  'The jars look so cute already,' I told myself and then I whipped out my camera and started snapping away.

Next on the agenda: raspberry and blueberry jam.  How about you?  Have you ever canned anything?  Any suggestions?

sticky red fingers

We began the night with two gigantic bowls of strawberries and several stalks of rhubarb.

I was the designated knife wielder and therefore spent most of the night hunched at the table feverishly slicing stems off the strawberries and cutting the rhubarb into more reasonable lengths.

Meghan was in charge of endless stirring and scooping.  My Auntie Mame directed us all night since she's the jam expert.  I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed a very successful but looong night of canning.  Several hours and varying degrees of arm ache later we had churned out jars and jars of strawberry and strawberry rhubarb jam.  Tune in tomorrow for the finished product!

j-e-l-l-o, part 2

Have you been wondering about the outcome of my rainbow jello experiment which I mentioned here last week?  No?  Well, I can inform you anyway that it was a smashing success!  

After several hours of boiling water, stirring powdered flavored gelatin into boiling water until it dissolved, carefully layering colors, and walking precariously from the counter to the refrigerator I can happily say that making rainbow jello, while time consuming, is totally worth it.  On second thought, you may want to check with Matt on that as he did the majority of the boiling, stirring, layering, and precarious walking.  I mostly opened the refrigerator door.   

All my little cousins were delighted with the jiggly treat but I maintain that I was the most excited of all.  

A few tips if you plan on attempting this culinary feat - it takes more time but don't boil and dissolve the jello all at once!  It begins to set on the counter sooner than you think and each layer takes about twenty minutes to firm up in the fridge.  That's a lot of waiting around for a liquid bowl of jello.  The same goes for the sweetened condensed milk mixture but it's unavoidable since it's made it one batch.  Matt discovered that you can microwave it back to it's pre-gelatinous state and it's good as new.  Not sure if that would work with the jello.  Next time I plan on leaving out the sweetened condensed milk (we used this recipe, by the way) to achieve the effect that Karen talks about here.  Wish me luck!