The Halloween Collection 2008

Without further ado....here's the 2008 Halloween Collection, lovingly handcrafted by Mommy.

First we have a Knight in Shining Armor with a crocheted "chainmail" helmet, hauberk, and gloves. The ensemble is finished with a purchased playset shield, sword & holder, chest protector, and helmet. It's modeled by our first grader and he is so happy with his outfit.

Next up, we have a pair from Star Wars, throw-backs to Mommy's own childhood. The Lego Star Wars game for the Nintendo Wii is very popular in these parts and they have been fascinated by it for some time. When it came time to pick costumes, they thought Princess Leia and Wicket the Ewok would be great.

Here's Princess Leia, modeled by our 4th grade daughter, complete with a crochet cap with the "Leia" buns. The dress will be a warm snuggly nightgown after Halloween as it is made with flannel-backed satin. I used a quick and easy nightgown pattern by Stretch and Sew. The cap is a basic crochet cap and I wound yarn hair buns to attach to it. There is a great online reference for Leia costumes.

Then we have our preschooler as Wicket W. Warrick, Ewok. His suit is supposed to be jammies later, too, but he has to quit growing! He's complete with his spear, felt-tipped, and pouch. Now he wants a slingshot. The suit is an OOP KwikSew sleeper pattern with added length to the arms and legs (should have added a bit width, too!) and the hood with ears is from an OOP Butterick pattern I used 4 years ago for Care Bear Costumes. The accessories were made on the fly with no patterns. The colors are not exactly correct, but he is thrilled! That makes Mommy happy!

To round out this year's collection, we have a Lego block. Yes, that's correct. A Lego block. Our 2nd grade son is not big on dressing up. He has a hard time deciding on a costume. I checked the internet for ideas. A quick and easy costume from a cardboard box, a Lego seemed just right. Afterall, he LOVES Legos. He thought the idea was great. I wasn't sold on the box to be taking to school, lugging on the bus, etc. So I had to think of another way to make it. Enter some blue felt and leftover foam from a bench cushion. He is quite pleased with the results and so am I! (The preschooler looks cute in it, too! I tried to get all of them to be different color Legos, but the others weren't buying into it.)

Happy Halloween!

Modified Snap Press

Here are some pictures I wanted to share. My dad converted my snap press into a foot press. Yeah, Dad!!! It is so much easier to set snaps now.

I cannot tell you how he did it, but he did (after a lot of noodling!) and it works great! The table is a generic worktable from Harbor Freight and even has a handy shelf to hold my small snap supply. The spring is for a storm door because the spring on the press was not quite strong enough to lift the handle back up. The metal bars and rods required welding which I 'm thankful he can do. The pedal is made of plywood.

Thanks, DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crochet Odds 'n' Ends

I've been doing a lot of crocheting and sewing lately. I reward myself for housecleaning chores by being able to craft afterwards. Most of the sewing has been smocks like that in an earlier post this month and bags. I've made a lot string bags similar to this backpack. They are easy and work up quickly. I could see them becoming the standard gift bag for the parties to which my children are invited.

My latest crochet project has been a toddler boy's sweater using the solid hexagons. I used two 12 rounds hexagons made with 6 skeins Moda Dea Cartwheel in the hazey colorway and a K hook. It's a 100% wool yarn and I loved working with it! I just joined them at the center front and back, with the seam on the outside as a design feature. I sewed the sleeves together at the top for about 3/4 of the way, leaving the neck area open. I left the top inch or two of the front open for a notched neckline and to make sure it will go over the head. I added some rounds to the ends of the sleeves to bring them in a bit and then a few rows of ribbing too. I added to the bottom as well. I really like the sweater and the construction is so easy! However, the sleeves end up extremely wide. I guess that makes it good for layering.

It's really hard to see the lines made by the hexagon pattern in the picture, but it looks really nice. I still have several skeins of the yarn left and am thinking of making something for myself. This sweater is being sent off to a deserving charity, after I weave in the ends.

I made a dragon bookmark as a present along with book. It will be given in one of the bags mentioned above. The pattern is available on Crochetville. I changed the tail a bit by making a long chain and making a curly-cue end with 3 dc in the first several chains as I worked my way back up. I slipstitched in the rest of the chain to get back to the body and continued as directed. It turned out cute and used up some leftover wool. I think I'll have to make some more for my own kids!

Finally, there's a really cute Christmas angel. I still need to put a ribbon through and tie it at the waist. It worked up really quickly and I am so excited to have found the pattern at Crochet 'n' More. I had seen the same angel on a site recently worked in worsted weight cotton as a prayer cloth (similar to a prayer shawl). I fell in love with it, but it stated the pattern was no longer available. I tried unsuccessfully to copy it from the picture, so when I was searching for Christmas ornaments and happened upon this angel, I was ecstatic.

Thanks for looking! I hope I've been able to inspire you to craft today!

Red, White, and Blue Day

Today was Red, White, and Blue Day at school to celebrate the U.S. Constitution. 4th grade Daughter has been working on memorizing the Preamble. She didn't have much in her closet to make an outfit with those colors. So last night after I got everyone to bed, and unbeknownst to her, I made her a dress.

I had planned on it being a skirt, but the pattern I drafted was a little, ok a LOT, on the long side. So I added the straps and sash and turned it into a dress. She was so excited when she got up! It did turn out cute. Best of all, it was a stash eater! :)

I have wanted to make a swirl skirt for her, but hadn't yet gotten around to it. One popular pattern for girls as been Studio Tantrum's Redondo but I never purchased it. I do have a women's patten by Park Bench but knew it would be too big. Then while surfing, I came across this page on Flicker. That was all I needed to draft my own. I made 8 panels and serged the seam together. Then I pressed and top-stitched them to one side. I even did a rolled hem on the serger. It really was a quick project! Of course, it came out too big for the planned skirt, but it all worked out in the end!

Maybe I'll even try to re-draft a better skirt pattern for her some day.

Sewing for Children!

With the beginning of school, I've completed a lot projects for my kids. They started last Wednesday and all went with something Mom-made.

Here they are eagering anticipating that first morning's bus ride. Son2 has his Mom-made backpack. Daughter has the dress, sweater, and backpack that I made. Son1 wore Mom-made shorts. They all had a great day!

Yesterday, I used my serger to make rolled-hem on rectangles of fabric about 10" x 15". They are re-useable placemats for their lunches. I tried to use some I-spy type fabrics so they could have fun with their friends while eating. They said the teachers and principal really liked them.

I couldn't leave out Son3. Today he wanted to paint. I thought he needed a smock. He settled on some Thomas the Tank Engine fabric in my stash and patiently waited about 1/2 hour for me to sew it up. It turned out really cute, I think. I mis-measured and cut it too short, but it's perfect for him right now. Thanks to this site for the tutorial. It's easy to follow. I did a rolled edge on the armhole instead of the bias tape.

Off to see the next Picasso in action!

Backpacks on Parade!

Thinking about the beginning of a new school year means thinking about school supplies...backpacks, in particular. Daughter has always been hard on backpacks, going through at least 2 (even more!) a year and she's only going into 4th grade! She carries everything but the kitchen sink with her. On a positive note, she'll be a good mommy in the much distance future! :)

I decided to to try my hand at making one myself and see if it lasted any longer. I already had most of the supplies, including the Green Pepper pattern, and what I needed I was able to salvage from a worn out bag. It is rated as an easy pattern and I like to make bags, so I jumped in with both feet and was quite impressed with the results.



I made the first bag for Son who is entering 1st grade. I couldn't get a grasp on the size of the bag from the listed dimensions and if it turned out small it would still be OK for him but not Daughter. I followed the pattern directions closely (an exception for me!). However, I did flat line the red Ultrex with some quilting cotton (construction vehicles). I put the wrong sides together and treated them as one during the construction process. I used the cotton for the upper pocket, too. I also added a faux leather bottom (that runs up the sides as well) to help it wear better. I wanted real leather, but didn't have any so we will see if this works. On an inside seam I added a name tag that I embroidered on my machine.



Daughter was quite taken when she saw the finished product. Wow, Mommy!! She took it to her room to see if all her stuff would fit inside. It did and she requested one of her own, with more pockets, please. So, I set about to make one for her.



I used a Michael Miller's laminated fabric for the bag and coordinating polka dots for the lining, straps and added side elasticized pockets. It has the same faux leather bottom as Son's, but in 3 pieces as I made a cutting mistake, uh-um, design element. I added an inside folder pocket from plain pink, too. (She's filled it with her recorder and ruler.) I added about 6" to the strap length, also at her request. The others did seem too short. There is a name tag in the seam. I did not have any suitable webbing, so I made my own from fabric. It does not work well, so I had to sew it in place, i.e. it is not adjustable. That's OK, it will be easy enough to change if/when I need to do so. I added triangle wings in the seam to attach the webbing as I liked that on the purchased pack I salvaged for the hardware.



I may have yet one more to make. Son going into 2nd grade still has a backpack that Grandma got on clearance as a back-up last year. Guess he's not as hard on them as his siblings! But if he wants a Mommy-made one, he'll get one too.

After taking the webbing off the worn-out pack, I've gone back and cut off anything that is usable. It has a bazillion miles of zippers on it and with plenty of life left in them. Reduce, reuse, recycle! I'm reminding myself of my grandmothers who used to cut the buttons off shirts/dresses when the fabric wore out. Not a bad practice!

Anyway, thanks for looking and staying long enough to read this wordy post! If anyone wants to make a backpack, I do suggest this pattern. I found the directions to be clear and easy to follow. I would lengthen the straps and strap batting about 6" unless you are making this for a smaller child though.

Hexagon Baby Sweater

A few weeks ago, I ran across a hexagon baby sweater on someone's blog. Needless to say I was intrigued. I followed the link to the YouTube video and watched a lady crochet as she spoke Portugese describing what she was doing. I had no chance of understanding the spoken language, but I could understand the hook language. So after watching all 4 parts several times, I started my own.

After joining the hexagons, this is what I had. One hexagon is made with one less round than the other. They are joined at the center back working the last round on the smaller one and joining it to the larger one simultaneously. I was skeptical, but it really worked.

An amorphous blob.

With some careful folding, much like Zimmermann's knitted BSJ, it became this:

After adding a collar and trimming, I have a cute sweater:

I did a different trim than shown on the video. Next time I think I might do the ribbing on the bottom as well. Now I just need to add a hat and booties to it for a cute set.

I need to measure it to see what size it is. I think it may need fewer rounds next time and more worked on the bottom and center front like the BSJ. I also would like to try a more solid version as this one will not keep baby very warm in cold climates.

As I was getting ready to post, I discovered that there are entries at crochetville.org also. This link will take you to one.

Swimsuit

Daughter needed a new swimsuit. We had bought one early in spring, but it didn't fit as well as we'd have liked. I thought she needed more protection from the sun. Although, we do most of our swimming in the late afternoon/early evening. We don't want Daddy to miss out on all the fun!

Anyway, enter my wonderful stash of patterns and fabric. Before the kids were home from their last half-day of school, she had a new suit. I did actually buy the solid blue this month because I had no solid colors. But the blue floral was purchased several years ago from fabric.com and had lived happily in the stash since. I did lined it with nude swimsuit lining I purchased at JoAnn Fabric. Please notice the swim cap. That was at her request and she loves it. It's a free online pattern at sundroptextiles.com.

Now I need to make shirts for the boys. They have put in their orders and think that Mommy can sew anything! I'll have to see if I can make their wishes come true!

Aprons, aprons, aprons!

OK, so that seems to be a really small picture. These are the aprons I made for the kids' teachers and bus drivers to express my appreciation. Two of them are butterflies with different purple borders, two are frogs with lavender borders (only one is shown), two are milk and cookies with white borders and the last is cherries. I think I'll be keeping that one for myself. It's the only one with a pocket, only because I ran out of time. I started this project awhile ago, but it got put to the back burner. I finished this afternoon and they'll be handed out tomorrow.

If you click to enlarge the picture, you can get a better picture of the frogs. The cherries are a long ago print from Daisy Kingdom backed with some Mary Engelbreit. It's one of my favorites. Everything came from stash! Wahoo! Soon I'll be able to empty another box!

I did not use a pattern, but was inspired by the Four Corners Apron by Vanilla House.

Gift Bear

Our daughter is a very sweet child. When she received birthday money a few weeks ago, she decided that she wanted to go to Build-A-Bear workshop to make a bear for her great-grandmother who is ill. Ironically, the money had come from her great-grandmother and her great-great uncle Paul (g.g.'s brother and caregiver). As things go, the illness is terminal and Grammy will not be with us much longer. We've known that for at least a week, but had not told the children. As I finished working on the first communion dress Saturday, I asked Daughter to look through my patterns for stuffed animals. Then, I suggested that we make one for Grammy instead. Daughter loved that idea! She picked out the fabric for a bunny but when we didn't have quite enough decided a bear would be fine. She hoped the bear would get there in time for Grammy's 91st birthday this Thursday. I ensured her that it would, but had then had to explain that Grammy might not live until then. Without missing a beat, she replied, "That's ok, Mommy. We can give it to Uncle Paul then as a memory of her." I was touched.

update: Grammy died May 5, 2008 at 10:40 pm. She did not get to see the bear. Daughter decided that she did want to give it to "Paul-Paul" as a remembrance instead of burying it with Grammy.

First Communion

Daughter celebrated her First Communion today. It turned out to be a lovely day! I was worried when I awoke and saw gray clouds as I thought her dress wouldn't be warm enough. It was perfect, though!

I made it from McCall's pattern 5309. When I got home with the pattern I was disappointed to see that it required 4 yds. of 45" fabric. I didn't see much in the store that I liked and knew most pieces that I already had wouldn't have that much. I was REALLY excited when a trip to the basement found the white eyelet with purple roses in my stash. I knew it would make a great dress and there was just enough. I had planned to work carefully and make a muslin to test the fit as I had plenty of time. But, things didn't work that way...if it wasn't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done! On Friday I cut the dress out, sewed most of it together before she came home from school and hoped that it would fit. She tried it one when she came home. It fit, but not as well as I would have like. I moved the ties up a bit and that made a big difference! It fit so much better after I had the lining in it. I had to cut quite a bit off the hem as it was really long, but I'll know next time to make it shorter when I cut it out.

This was the first project to use my new cutting table from JoAnn Fabrics. It is their Sew Essentials folding table that opens to 36" x 60". (I think.) The best part is that it stands 36" tall so I didn't end up with an aching back from bending to cut. I had wavered about buying it, but now I'm really glad that I did.

More quilts

Our "Caring for Cooper group" learned this week that Cooper Hospital in Camden is expecting 3 sets of triplets soon. One set has already made their arrival. I'm trying to get some quilts made. I still have many of the tops left from January, but most remaining sets are gender-specific. So, I made a new non-specific set pictured above. It's red, white and blue with cute sheep and stars. All from stash (aged for at least a few years)! Another 6 yds. gone! Yeah! The other picture is a scrap quilt. The pieced blocks are the "trimmings" from the January quilt tops. I simply sewed them together, then cut blocks. The extra squares are leftovers from my sons' curtains and a remnant piece. Although it's not very big, it's one of my favorite!

BSJ: Baby Surprise Jacket

The Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) is a famous pattern by knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's really great because the only seams to sew are the two shoulder/sleeve seams at the top. This design is pure engineering genius and requires some origami-type folding at the end. This one is made with Patons Kroy Socks Jacquards yarn in the hip hop colorway (3 skeins, although there's some left of the last. A hat, maybe??). The edging is a heather gray Red Heart Super Saver, only because it happend to be close by and looked like it would make a nice finished edge. The buttons are years old. Thank you stash! And now for the real surprise...this is done with CROCHET! Yes, this is a crocheted BSJ! I pretty much followed the EZ pattern using single crochet and skipping the knit only rows. I think I ended up with about 60 rows. Although I can crochet other baby sweaters faster, I do like this one and will make more. I'm already planning my next one. ☺

Leprechaun Traps

Son1 had a fun homework assignment this week: build a trap to catch a leprechaun. Hmmm. It took some thought and internet searching, but he thinks he made a winner! It's the Pot O' Gold Slide. Once the leprechaun climbs the rope, he will think he's in for a fun time on the twisty, spiral slide. Little does he know, that at the end he will slide through the gold fringe and fall into the box. If one should happen to try it out, he'll have some food as we used marshmallows to try it out. Believe it or not, it actually works. If Son1 should happen to catch one, we'll have to cut a hole in the box to get it out. Son1 didn't want to risk a door that one of the tricky little fellows might be able to open.



Daughter1 thought this was great fun so she made a trap that we can use at home. Hers is the Lucky Cafe where unknowing leprechauns will fall through the hole in the floor to the box below when they sit down for a bite to eat.

Wonder if any of the little guys will come to visit???

Bevy of Baby Quilt Tops

A few weeks ago, a friend posted a link to make a Super-Sized Nine Patch baby quilts on our charity crafting group. http://quiltmaker.com/patterns/patt230.pdf I was sold from the minute I opened the link and knew it was something that I'd try someday.

Walking through Wal-Mart on Tuesday, I saw some coordinating fabrics on clearance and knew it was time. I bought enough for 3 sets of quilts and even found some 1 yd and larger pieces in the remanent bin for the backs of a few. Here's the beginning of my addiction:

These fabric sets were bought for this purpose. The first is two Boyd's bear prints and a blue w/white polka dot. The next is two car/truck prints with a small black on yellow print. Then, I bought an animal print and put it with a mottled yellow and blue calico-like print. I had also bought a remanent piece of white with the word "moo" written allover. I had thought to use it to back one of the quilts.

While I was ironing the fabric, I remembered I had several yards of "cow spot" print that never made it into Christmas pageant costumes. If I could find it and a John Deere print I'd be able to make another set.

I didn't find John Deere, but I found wonderful pasture scene that I'd bought several years ago from Fabric.com. Turns out it is a Michael Miller print. Although the pictures don't justice to any of the sets, this one is especially cute! I have enough spots to back all three quilts.

This set is some retro prints that have been aging in my stash for a year or more. I had bought them to make a boutique-y dress from daughter, but hasn't happened so I decided I should use them. The colors are actually turquoise, pink, orange, and lime green. I have one more piece that coordinates to back one of the quilts.

Now I need to scour my stash for some more backing fabrics. I think that means this has turned into a stashing busting experience! Hip-hip hooray!

I hope to post some finished products before too long. I have enough batting here for 3 quilts, I think. More is on the way from Joann.com. Hope it travels quickly!

Thanks for looking!

Room Transformation

We moved back to NJ at the end of September. Since then, the boys have been in a very pink bedroom with pink walls and dark rose carpet. They did not complain about it too much, but we felt it was the time to make a change.

The inspiration was dinosaur quilt/shams that I ordered from the outlet section JCPenney's online catalog. Then I ordered a dinosaur wallpaper border from discountborders.com (hoping that I'd like it in person once it came) and decided upon a color scheme of off-white and sage green.

The kids and I picked up all the paint and supplies Wednesday. I spent all day Thursday painting. I was not pleased after the first coat of white was done, but was encouraged by how well the green looked. A second coat of white made all the difference! We used paint from Wal-Mart, berkshire white and green marble.

I didn't take any before pictures, but here are the new colors with a stripe of the old pink in between. That is where the bottom of the border will go.

The kids had been promised that they could help paint, but most of it was done by the time they got home from school. They settled with helping to paint dinosaur tracks on the wall. I enlarged a stencil from one of their books, traced it twice onto a cereal box, cut it out, and ran it through the Xyron laminator. Each child got to make at least one set of footprints. I had planned to make many more, as if a dinosaur walked on all the walls around the room but decided that having them on the white would make a painting nightmare in the future.

I had forgotten to buy the wallpapering supplies, so we had to run out first thing Friday to pick them up. Putting up that first strip of border was not easy as we needed nearly the entire 15-ft. spool and my only helper was my 3-yr. old. But, we got it done. The rest went up much easier (well, until nearly the end when I lost track of my smoothing tool. I think said 3-yr. old had "borrowed" it).

The room was all put back together in time for bed. The boys were glad about that! They were tired of sharing the double bed in the guest room. Thomas the Tank Engine can still be seen in some of their accessories.

I still have the curtains to make as needing to go back to the store took away from my sewing time. They should go together quickly, though. I'd like to get a few scatter rugs, too.The border has a dark rose/burgundy stripe at the top and bottom, so the rose carpet goes very nicely. Since this is the nicest carpet in any of our rooms, we are pleased about that!

I watch very little TV, but do like to see HGTV's Decorating Cents, so in Joan Steffend's style, I did all this in under $200, which includes the three quilt sham/sets.