Romperalls

I haven't posted here in awhile, but I have been sewing.These romperalls are just adorable and super easy too. And the pattern is free. Too bad Emily has overflowing drawers of summer clothes. She is close to growing out of some, and the next size up is all winter stuff, so maybe I'll have a reason to make more. There is a pants version, but it's not as cute, and it needs a shirt under for sleeves (I don't understand long pants and no sleeves...hot on top, cold on bottom?)

I also made Owen a seersucker suit way back for Easter. I need to let the hem down already, and the vest is a little snug. Yay, he grew!

Cash Wallet

My friend's birthday was last week. They do the Dave Ramsey cash method, so when I saw this on pinterest, I knew I would make it for her. I had to get the zippers, but I had everything else to make it. It was pretty darn easy to sew up. The trickiest part was getting the darn closure on. I sewed it the wrong way several times and had to pick it out multiple times. Argh.

Harvest Apron

Meghan Burley's birthday was yesterday. I know that she is looking forward to gardening at her new home, so I wanted to get her a gardening theme present. I saw some harvest aprons on pinterest and thought it would be a good idea.

This was the style I liked the best. I wish we had more space for a garden. I would totally make this to carry all my daily harvests back inside. Well, when Ben finally convinces me to buy 8 acres half an hour from town I can.

Recovered Glider (Again)

Here it was after the first refinishing:

The problems were that in my childless state I underestimated the dirt and grime that children produce, I reused the original cushions, and I used quilting cotton. But hey, it looked good and it matched the valance that I couldn't use because we needed heavy light-blocking curtains for the window (it faced west).

At one point I washed the bottom cushion and arm pads, and they got totally twisted and warped and basically unusable. Also, it didn't match anything in our new house. I kind of wanted to just buy a different used chair, but I bit the bullet and redid the whole chair again.

This time I used home decor fabric and I bought a new bottom cushion and made new arm pads. The problem was that the arm pads snap into place, so I had to figure out a way to use the original snaps.

I think it turned out pretty well. I only used the white fabric (leftover from curtains I whipped up for our bat apartment) in places that wouldn't get much dirt, so the seat back and the side pocket. The cushion is washable, and arms pads should be too, since I just used two layers of batting.

Kid's Christmas Gifts

I made the Christmas gifts we gave to the kids this year. Santa still gave them something, but the only thing we gave them was what I handcrafted. Lucky them! Luckily, both gifts turned out really well.

I made Brooke a selection of dress up clothes. I also accepted hand me downs (thanks Sas!) and bought one clearance grab bag of princess dress up items. I made her a selection of felt crowns that correspond to each Disney Princess, a leotard, a doctor coat, an owl, and superhero garb. They were fun to make, because it was something different every time and they were all pretty quick to whip up.  I was going to make more, but ran out of time, so I will still make them and give them to her as I go. I plan on making some princess dresses ( I was thinking peasant dress style), dinosaur tails, animal masks/ears/tails, a Mailman outfit, Butterfly wings, and Mustaches.

Here are some pictures:

It works out perfectly that Dad and Sherri gave Brooke an Elsa dress for Christmas. Unfortunately, there is no Elsa crown, so I better figure that out fast. Also unfortunately, Brooke now runs around singing Let it Go at the top of her lungs and trying to convince Haley to call her Your Highness.

I made Haley a card table playhouse out of felt. I wanted to use as much felt as possible for these gifts, because I got whole bolts for $2 and $3.

I dont have any poctures of this, but I think it's really cute and the girls like it, too. It's a little too big on top and I'm not sure how that happened, but I don't care, because the kids don't.

Newborn Footed Pants

I made pair of footed newborn pants using the tutorial that has floated around pinterest for years. It was easy, and they are adorable. For this test pair, I used the leftovers of a black t-shirt I used for a previous project. Nothing like a free pair of baby pants. I don't currently have a newborn to test them on, but they look a little baggy? My babies had stick legs, so maybe not for a normal baby.

Car Seat Blanket

This is the thing I've been meaning to make since we used it with Owen. I took Casey's boy one when we moved thinking I could use it for either gender, and because I thought I would have a boy baby next. So much for mother's intuition. Now Casey is having a boy, and I am having a girl, so it was time to make my own and send the boy one back to her.

The fabric I used still looks very boyish. But it was slim pickings at Walmart, and I wanted to get this thing done without waiting for a trip to the big city. That is also the reason I used a heavy duty metal zipper. It was the only long separating zipper Walmart had.

All it is is two pieces of fleece sewn together with a zipper half on each side, slits cut out for the car seat or stroller straps (I think the velcro to keep the slits closed is pretty optional, but I had it anyway, so I used it to be like the original.), and a little rectangle of fabric sewn on the back to flip over and tuck in the open end of the blanket. It took a little over an hour and a half from measuring and cutting to finish. I must have pulled the fleece when I was putting the zipper in on one side because it ended up longer by like 2 inches. Oops.

Inside

Outside

Zipped up in the car seat

I realize you aren't supposed to put stuff in between the baby and the car seat, but really, the compression factor of this is pretty negligible. It's two layers of fleece. That's not much more than a light jacket. It's worth it to keep a baby warm in an upper-Midwest winter. And now I have enough extra fleece to make some sleep sacks.