Snapshots: The Ehresmanns Do Alice In Wonderland

Click over to the design blog for snapshots and details on our family Halloween photo shoot!

Part One.

Part Two.

And keep checking for more posts, food is up next!

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Chair Redo on CE Graphic Design

Click over to my graphic design blog to see a detailed post about the new chair cushion slipcovers in our front room! Click here to be taken to the post. :)

A Photo Catchup Post

 Marek, our smiley 5 month old. Sporting a hat Mommy didn't quite finish because I broke my machine today. :( [It has ears though, so finished or not, it's stinkin' cute.]

 Chair cushions slip-covered. A modern yellow chevron to contrast the older, dare I say, ahem, vintage wooden chair frame. I can't decide if it needs buttons. No buttons=clean lines which rhymes with chevron [or does it?]; while buttons=tailored, perhaps even grown up. You decide.

 Chair cushions pre-slipcover.

 Freestyle pattern fleece pullover. I went through 3 needles in my quest for latte-colored comfy awesomeness and no-need-to-finish-edges. Handled!

 A felty-fleecy patchwork cover for my Nook. 

 

Willa's no-sew infinity scarf. [You're never too young to be a hipster. And who doesn't love a tiny hipster?]

And now we're caught up, project-wise anyway. :)

Some Quiet Time Fun [for Willa + her Mommy]

The bag sports a felt owl on one side and patchwork felt on the other. It's lined with a duck cotton and the straps are the cotton as well. The bag includes: matching socks, star puzzle, counting fruit and words that start with b play mats, colored pencil roll, glitter calm jar and whale hide + seek toy, as well as the felt dress up play mats previously posted [with new friends!]. She calls it her purse. :)

I had tons of fun making everything, and she enjoys quietly playing with it all. My thought was to take it places with us where she needs something to keep her occupied. Like the doctor's office. Or church. But so far it works just as well at home. And the best part for Mommy is getting to make new things to trade out of the bag so things don't get dull. I heart easy fun projects!

A Couple of Projects

I was inspired this weekend to work on two new projects.
The first, is this:

A 'quiet time' dress up book. Made from felt and hot glued where necessary. I had so much fun making it, seriously more than is appropriate, and I love it so much I ALMOST don't want Willa to play with it. I've settled for supervising her playing with it. :) 

I whipped it up on Saturday night with felt I had on hand. I'm feeling the itch to go get MORE felt in MORE colors to make MORE clothes. Maybe even a new book! With a frog or a duck or an elephant or a giraffe. Okay maybe two new books! Aargh too much fun!!

The other project is this:

An easy hand tied quilt/blanket. 

[Can I call it a quilt if I didn't do much, ahem, any quilting?] 

I was looking over Aunt Barb's star quilt/blanket she made for my folks many moons ago and I thought, I can do that! Especially now that my machine is all fixed up, thanks to Coleen and her machine guy. 

We recently got new sheets as the old ones had a HUGE tear in them. The new sheets are purple. So I picked up fabric that I thought blended with the new sheets and had the fabric store cut them to two yard lengths for me so I ended up with 4 pieces measuring 43" by 2 yards. I straight stitched them together into a big loop, then stitched closed both sides, leaving a bit on one edge to get the batting in there. I assume this is not the best way to do this, but it was the easiest for me at the time, and I've never been afraid to make it up as I go! So I stuffed the batting inside, tucking it up along the edges and pinning it in place. Then I stitched all around the edge about a 1/2" in. Then I stitched it all around the edge again, inside the previous stitching by about 1/2", making a cute little border.

[That idea I took directly from Aunt B's quilt/blanket. Thank you Aunt B!]

After that I only had to hand tie a few spots with some yarn to keep all three pieces from shifting all around. Done in a day! Those are the kinds of projects for me, fast and done in one sitting. I lose interest if I have to work on it for days. I guess that means I'm either easily distracted, or lazy. Maybe both!

DIY Breast Pads

While nursing Marek the other night I looked into making my own washable breast pads to replace the disposables I had left over from nursing Willa. I'm almost out and though they are crazy absorbent, I find them uncomfortable, almost scratchy, and why not use some of my scrap flannel fabric to save money versus buying more disposables or even washable pads?

Why not, indeed. :)

 First I used a disposable pad to make a paper pattern. Some of the articles I read recommended the inner layers be slightly smaller to reduce bulk around the edges. So I made the second pattern piece slightly smaller.

 

 Then I cut 3 pieces for each pad in the smaller circle size for the inner layers and 1 larger circle size for the inside of the pad all in flannel. I also cut 1 larger circle size in a thin fleece for the outside of the pad. I pinned them all together and then cut a pie shape piece out of all 5 layers so that when I sewed them together they'd have a bit of a cone shape to {hopefully} eliminate any weird shapes under my tops.

  These are the finished product. I intended to machine sew them, but bless my machine's heart, it just wasn't working out! So I hand sewed them instead, which didn't take as long as I was dreading. Easy to do while Marek feeds. They are comfortable and {dare I say} cute, although not as absorbent as the disposables. 

Which begs the question: What kind of madness is in those things anyway!?

DIY Cloth Wipes

I decided to try cloth wipes to go with my cloth diapers after seeing this recipe here. I got three patterns of thin flannel and sewed up 45 double-sided 8" x 8" wipes. I mix up the 'solution', fold the wipes one halfway over the next so they're kind of accordion folded (which pulls the next one up when I pull one out), set them in an old disposable wipes container (yay recycling!) and pour the solution over top. I'll often flip the container over, after replacing the lid of course, to allow any excess solution to absorb into the upper wipes. It's been working out great for us, as long as I pay attention and remember to make more solution when I'm running low. Willa seems to find them soothing, they smell good, surprisingly don't stain and we love that we aren't throwing so much away. A winner!

Another Sewing Project

I made a yoga bag! With a pocket! :)

 I've made a few additions to Willa's room. New art on the wall; painted and fabric covered canvases.

 Painted the lamp stand red.

 Sewed a bumper and crib skirt.

 I'm planning to paint a tree on the wall here, to mark her height chart and hang pictures of her family. It'll be a family tree, GET IT? Ha!

Hung her photos and put knobs on the wall to hang jackets. It's been fun adding things to the room, I didn't have the vision/energy back when I was pregnant, so 17 months old will just have to do. Have a great day!

I'd Almost Forgotten I Have a Sewing Machine

It feels like forever since I've done an art project, and a couple of weeks ago we got a big bib in the mail from our friend Bob. I thought the design would be an easy one to replicate, and I that it might be nice to add a pocket, as our Willa sometimes lets the food fall right out of her mouth and down her front!

Front view

Close up.

The pocket.

The back.

Adding the tie was the hardest part, I had a difficult time getting the bib sandwiched between the folds of the tie and then pinning it in place, the tie fold isn't very deep, so the pins were hard to get through all the folds. After a while I managed it. I used scrap upholstery fabric, and I like how well it stands up to the food she gets all over. It's also pretty large, so it covers all of her shirt front.

I think I'll make another.

It's Official!

My original children's books are for sale at Wayne & Mary's Nutrition Center as part of our newly expanded baby product line! There are five titles: Meet Miles, Penelope, Isla, Jack and Lily. Each book is handmade, 5in x 5in on fabric. They're even washable! If you're interested in owning a copy of one (or the set!) let me know. I can't tell you how excited I am to have some of my work in an actual STORE!

Thanks again to Coleen, as without her encouragement these books would not be sitting on the store shelves.

I've realized I'm a project person.

I get antsy when I'm not working on something. Karl can testify I rarely just sit and watch tv. Also if you read this you know I travel a ton, hence my dear sister sj inquiring when it is I sleep. I assure you, dear sister, I sleep every night. Not well, but I sleep. :)

Back to the projects. Here is an example: I flew in last Friday around 6:30 PM, a few hours later than originally planned. I headed home where I put the mirrors back up on the wall Karl painted (quite well I might add) while I was gone. Mirrors up, furniture back in place, and now to the baby goodies. I spent the rest of Friday night on the pink elephant. It isn't hard to make, the stuffing just takes time. Then Saturday I made the baby sling, directions for using the baby sling and the card. Saturday night Karl and I had a lovely date at Johnny Carino's.

Sunday I attended the baby shower.

Monday I took Rocco to the vet and on the way home stopped at Lowe's to get paint for the faux tile project. I spent the rest of the day painting the tiles. Well SOME of the tiles. It takes forever, but its turning out cute. I also fielded phone calls and arranged to go to Florida on Wednesday. Monday night I went through magazines punching circles for my magnets.

Yesterday I decided to play it low-key. Took a bath, did some laundry. While putting away this clean laundry I decided to go through two of my dresser drawers because they were stuffed full. Doing this I found an elvis tshirt from my trip to Tennessee a few years ago. I never wear it but I have a tshirt de/re-construct book with directions for making tshirts into other things, other kinds of shirts and home items, and I thought I'd try one out. Now its a tube top. :)

After that I wanted to take these fluttery sleeve things off a cream colored top I have so I will actually wear it. Sleeves off, armhole hems cleaned up and wha la new top. Took Rocco for a walk with Kaci, then I made supper and packed for Florida.

The strange thing is I love it. I love being busy. I remember when we moved to SD and the folks bought the land out at Pelican we'd spend days out there cleaning up the brush and the beach and I'd get in trouble because I'd do whatever task I was assigned and then go back to the car to read. It frustrated them to no end I'm sure. I guess I just wasn't in to helping at the lake because it wasn't my project. Or maybe back then I didn't care about projects, or reading was my project, who knows.

Well off to Florida. :)

A sewing project from a couple of weeks back, I wanted a mini-calendar I could carry with me and keep track of where I am and where I'm going so when my mother calls and says, "Now where will you be in three weeks?" I can answer. Or try at any rate. So I bought one on clearance and then fashioned a new cover out of some leftover fabric. Wallah! Presto! A not ugly purse calendar!

King George the Elephant

My first succesful attempt at a stuffed toy. I'd been trying to make stuffed animals for awhile now and my unscripted attempts were a bit disastrous. So I bought a book! When in doubt, buy a book with patterns. So this guy's official name from the book is King George the Elephant. He's cute, eh? I've got it in mind to make one for Kirby's baby, but a girl elephant. Maybe a pink body? Pink hat? We'll see!