Sewing

Spring is in the air

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The cherry blossoms and daffodils are in bloom in Victoria. Winter is over and spring is in the air. My apologies to those of you that are still in the depths of winter, rest assured that spring is coming soon, and if you want to beat Mother Nature a trip to Victoria might help your winter blues. With spring comes babies, and itty bitty baby booties. I have been knitting hats for the babies that have recently come into this world, but Spring demanded a change in the welcome gifts. Shoes for babies might not be practical but they are cute, and I just couldn’t help myself. I now have a small stock of shoes to be given as shower/baby gifts. For the three moms that I gave these shoes to this week, please send me your feedback. Do these shoes stay on? Are they easy to put on?

I used standard stock felt from a craft/fabric store but not the felt from the dollar store it’s too thin. There are some great patterned felts out there which make super cute baby shoes. I added a felt sticker to the front of each shoe and stitched it on to jazz up the toes. If you are interested in making some felt baby booties follow this link for the pattern and great instructions.

Toothasaurus

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toothasaurusWe had a craft emergency this week at our house.  Alright I am not totally deluded, there is no such thing as a craft emergency, unless a glue gun catches fire and burns down the house.  But we did have an event that prompted the quick crafting of a Toothasaurus.  Sasha announced among tears that he has a wiggly tooth.  I can’t remember the first time that I had a loose tooth, but I guess a pretty natural reaction is fear.  Like Sasha I wasn’t expecting wiggly teeth quite yet, he is a week away from his 5th birthday so it’s the right time but I am in denial of my little person growing up.  After we talked about losing teeth and I reassured him that it’s a totally natural normal thing, we discussed the tooth fairy.  That prompted a browse on Pinterest to see what boy-friendly tooth fairy pillow ideas I could use as inspiration.  That was my plan anyway.  I showed Sasha a couple of pictures of tooth, monster and dinosaur shaped tooth fairy pillows and he decided that a dinosaur would be good.  But not just any dinosaur, the exact same one that I showed him a picture of on Pinterest.  So this is where I apologize to the person whose design I blatantly stole from a Pinterest listing.  In fairness the Pinterest link was to a store and they didn’t have any for sale anymore.  I also used a button as an eye instead of the googly one shown in the picture.  With technology as an enabling partner I printed a couple of pictures of the dinosaur image on card stock, and used that as a pattern.  Not so surprisingly I had everything that I needed to make this little dino in my craft closet, even in the right colours.  Having all of the materials excites and scares the you know what out of me, the hording of craft supplies is a post for another day.

Keep crafting, creating and losing baby teeth.

Etsy – Block Parent Designs

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Years ago I opened an Etsy online craft store called Block Parent Designs.  It surprised me when my first orders were in  parts of the US, for some reason I thought that only Canadian’s would buy my stuff.  I have no idea why I though that.  It has been a long time since my site has been active, with 2 little kids and working full-time I barely have time to get dressed everyday, never mind making and selling things online.  BUT because of your overwhelming support I have updated my Etsy online store to showcase some of the items that I have been asked to make recently.   If you should order any of my creations I might just have to make them in my PJ’s, priorities you know.  Thanks for your support.

Here is the link to my online shop https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/BlockParent

Ruby’s growth chart
Logan’s Growth Chart
Free knit pattern from http://www.makingalife.me
Free knit pattern from http://www.makingalife.me

Bunting Crazy

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sasha 2There is something about those little flag banners that sucks me in, I am entranced by them.  Maybe its the colour, maybe it’s the festive feeling, either way I have been inspired to create some for the kiddies bedrooms.  Just before Christmas when the holiday decorations went on sale I was browsing the aisles at my favourite craft store and I saw a kit for a Merry Christmas bunting, for less than $4.00, SCORE.  I brought it home and went to work creating a holiday bunting, like most things I had to add my touch so I swapped out some of the felt it came with and substituted other colours.  I also thought that sticking the letters on with glue was tacky (get it…I know its so bad) so I sewed them on to add another layer of texture.  Once I knew that this little project was a success, I went back to the craft store and bought all of the kits they had, and even suckered my friend to buy one for herself.  Crafting peer pressure.  I switched the felt using some of what came with the kits and substituting the colours that would work better in the kiddies rooms, I also upgraded the ribbon from white to something with a little more character.  I think that they came out pretty good, for less than $10.00 each.  The pictures don’t really do them justice because they are all quite long.

Happy sewing, cutting, and crafting.

Growth Charts

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When my first son was born we lived in a two bedroom apartment, so tracking his growth old school on a door frame wasn’t going to happen. A paper chart taped to the wall just didn’t have the importance factor that I was looking for, so I came up with this fabric growth chart.  I saw other growth charts that I liked as well but I was also thinking about how easily I could transport the growth chart if we were to move.  The design I came up with rolls up to about 1″ diameter and 9″ long, which also makes it easy to mail.  I have now made a couple of these for all of the important little people in my life.   We started Sasha’s at 11 months as soon as he could stand  unsupported (February 7, 2010) and of course with the second child we weren’t quite so organized, so Logan’s began when he was closer to 18 months.

Logan getting measured for the first time
Ruby’s Growth Chart
Logan’s Growth Chart
Ruby’s growth chart
Sasha’s Growth Chart
Sasha’s Growth chart all marked up

To make a growth chart start with a heavy fabric, for Logan & Ruby’s I used the left over painting drop cloth from the Cross Dressing Christmas tree project, purchased in the paint section of a hardware store.  I cut the fabric to 7″ x 4’11”.  I bound the edges with binding tape, and hemmed the top & bottom edges at the same time.  With the binding tape I made 2″ loops at the top for the dowel.  After the fabric was sewn, I used foam stamps to print the kids names & numbers.  I taped a fabric measuring tape to the fabric to use as guide for stamping the stars.  I also used painters tape to create a straight line for the names.  I had my husband cut the dowels to 9″ and gently sand the edges.  I painted the dowels a corresponding colour to the names, and after they dried, hot glued them to the inside of the binging tape loops.  Using excess binding tape I made a loop to hang the growth chart, and tied a bow and secured the loop/bow with a little hot glue.  The project took me most of an afternoon with drying time.

Happy charting, crafting and creating.

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Crafting Through the Holidays…again

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Last year I wrote a blog at Christmas called Crafting Through the Holidays, and this year I am still crafting through the holidays, I just can’t help myself. I like to make the kids presents every year, and this year is no different. For Logan I have made stacking knit/sewn boxes. It was quite an undertaking, and probably not worth the time, but who knows maybe they will be his favourite toy. I rarely follow a pattern, or a recipe for that matter to the letter. I adapt patterns and recipes depending on the ingredients I have available. In this case I looked at a pattern from one of Susan B Anderson’s knitting books, and changed the yarn, and the sizes. I would like to say that I was still 100% successful, but one of the boxes doesn’t quite fit. Stacking these boxes inside of each other will be a test of Logan’s dexterity & patience, and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

Our Cross-dressing Christmas Tree

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tree skirt 1 With three guys in the house the testosterone over flows. Much to my surprise the Christmas tree is male too.   I was told by my four year old that “the tree is a boy, and boys don’t wear skirts”.   Of course I learned that the tree was a boy only after I made it a skirt.  So the compromise, a train tree skirt. For the times that I have put up a tree in the last 18 years, the skirt was missing. Sometimes I put a towel, or piece of random fabric draped around the base of the tree. I just filled the bottom with presents and who knew what was hiding underneath. But this year I committed to “finishing” the tree. I was out shopping, and I saw a beautiful tree skirt (with a train on it) for $100.00, and thought hey I can make something like this. My go to for “floor” fabrics are canvas painting drop cloths available at most hardware stores for what amounts to a couple of dollars a yard for heavy-duty fabric. A trip to Michael’s for ribbon, and felt and I was ready to craft.  I edged the skirt with ribbon, cut out the train shapes and cargo out of felt, and using coloured embroidery floss sewed the train cars, ribbon/button embellishments and button wheels to the fabric base. It is a hit was Sasha who insisted on making a paper train to match.

tree skirt 3tree skirt 2

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Sewing Lessons

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A funny thing about little boys, or my little boys anyway is that any strange noise must be investigated.  If I ever want their attention I just need to make a little noise and they will come running.  So it’s a sure bet that if I start sewing, I automatically get an audience.  With the audience I get a volunteer.  In this case I was making a pillow and Sasha was my helper.  I walked him through all of the steps of making a pillow, he was interested in how the zipper would be attached, and why I was doing certain things.  He also loves to sew, which means that he presses really hard on my foot as I sew.  This time I let him wind the bobbin all by himself, he was pretty stoked.  I always forget what it’s like to be little and constantly learning.  Often I get caught up in time, I am always trying to do too many things at once and  I want to get things over with and move onto the next project.  I need to remember to enjoy the process, be patient, and respect the learning and creativity of the little people in my life.  

When I look at the pillow I think of the process, not the finished product.  Sasha and I stamped the numbers on the fabric, he helped me pick the colour for the stitches, he came with me to the fabric store (and played with cars inside of the bolts of fabric), and he helped me sew the final pillow.  This pillow is a reminder of a little foot pressing on top of mine “driving” the sewing machine, the way only a little boys imagination could.  We are working on another project together which I will write about soon.

Teepee Adventures

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postMonths (maybe even a year) ago I picked up this fun fabric at IKEA with every intention on making the boys a teepee.  The fabric lived in the closet for months, until one typical Victoria weekend it rained.  I dusted off the fabric and the sewing machine and got to work.  I searched the internet for teepee patterns, and found something that I altered to work for us.  After an hour of planning and cutting, I had 5 large triangles.  I sewed them together and made a teepee.  I bought some dowels at Rona, cut them, painted the ends and assembled the teepee.  The boys have had more hours of fun in the teepee, than it took me to make it so I consider this project a WIN.  Can you picture me pretend roasting marshmallows over a red pillow on chopsticks in my living room??  It has happened more than once in the last couple of months and I hope that it is going to happen again.  With a little fabric and creativity the house is transformed into a whole other world.  Everyone should roast marshmallows in a teepee in their living room at least once.

Baby Blocks

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blocks 1When Sasha was a baby I made him a set of blocks with his name on them.  So I figured that I owed Logan something similar.  I made Logan 1-2-3 blocks instead.  The blocks have sounds, ribbons, textures, colour and patterns.  For the alphabet series each one has a painted object which references the letter on the block.  The number series is similar with one or more side with a number of objects to reference the number of the block.

They are a labour of love because they take a while to cut, draw, paint and sew but it’s nice to see the kids play with something I made.