Dainty Dresses: Yellow Ruffle Dress

 I've been promising Bug some pretty dresses lately, and all of the sudden I've had the urge to make good on my promises.  So the Dainty Dresses series has begun.  I have lots to share!

 First up is the ruffle dress.  Natalie and I saw ruffle fabric at Hobby Lobby and neither of us could resist.  She requested yellow, and her wish is my command!

 This dress seriously took 10 minutes from start to finish.

I folded the fabric in half, right sides together (shook the ruffles so they were all facing down).

I placed a dress that I knew fit her well on top.  I traced dress and pinned the fabric together.  Cut the dress out and sewed the side seams.  Then I cut out the top, being mindful of the ruffle placement.  No hemming needed, because the fabric won't fray.

Vintage Doll Furniture

I received this treasure on my wedding day.  My aunt saved them for me after my great grandmother passed away.

My dad made them himself from soda cans when he was a kid.

 He made this set as pincushions for his grandmother, which is why my aunt saved them for the sewer in the family :)  I love having something that he made to remind me of him.  He was a very handy DIYer and my mom has always been crafty, I think it's safe to say I got my creative spirit from my parents.

 Apparently, this type of crafting was popular in the 60's and 70's.  Tin can furniture was also used as dollhouse furniture.   I was fascinated by the detail, and recreating this project has been in the back of my mind for nearly 4 years.  I finally decided it was time to try it out yesterday.  I googled high and low, but there really isn't much information out there on quilling tin cans into doll furniture.

So I studied the two pieces I had, and tried to recreate them. Here is what I came up with!

 It took about 2 hours to cut up and quill the cans, and the cushions took about 30 minutes. Not too bad, all things considered.

 I learned a few things just from doing it on my own, and I'm planning a tutorial to share what I learned.  I'll share how I made the chair, footstool, and hopefully a rocking chair as well.  Tutorial is up here!

Natalie was ecstatic when they were finally finished and we could play with them (she desperately wanted to play with the originals when I pulled them off the shelf to study them).  She's had little wooden people from her train set sitting on them all day :)

What I should be doing...

 What I should be doing...

 cleaning the playroom (this mess was made in an hour and half!)  Hmm.. Maybe cleaning the playroom is pointless, perhaps it might be more effective by restraining the 3 year old first?  Yeaaah.  Can't duct tape child to chair, bad parenting right there. 

stuffing the diapers (this mess was made in 4 days, and cleaned in 4 hours)  Again, another endless task.  I suppose I can't stop the baby from soiling diapers either.  Heck, I can't even stop the 3 year old from soiling diapers.  But potty training woes are another story altogether.

I also have a sink full of dishes,  a pile of clean laundry, and a pile of dirty laundry.  And a t-shirt quilt to finish by Saturday.  That is what I should be doing.

Instead, I've been playing with pretty fabric.

Can't wait to share what I've been working on!

Breathable Bumper and a Nursery for Two

 I can count the number of times Natalie got stuck in the rails of the crib on one hand.  She never needed bumpers of any kind.  The first night I moved Nathan into his crib he got stuck in the rails 3 times.  Waking up 4 times in the night is not exactly my idea of a good nights sleep.    I decided we needed a breathable bumper, and two weeks later, I finally got to work on it.  Of course it took two more weeks to get around to photographing the thing.

I didn't take pictures of the process while I was making it, but it is quite easy.  I measured around the inside of the crib, my crib measured around 4 yards.  If your crib is similar to mine, you will need two yards of fabric and 10 yards of bias tape.  With your two yard piece of fabric, I used a gingham because it matches our bedding and it is very thin, trim the selvage and  cut it in half lengthwise.  Sew the two pieces together to make a 4 yard piece. 

 At this point I checked the fabric against the crib and trimmed it down to the correct size and finished the short edges by folding it right sides together and running a seam along the two short edges.  Turn it right side out and get ready to add the bias tape.  You will need two 5 yard pieces of bias tape, one for the top edge and one for the bottom edge. I left 18 inches of bias tape for the ties on either end   Pin and sew the bias tape onto the fabric and you are finished!

While I was at it I took pictures of the rest of the the room since it became a room for two.  You can see before pictures of the nursery here.

 The twin bed we got from my mom when they upgraded my brother's bed.  The duvet is from Ikea, I love how it melds in with the bright colors and ABC/123 theme of the nursery set.

 The bow board on her wall is actually a memo board on a picture frame.

The reading nook, complete with scribbled chalk on the wall.

 As you can see, the room just barely holds all the furniture, lol.

The quilt is my favorite part of the nursery set :)  The drawers are stuffed with clothes from two kids.  I think we need more space!

 Of course the little shelf is just as pretty as ever with all the lovely books we enjoy reading.  I want to make a piece of subway are for the wall above the shelf.

Little Carpenter, Cute Dress

 A little over a year ago Robert added shelves to the downstairs coat closet so that I could access and store my fabric and craft supplies effectively. 

  Natalie is his forever apprentice.

  This is also the only record I have of this adorable ruffly dress that I made for her.

 We measured, made marks on the walls.

 Hung up the boards with screws.

 Monkeyed around.

 Got in the way while being adorable.

 I can't believe how much bigger she's grown in just a year.

  And voila!  Completed shelves, with a matching set on the other side of the door.

The shelves are now chock full of fabric and paper and all sorts of fun craft supplies.

50,000 Kisses

 I would estimate that in the short 4 months of his life, Nathan has received about 50,000 kisses.

 It is quite plausible that we kiss these cheeks at least 200 times each day.

 100 more on that soft little head.

 Another 100 kisses on that little button nose!

And despite the hundreds of thousands of kisses I have bestowed on these little faces, it will never be enough to show them how much I love them.

Side note about the quilt- It was my very first quilt and one of the first sewing projects I attempted after getting a sewing machine for Christmas when I was 18.  I used a "Z Star" pattern from More Fat Quarter Quilts by M'liss Rae Hawley.  The fabric came from a set of fat quarters centered around planes/flight designs.  I tied it together at first, but then decided to try hand quilting a year or so later. It has a lot of mistakes personality, and I love it.

And in other news, Nathan rolled over from his back to his belly just over a week ago, and  a few days later, mastered rolling from his belly to his back.  Here is a quick slideshow of the process, so you can cheer for him too :)




And because I can't help myself.

 I have a cannibalistic baby.

 Mmm... Baby.  The other other white meat.

Sister, Sister!

 Just finished two more t-shirt quilts, this time for two sisters.  (It's  graduation season, so I have two more on my table as well!)

Sister #1 wanted a quilt using just her college soccer shirts.  She is into neutral color palettes and a simple sort of elegance.

 I love love love this fabric combination, especially the floral print sashing around the shirts.  I can't wait to make something from the leftovers!

Sister #2 wanted a quilt that featured all of her favorite high school memories. Her style is very bright and fun, but I wanted to keep it sophisticated enough to grow up with her.  She has to love this quilt forever.

 The fabric in this quilt was not easy to photograph, it didn't come out quite as pretty as it is in real life.  The green/blue/yellow paisley is bright and fun, but I don't think it is stuck in the junior stage.  The sashing is hard to see as well, green infinity loops on a white background complement the paisley very well.

 Two very different sisters with two very beautiful quilts.