Poor Injured Monkey

 I work with the Young Women at my church and we are getting ready for the summer girls camp next week! I know I've mentioned it before, but I used to work as a first aid lab instructor at the U of U. I was asked to be in charge of the first aid night. Rather than teach it myself, I reached out to my old boss and friend to come do it, because she teaches groups like this all the time and rocks at it!

So she came and taught us last night. It's always fun to see who gets it fast, who is squeamish at the gory pictures, and who is fascinated by them.

The girls learned some good skills and had fun practicing.

 
Learning to use a roller bandage:

As a thank you gift, I made up this monkey for her to take home to her adorable baby boy. I owed her one anyway, but to make it fun, I bandaged the little guy up.

The perfect sling and swath for injured arms and shoulders.

Sad injured monkey tail!

It was fun to relive this part of my life again with such a good friend! I've already seen pictures of her baby playing with the monkey (who has gotten over his injuries and had the wrappings removed). 

Parade! Yay?

I took my kids to our city celebration parade this morning. It's the first parade for both of my kids. I don't remember going to many parades growing up... I thought it would be fun for them!

I left in pretty good time, but I forgot to grab the shade for Pretty's part of the double stroller. I also forgot my camera, so these are from my phone. 

I parked in a neighborhood, and walked to try and meet up with a friend of mine. I never did get to her, because it was too far to walk to where she was from where I parked. So we stopped on the side of the parade route and sat alone.

And about 5 minutes into the parade, Hero asked to go home. . . then made this face for the rest of the time.

I had snacks and water for them, and Hero just played with his action figures he had brought. This is the only reason we lasted as long as we did. Pretty seemed to like it a bit more. She loves to wave at people, so it was awesome. Plus, she was a fan of the little flags that were given out. Hero rejected his, and Pretty was good with two!

In the end, we had to leave before the parade was over because Hero needed a bathroom and Pretty was tired of being confined. Luckily, we found the porta-potties in time, and Pretty fell asleep. This was the best part of the whole experience.

Today's adventure leads me to believe that the reason I don't remember going to parades when I was young is because my parents knew already what I discovered today: parades are boring. Next year, I'll hope to sleep in instead!

Starting to Sell!

I'm finally doing it! After a lot of research and some gentle encouragement from my sweet husband (and other family and friends), I'm starting to sell the sock animals I make. Besides the ones you've seen, I'm working on making a few other animals, like Giraffes, Frogs, and maybe a Bunny! If you have any requests, I'll see what I can do!

Let me be honest with you all. When I first started this blog, I had grand dreams of becoming an awesome clothing pattern maker. I would make up my own kid's clothes patterns that would be so amazing, everyone would buy them and make me rich!

And then I realized that I'm not all that great at making up new clothes designs... and I have no idea how to make great clothing patterns... so that's going to take me a few years to figure out, if I ever do figure it out.

But while sewing and creating for this blog, I've found a different talent I wasn't aware I had. And that's making toys!! I love making stuffed animals for my kids! However, there is a massive pile of stuffed animals in my house already. So rather than stop doing something that makes me happy, I'm going to start selling them so that they can find love in another child's arms. So please, check out my shop with the new sock animals for sale. They are all one of a kind, handmade by me. And they are all soft and lovable.

 My Pretty sure seems to like them all. She has hugged every single one.

Raining Cats and Dogs!

While it has been an exceptionally rainy few months, I'm not referring to the weather at the moment. Instead, I'm here to introduce two more sock creations!! First, using only one sock per animal, and the tiny ankle socks to boot, I made this adorable pair of kitties!!

I used the arm seam method I had seen while in Taiwan earlier this year. It was easy and I love the look it creates!

Then I added a little crochet flower with a pearl bead in the center to make one girl and one boy. The idea was for each of my kids to have one, but Pretty had other plans when she saw them.

One for the right hand and one for the left!

(this face was too funny to keep to myself.)

I had to take them from her and fight her off to get the shots of just the cats. They are just the right size for small arms to hug!

Then the "Dogs" part. I bought the cute little blue dog while in Taiwan, and always planned to recreate it, but it wasn't until my mom called me Sunday morning to tell me we were celebrating my nephew's birthday that night at dinner that I was inspired to go for it. I knew he would love a dog, so I went to work.

It turned out great. Obviously much bigger since I'm pretty sure the blue one was made from little kid (if not baby) socks, and mine was made from a pair of women's normal dress socks.

I added a few details not found on the blue one, like a little tail.

And some french knot freckles. This dog was so fun to make, and my nephew did love it. He even tried to share his ice cream with it. Now that's love for a 6-year-old.

Straight-Jacket Swaddler Tutorial repost

Just reposting this from where it was originally posted last week on Craftaholics Anonymous.

Have you ever experienced the frustration of trying to swaddle your baby with a blanket, just to have them break out of it as they wiggle while trying to fall asleep? And then, of course, they don't fall asleep... 

Or, have you bought the swaddle wrap with the blanket bottom and have them kick out of the bottom of it?And then they wiggle through the bottom and you find your baby with the wrap around the screaming baby's face? I've experienced both of these. 

That is why I made up my own version of a swaddle wrap, the Straight-Jacket Swaddler. 

I don't currently have a baby, so I traded my sister this Straight-Jacket Swaddler in exchange for pictures of my nephew using it!

It's nice and tight, holding in the baby with secure Velcro; with a strap between the legs to keep it from ending up around your baby's face. And not to worry, my daughter used one I made and was secure at night, but still able to wiggle her arms out the top in the morning when she was really awake and trying.

So let's make one!


Supplies:

• 1 light weight receiving blanket or 1/2 yd of lightweight flannel - washed, dried and ironed
• 1/2 yd (18") of 2" wide Velcro
• washable marking pen
• basic sewing supplies.
• Optional:
• double fold biased tape for edging (I did not use this, but will show you where you can if you want to.)

First, lay out your fabric. I used this old receiving blanket.

 Cut a rectangle that is 27 1/2" wide,

and 12" tall.

Round the corners. I just folded mine in half and followed the existing curve that starts about 2" from the square corner.

The next step is to create a spot for the neck of your baby with four darts using your marking pen. To mark the darts, lay your rectangle wrong side up and measure 6" from the center of the top right rounded corner (or 7" from the right edge) along the top long side and make the first mark. Your markings will be spaced like the following picture shows; you should have 8 marks.
(Spaces from the first mark right to left: 1" - 3/4" - 1" - 1 1/2" - 1" - 3/4" - 1")

In the center of  each 1" space you just marked, measure down 2" and make a dot.

Connect the 1" marks to the dots to make 4 triangle darts.

 Fold the fabric to match up the lines and sew along the lines, backstitching at start and stop on all for darts.

Press the darts out from the center space, then serge around the entire piece to finish the edge. 

*I used colored thread for looks. Here is where you can use the optional double fold biased tape to edge it. You can also fold over the edge and hem to finish the edge. Or use a zig-zag stitch, what ever you choose, finish the edge now.

Now, let's make the straps. Cut one piece 18" x 3" and two pieces 5 1/4" x 3".

Fold all three pieces over, matching the 3" sides, right sides together. Pin and sew on edge of pressure foot down the long sides.

Turn and press. Serge/zig-zag unfinished edge.

Cut three 2" long pieces of the rough side of the Velcro.

Sew one 2" square onto the folded end of each strap, backstitching at start and stop. *At first I was using this narrower black Velcro, but switched to the wider stuff. It's better... but the pictures were taken, so bear with me...

With the wrong side facing up, find the center of the right short side. Measure 1" up and down from there and place the small straps (2" gap between the straps).

The straps will overlap with the edge of the large piece by 3/4".

 Pin and sew on securely by sewing a square following the edges of the strap that overlaps. (Other side view)

For the long strap, line it up with the center of the darts and pin on the bottom edge. Overlap the edges by 3/4", just like the short straps. Pin and sew on securely with a square, just like the short straps.

You should now have a piece that looks like this:

Next, cut the fuzzy side of your Velcro into two 7" pieces and that will leave you with one 4" piece. Round two corners on the long side on each of the 7" pieces, so that when placed together with long sides touching, the 4 outer corners are rounded. Round all the corners of the 4" piece.

Turn the fabric right side face up and place the two 7" Velcro pieces side by side, overlapping in the center, to create a large piece. Measure 2 1/2" from the top and 8" from the right edge.

Use a satin stitch (close zig-zag) all the way around the Velcro, and down the overlapped center, to secure the Velcro. Backstitch at start and stop.

Place the 4" piece of Velcro on the left side, next to the lower short strap. Measure 1" from the side edge.

I measured 1/2" from the top of the lower strap to the top of the Velcro, but when we put my cute nephew into it, I could see that it needed to be a bit higher. So I suggest moving it up so it measures 1 or 1 1/2" from the top of the strap to the Velcro piece. 

Sew on using the same satin stitch as with the larger pieces.

 Add a label between the neck darts, if you wish.

And you are done!!

The last step is to add an adorable baby. I suggest placing the baby's shoulders just a bit above the top edge, like this:

And watch him fall asleep! Which is exactly what we did to get these pictures.

This is how securely wrapped he still is after wiggling while falling asleep.

  Don't you love watching a baby sleep?

**Please remember to use this only while your child is sleeping on his/her back. Also, you should not use this after your child has learned to roll over.**

Thanks, Linda for having me! Have confidence and get sewing!!