Baby Sock Monkey Costume

For Halloween last year, Hero wanted to be a Power Ranger. I borrowed that costume from my mom's old stash. Easy!

Pretty didn't have a strong opinion, so I just asked my sister what she had in Pretty's size and borrowed that. Pretty was excited about getting to wear "red sparkle shoes" as Dorothy. Easy #2!

The only thing I didn't have was a good costume for Dragon. At first I was going to add some diamonds and cuffs to a sleeper and make him a Power Ranger, too. But then I saw this idea for a sock monkey costume. I loved it and thought, I can do that! So I did.

Kathleen at Grosgrain didn't give any sort of tutorial, other than to say that she used thrifted sweaters and a pajama pattern to make up her costume. So I had a lot of wiggle room.

I also used thrifted sweaters. I had these baby pants pinned FOR-E-VER, and thought they would be perfect! I only made a little change to the way I sewed them, to make it easier. I never could figure out the stuff-one-leg-into-the-other way of sewing pants...

I extended the length and rounded the bottom of the legs, so they would look like a sock monkey. Then I made the back panel the way the tutorial on Sew a Straight Line describes, putting the red in the place of a design on the bum. The changes I made was to sew the "J" shape on the front panel.

You'll have the front and back panel like this:

Now, just lay one on top of the other, right sides facing and sew all the way around! Since I was making a closed bottom for the sock monkey, this could be done in one continuous seam. But if you were making real pants, with openings for the feet, you would just sew the side seams first, then do the inseam (inside/crotch seam).

Finish it up with an elastic waistband, and you have pants!

For the shirt, I used a pattern for a knit shirt from my mom. But if you want a tutorial, Dana's 90 Minute Shirt would be super cute! But I wanted the option of tucking Dragon's little fingers inside. Halloween can include snow some years in Utah...

To add a pocket that I could tuck over, I cut out a rectangle, hemmed one side, and placed it on the edge of the sleeve. I sewed around the three sides shown in the picture.

Then hem the sleeve and finish sewing the shirt. Attach the sleeve to the shirt,

and sew under the sleeve and down the side seam in one long line.

Now you have a sleeve where you can fold over the hands to keep them warm.

To make the hat, I used this Upcycled Boy Hats tutorial from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar. I lined it with an old white t-shirt and added little monkey ears on the side, the same way I would for an actual sock monkey. Last, but not least, I made a tail, stuffed it and sewed it into place. Voila! Sock Monkey Baby!!

Hands out:

Hands in:

Cute monkey bum!

I may be biased, but I think he's the cutest sock monkey I've ever made...and I've made a lot of sock monkeys!

Ombre Chevron Crochet Baby Blanket

Wow, I know I keep promising that I will get back to blogging, but can I just say that I am not one of those awesome women who can balance everything! 

 
Adding little Dragon to my family has been incredible, but difficult. I'm figuring out how to be the mother of a stubborn kindergartener, independant "I'll do it by MYSELF" toddler, and a (I'll be honest) ridiculously easy-going baby. He may be easy going, but he is still a baby that demands a lot of time and effort.

With the 3 kids, I've been a bit overwhelmed and while I love blogging, it has taken the back seat for a while. I still make no promises about any regular blogging, but I will pop in to share something as the mood strikes.

The mood has struck! I made this adorable crochet baby blanket for my sister-in-law who is having her first baby in a few months. She's having a girl, but with it being her first, she and her husband requested something gender neutral.

I love the ombre effect that is so popular right now, so to give the gender neutral a bit of style I wandered around the yarn isles in JoAnn with my best friend for far too long, looking for just the right shades.

In case you want to replicate, here are the yarns we found, starting with the darkest yellow:

1: Vanna's Choice Baby in Duckie
2: Lion Brand Baby Soft in Lemonade ( This is a true baby yarn, and I had to double it, holding two strands together. But there is enough yarn in this skein that you still only need one. I spent the time at the beginning to wind a center pull ball starting with both ends.)
3: Bernat Satin in Banana
4: Vanna's Choice Baby in Lamb
5: Vanna's Choice in White
(Not pictured: I used some heather grey from my stash for the single crochet edging.)

I used this free pattern from Lion Brand Yarns. (The reviews are mixed, but I found it easy and liked the texture it created.) I read the pattern and figured that with my 5 skeins, I needed 9 rows of each color. Oddly enough, the three Vanna's were supposed to be the same amount/length/size skein, but I was a few stitches short with Color 1, more than a few stitches short with Color 4, but had plenty of Color 5. Weirdness. But what's awesome about the ombre fade is I was able to just start the next color to finish up the last row and keep going. If you look carefully at the pictures above, you can see close to the front where Color 2 starts in the last several stitches of the first color, but you only notice if you are really inspecting the blanket.

The mommy-to-be loves it, and I can't wait to meet my new little niece and see her wrapped in this yummy blanket.

Baby Boy Bedding

It's getting closer, and the items on my to-do list are slowly getting marked off! Wahoo! This was taken earlier this week. That's right, I had my birthday! And I'm getting so big...

I was able to finish the baby bedding set! I started with the bed skirt and when it was done, I set up the crib so I wouldn't have to fold the skirt, then iron it later before putting it on. Yes, it seemed easier to me to haul the stored crib from the basement, up two flights of stairs, and assemble it all by myself rather than have to iron the skirt again!

The fabrics look so good together and having it all set up is making me feel like I'm almost ready.

Hero was so excited when I told him the baby's bed was in his room! One funny comment he made: when he asked what the orange circles were for, I told him I was going to make a skirt for the baby's bed. He said, "But boys don't like skirts on their beds. Skirts are for girls." I really couldn't argue with him... HA!

The spare sheet is folded in the corner, so you can see how it will look with the bumpers. I have enough extra of each fabric to make a quilt to match! While it's not technically on my list, I've cut it out and I can't wait to finish it!

Pretty has started asking me "Baby tummy out?" She's going to be a helpful big sister... or a jealous nightmare... or both...

I'm doing good! 6 more weeks and only 3 more things on my list (I've finished a few more projects, just need to take pictures and blog about it).

Pattern links: Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones book for the bumpers and the crib skirt, (anna from noodlehead used it here), but I left out the pockets in the bumpers. For the sheets I used MADE's tutorial.

Pre-Baby To Do List

I'm into the 3rd trimester with baby #3. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago, so now it's 10 weeks away.

While I haven't actually done much, I've been making a list in my head of all the things I need to get done before this little guy comes. Maybe writing it down will help motivate me.

1. Make new baby bedding. I have boy bedding that my mom made for me when Hero was a baby. But I wanted a new set that matched the new boy room I am creating in our new home. I wanted geometric patterns, and I wanted them to not be really "baby". I also wanted several different patterns to mix together.

 I search through 3 stores with my paint cards, yarn and curtain fabric, taking pictures and looking for a perfect match.

Finally, I found these! All the right colors and 5 of them! Enough for multi colored bumpers, the skirt and 2 sheets. Woohoo!

I will be using the pattern from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones book for the bumpers and the crib skirt, (anna from noodlehead used it here), but I'm going to leave out the pockets in the bumpers. For the sheets I'm going to use MADE's tutorial.

2. Finish the crochet blanket and hat set. I like to crochet a blanket for each of my babies. I used this same pattern for my sister's last little boy (here) and loved it. I picked the colors to match the boy room I'm putting together. I also will make the same hat I did for my nephew, too.

3. Unpack and re-wash the little baby clothes. When Pretty was a baby, I pulled out the white onesies and pajamas from Hero. When I went through the boxes, I was surprised at how yucky dirty all the clothes seemed! I swear I washed them before packing them away! Well, I found this pin on Pinterest and knew I had to do that before the new baby came.

4. Make a Straight Jacket Swaddler, and maybe a few burp cloths. All I have for me is the "prototype" of the swaddler I made for Pretty, with felt for the Velcro to stick to. It's not as good and ripped holes... plus it's pink. I'm going to make a new awesome one from my tutorial. Burp cloths will depend on what I find when I wash all the clothes. I can't remember how many I had, or what size they were...

5. Make a sock monkey. This one could be an after-the-baby-comes project, since I don't need it until the baby is one month old (like the other kids).


6. Sew Pretty's curtains. I know this isn't really baby related... that's why lower on the list. I want to get the curtains for Pretty's room sewn and hung before the baby comes because I've had the fabric FOREVER and haven't made them yet. Maybe this deadline will make sure it gets done?

7. Sew a new quilt for Hero. I bought the Houndstooth quilt pattern from V and Co. back in October. The plan was to make it for Christmas. Then I couldn't function as a human being with the infection and all. I now have the fabric, and I hope I can make it before his birthday in July (when I will have 1 month old)... This one might not happen, let's be honest.

Wish me luck. I'll check in with the projects as I complete them. 10 weeks until my new baby boy comes I hope I at least get half this list done before then!

Wow. It's been how long?

Last October, my husband and I bought our first house! We packed and moved with the help of awesome friends and family.

Then, it took forever for me to get my craft stuff unpacked. Not because I was busy, per say, but because I was exhausted. If you follow my FB, then you've already seen this:

That was a month ago. I'm 5 1/2 months along with baby number 3. Hero came with us to the ultrasound and couldn't wait to find out what the baby was. He is so excited that the baby gets to sleep in his room! 

One of my biggest deterrents for not crafting and blogging, is that I have been so tired. Not just because I'm pregnant with my 3rd baby, which is reason enough. . . but because I have an infection. I'm going to go ahead and tell the world (or at least the small number of you who still ready my blog) because I've never heard of this before.

In my first visit to the OB, they wanted a urine sample (normal) and it grew e coli (not normal). The doctor had me take a 10 day course of antibiotics to clear up the bladder infection. One of the side effects of the meds is drowsiness (as in: do not operate heavy machinery). Then two months later, another sample that grew e coli again. Another round of antibiotics was taken. Then, at the 20 week visit, they took a urine sample via catheter (yuck) to make sure that I wasn't contaminating the samples, and guess what?! E coli again. After a third round of the 10 day antibiotic, I am now on a daily suppressant medication (again, drowsy inducing) because apparently if the bladder infection gets to my kidneys, I could end up in preterm labor. YIKES!

I have been told that a bladder infection like this is very common with pregnant women. And that e coli is naturally in your system, so it's not that crazy for it to be what grew, but I'm not a person prone to bladder infections. My mom can only think of one when I was 2, and I can't think of any. So, I'm wondering, has anyone else dealt with this personally, or had a friend who has. As far as I know, I'm the only one EVER (which I know is not true, but boy does it feel this way!)

This is my excuse for not keeping on top of things. I'm now starting to feel better, and have done a few crafty things, including Christmas gifts that I never shared. I plan to get back into the swing of things now that I'm not feeling so tired all. the. time. 

Talina's gift.

I promise that I am working on the details of each of the decorations from the Library baby shower, but in the meantime, here's some pictures of the Straight-Jacket Swaddler and 8 burp cloths I made for Talina to go with the books I got her.

I bought 1 1/4 yard of the green, and 1 yard of pink for the back of the burp cloths.

I messed around with the fancy stitch options on my machine and did a different one for each burp cloth's top stitching.

This vine with leaves is by far my favorite.

The Library Baby Shower

Once upon a time. That's the start of an awesome book, right? Well, it's also the start to an awesome baby shower! 

I have some friends that I have known since we were 8 years old. In 5th grade, I went to a different school, yet somehow, we managed to stay friends all through Jr. High, High School, and into college. Now we are married and having babies!

I jumped the gun (I guess), so Talina is the first of my friends from way-back-when to have a baby, and it's a girl! I co-hosted with our good friend Lena and we decided on a library themed baby shower. The goal of this shower is to give the mom-to-be a good start to her children's library! 

It was a lot of fun to make the invites. I staged the picture, then edited the words right on top using picnik.com. Do you see Hero's addition? He's really into Pokemon right now.

Lena was in charge of location (it being at her house) and the food. Which left the fun decorating to me! (Thanks, Lena, for letting me have free reign on this.) We are not the game-playing type of shower-throwing people, so I put a bit more effort into the decorations to really make it special.

I searched for "book shower" on the internet, and discovered that Martha Stewart had this great book garland idea for a "Once upon a baby shower"! Wow. I'm cool like Martha Stewart, having a book shower... We decided to make it a bit more colorful, rather than the all pink that the original suggested. Lena and I spent a night ripping apart an old book and making these little ones.

I'll post more about the making this later.

I made a few more items, too. It turns out that ripping up books is very satisfying. So I made a wreath, a tray, and a canvas art piece.

I spent an good amount of time hunched over my glue gun (about 4 hours) making this book wreath, using this tutorial. I made a few changes to it, and will post more about that later.

The tray and the art were made with an old book, Mod-Podge and a little black paint. I also made more of my baby food jar party favors, this time adding the round magnets that hold so much better.

I'll show you exactly how I did these two items in later posts as well.

Here is Talina with all her new books! She got so many great books, as well as the usual and useful baby clothes, blankets and burp cloths.

It's amazing to me that we all met 18 years ago, and now we are here. Congratulations, Talina! I can't wait to met your sweet little girl!