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.

Pretty's Girly Room

One of the fun things about buying a home was getting to create a boy room and a girl room. While there is still decorating to do in both, the two kid rooms were a priority for me to paint before we moved in. And they are still the only rooms I've painted so far.

Hero was old enough to pick his own wall color, but since Pretty was only 19 months when we moved, I decided the colors for her. My favorite colors are blue and yellow. They don't scream "girl", but it turned out just the way I wanted. I decided that when Pretty is about 12 years old, I'll let her pick her own colors if she wants...

Here's my sister, Audrey, helping me make stripes (she also helped me with Hero's green stripes).

Pretty's room has a funny angled corner, so instead of only doing one wall, we did more that half the room with these light and dark yellow stripes.

Here's the finished product, taken just this morning. You can see the blue reflecting in the mirror. So pretty!

Since I picked two not-so-very-girly colors for the walls, I knew I wanted to add flowers and pink into the decor. I carried around the paint chip cards with me everywhere and one day, while randomly deciding to walk through the fabric section at WalMart, I found this beautiful pink roses with a blue background fabric! I was ecstatic that it matched well with the paint! I found a yellow to match, because I knew the design I wanted to create. It's girly, while still staying with the colors of the room.

The problem I created for myself was not having measured the window when I found the perfect fabric. I then guessed at the amount I would need. Never a very good idea... While I had enough to make it work, I was hoping to have the curtains hang past the bottom edge of the window by about 6 inches. Instead, it brushes the window sill... and that's with adding the yellow  piece at the top I wasn't planning on. Oh well, they are still beautiful!

 I have a lot more ideas for making Pretty's room girly (check out my Pinterest board on it). My vision includes a lot more of the dark pink, butterflies and flowers.

It may be blue and yellow, but it is definitely a girly room!

Check this one off the list! I hope to check off more soon!

Easter Outfits 2012

Happy (late) Easter! It was a great Easter for us, filled with candy, church and family. I love all the fun that comes with holidays, but Christmas and Easter are my favorites because of the spiritual events they celebrate.

New Easter outfits are also good fun! I had planned on making new ties for the men, in addition to the dress I wanted to make for Pretty. But when I found myself at the mall 2 days before Easter, and I hadn't done any sewing yet... I took Hero over to the Tie One On store and let him pick out his own tie. I knew he would pick green, because it's his favorite color, but I loved the nice bright spring green he chose! We bought a matching for Jake and went home. I'm the only one who didn't get new anything. I just used the tattered chic skirt I made about 2 years ago. It's turned out to be a super comfy maternity skirt.

For Pretty's dress, I used the project from V and Co's new book. The instructions were very clear, and she included an easy method to adjust the dress to your own girl's size. I was lucky to have this green fabric in my stash. $3 for a queen sheet in the as-is section at IKEA and I've now made 3 dresses and 1 skirt from it, (see the other projects here and here). What a great buy!

The pattern only called for a small opening, and one button, but I measured and made it a bit snug. So I had to make it open farther down and add a second button to make it easier to put on and off. My husband loves the wooden toggle buttons for one reason.

"Squire. Tell her. What color will my tunic be tonight?"
"Uh. . . it's green. . . trimmed in a sort of pale green. . . with wooden toggles."

I think I might make another dress with this pattern soon. I was able to sew it up in a few hours and Pretty loves it!

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!

Hero's New Room

When we moved to our new home, I asked Hero what color he wanted his room and he didn't even hesitate to say, "Green. Dark green." After some persuading I got him to get excited to about these stripes. We both won with him getting dark green, and me getting to do stripes!

The other 3 walls are a light grey.

I also just finished these curtains for the room. I decided that I wanted to introduce more colors into the room, and this orange is great!

I like the way they look with the sun shinning through.

I did three rows of stitching on the top and bottom of the orange cuff.

 I love the way the room is coming together. I've got more coming with getting ready for the new baby. I can't wait to show you!

More to come!

Pretty's New Birthday Toy

My little Pretty turned 2 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe it, but then don't we moms say that about every birthday our kids have?

On the day of their birthday, Jake and I like to have a large bag of balloons blown up with a new toy in the middle of it all for the kids (like Hero's birthday pig). For Pretty this year, it was this new set up.

Last summer, I found a listing for these three wooden toys for $5. Total score! I'll share the make overs of the other two later, but today it's about the ironing board.

It was in rough shape. It looked like it had never been painted, just primed, and not even all over... And the previous owner had colored on the top with pencils.

So, I sanded it down,

and spray painted the whole thing white with a combo primer/paint spray.

It sat in our play room like that for the past six months. Then, one day while I was ironing a ton of fabric for curtains, Hero told me we needed an iron for the toy ironing board. I considered making one, but found this awesome homemade wooden iron on Etsy for a good price! (She's got a ton of cool wooden toys, you should check it out.)

I decided last minute to make this simple cover for the board out of flannel I had hanging around because the thought of the wood rubbing on the wood made me worry about it scratching.

Man, she is adorable! But she was so busy jumping with the balloons that this fuzzy picture was all I could get of her with the iron before the hopped off again!

Happy Birthday, Pretty!

Baby Doll Cradle Make-Over

For this past Christmas, I decided to make Pretty a big doll, and Santa brought her a little cradle for her doll to sleep in!

I found the cradle at a discount outlet store for a company that does monogrammed things. This store is where all the mistakes go. Poor mom of "Reese", who ordered this and it came back upside down. Oops.

I bought it with the intention of peeling off the vinyl lettering and being done with it. It was only a few days before Christmas when I realized that the letters were engraved about 1/8" down! I wasn't looking forward to sanding it down and painting over it. That's when my awesome husband said, "why don't you just put paper over it?"

Bless him!!

Technically, his idea included normal old copy paper.  But I only used it for the template, and chose a scrapbook paper for the final look.

I smooshed the copy paper into the space, then cut it out so it fit.

Then I used it to trace on the back of the scrapbook paper. I used ModPodge to stick it down and repeated it on the second side.

I also made a mattress for the cradle using some left over 1" foam and spare fabric.

I love it!

 As for the baby, I was hoping this one would replace her favorite toys and be all she played with! Not so much. Maybe when her new baby brother comes in June?

Vogue Pattern 7418

So far the only thing this baby does is sleep. Christmas morning, she opened the cradle first, since it is from Santa. As soon as she opened the "baby" it went in to the cradle and that's where it has stayed for the past 2 months. Not even joking.

Sadly, she doesn't quite fit, unless you squish her legs.

Also, a funny thing. Hero watched me make the doll while Pretty napped. He even handed me pins while cutting out the fabric (and oh my, did that take forever. "Do you want red, or blue, or purple?" with every pin!) Anyway, it wasn't until he pointed it out that I noticed I was using the same purple fabric for this doll's dress as I did for last year's Christmas doll. Hmmmm.

Pretty's birthday is next week (2 years!) and I'm planning on making a blanket and pillow for the bed. Maybe for next Christmas, she'll get another dress for the baby. . . that's not the same purple?