Froggy Baby Beanie

This cute hat was also a baby shower gift for a friend. I followed this pattern for the main idea, but changed a couple things with the eyes. I also had to add a few rows onto the hat itself so it would be big/long enough.

In order to make the "ears" (or eyes in this case), I made one as the pattern called for in green, then using white, did the first row of the pattern again, and sewed them together. I added a 9mm safety eye into the white layer only, trimming the back so it wouldn't stick out too much.





Tiny Little Turtle

My second animal crochet creation!! One of my friends requested a turtle for her little boy, so I got busy and made one for her for her baby shower this weekend. It only took me about a day to make all the pieces and sew them together, it really went together pretty quickly. I got the pattern from Lionbrand.com, the same place I got the bunny pattern from (they have so many fun animal patterns on there, and all for free!!

I took him outside since it was nice to take some pictures :)

Isn't he just the cutest?

Amigurumi Crocheted Bunny

Okay, I'm addicted to crocheting. Ever since learning how during the crochet-along put on by Maybe Matilda, I've loved it. Last night I even had dreams about crocheting. Okay, maybe that's a little odd, but I'm pregnant and my dreams are extra weird, and I was crocheting all evening...

ANYWAY, my second finished project was this bunny. I love crocheted animals, and amigurumi (I'ved discovered) is a practice of crocheting little animals. Lion Brand has a bunch of free crochet patterns (actually where the time out cowl pattern came from) many of them amigurumi animals. Being my second crochet project ever, I was a little concerned about how hard making an actual bunny would be. When I would knit, all I could make were scarves. But the instructions said easy so I printed them out and went ahead. Since I had learned how to decipher patterns through the crochet-along, it wasn't actually that hard. Once I learned how to crochet a round, everything else was pretty straightforward. I used this pattern, but added a bow and skipped adding a mouth and nose (I tried, but it just didn't look right).

I love it! So cute! Madelyn really likes it too. And she had total confidence in my abilities while I was making it :) I kept telling her I was making a bunny, even before it had and arms, legs, or ears attached, and she kept pointing at it and saying "make a bunny" even when it looked more like a fat snake. 



I have at least four more crochet projects in the works... a hat for Madelyn, a hat for baby, a baby blanket, and an amigurumi giraffe.

Time-Out Cowl

I finally finished my cowl for the crochet along featured on Maybe Matilda. I had the length finished for awhile, but today finally sewed it together into a loop. I made a few adjustments to the pattern. Instead of making it a straight loop, I created a twist so it would lie nicely crossed on my neck. I also didn't do the full 52 inches. I really wanted to keep going since I had more yarn and was really enjoying crocheting, but it would have been too long, and I never would have worn it.

Here's how it turned out. I LOVE the yarn color. I really liked how the different colors went together so nicely and gave it a patterned look.

Man, I hate taking pictures of myself. Oh well, these are the best I could do by myself with a camera and the bathroom mirror.



Showing off my 21 week baby bump :)

I actually love it!! I wasn't too excited about the prospect of a cowl (whenever I told people I was making one, I had to explain it, I actually didn't know what it was myself). But I like how it's a loop, so you can wear it pretty much like a scarf but don't have to worry about the pesky ends getting caught in things... i.e. your jacket zipper, the door, your kid :) Excited to wear this once it gets to be scarf (or cowl) season.

Nursing Cover-Up

The first sewing (or any type of craft) project that I've worked on in a long time. I know I have some time before the baby is born, but I thought it would be a fun and easy project to get out of the way.

I've made a few of these now, this is actually my fourth one, I made two for myself (one that was made from flannel that I discovered was way too hot for a warm baby, and one that I loved but that was starting to fall apart after repeated washings) and one for a friend. I have to say, this is the best one I've made so far!!

I've used this pattern every time, I got it from Craft Warehouse a couple years ago. It's a very easy pattern to follow and makes a perfect sized cover-up.

I love the fabric I found at Joann's to make it. That's always my favorite part about sewing projects... picking out the fabric.

This time around I improved on a couple of things. The pattern calls for using D rings for the strap, which I always found a little annoying. After making my friend one and looking at her store-bought one, this time around I used overall snaps for the strap instead of the D rings. So much quicker to snap and unsnap, and you can also leave it adjusted to the length you want for the next use instead of having to loosen it up every time you took it off.

The top of the cover-up has boning sewn in along the edge to help it poke out so you can see the baby while nursing. The two I had made previously for myself didn't really have this feature operating correctly. After studying my friend's store bought one I realized how it was really supposed to go. So I made a few adjustments in how and where the straps were attached, and this time I actually get to use it how it was meant to be used!

The bottom edge of the cover-up has flannel pockets sewn along the edge which I found very useful for storing nursing pads.



Can't believe I'm having another baby and will be using this soon! 

A new project!!

Okay dad... this one's for YOU!!

Since I found out I was pregnant (4 months ago now), I haven't been doing much crafting-wise. Chalk that up to feeling exhausted and nauseous all day long. But now that I'm going into my fifth month, things are going better. I actually made something the other day (I'll make a post on it soon) and just decided today that I'm going to participate in the crochet-along from Maybe Matilda (a fun and quirky blog I follow). She's going to go through step-by-step instructions on how to crochet a pattern, then once you're done, you get a free pattern from her etsy store, and if it's really good and others vote on your project, you win some other cool patterns. So, here we go with crocheting!! I've knitted before (only able to make scarfs though, or hats and blankets on the knifty knitter... hmmm... maybe I can create some posts about those projects) but have never really been able to read patterns. The crochet-along is supposed to teach you how to do that.  

So here's the button/link to her site.

This is what we are making.

The project I voted on didn't win, but oh well, all the projects were free patterns online, so if I figure out how to read patterns, hopefully I can make the one I wanted to make anyway!!

A Little Dye Project

I bought some fabric dye the other day in order to fix a couple jackets I have that I don't wear.

This jacket I've had for a long time, I got it at Shopko originally (I miss Shopko), but white is just not a practical color with a toddler.

It also had a few stains on it (duh, it's white).



This jacket I got at the Goodwill awhile back, and really liked the fit, but never really wore it. I realized why the other day. Oatmeal khaki does not look good next to my face, it totally washes me out.

I picked up some Rit fabric dye in dark brown.

After following the directions, this is how they turned out.

The khaki jacket turned out great. This is the jacket I originally bought the fabric dye for, so I was glad it turned out well. It didn't really turn dark brown though, maybe I didn't leave it in the dye long enough. It turned out more of a mahogany color.

A view of the back. I love how the stitching turned out, making it sort of a contrasting look.

The originally white jacket didn't turn out as well. It was kind of an afterthought, I decided to throw it into the dye since I had some dye left over. I didn't completely wet it which might have been part of the problem.

There were a few weird colored spots on it, maybe the dye wasn't mixed well enough.

It also did not turn dark brown, which is weird since it should have been more brown than the other one since it was originally white and not khaki. But it turned out more of a dusty rose color. It's pretty, just not dark brown. Oh well.