Car Seat Covers

I'm a little disappointed that now that I have these adorable little people in my life, I don't have time to make cute things for them! When they turned 4 months old it was right after I had gone back to work...and I didn't have time to make onesies like these ones. So, we improvised with duct tape. I think they are pretty cute anyway :)

Big sister is such a ham!

Waaaaaaaay back in the fall before it got too cold to go outside I wanted to take the girls out walking...but I wanted to keep them warm at the same time. So, I followed this tutorial to make a set of car seat covers. 

These were easy to make and really cute...plus they keep people from trying to touch my babies with their germy hands when we go out places. Next time someone I know has a baby, I'll definitely make one of these as a gift - maybe with an initial applique? Now I feel like I have a much better idea of what baby things are actually useful!

Three months!

Before my girls were born, I saw pictures on etsy of little onesies with a number for each month, so you could take a picture to record what your kids looked like each month. I love this idea, and here's how far we've gotten...

They were so little!!!

A little bigger...

Now 9 whole pounds!

I can't help myself, they're just so cute!

It's amazing how big the differences are even after just three months! These are really easy to make, too - it probably only takes me half an hour to make two of them. And it's really good to have some pictures I can pinpoint in time, because things go so fast and sometimes it's hard to remember!

Linking to:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

I haven't had much time for crafting lately, but I have managed to get one project done - Christmas stockings for our newly enlarged family! I made stockings for Keith and I the first year we lived together, but I never liked them all that much...they came out smaller than I wanted, and I was never satisfied with them. So this year, I made a set of new ones which I love!

 I used the same fabrics for all four, but different designs. They were fun to make and they look really fancy hanging over our fireplace! Also, this tutorial helped me to make these stockings more quickly than ever before - it's so mind-blowingly simple, I can't believe I didn't think of it before.

I have a few Christmas gifts in the works, but this will be a pretty low-key Christmas for us since we are busy with babies!

I'm linking up!

Kindle Cover

I recently got a Kindle Fire. To be honest, I'm sort of on the fence about it...it doesn't seem to work perfectly as either a tablet or an e-reader (because of the backlighting). But, it was free, and it's a handy, fun little toy. I kept my regular kindle for reading, and mostly use this one for accessing the internet.

To keep it from getting scratched, I decided it needed a cover. I used this tutorial, which was clear and easy to follow. And I ended up with this:

A quick, easy project. So quick and easy, in fact, that I repeated it to make a matching cover for my camera :)

(Interesting how these photos look like completely different colors, but it is in fact the same fabric...hmmm....)

And, because I can scarcely believe how big I am getting...unattractive self-photo! Six months down, three to go. (I actually took this photo almost two weeks ago...and the belly has continued to grow since then!)

A Baby Quilt

I started this quilt ages ago. I think I finished the top last fall. However, it is now bound off and ready for a happy home :)

The quilt is mostly based off of this tutorial from Oh, Fransson! I just adjusted the size based on how much fabric I had.

I also had the opportunity to try a new binding method on this one, which saved a lot of time. I used this tutorial. And, the back looks something like this...

Perfect for a little boy, I think :)

More T Shirts

I've said before that we have way too many t-shirts.

And these quilts are addictive. So simple to make once you get the hang of it! Here's my latest:

And the back...using bits of the backs of the shirts.

The best explanation of how to do this that I've found is here at Maiden Jane. No batting to fuss with, no binding...just the fun parts :)

More baby things!

So, having found out I'm having twins, I went on a trip to Babies R Us.

Big mistake.

This was possibly the single most overwhelming shopping trip of my life. Who could have imagined that two tiny people could need so much stuff? (Fun fact: The internet tells me that this week they are the size of sweet potatoes).

So, I decided to just go home and make more stuff. Too bad I can't make things like carseats or strollers. That would be way easier and probably more fun.

I made some more burp cloths, this time out of old towels.

I have it on good authority that babies poop a lot, so I made a changing pad. I figure if I make enough of these to stash one wherever we're likely to spend time (like in the car, at my parents' house, etc) then I might be able to cut down on some mess. I loosely followed this tutorial, but I didn't use any batting because the towel is actually pretty thick.

Then, continuing with the same tutorial, I made a cute clutch to hold it. Why not?

Good thing the babies aren't arriving until October - I am nowhere near ready for this!

My biggest project ever

In my last post I referenced a big big big project that I have been working on for the past few months.

It's really not a crafty project at all, but it has been taking up a lot of my time.

I'm having twins!!!

I can't express in words how excited hubby and I are about this. And I totally want some of these:

Bonus baby!!!

For the first few months, I was literally too tired to do anything except work and then come home and collapse into bed. I was actually going to bed at 4 or 5 in the afternoon and sleeping through until the morning. Now, however, I'm feeling a lot better, so I've started making some simple baby stuff. You know, because making stuff is fun.

I hear babies like these taggy blankets - not sure I see the appeal myself, but they are pretty cute. These were inspired by this post from Maiden Jane. I used old t-shirts that don't fit anymore, and the result is pretty darned cute!

Another great use for old t-shirts - I have been making burp cloths - because I figure twice the babies will mean twice the mess. These are backed with fabric from old t-shirts.

I was inspired by this post here - really, this is the simplest project ever, but it's fun to put cute prints on them. See the dinosaurs? Adorable!

So, for all you moms out there - what's your must-have baby item? Bonus points if it's something I can make myself!

Welcome back, me!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted! Sometimes, you know, life gets in the way...and for the past few months I have been working on a big big big project that I will share here soon. It has kept me from working on much else, but today I would like to share one of my favorite things about our new house: my craft room!

Here's our lovely house:

And here's what the room looked like before:

Until we discovered that the carpet was hiding hardwood floors! So now, it looks like this:

And, it has a closet! Someday, it will have a door on it. Maybe.

It is soooooooooooo nice to have a little space to work in...and when I leave a project half-finished, I can just close the door! I haven't been working on much, but I have been playing around with some chevrons, inspired by these ones:

Source: hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

and this

Source: beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

but I didn't really think the whole project through before starting. So, I made something like this:

 but it only makes a smallish rectangle. So, I figured I could make two from the jelly roll I had, and then went out and bought another one...so I will have two rectangles that I am currently thinking I will piece together into a quilt top. To be continued.

Christmas Recap, Part 1

My brother is in the process of becoming an adult. This year, he bought his first condo...and the first time I visited, I felt like it was missing something. It was lacking a certain sophistication. And people were drinking wine out of coffee mugs.

So, of course, I bought him wine glasses for Christmas. But I felt like he needed something to go with them - cocktail napkins!

But of course, plain white wouldn't do. So I sought out this tutorial for a basic napkin, and then looked for some embroidery patterns to spice them up. I found the perfect patterns here.

And, voila!

Grownup (because they are cloth napkins) and still ridiculous. Perfect for my brother.

I love the way these turned out. I will definitely make more!

Giveaway Day!

Edit: Giveaway is now closed! Thanks for all the blog love!


Happy giveaway day! I've never done anything like this before, but I think it sounds like a fun idea...so thanks to the people at Sew, Mama, Sew! for organizing!

For my giveaway, the winner can choose from any of the zippered bags in the photos below. All you have to do to enter is comment and tell me which one is your favorite! You don't have to follow my blog to enter, but I'd love it if you did anyway :)

The giveaway will close on December 16 at 5 p.m., and I will announce the winner here on my blog and by email. If your blog profile doesn't have an email, make sure to leave it in the comments so I know how to find you!

Happy giveaway day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

So, I made some Christmas placemats. Mostly, I wanted to practice my quilting, so I made each one like its own tiny quilt, binding and all.

I tried out a different pattern on each one.

It was a fun project. I made some matching trivet/potholder things out of scraps too.

In the pictures, they don't look quite square...but they are, I promise :) Although I think my camera has something on the lens...

In any case, happy Christmastime!