A little birthday present!

One of our playgroup friends just turned one, and I made this little dress for her.  She’s a real girly-girl, so I can totally see her in this.

2011 Reflections, 2012 Goals

Doesn't everyone who goes to the Rodin Museum have a photo like this?

While sewing recently, I got reflective about how much I’ve learned in sewing this past year, and what I’d like to accomplish this year.  I got my sewing machine a little over a year ago, because I have a decent job, but I don’t find it very inspiring, and I felt I really needed something creative in my life to help balance out the everyday responsibilities.  Sewing has definitely done that for me.  I find sewing very relaxing, almost meditative, probably because I usually sew at night (or occasionally during nap time) when the house is really quiet.  It’s just me and the machine.  Without the noise of every day life, thoughts and reflections just naturally percolate to the surface.  It’s a good time to sort out your thoughts and quiet all the anxieties that seek out your attention during the day.  I find a lot of satisfaction in being able to create things, too.  I think art and creativity are requirements in life, even though they often get set aside for more practical things.

Upcycled Valentine’s Day Outfit

I saw a tutorial for making the ruffled heart on this Valentine’s Day dress recently and decided to check my stash of old t-shirts to see if I could make this.  Turns out I had a grey maternity cardigan and a grey t-shirt I could use for the dress.  And then I decided to make leggings to go with it from a pair of black maternity leggings.  I’m loving that this outfit is totally upcycled.  I like being able to reuse old clothes, and I get a kick out of knowing that baby girl is wearing my old maternity clothes.

One little word

I’m back!  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone.  Life (mostly work) got a little overwhelming, so craftiness had to take a back seat.  It’s sad when the things you enjoy in life take a back seat to the things you have to do.  :(  Which actually brings me to the topic of this post.  It’s new year’s resolution time.  Get fit.  Spend more time with the hubs.  Budget better.  Lose weight.  Read more.  Etc. 

But I’ve also been seeing something a little different in the blogosphere.  One little word.  Pick one word that you will focus on for the year. 

Race for the Cure

Last weekend, a couple of friends and I did the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K to support the fight against breast cancer.  Being the crafty ladies that we are, my friend Jenn (from Fat Cat Crafts) made beanies for us to wear, and I made ruffle scarves.

Totally geeked out

I’ve mentioned before how much I love oliver + s patterns.  They are probably my favorite patterns for children’s clothes.  They take a little more time to make, but her instructions are so awesome and the clothes always have such great little details.  I just love the end product.  So, earlier this year, the designer behind oliver + s released a book called Little Things to Sew, a book of accessories and toys for children.  I resisted getting the book for a while, because I decided I wanted to stick to making clothes.  Accessories (like hats and aprons) didn’t appeal to be as much.  But I finally decided I’d get it.  The first thing I made was this bear hat for the baby girl.  I loved making the hat, but I wasn’t so sure about the purple tweed (spur of the moment Joann purchase).  I wanted to try something more “interesting” than the usual “simple” where my tastes tend to gravitate.  So, I was still unsure of the purple tweed, but I put the picture of the bear hat in my flickr feed, and the designer herself commented that she liked the purple tweed.  EEK!

Tutu cute!

One final Halloween sewing project.  As I was making this skirt, I kept thinking, This must be too small for the baby girl.  I must have measured wrong.  But no, it fit her fine.  It’s just that she is small.  :)  To give you an idea of how small, this skirt was only seven inches long.  Teeny tiny, right?

And that’s the fun thing about making kids’ clothes.  They are so wee, and just by being so wee, they are so CUTE!  This little skirt looked adorable just hanging there.  And even cuter on the baby, no?

Changing directions

Pardon me while I change my mind at the last minute and return all these items I purchased for Halloween costumes while buying new items for the costume I’m now going to make.

My wild animals

This weekend, we went to an “after dark adventure” at a local ecological preserve.  It was so fun!  It was a short hike on one of the trails, and along the way, there were “critters” (people--probably volunteers, judging by the range of acting ability, lol--dressed up as different animals that you might find on the trails) who told you a little about the animal they were representing and their role in the ecological system.  It was entertaining and educational, and I liked that it was a non-scary Halloween activity. 

When we signed up for the event, they told us children were encouraged to wear animal costumes.  None of the store-bought animal costumes really inspired me, so I took that as a challenge to make something.  I had bookmarked this blog post that had tips for making simple costumes.  I figured the owl was perfect for a night time hike in the woods.  A little bit of tracing, cutting and sewing, and here’s my version:

Poor blog...

has been totally ignored.

I've been missing the creative life.  For some reason, fall has been busier than even the summer.  We've been camping and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.  I'm liking the fact that the kids are shaping up to be wilderness kids.  Baby girl loves playing with sticks and dirt.  And the little guy keeps asking to go camping again.  We didn’t do a lot of outdoors stuff when I was a kid, so it’s been fun for me to explore new trails and parks along with the kids. 

We live in a great city, where beaches and mountains are just short drives away, and there’s so much natural beauty to take in.  And it’s cheap entertainment for the kids, too.  :)

 
I can’t believe it’s already mid-October.  I need to get working on those Halloween costumes! I’ve been trying to get a work project out of the way first.  Pesky work!  Anyway, I had a request for another clue on the Halloween costumes, so I wanted to post for anyone who may be waiting.  :)  I thought my clues from the previous post were kind of vague, but one of you actually guessed it.  You guys are good! 

So, here’s another clue that should totally give it away: