Hexie Queen Blog Hop: The Hexie Skirt

Well, the day is here, and I am officially participating in my very first blog hop! Welcome to "Grizz 'n' Dove!" 

The Hexie Skirt

With this project, I was able to kill two birds with one stone... well, really three birds with one stone! 

1. I love sewing scrappy hexagons, so I've had some hexies already stitched and lying around that really needed to be made into something.
2. Peanut needed something fun to wear to a wedding rehearsal.
3. I've been wanting to participate in a blog hop!

 Just a quick how-to summary: I cut my hand-stitched, scrappy hexies into a rectangle two times as wide as Peanut's waist. Then, I quilted it to a piece of solid yellow fabric and attached it to the white-dot-on-purple fabric. Finally, I sewed the rectangle into a "tube," and sewed the elastic casing, added the elastic and closed the casing.

Don't let that bottom picture fool you; of course, Peanut just LOOOOVED her skirt!

See, she was so comfy in it, that she fell asleep on Mommy and was easily transferred to Daddy when it was my turn to eat :)

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to visit the rest of these Hexie Queens today to enjoy some Hexie inspiration!

Wednesday, August 21

Sunshine Girl Nicola 

Cheryl James – Sew We Quilt  

Fish Kopp   

Grizz 'n' Dove (you are here!)  

Secretly Stitching  

In the Boon Docks  

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs  

Quilt Doodle Designs 

Ridge Top Quilts 

KaHolly 

Why-Knot-Kwilt

And as always, thank you Mdm Samm and Miss Debby for organizing and cheering us on! And thanks for giving this newbie a chance ;)
PS: The amazing Connecting Threads is our sponsor for this hoppity-hop-hop-hop, so go visit them and show them some love! They were the very first place I ever bought fabric online, and I've loved them ever since!

Peanut's "Polly Peasant Dress"

Here's the scoop: our friends were married up in Glacier National Park this past weekend, and I was a bridesmaid. I'll post pictures soon (see them here!), but until then, here's the dress I made for Peanut to wear!

I picked up some gauze-like, slightly stretchy, blue gradation material from the remnant bin at JoAnns before Peanut was even born. I had a plan: it would become a gauzy blanket, or I'd make something for my good friend (the one who just was married) with it because I knew she loved those colors. Well, turns out that the remnant was too small for a blanket, and I never could think of exactly what I could make with it for Friend... so I simply made a dress with it!

It's the "Polly Peasant" dress pattern by Sew Much Ado. I've made the newborn size before, and Peanut fit right into a 0-3/3-6month size combo :) 

I added some lace to the bottom, and Peanut was ready to attend her first wedding!

 There's Grizz and I with our little Peanut (the head-bow was purchased at Shopko) and of course, the bride wanted a picture with Peanut, too! Peanut is still a bit selective with her smiles, especially when there are a bunch of cameras in her face, but she's still cute :) Sometimes, we blame her frowns on her big cheeks - the cheeks are too heavy for her to hold a smile!

Be on the look out for more wedding pictures... it was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting with beautiful people!

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Finally, a Semi-Crafty Post!

Just a little glimpse of some clothing projects I did while waiting for the Peanut to arrive...

I dyed some onesies (some I bought, some I received at a shower) red and blue. Then I created the designs using both PhotoShop and a word document and printed them out on normal printer paper. After tracing them onto freezer paper (placing the printed page underneath and tracing with a permanent marker), I cut out the freezer paper designs with a regular scissors and an exacto-knife. Then, following a tutorial from Dana, I ironed the freezer paper onto the onesies and painted them white!

You can see the fermata on the red onesie and the math joke on the blue one. I also have a few more - another math joke, plus a mountain climbing on for Grizz, and a Montana one to honor the state she was born in. The "Cutie Pi" was made with only paint, but the others are a combination of painted designs with iron-on letters for the words. When I do this project again, I will do my best to only use paint - the letters look like they're starting to fall off from stretching the onesies so much while getting them over Peanut's head.

The bottom onesie is one that was created at a baby shower. The hostess had a lot of onesies, burp rags and bibs to be decorated with paint and stencils. I made the cow one :) I decided to switch it up and paint the outline instead of just the inside of the cow. It was such a fun project at the shower!

**The "Acute Baby" onesie was worn to the shower thrown by a few math teachers I subbed for often :)

Two Week Update

 Well, two and a half week update :) We had her doctor's appointment, and everything looked good - she was already 1 pound over her birth weight! She also surprised us and rolled over from her tummy to her back while the doctor was showing us how to do tummy-time. She has yet to do it at home, but at least we know that she can do it!

 Grizz actually wasn't sleeping... I crocheted two hats for little Peanut while I was still substitute teaching. They barely fit! I'll take a better picture of it when I post about all the projects I created while waiting for her to arrive.

 First walk! This happened last week. It was actually sunny for once, albeit a little windy. Don't tell the Grandmas, but it actually sprinkled on us a little bit when we were almost back. Thank goodness for the quilt I made her! It was so nice to get out and about. Once Grizz comes home from work today, we'll go out for walk #2!

 Blue and yellow forever! She went to church for the first time last Sunday (this wasn't her outfit - she wore a long-sleeved, white onesie with pink, ruffle-butt pants). Everyone oohed and ahhed over her!

 Look at those chubby cheeks! This is her favorite sleeping position: laying on me! Peanut is definitely a cuddle bug. She will sleep in her bouncer chair (see below) once I transfer her sleeping body from my chest, plus we're slowly figuring out where else she will happily sleep. We plan on trying the bassinet portion of the pack 'n' play again soon (she hated it when we first tried it!).

 She can look so peaceful sometimes :) and we love her to bits... but don't be fooled (my parents were fooled when they visited the first week - she, of course, was a perfect doll then!). Now, she can be quite fussy, especially when she is gassy. We're working on it, though. I'm slowly taking dairy out of my diet, plus we're doing extra burping and having her nurse while she's angled upward to try to decrease the amount of air in her tummy.

This was from this afternoon: trying out a new sleeping position! She slept in the Moby Wrap this morning. I ordered a Baby K'tan Breeze today. We're borrowing the moby from a friend, but I think it will be too hot for the summer; the breeze looks like it will be better in warmer temperatures.

Ok, that's all for now - I just wanted to record a few things, so I don't forget! Most of the baby announcements went out today, although I still have several to prepare and send. I also need to get to work on the baby book and calendar!

Baby Package

 Cali Baby was born about two weeks ago, and he couldn't be more loved!
A week after he was born, I was able to send my box of goodies - He received two bibs made from his grandpa's jeans, a tie-onesie outfit complete with matching pants, a crocheted blanket, two burp cloths, and a few more pairs of pants. His older brother got a bright red hat!

 Right before mailing it, I whipped up one more pair of "Big Butt Baby Pants" made with Made-By-Rae's pattern... I call them "old man" pants because of the pattern, but I think they'll be super cute on little Cali Baby!

 Finally, I sent the little boys a book. My dad always used to do "This Little Piggy" on my toes, so this book is quite fitting for my nephews - I'm sure Pop will do it on their little toes too!

I can't wait until Grizz and I can take a little trip this summer to SoCal to meet the new addition to my brother's fam!

Tie Onesie and Another Pair of Pants

I ordered this fabric online - my first time EVER ordering online! It's from Connecting Threads and it was on sale :)

When I ordered it, I knew it would make some very fun baby boy pants (using this pattern), but when Neighbor saw it, she instantly thought it would be a great tie applique... so, I did both! The tie print-out came from this tutorial.

The onesie is a 6-9months onesie from Walmart and the pants are an altered 6-12month size. I just hope that Cali Baby is able to wear them at the same time at least once! But, perhaps it's too matchy-matchy... OK, I'll change my hope - I just hope that my brother and sis-in-law approve of the outfit! 

It will obviously be a few months before Cali Baby can wear it (he's due in 2 weeks!), but I wanted to get the project done in time to send it with the other gifts! Still working on a few projects... I'll show everything that I'm sending before I box them up and put them in the mail!

For Baby Quail

Because I was told to stop making baby girl clothes, I decided it was finally time to put this pattern to the test. I bought it online here a few weeks ago and put off trying it until this week.

I found the fabric at (guess where!)... yup, a thrift store. It felt like the type of fabric that men's dress shirts are made off, but I thought they might make cute baby pants. 

 Can't you just imagine a baby boy in a white onesie with these pants on? Especially in Cali? Well, maybe they should have been shorts for the California Baby, but I still think he'll be cute in them :)

Here's the backside... the pattern is called "Big Butt Baby Pants" because of the added panel to the butt. (Pattern - Made By Rae)

 I thought I was pretty clever using the same fabric for the panel, but making the stripes go in the opposite direction. Cute, huh?

 I even took the time to sew around the leg hems twice to make it look more legit. These skinny leg hems made me nervous at first - pressing them under wasn't going to be easy! However, I did a quick zigzag around the edges before pressing, and then I turned under the entire leg so I could press both sides on top of each other... worked pretty slick. One of these times I might take pictures while actually making them so you can visualize what I mean.

Until then, just tell me the pants are cute and Baby Quail is going to love them. OK? Thanks :)

Final Girls Clothes for Awhile

This will be the last "baby girl" creation post for awhile. I've had an intervention... Ok, actually Grizz finally admitted that it was a little weird for me to be sewing girls clothes when there's no intended recipient. And yes, I knew it was weird when I was doing it... but I just love how easy and cute and fun it is! 

Thus, until there is an announcement from family or friends that someone is expecting a girl, I'll put away the patterns (happily knowing that I can make them in a jiffy) and I'll put away the cute pink fabric and I'll enjoy making boy clothes and quilt blocks :) 

But, as for the creations that put me over the "acceptable" range of sewing girls clothes... Both patterns and tutorials were wonderfully easy to follow! So check them out!

Diaper Covers

(Free pattern and tutorial here)

 I made these in the size to match the pinafore you'll see later.

For the first one I made, I used some pink lace stuff to dress it up a bit. I disliked the fabric I used when I was turning it for the waist and leg elastic casings... it was unraveling and not cooperating.

 Thus, the second one I used bias tape instead of turning the fabric and it was a lot easier!

Crossover Pinafore

 This was the fabric (a thrift store pillowcase) that I could not just leave in my stash for later... I just had to make it into something!! So, I made this 6-12 month girl's crossover pinafore... pattern and tutorial.

 Here's the back...

Here's the front...

The contrasting pink fabric (the same fabric I used for the diaper covers) was found at the same thrift store as the pillowcase. The fabrics matched perfectly!

Instead of using buttons like the pattern called for, I just used velcro. I need to work on sewing narrow curves... I'm not very smooth and you can tell if you look closely at the picture. Oh well, I've got plenty of time to practice :)


Ok, that's all. Thanks for (hopefully) not judging me too much on my crazy baby clothes fever (note: I don't have baby fever... I just like sewing baby clothes!) Yeah, I just reread that; I think you're right in judging me! I may be just a little crazy. Ha :)

For Our Someday...

There are no scheduled baby girl arrivals amongst my family or friends. Yet, when I saw this cute little dress pattern on the blog "Sew Much Ado", I knew that I had to try it. So I did :) The best part of her tutorial was that she gave a pattern; most blogs just say to use a current dress that fits the recipient already. Um, I don't have an intended recipient quite yet, so having a pattern was a must!

Thus, this little number will be stored away until I can put it onto my own little girl, or if God decides having a little girl isn't for us, it will be a wonderful doll dress! 

*I would just say that I could use this one for a baby shower gift in the future, but it was definitely a practice one.  I hope I can learn from my mistakes when I make more for gifts! (Mistakes included a little trouble with my sewing machine's tension while sewing the elastic casing, making sure the elastic was twisted when I sewed the ends together, making the rick-rack meet up nicely when I started/finished it on the hem.)

 The pattern was simple and the instructions were easy to follow. I love it when that happens! Neighbor says I need to make a red fabric flower to adorn the front... maybe for future gifts. I also think a coordinating headband would be cute too!

I've never used rick-rack like this, so I was surprised with how easy it was, and I love how it looks! The rick-rack was taken from my mom's sewing stash before I moved out here; I had no idea at the time how well it would come in handy!

 The elastic was a thrift store find; 1/4 inch elastic for $0.25. And of course I didn't use it all; there is plenty for more projects! I never really worry about if the type of elastic I'm using is the right type for the project... maybe I should do some reading to figure out what all the different types of elastic are designed for. Or, I could just continue buying anything I can find at thrift stores or rummage sales for cheap... yeah, I might chose that route :)

The fabric was also from a thift store - a twin sheet for $1.50. I can't wait to make more flowery dresses! Now, I just need to find some red fabric to make a diaper cover for this... So many ideas going through my head! LOVE IT!