Lina's little smock

Easy project. I decided I wanted to remake a too-small smock for Carolina. I call it a smock -- if anyone has a better name, let me know. I took the size 2T original (a hand-me-down from Ben's cousin --thanks, Snow!) and just traced it a little bigger on to the new fabric. It is two-sided and each side has three pieces. The whole thing lays flat when unbuttoned, so it was easy to remake.

the original below - picture taken Jan 2009

Newest quilt

A couple weeks back I went to the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Chantilly, VA. I met up with my mom and grandma and it was terrific. I was in a class all morning on free-motion quilting. That afternoon I enjoyed all the booths. So much fabric! I didn't buy much, but I did get a small stack of 100 2 1/4" squares. I really wasn't sure what to do with it when I got home, so I decided to keep it simple. I think this will end up hanging on a wall. I'm definitely still learning the whole free-motion quilting, but I'm told it takes lots of practice.

Little booties

I made these sweet little booties for a little girl soon to be born in our ward. Really very easy. It is the same pattern I used for these. Sometimes I find a pattern that works and stick with it. I've started my third wallaby sweater and have the yarn for a fourth. These are both great basic patterns for the more experienced beginning knitter.

Art Gallery

I totally snagged this idea from Sarah Jane Studio. The changes I made: a couple of different animal shapes, watercolor instead of fingerpaints, and just freehand the words with permanent marker. Really fun, super easy, and got the kids involved!

New doll dress

Remember this doll? I finally made a nice new dress for her not too long ago. Carolina really likes her little "dolly."

My grandma is great at finding me really cool older books and patterns for dolls and other crafts. I found the pattern for this dress from a book called "Dollmaker's Workshop" by Vera Guild. 1981.

Felt paper doll

So this idea first started as a magnet doll.  Maybe I'll post more about it another time.  Carolina was not very happy with the magnets because she could not pick up the doll and play with it without her clothes coming off (she's only 2 and fairly head-strong).  So, my next idea was a felt paper doll.  It originally was going to have no face and be one felt thickness.  It turned into what you see here.  I sewed on the hair, underwear, and shoes to keep things simple.  Lina loses small things easily.

The clothes were originally just plain felt, but I thought it would be fun to add some fabric using heat 'n bond.  I didn't bother sewing it down.  It seems fairly secure and will never be washed.  The doll and clothes were created in an evening and some of the next morning.

Then Carolina informs me that "Girl" needs a pillow.  Well, she still doesn't have a pillow, but during naptime yesterday, I sewed up a case with a pocket, handles, velcro tab, and a padded half for her "bed."  She sleeps right next to Lina's pillow.  

New Life to Timmy's blanket

We've loved this quilt for over three and a half years now.  It's Timmy's "blankie" and the backside really started falling apart.  This first picture shows the blanket in March 2005, beforeTimothy ever laid eyes on it.  It was an awesome baby shower gift made by my sister Jen. After many months and many blankets, he chose this as his favorite.  I'm not sure why the backing fabric fell apart, but it was in very poor condition. I tried fixing the tears earlier this year, but the holes just kept coming.  

So, we picked out new fabric together.  I wanted to stick with a batik to keep with the original quilt. Surprisingly, Tim took this all very well and didn't mind too much about the new fabric or not having his blankie for two weeks.  The new batik is very different, but it does have dots like he wanted.  I separated the quilt and sandwiched it together with new cotton batting and the new fabric.  Rather than tying it, I felt like hand quilting. It took a little while, but I think it was worth it.  I created a double-fold binding with pieces from the back and barely had enough.  I finished hand stitching the binding last night and Tim had his blankie once again.  I was prepared for him to shun this new rendition (he'd already commented on how it seemed really different).  I put the blanket on him while he slept and he trooped downstairs this morning enjoying it lots.  I'm really happy it turned out well.  

And here is the blanket November 2008:

On the back, if you look closely, you can see where I stitched up a long vertical tear near the top.

Here is the new quilt back, after quilting.  

The quilted top. If you look closely you can see the stitches.  My quilting is rather uneven, but I don't hold myself to a very high standard with this sort of thing.  To save time, I just quilted every other square.  I'm really not sure if that is acceptable, but it seems to work okay.