New PJ's!

This week's project was to create some new pajamas for the kids. It seems like you can never have enough PJ's and yet I am shocked by how much they cost now that they are out of sleepers. Who knew?

I once again searched the internet and found some really great tutorials for boys jammie bottoms, the one I used is found here. They are super easy and only took a few minutes to make. The best thing about them is that they are made from my husband's old T-shirts which didn't cost me a thing. I have a bunch more T-shirts in the giveaway box and I can't wait to make up some more.  

For my girlie, I found this amazing book at the Library called, "Sewing the Seasons" by Sandi Henderson. It has a link for free patterns used in the book and her Christmas PJ's pattern worked really well for a nice summer nightie 

She really got into posing for the pictures :). This nightie posed a new challenge for me as it included a sewing technique that I had never tried before, Shirring. The instructions in the book made it super simple and I will definitely be doing it more often. You simply hand wind elastic thread onto the bobbin and insert it into the machine and you are ready to sew like normal, you just have to remember to leave a long tail when you finish to tie the ends together and voila!

Baby Bonnets!!

A friend of mine asked if I could make her a couple of baby shoes as a baby shower gift for twins. I was excited with the idea since I LOVE twins. (I have two sets of twin nieces and nephews and they are so much fun!) 

Once I had finished the shoes I thought how cute they would be with this baby bonnet that I had pinned a few days earlier. Found here at crochetlatte.com for free!

Here are my favorite baby bonnets.

Then my Aunty asked me to make her some baby boy things for a baby shower she was going to in the summer, and I couldn't help but think that there must be some cute baby boy hat I could make similar to the girls bonnets. I found the cutest little hat here, but I struggled with it for quite some time either because the pattern didn't seem quite right. I managed to figure out my own version and here is the result. Pretty cute huh?

Happy Easter!!

I was determined to continue my mother's tradition this year of matching Easter outfits!

It began with a bunch of fabric that my mother had given to me and I let my daughter choose which fabric she wanted for her new dress. She was so excited! She picked this fabric with birds on it and I found some coral fabric to match it. 

I noticed that she has begun to love twirly dresses and I remembered a dress from my childhood that I loved twirling in. It had an empire waist and a circle skirt. I decided to try and make a similar one for my daughter. 

Using one of her other dresses I created a pattern and pieced it together adding a sash and some ruffly tulle on the bottom. It was definitely a hit. 

Then I found a toddler tie pattern here by Madelyn. It is amazing!! It only took me about 10 minutes to make a tie for my son. I made another one before church the next Sunday to match one of his vests. I love it! 

Then I took apart one of my husband's ties and used it as a pattern to make a tie for him. That one took a lot more effort and was a lot harder to make. But now that I've made one, I think I can do it again as long as I practice my hand sewing :) Isn't he handsome?
(Of course someone else had to be in the picture too :) 

Then I only had a little bit of the birdie material left and remembered I had a tutorial on pinterest for a Scrunch belt here that I thought would perfectly complement my pregnant belly.

So there you have it, Matching outfits for Easter Sunday!

Baby Blanket - Finally Finished!!

I have been working on a blanket for the new baby since January amidst all my other projects. I was sure the baby would be a girl and so I wanted to make something flowery and girly for her. Luckily the ultrasound confirmed that I was right, the baby is a girl, and I won't have worked in vain. 

I found a beautiful flower pattern on Meladora's Creations Free Crochet Patterns and Tutorials that I used to make the flowers. I chose to alternate three different colours of pink instead of the pattern she used. I also didn't read through all the directions on how to connect the flowers before I started making them so I learned later that you connect them as you go. I had to undo all the flowers I'd made because it was so much easier to connect them as you go than to try and attach them to each other later. :)

I wanted something resembling leaves for the border and discovered the Crocodile stitch. The internet is such an amazing help. I was able to find a few tutorials online and adapted the stitch slightly to make the scales appear more leaf like. Then with the help of T Adams instructions, I was able to create the border and stitch it to the blanket. 

I love the way it turned out, and even though it was a tremendous amount of work I think it was worth it. 

What do you think?

Meladora's Creations Free Crochet Patterns & Tutorials

Teaching the World to Crochet

- See more at: http://www.meladorascreations.com/flowerafghangrannies.htm#sthash.chk5o4wo.dpuf

Meladora's Creations Free Crochet Patterns & Tutorials

Teaching the World to Crochet

- See more at: http://www.meladorascreations.com/flowerafghangrannies.htm#sthash.chk5o4wo.dpuf

Meladora's Creations Free Crochet Patterns & Tutorials

Teaching the World to Crochet

- See more at: http://www.meladorascreations.com/flowerafghangrannies.htm#sthash.chk5o4wo.dpuf

Welcome: My first Blog Post Ever!

Wow, I never thought that I'd take the time to write a blog, but here I am.

Seeing as I am now more than half-way through my pregnancy the "Nesting Instinct" has taken full effect and I have been sewing and crocheting like a mad woman!

I have been scouring the internet looking for free patterns and ideas to get me started and have found so many helpful blogs out there with free tutorials, patterns and a host of ideas. I thought to myself, why not do the same for others and create a blog to post all my ideas and creations and such.

So here we are. 

I have learned that as soon as the baby comes my creative zest ceases for a season so I have become just frantic with creativity, thinking of all the things I want to make before she gets here. 

My husband who is ever supportive and encouraging of my crazed hobbies suggested that I try and sell some of my creations. So now I have even more excitement over making things. 

The only thing I have to decide now is what to make first!

Two of my friends recently had baby girls and so I focused on some cute little crochet booties.

With the help of a free pattern I found here at Whistle and Ivy (She's amazing!) I adapted it until I got the shape that I wanted and now I have a bunch of cute Mary Jane shoes in different sizes. 

What do you think? Aren't they just the cutest? 

(If you'd like a pair $15 each, just email me :)