Baby Dolls

I had no idea what to get Bella for Christmas. Two and a half year olds are hard to shop for especially when they are, shall we say, less then gentle. At the very last minute (very, very last) it hit me that a doll bed would be perfect.... Then I remembered, we now live in the land of no good retail stores (Jacksonville what is this?! I actually miss you!?) Last minute shopping brought no help until I happened to come across Danamadeit's baby doll basket pattern on pinterest. It was a life saver! Do you love instant download patterns as much as I do?  I bought it, and was able to find most everything  else in my stash. One quick trip to Joann's and I was good to go.

I made some slight modifications- one being heavier interfacing, because I wanted it to be very rigid. 

If you are want to make one I think the pattern is worth getting but I personally would not define this as a beginner pattern- even though I felt it should be. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as exact as I felt it should be for being a pattern you pay for. She over/under explains some parts of the process to the point of confusion. This is just my opinion. And as I stated, I would purchase it again because it took some of the guess work out of making a cute doll bed and I LOVE how it turned out!  (I just want to be clear if you go to grab it to make) 

These poor babies have been mostly naked for two years. It is impossible to find clothing for the tiny cabbage patches. I finally decided to bust out some additional clothing for them (what is it that makes you not want to do these projects and then when you finally break down and tackle them, they are so easy you wonder why you didn't do them sooner?) The left is a from scratch little peasant style dress. I just winged it and it worked out. The right one is one of Bellas baby dresses cut up and reused to created the same dress at 40% the size. 

She loved the gift when she finally stopped asking where the babies mommy was. It was funny and sweet how concerned she was opening up the box, she was more worried the babies mom left had them, then realizing they were her dolls.... she was very happy when she found out she was their mommy.... now if she would just take care of them and put their clothes back on! 

We Are In Fact Alive

Apparently the only thing that motivates us to blog again is a new Hey June Pattern. Adrianna of Crafterhours just released her Union Street Tee. Click on the button to see her shop and the tops she  made.

Jessica and I will be showing off our versions of her fun pattern June 27. 

You will want to get this pattern. 

We promise!

Hey June!

A couple of weeks ago a new pattern by Adrianna of Crafterhours came out. The Lane Raglan was a style Jess and I have been looking for so when it was released, we grabbed it. We had some "free" time two Saturdays ago and I was determined to get one done for the both of us. 

 Because this is a lovely, and fairly simple pattern, we were successful. I had some knits hanging around that happened to have enough yardage. Jess being my classic girl chose the black which was a heavy jersey. I picked this deep blue that was more of a tissue knit. This is a fun example of how different knits react with the same pattern. 

Our shirts are very basic but this pattern gives you a lot of space to express yourself. If you go HERE you can see Adrianna's friends in her gorgeous examples.

 Then, since it was a Hey June kinda weekend, I made another Greenpoint Cardigan for miss Bella out of the leftover fabric from Jessica's shirt. I love this pattern. 

I pretty much love anything with a raglan sleeve..... 

This is my forth cardi in this pattern and I started a fifth this morning!

I found some perfect black flower buttons in my vintage stash and I just realized my only close up of those is on my IG feed.

By the way, if you're on instagram, we'd love to follow you. If you're not, try it, it's fun and that's were Jess and I post more day to day stuff. 

Miss Bella in the middle of our frost ravaged yard. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Playing Dolls

I was despairing over finding Bella a decent baby doll. Of the non creepy sort. Baby Dolls are incredibly personal so I am sure that some of you might disagree with me on what I find acceptable. I had a cabbage patch doll that unfortunately had a tragic death when Brinkley chewed her face off, I loved her. She was bald and blue eyed. 

Unfortunately those dolls have been redone and are kind of ugly now. Luckily I have an awesome Mum who went on a hunt for Isabella's Christmas present and found this version (and let me just say I was creeped out searching for them because the ones with hair are soooo very not right) and she did a little recon to make sure neither of them had hair and they even have blue eyes. The only down side is that they are mini.... and they were dressed hideously... as in so bad I had naked dolls for a while. So I whipped them up some clothing the other day. 

I used stash fabric left over from previous baby shower gifts and made little diapers. 

And for size reference this was a newborn onesie that I took apart and remade in miniature. Also it just dawned on me that you can see the inch marks behind the doll... duh...

I still need to make at least one more outfit- though why I feel the need to have clothed dolls when my kids are half naked most of the time I will never know.

I'm not planning to go all doll clothes making crazy on you guys- promise! But is this even interesting? Or should I just keep this to myself?

Dresses for Bella

My Granddaughter is a cutie. She is three and a half months old. She loves talking and will wait for you to look at her, so she has your undivided attention, for a chat. Sometimes when she's very sleepy she will "sing" herself to sleep. It makes me laugh.

It's a good thing I started early on dresses for her because time flies and it's just hard to find moments for everything. Does that ever happen to you?

This of course is the hopscotch shirt pattern by Oliver + S. I was able to get all three of the smallest sizes from a yard of fabric. We got this Michael Miller knit from fabric.com. Thank goodness Jess is happy about having the same dress/top for Bella. They are just that cute an comfy for her.

I finished these with my serger and used a double needle for the hems.

Here she is modelling the smallest size. We were having a serious chat, as you can see.

Below is the smallest of the first trio I made. I made a bit long and she has already gotten so much taller!

I seriously could watch her for hours.

Hopscotch Top - Oliver + S

 When we found out that Jess and Uber's second was going to be a girl I decided it was about time to try the  Hopscotch Top by Oliver + S. I'd been looking at tops others have made for quite awhile, you'll find tons of inspiration if you go to that link. I was using my serger for the first time and didn't want to ruin the fabric Jess bought so I started with a soft old t-shirt of mine that had holes in it. I was able to avoid the holes and get a  6 months size. There were a few learning issues between me and the serger, so I'm glad I made that decision. The pattern is easy to follow and I was really happy with the way it turned out. Since it was my first try, with fabric I am not sure that will last too long, I decided to leave the hems with just a serged finish.

I picked out some fabric on Fabric.com and Jess ordered a yard which ended up being almost a yard and a quarter.  

I was able to get three dresses from 6 - 24 months.

If Jess decides she would rather them be tops, I can shorten them.

I simply love this pattern and can see making many more..... maybe I already have......

Sketchbook Shirt

Sorry I've been gone for awhile. It's been a bit busy. I've done this and that but haven't managed to blog about it. I've also done some stuff. What stuff? Hmmm I'll have to think. 

I did manage to make the Little Mister a Sketchbook Shirt from the pattern by Oliver & S. Jess had just barely enough of this fabric to get it done. Matching the plaid wasn't completely possible, but the overall look was exactly what we wanted. 

Then we took about a hundred pictures. 

You get to see four. 

Hmmmmm

So, how are you?

I've been a bit sad, very distracted, too busy and elated beyond my wildest imagination.

 I finally finished my happy quilt started back here.

Except for having to photograph it indoors, I love it. I love it washed in all of it's crinkly goodness. The quilting is a simple row of flowers down each wide strip and doodles in the narrow strips.

These are muslins that I made to send to my girl Jessica. The white one is from the Simplicity pattern 2964 and the other is from the school house tunic. Both are modified a bit. Modified to be a bit roomier in the front. A bit roomier to accomodate my very own GRANDBABY.

Oh yeah!

For those of you who have had to endure me for the last few days...... It's not going to get better. I will in fact continue to announce it to anyone silly enough to stop and listen. If I've told you already, pretend you haven't heard because it just makes me happy to say it.

So, I am getting these off in the mail to see if either will do, then I will use soft lovely fabrics to make them and hopefully they will help keep her comfortable through the summer months.

I liked the Simplicity pattern enough to pull out my AMH Little Folks voiles and try one for myself.

I love it. A lot.

This fabric is lucious.

Light as air.

The colors, yum. 

Thanks Jennifer for being my photographer today.

Is it just me, or is this cute?

You know who and I went to the second hand store downtown yesterday. I found this box of old buttons (but-tons). It was fortuitous to say the least, saved me having to drag the afore mentioned you know who to a fabric store. In the box were the exact things I was looking for, in the exact amount I needed. I started this project Friday night. I had everything I needed except, out of the hundreds of buttons I have, none fit.

This pattern is from Favorite Things it is their Uptown Coat pattern. The pattern is a simple one. You should probably have a few clothing projects completed before trying it though. There are some things they leave out.

So, as I said, I had the fabric in my stash. The lining is a cotton that we had at the shop, Middleburg by Jenny Beyer. The outer fabric is a wool-blend, it's older than most of my kids. It started it's life grey and I dyed it purple. I never made the project it was intended for. I have plenty left over.....

You know who kindly photographed me in the coat. I told him these pictures make it look like he almost knows what he's doing.

He said that sounded like a compliment.

I said it almost was.

So glad he loves me.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Buh-bye!