A quilt for the new baby

Did everyone out there have a wonderful Halloween?

This little bunny rabbit did!  Although she looked more like a chocolate Easter rabbit by the time the night was over :)

In addition to costume sewing, I've been busy working on a quilt for the new baby and am thrilled to have gotten it finished just in time to join in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  I think that the festival is nearing almost 600 entries, so if you need any quilty inspiration, or just want oogle some beautiful quilts, this is the place to be!

It took me awhile to figure out what kind of quilt to make for this new little girl.  Phoebe's was easy since I based her entire nursery off of the fabric I used to make her quilt, but since I don't really know which direction I'm taking the new nursery yet, I was a bit stumped on where to start. 

I didn't want to make anything that screamed "baby!", because I hope that she'll keep this quilt close to her throughout the years as she grows up.  I ended up turning to Pinterest (of course!) for inspiration - and fell in love with this mini quilt.

I've always loved the wonky stars pattern, but I especially love how in this pattern they're all interlocking, which cause pinwheels to form in the negative space.

I guess you could call this a scrappy quilt, but most of it came from me finally cutting into yardage of some of my favorite fabrics that I had been hoarding for way too long - some Flea Market Fancy, Munki Munki, and other random prints that I'm just smitten with.  What better project is there to use your prized pieces in than a quilt for your new baby?

I backed the quilt in a fun rainbow stripe fabric from Alexander Henry, and quilted it in a free motion loop-de-loop pattern.  The binding is patchworked together from more favorite fabrics.

Now it's just waiting for an action shot with new baby (no we still haven't picked a name yet!).  9 more weeks to go!

Handwork

It's becoming more and more uncomfortable to sit at my sewing machine for long periods of time, so I saved a lot of embroidery and other handwork pieces for the end of my pregnancy.

I was never really into cross stitch  until I discovered the most darling patterns by Gera.

I made this Hansel & Gretel one while I was pregnant with Phoebe, and I enjoyed it so much that I thought new baby should have one as well. 

I ended up purchasing the Little Red Riding Hood pattern, and as you can see - I've still got a ways to go.  Since I was new to cross stitch when I made Phoebe's, I used 18 count Aida cloth.  However, this time I figured, "Oh, I'm an old pro at this", and went with some 28 count (28 stitches per inch).  Oh boy, does that make for some tiny stitches - and much slower stitching!

Little Red herself is barely bigger than a quarter - and the pattern actually calls for 32 count, so I can't even fathom how teeny that would be!

I'm also still plugging away at my Daisy Chain Crewelwork Sampler, and wishing that Alicia would come out with another one sometime in the future.  This has been such a fun, relaxing project to work on.

And when I do get a little burst of energy here or there, I find my way back to my sewing machine and sew up some blocks for new baby's quilt.  Now who wants to come over and baste it for me?

Costume sewing

Sorry for the week long absence - thanks for sticking around!  Let's just say that I have never been a happy pregnant person, to put it mildly, and I've been in some sort of pregnancy funk lately.  It doesn't help that I always end up getting a ridiculously huge and larger than normal pregnant belly (I didn't even leave the house my entire last month pregnant with Phoebe because people would seriously gawk at me), and I have been super uncomfortable, tired, and short tempered lately.  But I doubt you came to listen to me bitch about that - so onto more fun stuff!

So one thing that I churned out during this last week was Phoebe's Halloween costume.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?  When I was little, my grandma always made costumes for my sister and I, and when we got older, my parents kind of left it up to us to create something for ourselves.  Aside from some wigs and makeup, we never bought prepackaged costumes and I'm pretty sure that is what instilled my anti-manufactured Halloween costume beliefs.  

Halloween is such a great time for kids to be creative and help make something truly unique to wear on a day where anything goes.  I vowed before I even had kids that they would never wear one of those cheap, plastic, out of the bag costumes that promotes no imaginative thinking.  

*After rereading this I realized how harsh it sounds, and by no means am I trying to belittle parents who do purchase costumes from stores.  Not everyone knows how to sew, nor has the time - and who knows where I'll be next year when I've got two kiddos to sew costumes for.  Just my own personal thoughts regarding Halloween - and it's my blog and I can say whatever I want :)  Stepping off my soapbox now....* 

So initially, I had wanted to dress Phoebe up as Rainbow Brite for Halloween.  However, Phoebe has made it well known to everyone that she has her own opinions and ideas now, and hence I was informed that I would be making a bunny costume this year.

I bought a yard and a half of ultra cozy, micro-fleece at Joann's, and used two patterns that I already had in my stash.  The pants were made using the quick-change trousers pattern from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings, and the hoodie was made using Heidi and Finn's Urban Unisex Hoodie pattern - previously blogged about here.

I free-handed the ears, whip-stitching them into place, and used a knit shirt from Target's clearance rack to line the hoodie and make the pink for the ears.

The only part that I'm super bummed about is that I should have gone up a size when making the hoodie, because it's a little short in the arm and waist length.  This kid is just growing way too fast!  

But Phoebe absolutely adores her costume, and hops to her little hearts content when she has it on.

Now we're working on the "trick or treat" part.  Phoebe absolutely refuses to say it, for some unknown reason, but would instead prefer to say "Booooooo!" followed by announcing "Phoebe's kinda scary!".