I discovered a new very neat little blog named Trula Kids. It was love from the first sight. I love blogs like that with beautiful pictures and amazing mom behind it who makes clothes for her two kids. I was blown away by her creations as she sews without any patterns (I guess she uses patterns for some things). I spent an hour just reading the posts and looking at the pictures of the clothing she made. I am definitely feel inspired now to make some clothes for my kids. The only difference is that I cannot make a thing without a pattern. I am a nerd like that - I need all the directions and patterns you can get. In other news, KCWC starts on Monday. I am starting to freak out. I know it's not like somebody will be grading me on it but I feel like I should be sewing a thing a day. I told Matt that I will be sewing like a mad woman next week and that he's on a dinner duty for the whole week. Ha. He wasn't very happy about that.

That's my fabric stash all washed and ironed. So ready for cutting. I wanted to cut some things before the week starts so I would just sew next week. But it looks like I don't really have time for that. Maybe over the weekend I will get some time off and get to work. That would sure help.

Well, I am half ready myself and cannot wait to see what other bloggers create next week.

Baby Gifts

My friend just a had a beautiful little boy. There is nothing better than a new life coming here to Earth. I always get so excited when people close to me announce their pregnancy or birth of a child. The wheels in my head start turning as I think what I can make and give for a new baby. Making for babies is a pure bliss. Baby things are just so small and sweet that making them just makes me happy.

This time I asked my friend what would she want me to give her for her new baby. She asked me to make some appliquéd onesies for summer. I've never made anything for a boy other than knitting so I decided to find something cute for summery hot days on top of the onesies.

Pattern: Ottobre 2010-03 #3
Fabric: Linen blend from JoAnn's

I was asked to make size 3-6 months but Ottobre sizes are in cm. I have no idea how many cm is a baby boy at three months. I made size 74 and it was a little too big. I think it was more like for 6-9 months. So I had to make another one.

Used the same pattern but different fabric and size is 68cm. At first I thought it was light linen blend but when I started sewing with it I changed my mind. I have no idea what it is but it was finicky to work with. It is light though so should be great for summer.
I also made this romper with snaps on top straps instead of buttons.

Honestly, I like the first one better. I think fabric looks much better and crisper. The second one is lighter and softer though.

Then came onesies. One of them is a stencil and the others are appliqué. Had a fun time making them and I think they make the fastest and easiest gifts.

I am in love with a tie onesie. Too bad I have girls only because I would totally make ten onesies with different little ties on them.
Yay for baby gifts!

Birthday Sailor Dress

Oh, how I love sailor dresses. No, not for me but for little cute girls (or not so cute). I've been meaning to make one for ages now but always had too many kids excuses. Then as I was browsing some sewing blogs I noticed that there is a thing going on with making birthday outfits. I loved the idea so much that I decided to make a birthday dress for my little K. The only problem was that I had three days to complete it. So I went right to work. Remembered about my dream of making a little sailor dress, found a pattern and cut into fabric I already had on hand. And that's what came out of it.

Pattern: Ottobre 2009-03 #15
Fabric: some calico cotton I had on hand

I had a little issue with buttons. I was short of one red button so substituted it with a white one. Also notice how bottom button is not spaced right. I got too excited about making buttonholes that I did not check the spacing before making the bottom one so it came out a little lower than supposed to be.

All in all it was an easy pattern + stash fabric = cute little sailor girl on her birthday. Happy Birthday, K!

Excited!

I am so excited about this one. I've been longingly watching it every year and drooling over every creation but never had a chance to participate. I mean I had a chance but always had some other things interfering like pregnancy/tiny baby, moving, sewing machine in the storage or too much whining from the kids. Now I think I have the perfect opportunity to do it. It's now or never! :)

Emma needs some new clothes for summer and I am ready to tackle it. I am sure I will make something for Kate and Alyssa too. Alyssa is a fan of my sewing so I will be happy to do it for her. Katelyn needs some summer things too so this is the perfect timing for the sewing. I better start deciding what I want to make for them.

The rules are to do something sewing or knitting related every day for at least an hour. That's easy. I will probably trace and cut out some patterns before the KCWC week so I can just sew every day instead of spending precious time on prep work.

You can see I am pretty giddy about this event. Let's hope it goes well and doesn't end up being a disaster that makes me feel all overwhelmed and heartbroken because I was trying to do too much in one week.

Thank You :)

Gaylene, this goes to you. Thanks for checking this blog often and leaving comments. You make me feel like I do really accomplish something in this crazy life with three kids and not much time on my hands.

My sister-in-law Gaylene at Unwritten was nice enough to give me an award!! I feel so honored. I have nobody to give this award to but I will still give some fun facts about me.

1. When I was in school I had a music teacher bug me about going to her choir because she liked my singing voice. She even went to my mother asking her to make me join her choir.

2. Once for the New Year's my brother and I made my mom handmade gifts. My gift was a knitted scarf, my brother (whom I taught how to knit a day before that) decided that he did not have time for a scarf so he made her a knitted square with embroidered words on it. My mom still thinks the ugly and short scarf is from my brother and my talent of knitting came out when I made this beautiful "work of art" knitted square. I keep trying to prove her wrong.

3. I have a bad habit of twirling my hair in one spot and the patch of my hair in this spot has weird texture now being all coarse and curly. Weird, huh?

4. I cannot stand wearing socks inside if I am not wearing my shoes.

5. I went to Belgium when I was 15 years old with a student exchange program from my school. I spent a month and a half there going to school and living an 'ordinary' life with some stranger family I never met before.

So here you have it. Thanks again, Gaylene! You made my month! :)And here's a sneak peak of something I've been working on last week (or more like weekend). My friend is due on April 4th with a baby boy and I wanted to make her something. I will show the full thing when I ship it off and it's not a secret anymore.

On a Roll

I seem to be on a roll these days. I finished another little thing. It is a little knitted raglan tee. I made it for Katelyn this time. I used this Immie Tee pattern from Ravelry. I fell in love with it when I saw it on somebody else's blog. I had perfect yarn for this tee and started right away. The central part is so pretty that I cannot stop looking at it. I think Katelyn likes it.

Emma's PJ's

I sat for five minutes thinking of a smart name for the post but could not come up with anything. So I'd rather show you the pajamas I made for Emma. She is the only child who actually needs new clothes. She is growing out of her 5T clothes and I find myself not really liking what's in the market for girls older than 5 years old. It seems to be all too grown up. So I decided that I can slowly make stuff for her. But we'll see how it goes. Store bought pajamas are usually cute for any age but I thought it would be nice to get a pattern and then make as many as I want. BUT it turns out that making clothes for older girls is so much more expensive. For example, to make pajamas for a 5/6 year old you need approx. 3 yards of fabric. If you buy fabric without any discount it would cost you $8x3=$24, plus the buttons. I was lucky to score this flannel on one of JoAnn's sales for $2.50/yard and I already had buttons. So it cost me $7.50 to make these PJs. Awesome! It is hard to make things for Emma as she is quite sensitive to clothing. It seems like everything is itchy and scratchy these days. So the first thing she said when she put the PJ's on was 'Mom, it's not itchy!!!' Great! I used this Oliver + S pattern. I love Oliver + S patterns. They go so easily and without a glitch. Her instructions are great and very easy to follow. There is an option to make these PJ's with ruffles but i decided it would be too much work. So I went with an easy option. All in all great pattern and I will be making many more pajamas for Emma with this pattern. I already have another 3 yards of flannel waiting for me to cut into. Too bad it's getting warmer and warmer and soon I'll have to make summer versions of stuff.