Babies=Knitting Projects

As I have mentioned before, I am not a big knitter. I hope to be someday but so far it hasn't really clicked for me. I do ok but I am slow. And if I make a mistake, I can't figure out how to resolve it on my own. But for some reason, my babies compel me to knit for them! I knit my son two roll neck sweaters when he was a baby. Then when my daughter came along, I knit her a cardigan and a roll neck sweater. Well, Penny is no exception. Now that it is getting chilly, I am worried about keeping her warm and cozy. She is also long but thin so finding pants to fit right now are a challenge. I found a cute, free baby pants pattern on Ravelry and ordered the yarn for not one, but two pairs. I have one leg done now thanks to my copy of Knitting for Dummies. And I have started on the second. Once I get to the knitting in the round step, I will be calling on my friend (the one who knit Penny's adorable hats) for assistance. If I ever get these done, I will be back with my next sewing project! Until then, I will be working on Penny's purple pants. Say that 10 times fast!

Church Fair Donations

After I made things to donate to the PTO for the fall craft fair, I felt that I should make somethings for the church fair too. I gave them a few ideas and asked what they thought would sell best. They liked the idea of the crayon rolls and aprons. Since I think it is often hard to find things for little boys at craft fairs, I made 4 crayon rolls with boyish material. I used scraps of batting left over from quilts and material that only made it through the doors of my house because the kids begged for pjs. I really don't like material with characters and stuff all over it but kids are so drawn to it. I will only use it for things like pjs. I thought it would probably go over quite well for the crayon rolls too and I am happy to see it go! Then I made two colored pencil aprons also using up scraps of material that have been sitting around here for ages. Now, I can begin to tackle some of my Christmas gifts.

Edited to add: My tutorial for the apron is here. This time, I made one change. Instead of trying to fit as many colored pencils in the apron, I cut the length of the apron to about 24" and then made 1" wide slots for the pencils. The apron I made before, though it held more pencils, was a bit heavy and a little big for a child. This size is a perfect fit for the 3-7 year old crowd.

Block Party!

Have you heard about the new Quilt Along happening over at Block Party!?
It sounds like a lot of fun. They are also having a great giveaway. Click on the link above to learn more!

Halloween Costumes

Here is my little pea in a pod. It is completely unoriginal but you can really only be a pea in a pod once in your life. I actually made this costume for Lily for her first Halloween when she was a newborn. It was supposed to be size 0-3 months according to the pattern but it is enormous. It fit Penny who is wearing 9 month clothes. I am glad that I finally got to use it!

Lily wore Timothy's dog costume. And Timothy was Peter Pan.

His dagger was handcrafted by his Daddy with three different kinds of wood. I am not sure who likes it more, Timothy or my husband!

Halloween Costume Memory Lane

It's time for a little trip down Halloween costume memory lane!

This is the first costume I made, and I believe it will always be my favorite. It was made for Timothy's first trick or treat when he was about one and a half. He was the cutest lion of all time and this is my favorite picture of him in his costume even though it doesn't show the full thing and he looks sad. I still love it!
The following year, Lily came home from the hospital on Halloween day. She wore this funny little one piece outfit with the jack-o-lantern bottom. Timothy was a kangaroo that year but we don't have any good pictures of that costume. It wasn't terribly successful anyway. The ears wouldn't stay up.
The following year, Lily was a fairy. I had fun making her wings, a beaded headband, sparkly star wand and skirt with little silk flowers inside. She was just learning to walk.
Because we had just moved and I wasn't able to make two costumes due to the chaos, we borrowed this cute Hershey kiss costume for Timothy to wear. My sister-in-law had made it for her son.

The next year, both kids decided on their own what they wanted to be. Timothy asked for a dog costume and Lily decided on a clown. Lily will be wearing the dog costume this year.
Then last year, my favorite lion costume made a reappearance as Lily wore it! Timothy asked to be a black cat.

I do wish that they would be a little more creative in their costume choices so that I could have more fun creating them but they look adorable nonetheless!

I will post costumes for this year once we take pictures! Even Penny will be dressed up!

Pumpkins!

We carved our pumpkins tonight; one for each member of the family. In the top picture, my son's pumpkin is on the left. He drew the face himself and for the first time, helped carve it too. He did the eyes and nose before he asked for help finishing up the mouth. I wanted one of the odd, peachy pumpkins this year with the strange growths all over it. Then I had no idea how to carve it! I decided on a mouse and Swiss cheese. I don't really know why. It just popped into my head and I decided to go with it.
In the bottom picture, we have my husband's two faced, happy/sad pumpkin that got broken in the kitchen sink while he was rinsing it out. It is held together with toothpicks here and will hopefully stay together through trick or treating tomorrow night! Then comes my daughter's pumpkin. She drew the design and my husband carved it for her. It looks a little robot like. And finally, my husband carved the littlest pumpkin for the baby. It is made in her likeness with two bottom teeth. Yup, she has two teeth already! Our barn cat, Licorice, decided to pose for the picture. He must have known that black cats and jack-o-lanterns go hand in hand.
Happy Halloween!

Horsing Around Jumper Take Two

I made another jumper following the tutorial that I posted a little while ago:
Horsing Around Jumper Tutorial. Since I wrote it after the fact, I did make a couple of mistakes. Basically, the straps have a 1/4" seam and I neglected to mention that. And the waistband piece should only be about 3" wide. I am going to make those changes on my older post.
This time I added about 5" to the length of the front and back piece of the skirt and did not make a ruffle. Instead, I added ruffles along either side of the bib. I realized that the bib might look a little bit better about one inch shorter, top to bottom. I made it this size in order to accommodate the horse design on the first jumper. So, you might prefer to cut this bib piece 8 1/2" x 9 1/2" but remember to add an inch or so to each strap to compensate. Leaving the bib this length does leave more room for growth though and the possibility that she can wear it again next year which is always a plus!
I used some cute little flower buttons that I cut off a shirt of mine years ago. I was happy to find a use for them.
I made the jumper in time for Lily's birthday only to be informed that she doesn't like it all that much. She conceded to wearing it to school and church a few times for my sake!