Waiting, knitting, waiting

We are waiting for this little baby, (six days late, but who's counting!) so I'm knitting. Great for nervous energy and the long hours if the night when I can't sleep. Keeps me more zen and from calling the baby bad names...

First off the needles a vest for Keenan from Joelle's book 'More last minute knitted gifts'. Made with Spud and Chloe washable wool blend yarn. I have another hank to make the baby a matching sweater, that's next up. Cute!




Still deciding if I want to monogram it or add a design to the front of some sort, any ideas?




How cute is this bunting! 'Buga baby bunting' pattern be Spud and Chloe in Malabrigo chunky emerald. (sorry it's upside down, can't figure out how to flip it on my phone or I-pad)



I can't get over the little ears, now if we only had a baby to fill it! Maybe the storm coming in tonight...

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Baby to be's stocking

All the snowman stockings

The newest addition just waiting for a name to put on

The soon-to-be new addition to our family needed a stocking, as the soon-to-be big brother noticed it didn't have one. Sticking with the snowman theme I made two wool felted snowman to attach to the stocking and added a ladder so they could be sneaking a peak inside.

K's Bedspread

I finally finished Keenan's big boy bedspread! It was fun to design and fun to make the applique animals, then I got bored and had a hard time finishing the quilting and piecing. Hence the length of time these things take me.

I used the white animal print fabric from Ikea as the inspiration as we already had matching artwork and stuffed animals for this print from his nursery. I found the duck print and picked up all the solid cotton for the appliques from Fancy Tiger.

I used wool batting for the first time. What a great product, all natural and warm. A 40% coupon at Hanncock Fabrics helped with that.

Mom's happy it's finished and Keenan loves the animals and little fish swimming around his bed. Now if we can just keep the dog off of it...

deadlines

There has been sewing, actually a lot of sewing. Just not much documentation as this belly gets bigger my energy seems to run out quickly. I have two weeks until my sewing table and machine need to go into storage to make way for the birthing tub and then crib. Hence, lots of sewing.

So, in the next two weeks you should see (cross my fingers that I can pull it off):
Keenan's finished big boy quilt
Prayer flags for a friend
The baby's new christmas stocking
Silky bunnies for Keenan to give the baby
possibly baby clothes
baby knitting projects
completed costumes for Keenan's christmas costume trunk
cloth wipes
burp clothes

Here are a few things that are finished and happened to get photographed!

When the baby arrives, Keenan is getting a doll, we decided it needed a sling to match mommies.

Lots of babies have been arriving in our circle of friends, a few quick blankets to welcome them.

Shopping

Shopping for fabric and trim in NYC, oh my!






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Newborn Warm Leggers (leg warmers) Pattern

Newborn Warm Leggers (leg warmers) Pattern

Guage: 6 stitches = 1 inch in stockingnette stitch

Finished Size: +/- 7" long & 6" circumference

Materials: 1 skein Malabrigo Twist (3.5 oz) 100% pure baby merino wool
set US #4 double point needles

Pattern:

Cast on 32 sts.

Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Round 1: *K2P2; repeat from * to end of round

Repeat round 1 seven more times

Knit 40 rounds

Repeat round 1 eight times

Bind off loosely and weave in ends!

Quick knits for the belly

Getting bigger, slowing down, time for knitting for the baby.

This weekend leg warmers or "warm leggers" as my son calls them. Modeled here by the beautiful Devan.

Pattern to follow!






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My husband had informed me that this actually makes me the biggest geek in history, but...

How amazing is this fiber art installation outside the Denver art museum! The dorky part, I knew the name of the artist: Janet Echelman from my Fiber Arts magazine reading. She was featured in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue.

You must see it at night, when it's lit up. I made Cary take me after our anniversary dinner out. Couldn't waste having a babysitter.

Also a little peak at my ever growing belly. Happy weekend!



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Dreaming of fall

This time of year I start dreaming of fall. I even started a knitting project which is a cool season activity for me.

I'm ready to start nesting in for the winter, maybe it's the pregnancy.




-the project: baby leg warmers!



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Popsicles!

I had a moment of weakness at Williams and Sonoma (who doesn't now and then) and came home with this amazing popsicle maker! It makes popsicles in 9 minutes, any flavor you can imagine up. This morning we had breakfast smoothie popsicles. Today after work I have limeade with real grape slices waiting to cool us off. I'm thinking that Sir Emmit the Dog might need some beef broth popsicles, help! I can't stop myself. Could you have dinner in popsicle form? Maybe gazpacho? Let me know if you have any amazing flavors to share or just want to come over to have one!

On a side note, sewing has resumed at our house. Thanks to a visit from my mother-in-law who ironed all the yardage for Keenan's 'big boy bed' quilt. God bless her, that is my least favor part and stalls me out every time. Hopefully this pregnant body is up for some creative time! I'll post pics soon, looking to be super cute and oh so 'big boyish'!

Sewing lessons

This weekend I gave my girlfriend Elizabeth a much belated sewing lesson. First project, matching mommy/son pj's.

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3T

Finally, a few spare moments and a willing 2 year old.




The first muslin trial pair was a little snug. Second attempt, super cute stripped terry cloth, and a pattern ready for more!

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Location:Breckenridge

Sometimes

Sometimes when your (ok, when I'm, I know some people love being pregnant) pregnant and your feeling sorry for yourself because you are feeling so rotten. You do things that you wouldn't normally do to make yourself feel better.

This one turned out to be brilliant! When I was signing up for our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm share this year, in addition to our regular veg, fruit and egg share I signed up for a flower share. I have passed it up every other year trying to be frugal. What a mistake!




I picked up our first share this week and there sat this beautiful bouquet, just for me, oh those brilliant pregnancy hormones. I get this little piece of heaven every Thursday! Definately my new favorite day of the week.

Hopefully you found your own little piece of joy today.


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Location:My kitchen

Mission accomplished

Short summer jammies! Keenan wouldn't stay still for a photo so we went for an action video!

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Sewing time?

I'm swamped at work, our house is a wreck and I have lots of gardening to do... all I really want to do is sew.

For Keenan:
Finish designing his new "big boy bed" quilt and start sewing it! Using this fabric from Ikea.
Refashion a few of his long sleeve pj's into short sleeve and short combos
Make a few knit short with matching tees, maybe with a applique design like this by designerjot.

For Me:
A case for my new ipad! Stylish fabric, with the ability to hook to the head rest in the car so Keenan can watch movies on it during long trips.

For my Sister:
Her overdue, only getting more overdue, birthday present that is sitting on my sewing table and involves fabric made from old rice sacks like this. We had matching dresses out of this fabric, which we made when we were younger. Horrible family photo, which you will not see, to verify it!

And a bunch of other stuff, but this would be a good start. Maybe I can make myself a deal, clean one room in the house and you earn an hour of sewing time. Maybe?

Oh, where oh where have I been?

A little under the weather and just starting to feel better as I finish my 1st trimester. We are expecting! I remember when I was pregnant with Keenan, someone telling me how decadent your first pregnancy was (at the time I was outraged!) oh, how right they were.

Tired and queasy take on a whole new meaning with a two year old at your feet. Hence, not much crafting, well actually not much of anything going on around our house (dishes, laundry, shopping). Thank heavens for take out and wonderful husbands to pick up the slack.

Hopefully the 2nd trimester will be a bit easier and I'll have a little bit of energy left over for making very tiny and cute baby stuff!

Saturday cleaning

Saturday was always 'clean the house day' when I grew up. That tradition has stuck with me.

Today while sorting toys, we found a box of Lego recently sent to us from cousins who outgrew them. So how do you store Lego? A big draw string bag!

Quick and easy. A good Saturday morning project.



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Memory Game

Memory: The family version




For my nephews birthday (I'm ashamed to admit it was months ago and this package is just leaving our house) I made a custom memory game with photos of all of our family with him.

This project is simple and you could even make a no-sewing version.

Print two copies of each photo on printable fabric (available at craft and fabric stores). I made mine 4" x 4". Iron the photos onto 4" squares of double sided fusible pellon (also available by the yard at your local craft or fabric store). Iron a 4" square of fabric on the other side, make sure you choose a plain fabric or overall print. Pink the edges, using pinking shears or a fancy blade on your rotary cutter. I then zigzagged around the edges, but you could skip this step if you don't sew.

Toddler vest

Keenans sweater vest recycled from daddy's old sweater.



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Easter Roundup!

Easter flew bye this year. I found the hiding knit chick, finished the fabric eggs and recycled one of Cary's old sweaters into a new sweater vest for Keenan (he was so excited he immediately wore it outside to garden, hence it made it to the hamper before photos)

Keenan's Easter Basket (don't you love the bunny basket my mom made him!)

The chick was hiding in the garden enjoying the spring weather

Hugs

The best part about fabric eggs, you can keep hiding and finding them.

Hippity Hoppity Easters on it's way!

Here comes Peter cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easters on it's way... and with that comes plenty of Easter crafting at our house. (I did finish the baby chick, then lost him somewhere in the house, will photo once he is found. Luckily my mother-in-law is coming this week so the house is getting cleaned. "we're coming for you little chicky don't worry")

Super cute and super easy Easter bunny finger puppets. See www.purlbee.com for the instructions.

My favorite time of the weekend
















Enjoy your weekend!


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Toasty Tootsies

Expecting 5-10" of snow tomorrow after 65 degrees today sends shivers down my spine! Luckily I finished my first pair of hand knit socks. They are the warmest coziest alpaca-iest socks around. As you can see I ran out of the burnt orange and had to add a little stripe of moss green, and I think I like them better that way. Love the little surprise when you take off your shoes. My only disappointment is when I started these I didn't know that alpaca stretches and doesn't return to shape. Hence, after wearing them this one time they stretched out too big for me and now belong to my husband. Lucky guy!

Next up on my needles...

I fell in love with these little chicks the second I saw the Purl Bee post about them. Add that to the bag o' pastel mohair yarn I was gifted and you start to see the picture! I'm envisioning three of these little chicks tucked inside of Keenan's Easter basket with the little eggs hidden all over the house. If you are feeling the love and want to join me in the knitting fun you can find the pattern here.

Spring Sweater - just in the nick of time

To solve the yarn dilemma I decided to go with short sleeves. Spring is starting to show it's face here in Denver so I figured I would get more wear out of the sweater that way and could wear it layered with long sleeved shirts (as pictured above) on those really cold days.

The super yummy and ohhhhh sooo soft yarn is Malabrigo Twist in grape, 100% baby merino wool. It's simply divine to wear, which I did for three days in a row! It's not really from a pattern, I took the 'My Favorite Sweater' class at Fancy Tiger and you create the sweater as you go, designing it as you please.

Happy Bloggity blog blog!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of starting my crafty blog. Can you believe it. When I started out a year ago my goals/intentions for the blog were to inspire me to create more and help me break through some creative blocks. It has definitely accomplished both of those things.

So what about this next year. Funny, but I'm looking for exactly the same things. I want to create more and break through some creative blocks I'm running into. My goals are to take on fabric & yarn dyeing, learn to transform my alpaca fleeces into yarn and create some of my own pattern designs. Just typing that makes my stomach nervous and my brain rush to ideas.

Thanks for your support, cheers to another year!

oh, and a quick update on my sweater. The main body is off the needles and ready for sleeves. The only draw back is I don't have enough yarn for both sleeves, hmmmmm the possibilities for solving this, stay tuned!

Spring!

Sewing for new babies, always makes me think of spring! Two neglected baby gifts that have been sitting on my sewing table for months, this weekend was just enough time to finish them off.

I think my all time favorite receiving blanket edge is pom pom fringe, who out there doesn't want to be wrapped in layers of warm flannel with a little pom pom fringe for bling?

Off to India

I spent time in India oh, so long ago and this weekend a very good friend of mine is heading there. So, I jumped at the chance to send a few warm fuzzies to my friends who live there.

This apron is for Tina along with some chocolate for Sanjeev (Chocolate is very hard to come bye there, how do they survive!) They run a restaurant that caters to western yoga students and provide a home away from home for many a lonely traveler. Since I can't wrap my arms around them in a big hug, this will have to do.

Luck o' the Irish

Keenan helped me craft up our St. Patrick day decorations. A simple banner he colored and glued, hung on a bit of yarn.