High Chair Makeover

Nearly three years since my last post, wow! (Those koolaid hats are still a favorite past project)

If you haven’t been keeping up with me on facebook, well, H is no longer a toddler, but is in kindergarten (how did that happen so quick?), we’ve moved, adopted two dogs, and had a baby girl who is just about to start eating solid foods. Time for a high chair!

I had gotten a wooden one from a restaurant going out of business and decided to give it a makeover for baby W.

First I had to remove all the crud, which I did with help from Goo Gone, a wire brush, dish detergent, and some sandpaper. Much better already!

Then I primed and painted a pretty purple. I decided instead of washing and reinstalling the straps, I would make a fabric strap that could be easily taken off and washed. It also serves as a small cushion in the back.

It secures with snaps underneath (out of reach from baby fingers)

She loves it! And she enjoys being up on our level at dinner time

Baby Backpack

Last summer I made a backpack for my little guy. He loves bright colors and rainbows, and I found this fabulous fabric on the sale table.

I used a pattern from The Green Pepper, their drawstring daypack. I made a couple modifications, and I think it turned out great. Now he's looking much more grown up, and it doesn't look quite so huge on him. He loves his backpack!

And here's a sneak peek of what I'm working on today. Bathing suit time!!

H loves the stars, and got so excited when I showed him the fabric. It's not the standard suit fabric, but it's polyester and should be great.  One of the things I don't like about boys' swim trunks is that they're made out of such stiff fabric and restrict their movement, especially for little guys.

New Shop Inventory

I'm happy to announce several new items in my shop including baby hats, catnip toys, and rainbow heart toddler shirts.

Also this lovely blue baby blanket. I've made a couple so far, and I'm just loving the pattern. One purple blanket was for my niece last year.



Crocheted Baby Blanket - Blue, Navy and White Stripe

Gumby Birthday Plush

Little baby toddler H is 2 years old! And fearless at the playground. Look at him climbing to the top of the caterpillar monkey bars!

 

A neighbor of ours had a Gumby lawn display for Christmas, and H just LOVED it. So I decided for his birthday I would sew him a Gumby doll.

 

I printed out a Gumby, and drew it onto some green fleece. I knew it would be hard to turn him inside out, but I thought it was worth a try.

The face was lots of fun! Pieces of felt and yellow stitching for the eyebrows.

Here he is on the turner tool. Wow, do I love that little tool... best thing ever.

"Nooo, stop!!" Or, the birth of Gumby. At this point I was having a hard time turning the fleece, especially since I decided to put interfacing on it to help stabilize. I called him Gumby Impossible!

I did it! I thought I was going to sew little patches onto the feet, but decided to just gather them up with thread instead.

All done! The mouth turned out a little funky, but H doesn't care.

Birthday Boy! He loves his Gumby. I also made him a cupcake shirt, complete with seed bead sprinkles. His new favorite phrase is "blow candles out!"

Besides the other new favorite, "do it myself!" :)

 

 

 

Craft Faire and Knitting Machine

I did it! I brought my shop In The Redwoods to a craft faire for the first time.


The first day was POURING rain, and some of the vendors opted to stay home. It was cold, but I was working on a red scarf, so I wore it to keep warm while I crocheted the edges.

One of my most popular items was the neck cozies, and a lady bought one for her dog. Isn't it cute?? All in all, it was a good experience, and I'm excited to do more, and to get more things loaded to my etsy shop.

Then I got myself a tool that I've been wanting off and on for many years. A knitting machine!


I read a bunch of reviews, good and bad, and decided to start with low expectations. I probably wouldn't get it to work smoothly right away, right? Well, I've been taking my time getting to know the basics, and other than a couple hiccups, I LOVE it.

After the sample piece I made this red hat for H. It's a little big, and he likes to pull it over his face and thinks it's hilarious. He's such a ham.


Then I made a wool blend lap blanket for the car (on the machine at top.) It's a little smaller than I expected, but works great for a toddler. He loves it :) I crocheted a border around the edge. It's about 18-19 inches, and just one skein of yarn.


This is my experiment with stripes. He was too hyper and wouldn't stand still for a picture :)


I've also made a black wool beanie that was an attempt at adult size, which H has taken possession of, and then I tried some sock yarn with the smallest plate (smallest stitches.)


Unfortunately my attempts to put heavy weight yarn in haven't been as successful, but thankfully it's the smaller yarn that is harder for me to knit or crochet by hand.

Not too bad for three evenings and a morning of knitting. I'm looking at my yarn stash in a whole new light!

Eventually I'll get around to making sweaters with it, maybe.

Craft Fair

I'm SO excited to say that I will be vending at my local holiday craft fair for the first time. It's at the Scotts Valley Senior Center this weekend, November 1 and 2.

I've been sewing like crazy for the last few weeks. Also still trying to finish our Halloween costumes, but I took a break from those last night to make a vest for my little guy.


Isn't he cute? We were running late to daycare, but I got a quick blurry shot. It's fleece, and lined with an old flannel receiving blanket of his. Super warm!

I'm also making neck cozies out of the fleece, but decided that color was more suited for toddler clothes.


Speaking of Halloween, we started a countdown calendar with little prizes for 13 days leading up to it. It was a panel kit, and very easy to sew.



And no Halloween is compete without a trip to the pumpkin patch :)

Baby Doll Bottle

My son likes to pretend-feed all his stuffed animals, dolls, and even the trucks and tractors sometimes.

So I made him a play baby bottle. Look at the excitement on his face!



He knew what it was for immediately, even when I was only halfway done with it.



Of course he has to 'taste' it himself, too.

Baby booties

I wanted some warm slippers or boots for baby H, so I crocheted some. I didn't have a pattern, but I used the soles of some other shoes for a size guideline.

They're perfect for playing on the deck when it's a little chilly. Of course when I tried them on him this morning, he pointed outside and said "door!" So we put a jacket on over the jammies and took them for a test drive :)


Nice and cozy!


Hoodie time, because it's about 40 degrees. I made that jacket too, just converted a pattern with a zippered jacket into a pullover.


I used fabric paint for the grips, and ran them across every couple rows. Now that he's been wearing them a bit, they're sinking into the stitches, so next I'll try running another set of lines going up and down. Overall I'd call them a success!

Baby onesie to shirt conversion

In other news, I finally put some things in my Etsy shop.

Baby H is getting to that size where onesies aren't as practical, but he still fits in them. I got this one with as a hand-me-down, and I liked it so much I wanted to make it a tshirt so H would wear it more.

Hand-me-downs from other moms have been so incredibly helpful. It's nice to know families with kids both older and younger, so we can pass them on when he's done with them.

I learned the hard way that onesies don't always work as shirts, because they can be tighter around their tummy, and also shorter once you cut them, so keep that in mind when deciding which ones to cut.


I wanted to get every last bit of length here, so I pulled back the binding just on the sides.


The stripes made it easy to get a straight line.


Then I did a simple little hem, and it's done! I had grabbed orange thread, assuming that would work, but when I pinned the hem I realized it was on the light blue stripe and had to change it.


Looking good!


Happy boy, already learning to walk, and getting harder to photograph :)

Baby blankets and Halloween

Baby has been keeping me busy, but here's what I've been doing in my free time.

My brother and sister-in-law had a little baby girl, so I crocheted her a blanket.


I made little fleece booties for her too, but they ended up running small, and might work for a doll. Here she is with her mamma.


I made a similar blanket for a friend of mine and her little girl, as a trade for a baby food processor and storage system. Win-win!


For Halloween we did a medieval/fantasy thing. Baby H was a little prince, I was a princess and Daddy the bodyguard.


I sewed my dress a long time ago, and A's shirt was his wedding shirt. I copied the poet's shirt pattern and made it small for H in purple satin. The cape is silver satin and purple velvet, and the crown is silver satin with fleece inside for comfort. (Not that he kept it on for long)


And lastly, here's a little felt cow I made for a friend's one year birthday. The "quick I need a photo for my blog before I give it to him" photo :)





He had a farm themed dress up party, and H was a duck.