Scrappy Sleep Sack

In a moment of distraction from my current 'to do' list - I made this scrappy Sleep Sack for a little baby girl. It was a really easy project. I used left over strips of pink fabrics, remnants of quilt batting for the padding and some white cotton flannel that has been lying around begging to be used for years. I think the only thing I had to buy was the zip. I feel this would be a good project to make from recycled cotton shirts as well.

 

(The sleep sack is really quite cute and I feel frustrated that the photos don't do it justice - every wrinkle is highlighted - in real life it doesn't look at all wrinkled - it looks soft and cosy. Does anyone have any photography tips for taking pictures of fabric?)

I added little scrappy details - patches embellished with embroidery thread. 

I have often found zips are hard to put in - but this one went remarkably well. The binding is a cosy purple flannel. I always hand finish my bindings.

 

I've also been waiting for the delivery of some net curtain wire to hang curtains for the playhouse outside (thank you Sue for your suggestion!) I wasn't able to find any net curtain wire in the US - so I got it from an e-bay shop in the UK. The curtains are made from 2 yards of cotton I got years ago but never used - I don't think I ever liked the pattern but I think it works well for the little house.

Slowly but surely I'm working through my stash of fabrics!

Baby Girl Playmat

Another project finished and my first photos outside this year! I had forgotten how bumpy grass can be for photos! A little quilted play mat for a baby girl. I added some tags in the top corner to hook those little baby toys to. This quilt is made from the scraps left over from my scrappy Valentine Quilt (yet to be quilted - that is still on the list of to-do's.) I haven't done any free motion quilting for a while - but I didn't feel too intimidated tackling this piece.I hope it will be enjoyed by the little lady who is due to arrive soon.

Smocks for Sisters

Two art smocks for two sisters. The fabric is Soleil Laminated Cotton Rose. Edged with a purple cotton and orange ribbon ties. I cut the pocket details from felt.
It feels good to finish some projects! Next in the art smock series ... I want to try sewing with some poly laminate - it certainly isn't as nice as the lovely cotton laminates you can find - but the price point is unbeatable. Has anyone sewn with poly laminates before - I'd love any tips you might have.

Lollypop Cupcakes

Busy weekend for us here. Birthdays (mine and Bunny #1's) and our wedding anniversary (7). To help Bunny #1 celebrate her 3rd birthday I made some cupcakes for her class. I saw this idea from Martha Stewart Cupcakes. I couldn't find the neutral colored sprinkles and I wasn't sure what taffy tape was ... so I just used cream cheese frosting and made the leaves from icing sugar and water.They were so easy to make and apparently quite popular at school with kiddies and teachers alike!
Hope you all had a good weekend too.

Motivation

I'm lacking in motivation. I think because the only real time I get to myself is nap time. Once both girls are quiet and resting it leaves me with a small window of time which I 'have' to use for crafting else I go a little crazy with a feeling of not having achieved anything for myself. I'm beginning to resent that pressure to sit down and be creative at that very moment - sometimes I'm just not in the mood and sometimes I'm just bit mentally exhausted from having battled with two gorgeous - but sometimes unreasonable - bunny's all morning and I just want an hour of mindless anything ... so I've be rebelling by filling nap times with other delightful activities such as laundry, cleaning, emptying and refilling the dishwasher ...

This is not a productive mindset ... I have projects I want to make/do/achieve falling out my ears.

But I have been doing some sewing. I've finished the top of my Valentine Quilt. I'm not convinced by the quilts size - so I sewed all the scrappy strips left over together in hopes to make a border for the quilt ... ... it all looked a little odd when I laid everything together so I made one of these long strips into this little baby mat/quilt (still to be quilted.) It has cute scrappy corners.
My other idea is to turn the Valentine Quilt into a picnic blanket by using some laminated cotton or a poly-laminate on the back ... I like this idea ... and I think it would be something we might use a lot.

Every evening I try and tackle a little bit of my paper pieced quilt. It is coming along - I don't want to paper piece the entire quilt - but use hand quilting to emboss unpatched areas of the quilt and maybe have scattered paper pieced blocks throughout the quilt top too ... ... I haven't quite decided on exactly how it is all going to come together ... but I have a vague vision at least ... somewhere over the top of that never ending laundry basket!!

I'm also making some more art smocks - birthday presents for little people. I beginning to like mixing up bright colors for these smocks - the color splashes seem adapt for little budding artists. I'm often much to shy with color - something I'm really trying to get better with.

Zoku Recipes

We were recently given a Zoku. We really enjoy playing with it and Bunny #1 loves to make 'ice cream' or 'ice pops' before dinner. By the time she has finished her dinner the ice lollys have frozen and are ready for eating.

I have found that 1 cup of liquid makes approx 3 lollys.

Here is our stripey ice lolly.
This was made using 3/4 cup of orange juice and 1/4 cup of water. Put 2 tbsp of the mixture in the bottom - add the stick and allow to freeze (approx 3-4 mins.) Meanwhile add 2 drops of red food coloring to the remaining mixture. Add another 2 tbsp of orange juice to the molds. Allow to freeze (allowing things to freeze between layers does test Bunny #1's patience.) Add another 2 drops of red food coloring to the remaining mixture and then top off the molds. So easy and so pretty!

Another favorite is the 'chocolate ice cream'.
I slowly melt 1/4 of semi sweet chocolate in 1/4 of milk. Then add 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt. Mix thoroughly and pour into the molds. Apparently this recipe is so good it is enough to get her to eat all her green beans - maybe I should reduce the chocolate content ;-)

Pocket or no pocket?

I've been making more art smocks - trying to tweak and adjust the pattern until I'm happy with it. For this art smock I used a satin ribbon at the back rather than bias tape. I rather like the contrasting color - which is also picked up in the bias tape on the smock. Big question - do the smocks really need a pocket/pockets?