Doll Quilt

I have been really busy making lots of things for Christmas for my kids, my Etsy shop, and for friends who asked for things.  I'll be showing most of those after the new year, but here is a birthday gift I made for my daughter that was hugely time consuming.  My parents brought up my old doll cradle and I made a quilt to fit it, using some of the fabric from the kids' baby bedding set.  I'm not a quilter and have never quilted with my embroidery machine, but thought this would be a good project to give it a try.

I learned a lot and am sort of happy with it.  I wish I had done some things differently, but it is functional, and I think she likes it.

 

Here is the cradle before.  It is pretty obvious that it was purchased around 1977.

 

Here is a close up of the "fabric" (contact paper) in the bed.  It's lovely.

I covered the ugly paper with some of their old baby bedding.  I thought about putting some batting over it to add some cushioning, and to keep it from showing through, but I simply ran out of time.  It is fine and it doesn't bother her at all.

It looks much better already.  I thought about painting the cradle white, but have held off for now.  I might not like the white with the ivory fabric, so am waiting a bit to decide. I can always paint it later, but there is no way I will put int he work to strip it if I paint it and don't like it.

Here is the quilt I made to go with it.  I used squares of the toile baby bedding and plain ivory muslin that I then embroidered with a sweet floral/teddy bear pattern.  It ended up much busier than I had planned and it is visually a bit overwhelming with ivory with red lines over the entire thing.  I wish I had used some solid red to break things up.  Oh well, live and learn.

Here it is in the cradle.  So cute and sweet.

Here is a close up of the quilted embroidery I did.  The good news is that once I got it hooped, the stitching went really well.  I have some ideas for some other projects I can do with these techniques.

I'm glad I tried this and hope to make some more very soon.

School Lunches IV

Next installment in what I feed my kids for lunch.

1.  Goldfish crackers
2.  Crescent roll with pepperoni, pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese 
3.  3 baby carrots and 3 grape tomaotes
4.  ranch dip
5.  grapes
6.  green and black olives

1.  half of a cinnamon raisin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese
2.  1 prune and 2 dried apricots
3.  green and black olives with feta cheese
4.  Goldfish crackers
5.  half a banana

This was a "I really need to go to the grocery store, but I'm not going to" day.  There is a reason I keep stuff like this in my cabinets and freezer.

1.  pomegranate strawberry granola bar
2.  banana, cinnamon, honey yogurt tube
3.  apple
4.  nacho chips
 

I still needed to go to the grocery store, but we had company, and I didn't have time.  Luckily, there were a few leftovers I could scrape together.

1.  pickles
2.  veggie straws
3.  Whoppers
4.  swiss cheese with ketchup and mustard on a wheat roll
5.  cantaloupe, pineapple, and honeydew

1.  macaroni and cheese went in the empty container in the morning
2.  croutons
3.  salad of Romain, cheese, shredded carrots, yellow tomatoes and ranch dressing
4.  honeydew, blackberries, and pomegranite
5.  Hershey's Cookies and Cream candy bar

1.  original Yoplait strawberry yogurt
2.  watermelon, honeydew, and pomegranite
3.  3 toothpick skewers of swiss cheese, olive, pepperoni, and yellow tomato
4.  Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal
5.  Twizzlers

1.  fruit salad of oranges, apple, banana, and pomegranite
2.  salad of red lettuce, cheese, shredded carrots, and poppy seed dressing
3.  croutons
4.  cottage cheese

1.  nacho chips
2.  salsa
3.  home made apple sauce
4.  2 dried apricots and 1 prune
5.  swiss cheese with ketchup and mustard on a whole wheat roll
6.  milk
7.  peppermint patty

1.  oranges, pomegranate, and a couple of apple chunks that didn't fit in the other container
2.  apple carrot muffin with pumpkin cream cheese and rainsins
3.  string cheese
4.  Nestle Crunch bar
5.  cut up apple
6.  parmesan and garlic pretzel chips

1.  popcorn
2.  string cheese
3.  mango and blackberries
4.  roasted pumpkin seeds with dried raisins, blueberries, cherries, and cranberries
5.  Caesar salad with croutons

 

1.  popcorn
2.  Tootsie Roll
3.  kiwi, mango, and raspberries
4.  cottage cheese
5.  2 yellow tomatoes, green bell pepper, and shredded carrots
6.  ranch dip

1.  apples, strawberries, pineapple, and canteloupe
2.  roasted pumpkin seeds with raisins and 1 prune
3.  whole wheat mini bagel with pumpkin cream cheese
4.  shredded carrots (I meant to put some ranch dip next to the carrots in the morning when the container would be clean, but I forgot.  Oops!)
5.  cinnamon sweet potato crackers
6.  orange Tootsie Roll

1.  Wheat Chex cereal, freeze dried blueberries, and freeze dried bananas
2.  pineapple
3.  antipasta salad with pasta, tomatoes, black olives, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, asiago cheese, parmesan cheese, salami, and pepperoni
4.  cinnamon sweet potato crackers
5.  Whoppers

Swim Towels

So, I did these months ago (in time for my kids' swim lessons this past summer), but I never shared them.  I'm playing catch-up and will try to do a few entries of things that have been long finished.

Last year, we had a towel walk off while we were in the pool for swimming lessons.  It was just a plain one from Target, but I'm pretty sure someone took it on purpose, possibly assuming it was theirs, because it was on the bottom of our stack.  Next year, I won't have to leave the towels unattended because Dorothy will do lessons without me in the water with her.  This past summer though, I still had to go in the pool with her and leave our stuff on the deck.  To possibly slow down any sticky fingers, I wanted the kids' names on their towels in a way that they would not come off.

Dorothy's has two clown fish and Malcolm has a trio of surfboards.  They each want a second towel as a back up since we use a lot of towels in the summer.  I'll let them pick their new colors and designs a little closer to warmer weather.

School Lunches III

More packed school lunches!

1.  tortilla chips
2.  salsa
3.  fun size Skittles
4.  swiss cheese sandwich on pumpernickel with ketchup and mustard
5.  roasted red pepper hummus with three olives
6.  fruit salad or pineapple, cantaloupe, and raspberries

1.  whole plum
2.  banana, mango, pineapple yogurt
3.  granola
4.  veggie straws
5.  cheese/pepperoni pinwheels (one swiss chees, one provolone cheese)

1.  Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal
2.  whole plum
3.  mashed sweet potato with cinnamon and brown sugar
4.  half slice of baby swiss with ham, rolled
5.  half of Asian pear, sliced
6.  fortune cookie

1.  sandwich of swiss cheese and half a slice of ham with ketchup and mustard, cut to fit container  (He came home from hot lunch day raving about the grilled ham and cheese sandwich he had, so ham has now been added to the short list of meats he will eat - at least sometimes.)
2.  salad of Romain, shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, and croutons on the side
3.  fun size Skittles
4.  whole plum

1.  graham crackers
2.  ranch dressing for dipping
3.  sandwich of cranberry sauce, cream cheese, and turkey on pumpernickel bread
4.  two dried apricots
5.  three baby carrots and one grape tomato
6.  cottage cheese
7.  grapes

1.  Tortilla chips and garlic rye crisps
2.  roasted red pepper hummus with one large regular olive and one olive stuffed with blue cheese
3.  two grape tomatoes and three baby carrots
4.  pepperoni and swiss cheese roll ups (two slices of swiss and 6 pieces of pepperoni, rolled, cut in half, and stuck on toothpicks)
5.  grapes
6.  Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal

Tooth Fairy Pillow

I made a tooth fairy pillow as a birthday gift for my son's friend.  I think this will be my "go to" gift for birthday parties this year, assuming the child will be around the age of loosing teeth.  Poor Benjamin always gets my prototypes since his birthday is usually the first of the school year.  I have had the design in my head for a while, but had not gotten around to making one until I had the deadline of a birthday party to get me moving.  I like how it turned out, but there are a couple of changes I will make the next time I make one.

The front has the tooth fairy and a little pocket tooth.  I had some fusible batting that I used as stabilizer for the embroidery, and I still can't decide if I like it or not.  It gives it a little "puffy" appearance, but I don't know if that is good or bad.

I might hand stitch the tooth next time because the sharp turns on something so small are hard on the machine.  It was also difficult to see if I started and stopped my stitching evenly (I didn't).  I either need to mark it better or do it by hand so I can see better.

The name ended up not being centered and I know how to fix it for next time.  I did all of the embroidery first and the fabric was then folded in half so the fairy is on the front and the name on the back.  Unfortunately, I didn't leave myself enough play and I could not get both images centered.  Next time, I'm going to cut the fabric into two separate pieces.  I thought eliminating one seam would be helpful, but it just caused more problems.

I am happy with how it turned out though and love that these will use up some of my larger odds and ends of left over fabric. 

Hot Air Balloon Shirts

Here are a couple of hot air balloon shirts I made as a custom order for my shop.  The girls are having a hot air balloon party, and they have coordinating shirts.  Right as this order was placed, my hard drive crashed, taking my embroidery software with it.  After almost a week, I finally did it the long, hard way to get the names added.  Doing the spacing by hand is always a little tricky, but I think they turned out great.  I hope the girls like their new shirts.

School Lunches II

My computer has been down, so now I have some catching up to do.  Until I get around to blogging the fun things I have made, here is another school lunch entry.

1.  vanilla yogurt with frozen blueberries
2.  cherry vanilla granola
3.  sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper
4.  4 baby carrots
5.  veggie straws and 3 Townhouse crackers
6.  1 slice of summer sausage (he didn't like it, but I gave it a shot), 1 slice of pepperoni, and 6 cubes of swiss cheese
7.  1 prune, 2 dried apricots, cranberries, and raisins

1.  half a banana
2.  kid size oatmeal raisin granola bar
3.  roasted red pepper hummus spread on a small tortilla with chopped tomatoes and green olives, rolled and cut into pinwheels
4.  7 cubes of swiss cheese
5.  2 slices of pepperoni

1.  buffalo flavored pretzel chips
2.  mandarin orange
3.  1 large marshmallow and 3 medium cinnamon flavored marshmallows
4.  3 grape tomatoes, 2 baby carrots, and one pea pod
5.  swiss cheese on half a hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard (yes I know how gross this is, but it is the only "sandwich" he will eat.
6.  roasted red pepper hummus with 2 blue cheese stuffed olives on top.

1.  veggie straws
2.  1 slice of home made coconut bread, cut to fit container
3.  swiss cheese cubes
4.  2 chocolate covered animal crackers
5.  ranch dip
6.  kid size oatmeal raisin granola bar
7.  whole plum
8.  3 cucumber slices, 2 baby carrots, and 3 grape tomatoes

1.  applesauce with cinnamon on top
2.  chili corn muffin with green chilies cut in half, with butter and honey
3.  2 dried apricots and 1 prune
4.  mandarin orange
5.  swiss cheese cubes
6.  fortune cookie

 

1.  cheez-it crackers
2.  mandarin orange
3.  2 dried apricots
4.  4 strawberries
5.  ranch dip
6.  3 baby carrots and 4 half slices of cucumber
7.  2 chocolate covered animal crackers
8.  swiss cheese on half a hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard

1.  dry cereal (variety of left over odds and ends: Cheerios, Fruit Loops, and Chex mostly)
2.  raspberries
3.  slice of cold pepperoni pizza cut to fit container and 2 swiss cheese cubes
4.  3 slices of cucumber
5.  half an apple

1.  2 home made oatmeal butterscotch chocolate chip cookies
2.  whole plum
3.  home made cheddar garlic biscuit (I've been on a baking spree)
4.  Cesar salad with shredded parmesan and croutons on the side (in the past the dressing has also been on the side, but he was having trouble getting it onto his salad) 
5.  freeze dried apple slices with cinnamon

1.  vanilla yogurt with frozen blueberries
2.  granola
3.  2 dried apricots, 1 prune, cranberries, and raisins
4.  half a slice of baby swiss, rolled
5.  half a banana
6.  3 slices of cucumber, halved
7.  ranch dip
8.  veggie straws and garlic rye crisps

School Lunches

At the urging of my husband, one of my son's teachers from summer camp, and a couple of friends, I am going to occasionally blog about the lunches I pack for my son who is in kindergarten.  While I doubt that these will work for everyone, I know that I scoured blogs and articles looking for ideas when I had to start packing him a lunch.  Hopefully, these can help inspire others who are looking for different ideas for lunches.  Once I get 5-10 photos, I'll do a new blog post.  This won't be an everyday thing, but I'll try to do a school lunch post every few weeks.  While I do have another blog that is about my kids, I decided to put this here to keep that one more personal.

Just a couple of notes about what I choose to put in his lunch and why:

1.  My son's school is nut-free, not just peanut-free, so that eliminates a lot of his favorite sources of protein.

2.  My son is not a vegetarian, but he really does not like most meats.  I can count the types of meat he willingly eats on one hand and have fingers left over.  Just this week he has eaten chicken twice, each time prepared in a different way, so maybe we can now add chicken to the list.

3.  My son is the type of kid who will love something one day and be "tired of it" the next.  He does not like to eat the same thing everyday.  If I send the same lunch two days in a row, it often come back hardly touched the second day.

4.  I do my best to include a veggie each day.  Some days, the definition of vegetable gets stretched a bit, but I like to have at least a tiny bit of vegetable. 

5.  I try to include contrasts in flavors and textures; salty & sweet, crunchy & soft.

I don't always make my goals, but I come close enough most of the time, so I'm happy.  Unless otherwise noted, he always has water to drink. 

 Taco Day!  If I tell him he has tacos in his lunch, he usually groans, but this is the one meal that consistently comes back nearly completely eaten.  Yes, these are the toppings he chooses for tacos when we have them at home (he won't touch the meat or beans).

1.  two mini taco shells (in a ziplock bag to keep them crispy)
2.  cheese (cheddar and jack layered), chopped cucumbers, chopped tomato
3.  strawberries and grapes
4.  animal crackers and two pieces of a Hersey's chocolate bar (lid put on the blue container after photo to keep them crispy)

1.  half a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese and raisins, made into a sandwich and cut into thirds
2.  two dried apricots and one prune (my kids are weird and love prunes)
3.  strawberries and raspberries
4.  cucumber sticks with ranch (white container) for dipping
5.  buffalo flavor pretzel chips (lid added after photo to keep them crisp)

 1.  home made broccoli cheddar bread, cut to fit container (he did not touch this and claimed not to know what it was, despite having three helpings of it the night before at dinner)
2.  grapes
3.  Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal (lid added after photo to keep them crisp)
4.  kabobs of grape tomatoes, swiss cheese, pepperoni, and olives

1.  half a King's Hawaiian roll
2.  blackberries
3.  three carrots, three grape tomatoes, and one small piece of broccoli with ranch for dipping (lid added to blue ranch container after photo)
4.  two chocolate covered animal crackers
5.  four blue cheese stuffed olives (lid added after photo)
6.  cheddar and swiss cheese chunks
7.  pieces of leftover honey chicken

 

1.  banana, honey, frozen yogurt tube (in green)
2.  pieces of spinach, ricotta, garlic, and black olive pizza
3.  three grape tomatoes and three baby carrots
4.  whole plum
5.  canned pineapple chunks (lid added after photo)
6.  veggie straws (lid added to blue container after photo to keep them crisp)
7.  two chocolate covered animal crackers

Fabric Storage

This weekend I finally finished a fabric storage plan I had been thinking about for quite a while.  My sewing room looks so much more organized and cheerful!  It isn't done yet, so I'm not ready to share photos of the entire thing, but I will share this one small area for now.  Someday, I will get the curtains made, the lamps recovered, and all the clutter cleaned up.  Then I will take photos of everything in the room.

The entire area.

 Here is where I am keeping all the fabric, ribbons, and ric-rac I use to make my dinosaur dresses.  The piece hanging on the wall on the upper right has always been there.  It is a quilt rack with a shelf and has been very handy for hanging fabric and ribbons and such.  Now it only holds the pieces I have cut and ironed that are ready to be added as the lower contrast bands on the dresses.  The dinosaurs that are cut out and ready to be appliqued are up on the shelf, but are almost impossible to see from this angle (on the far left, next to the frame).

Fabric rack.

 This is my new (to me) fabric rack.  It is holding the fabric for the main body of the dresses that have been washed and ironed.  The rack is 1/4 of my kids' old crib.  It was a round crib, so it is curved.  It is hanging from two curtain rod brackets and the lower edge just rests against the wall.  The crib had a cherry finish, so I painted it white to go with my room.

Ribbon and ric-rac storage.

The ribbons that are cut to length and heat sealed and the ric-rac are hanging on a cane that my grandfather made.  He worked with wood his entire life and when he had difficulty walking, he started turning canes.  Like the crib side, it is also resting on curtain brackets. 

Overall, I love all my new storage, but could already use some more.  I'm not sure where I would put more though.  Maybe once I get the rest of the room in order I can decide if there is room for another crib side or cane somewhere.  The best part?  Total cost = $15 for two sets of curtain brackets, and some spray paint.

Etsy Backdrops

My Etsy shop has been open for about 4 months now, and I am finally getting the hang of some aspects of it.  Other things I am still working on and I have come to realize that it will always be a work in progress.  Taking photos of the things I make has been a real learning experience because I am hardly a good photographer to begin with.  It does not help things that since my products are for children, I use very young kids to model the shirts and dresses.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get good photos of kids that also show off the clothing and make it look good?  Let me tell you, it is harder than you would think.

I have also learned that it is not easy to take photos of clothes either laid out or on a hanger and to have them lay nicely and still be interesting.  I have tried many things in my quest to get some decent photos to show off my work and here is one more step down that road.  Hopefully, someday I will end up with a fantastic look that I love.  Each change I make get me a little closer to what I am looking for.

The dinosaur pillowcase dresses are easily my best sellers, but I was starting to worry about how I was going to take pictures once the weather cools down.  I probably have about one more month before it will be too cool to have my daughter (or a borrowed friend) stand outside and show off these cute dresses.  I don't have room for a little photo studio anywhere in the house, but I was thinking that I needed some sort of backdrop.  I rummaged around in the basement and found that we had saved three pieces of the hideous paneling that covered many (many) of the walls of our house when we first moved in.  Why we have kept three pieces for over 10 years I have no idea, but I was very happy to find them.

before

 I forgot to get a "before" photo, but this is what all three panels looked like; just without the hole.  The two without holes got cleaned up and painted.

pale grey

This one is pale grey, and yes it is the same color as our downstairs bathroom.  I want the photos in my shop to look nice, but I am also cheap.  I went with the grey because it is a nice neutral that will go well with "the look" Etsy seems to prefer, but also because the white I had on hand was more glossy and I was afraid it would reflect too much light and look funny when photographed.  So far, I'm happy with how these turned out and they cost nothing but my sweat. (Seriously.  They day I decided to do this, it was blazing hot.)

knobs for hanging

I dug out some old knobs we replaced on a dresser and screwed them onto the board.  They are not perfectly spaced, but they are level.  They won't show in the photos, but I can hang either one or two items on at a time to take pictures.

aqua blue

Since I had two panels, I wanted my second one to have a brighter, but still light, color.  I had a ton of this aqua color left over from the kids' play kitchen that we built.  I love this color so much and think it will look great as a backdrop for many of my items.

I like that these are portable, so I can use them inside or out and I can move them around to wherever the best lighting happens to be.   I am hoping to find some cheap fabric in the remnant bin to cover the backs of these, so then I will have four different backgrounds to choose from.  I'm picturing a tone-on-tone damask in my head, but we will have to see what I can find.

Here is a sneak peak of a few things that I have photographed so far on my new backdrops.

Lucky Cat shirt on the grey.

A custom order dinosaur dress.

 

I love how bright and cheery the blue looks.