Bow Holder

Dorothy's hair bows have been a bit out of control for a while now.  She needs to wear one (or something) to keep her hair out of her face, but finding one that was the right color can be frustrating when digging through a little basket on the way out the door.  I looked at some ribbon bow holders for sale and scoffed at the price.  Seriously, they are not hard to make, so I headed out to the craft store and bought my supplies.  Instead of just hanging it on the wall, I wanted to have some shelves so that I could put other hair things (rubber bands and such) in little boxes or baskets to keep everything in one place.  I found a cute little stair step wall mounted...thing, that had three pegs I could hang the bow holder off of. 

Then, everything sat in my sewing room for about three months before I got irritated enough that I wanted that pile of stuff cleaned up and gone out of my room.  Once I sat down and did it, it took me less than ten minutes.  However, it did take another couple of weeks before it got hung up. *blush* 

It's up now and is mostly great.  There are two minor problems.  It is a little dark where we hung it, so matching colors is sometimes a bit of a challenge.  Also, it is upstairs in her room, and we keep forgetting, and have to run upstairs to retrieve a bow.  This isn't much different than before though, just that we would take a bow out of her hair for nap and leave it up there, then we couldn't find it a couple of days later when we needed it.  At least now, we can hopefully get them all back in one location and can see them all at once to know which one to grab.

Someday, we will get that closet door replaced and it will be white.  Of course it isn't a standard size and ordering a custom one is ridiculously expensive, so we keep putting it off.

Next, I want to make or find some cute boxes or baskets to put on each "step" to hold other little hair things.  I love having them sorted by color type.  The first ribbon is "neutrals" (white, ivory, black, brown, grey).  Next is the "warm colors" (reds, orange, yellow, and pink).  Why does she have so many pink bows?  She doesn't even wear that much pink.  The last ribbon are the "cool colors" (greens, blues, and purples).  She wears a lot of blues and greens, but I can't always find the right shade to match.  I might need to experiment with making her some bows.  I made a couple a while back, but I should give it a shot again.  I could probably do it for less then I buy them for, and they would match better.

Bags

I usually do my embroidery on clothing or towels, but I recently tried putting it on bags and they turned out really cute.  Dorothy started school last week and needed a backpack.  I found a really cute polka dot one, but it was really plain looking, so I jazzed it up a bit.  I gave her a couple of options, and she chose to have a panda put on it.  Malcolm likes the panda because it is fuzzy and soft (I used black velveteen).  I debated about putting her name on her back pack for safety reasons, but ultimately decided to do it.  She will only be walking with me to and from school, and will need a new backpack long before she will get to the walking alone stage.  We have also been working with her to start identifying her name (it's not going well) and looking at it each time she grabs her backpack can't hurt.

Here it is, hanging on its hook in the kitchen.  I think it is really adorable and I hope it holds up to her next two years of preschool and one year of kindergarten.

Ready to go on her first day of school.  We accidentally had her wear a polka dot dress too, so she was covered in polka dots that day.


For Christmas, one of my kids' teachers asked if I could add her niece's name to a bag she was planning to give her for Christmas.  Hooping it was the most difficult part, but once that was done, it stitched out really well.

My son is a little jealous and want me to do a backpack for him too, but his current one won't work for a variety of reasons.  He will most likely need a larger backpack when he goes to first grade next year, so I'll let him pick something then.

Gymnastics Leotards

Dorothy has been doing gymnastics for a while and has just been wearing sweats to class.  The problem is that she only has a couple of pairs of sweats and they were often dirty and I was scrambling to get them washed and dried in time for her classes.  I have a bunch of leotard fabric that has been sitting around for several years now, and was never used, so I decided to try my hand at making her a couple of gymnastics leotards.

Here is my first attempt at making a leotard.  I decided to go with the bike shorts style because it offers more coverage (she has no rear end) and it meant I didn't have to add elastic, which I hate doing.  It's a dark navy stretch velvet and is so, so soft.

I appliqued a girl doing a handstand, since it seemed appropriate for a gymnastics leotard.  I used a scrap of lime green lycra with little holographic dots.  Dorothy likes that it is shiny and sparkly.  She wasn't willing to hold still and model for me, but I did manage some quick pictures with my phone.  The quality isn't great, and many were taken through the viewing windows, but hopefully they show the fit.  

For a first try, it came out really well.  I couldn't get the casings right on the arm and neck holes, so I cheated a bit.  They look fine from a distance, but I'm not entirely happy with them.  I did better in later attempts.

Ready to head into class, and the only semi-decent front shot I was able to get.

Warming up.  I like the line of the back of the leotard.

Waiting her turn.

She loves bars and the leotard seemed to move with her very well all through class.

My second attempt did not go nearly so well.  I let Dorothy pick out the fabric she wanted me to use, and she insisted on a hunter green crushed velvet.  It isn't something I ever would have picked for her, but she really fell for it for some reason.  She then wanted an orange fox on it, so I did that too (though when she saw it, she insisted that it was a cat).  This material was only a two-way stretch, instead of four, but I thought I could make it work.  I was wrong.  When I tried it on her, the legs were much too tight and it would not go over her (non-existent) hips.  Yeah, definitely needs to be able to stretch around as well as in length.  Too bad, because it was really cute.

I did, however, do a much better job with the casing around the arms and neck.  I didn't get the stitching quite close enough to the seam, but it got better and looked pretty decent by the next time I made one.

She was a little disappointed it didn't fit, and pulled really hard trying to get it on.

 My last try went much, much better.  Even the casing look pretty good.  Luckily, Dorothy was excited to get to choose more fabric (uh, oh, she might be turning into me a little bit) and a design to put on yet another leotard.  This time, she went with a jade green lycra with glitter sparkles all over, and a hot pink dinosaur.  Rawr! 

It's hard to capture the glittery-ness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dinosaur is made with a stretch material I had sitting in a box that was bright pink, but nearly sheer.  It wouldn't work for a full leotard, but is fine for appliques.

Waiting for class to start.  The shoulders are set a tiny bit wide, so next time I'll trim them in a bit.  I cut this one a touch larger than the navy one, and it looks like she has a little bit of growing room in it. 

This one seems just a little more comfortable to her.  The legs and girth are a little longer, and she seemed to hardly tug at it at all.

She is pretty strong and can hold this for a good amount of time.  Now, if she would just focus a little, she could actually do some more difficult skills.

This was supposed to be a front kick.  Not quite there yet.

I had a lot of fun making these and learned a lot.  I would love to make some more, but she only has class once a week, so I think two leotards are more than enough.  I certainly wouldn't buy her more than one if I was buying them.  I justify the two because they were "free" since the fabric was just sitting here, but I need to wait and not make more until she outgrows these.

School Lunches V

Well, I have a bunch of lunch photos stockpiled, so I better get this done before the kids go back to school on Monday.

This was the day after Thanksgiving break.

1.  Turkey and cheese sandwich on a Hawaiian roll with ketchup and mustard. (He declared this the best sandwich ever despite not liking the turkey when we had it for Thanksgiving dinner.)
2.  3 grape tomatoes, 3 baby carrots, and one small piece of broccoli with ranch for dipping.
3.  Laffy Taffy
4.  sour cream and onion bunnies
5.  Mandarin orange
6.  raspberries
7.  cranberry sauce

1.  roasted red pepper hummus
2.  apple slices, pomegranate, and raspberries
3.  Wheat thins
4.  green olive, mini pepperoni, cheese, and turkey chunk toothpick skewers
5.  baby carrots and one pea pod

Not lunch, but when it was our turn to supply snack in December, I got creative and made a snowflake out of Jack cheese and filled in the background with fresh blueberries and blackberries.  Yes I know snowflakes are six sided, but this was simple and fit well on the platter.  It was surprisingly easy to put together and I think the kids liked it.  My son said he had two helpings.

1.  Dots
2.  ham and cheese roll-ups
3.  Parmesan garlic pretzel chips
4.  blackberries
5.  roasted pumpkin seeds and freeze dried bananas
6.  Mandarin orange
7.  raspberry granola bar
 

1.  Mandarin orange, raspberries, and apple slices
2.  black cherry Greek yogurt
3.  granola
4.  cinnamon sweet potato crackers
5.  garlic bread

1.  popcorn 
2.  apple pumpkin muffin with cream cheese
3.  prunes and dried apricots
4.  cottage cheese
5.  blackberries

1.  mac & cheese (put in the container in the morning)
2.  blueberries and blackberries
3.  salad of mixed greens with sliced baby carrots, croutons, and poppy-seed dressing

1.  sour cream and onion bunnies
2.  ham and cheese sandwich with ketchup and mustard on half a sesame seed bun
3.  roasted pumpkin seeds and raisins (under the Tootsie Roll)
4.  grapefruit slices
5.  raspberry lemonade fruit twist

1.  pineapple, black olive pizza
2.  cheese roll-ups
3.  baby carrots
4.  blueberries and blackberries
5.  ranch dip
6.  apple cranberry graham-cracker cookies

1.  Caesar salad
2.  Twizzler
3.  Goldfish crackers
4.  vanilla yogurt with blueberries and blackberries

 

 1.  two mini taco shells with shredded cheese, chopped cucumbers, and chopped tomatoes (under the cucumbers)

2.  sesame bread sticks

3.  prunes and dried apricots (under the breadsticks)

4.  apple slices

5.  milk

1.  roasted red pepper hummus and green olives on a tortillas, cut into pinwheels

2.  cheese cubes and mini pepperoni
3.  ranch dip
4.  baby carrots and cucumber slices
5.  prunes and dried apricots
6.  half a banana

1.  roasted pumpkin seeds and freeze dried bananas
2.  cream cheese and home made strawberry blackberry jam sandwich, on whole wheat bread, cut into a gingerbread man with raisin buttons held on with cream cheese (it was the last lunch before Christmas break, so I got a little creative)
3.  three cinnamon marshmallows
4.  Mandarin orange
5.  baby carrots and cucumber slices
6.  buffalo pretzel chips

Gymnastics Baby Onesie

When my son was around a year and a half old, he started taking a mommy and toddler gymnastics class.  Four years later, and we are still at it.  He has taken some summer breaks, and recently switched to dance classes, but my daughter is also now in gymnastics.  Between both kids, they have had a handful of instructors, but there is one who we have seen almost continuously.  She is very sweet, and her husband is one of the other instructors my son has had.  They had their first child back in September, and I wanted to make them a little something.  I didn't get it done right away, so it ended up being a baby/holiday/end of year gift.  Neither of my kids currently has her as a teacher, but she is at the gym teaching another class at the same time as when my daughter takes her class, and she always asks about the kids.

I made it in a size a little larger than she is currently wearing, so I hope it will still be cold enough for long sleeves when she grows into it.  I had a hard time finding a good gymnastics themed applique design, but I'm happy with this one.  I like that it something special and personal and I hope that the parents like it.

2012 Pay it Forward Craft Challenge

Last January, I signed up to participate in a pay it forward craft challenge, where I would send a home made something to the first five people who signed up via facebook.  I started off really well, and cranked out the first three; a Kermit shirt, a second Kermit shirt, and some doughnuts like these.  Then, I was working on other projects and put off the crafts I had promised, partly because I kept changing my mind as to what to make.

I felt the end of the year coming, and finally got myself into a "just make something" mode and cranked out my final two crafts.  Both were a Christmas themed kitchen towel and two small cloth snap pouches.

The towels are the same size, just folded differently to show off the designs.  I use the fabric pouches for snacks for the kids, but they can be used for anything small you want to hold, like small toys, kid "treasures," small first aid items, etc.

These were for a friend who has two boys.  Please note how well the stripes match up.  That rarely happens for me, so I was excited when it worked out so well.

This one was for a friend with two young girls.  She told me that the day it arrived, one of the girls was home sick and was sad she was going to miss the holiday program at school.  The package was a nice surprise and her daughter loved her little pouch.  Made me feel good.

I've been making a lot of these pouches lately, and I really like them,  They are quick to make and very functional.  Perfect!