Lets reminisce about the positive side of my “method” before we address the glaringly obvious negatives, shall we?  Yes, lets!  It puts me on a deadline so I work unusually fast and more efficiently, I finish what I started in the same day, and 100% of the time I LOVE what I create.  I haven’t made any bad last minute decisions, YET… I think it forces me to go with my gut and not enter into analysis-paralysis, as Lori would put it.  And, ummm, the negatives are… that it leaves NO room for error, mistakes, machine hiccups, temper tantrums, feeding your kids, keeping the house straight, feeding your kids, effectively parenting, or feeding your kids. :)  Crackers?  We’ll that’s all I’ve got right now.  Take it or leave it.  Awful. I know.  Oh, before your get undies in a knot, most of it was done during their long afternoon nap, but it never fails that there is about an hour and a half of overflow.  And my kids do not like when Nina has my attention and not them.  Just eat your crackers!

The final dimensions are 30×30, which is a bit over sized for a drag-along blankie, but I find that it is more useful for a longer period of baby-hood.  The brown is minky with textured dots, the great dusty lavender is a corduroy I found at Joann’s a LONG time ago, the dots are Kei Dots of course from Sewdeerlyloved, and the trim was (as I said before) a horded find ages ago from Stawberry Patches!  Oh, and the back is a premium creamy minky I got from SP, too.  I just LOVE the trim, and also how the Hope Valley Thistle Leaf (from fabricworm) coordinates with it all!

P.S. Does anybody know what that Alexander Henry floral print is called??  I had a request to make something else out of it, but I don’t know where to begin to track down more.   Thanks!

This is the love bird ms. e made for daddy this past “Love Day,” as we call it around here. It was painted with tons or care and with mamma enforcing the rule of NO BLACK… which seems to be her color of choice for EVERY drawing these days! Love birds are not black I tried to tell her… she almost talked me into thinking they were!  We just painted a little green-ware ceramic figurine we picked up at Michaels the last time we were there, and painted it with her super fab bright water colors, I talked about them here.

I don’t know where he gets his list from, I think there are many out there, and I think he picks and chooses which one to follow each year, but I love it.   It’s our/his thing.  Thankfully he didn’t know if I really had a place to put the big mamma one, so he bought me a small one too.

Well Ms. E isn’t parting with hers anytime soon, and mine looks too yummy all set up to take back to the store, so we are just going to have to do some wall rearranging and hang this baby up!

Thanks Mr. K, we *heart you too!

P.S. Do you spy anything new in these pics??  Oh yes, that’s right! A NEW CAMERA!  Watch out internet, I have been having too much fun taking pictures of everyday items around the house!  Don’t worry, I will give you all the vital statistics soon!

I used the same dimensions for this one as I did for Ms. Haislea a year ago. This time when I cut the patterned fabric I cut salvage to salvage 5 1/2” wide, the same as before, and used the extra to make a pocket inside, so there was no waste. Score.

I know the pics aren’t all that great, I wasn’t able to give the linen the attention that it needed, but it is a miracle I was even able to get pictures!! I finished this one up in just the nick of time, thanks to my rock star sister taking care of fussy Mr. A.

The second are for my gramma’s birthday earlier this month, it turns out she has been using the same corky-wooden ones since the 70′s, a gift from my uncle, so it seems they are not only useful but appreciated!

These are made from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, the same as the last set and the same modification of using different fabrics on each side instead of the same.  The instructions say to use a high-loft quilt batting for the interfacing, which I did for the first set, but as mentioned I thought that a layer of cotton flannel would have the same effect after being quilted.  I didn’t go that far this time around, but on Lori’s I used a single layer of some bamboo/cotton quilt batting that I had instead which was FAR from being high-loft.  Additionally, on gramma’s I used two layers of that same batting.  The verdict?  I like the two layers my low-loft bamboo/cotton in this project far more than the other two variations.  Gramma’s coasters turned out to be just the perfect stiffness, and I think they are going to turn out to have better absorption too, bonus!

This is an easy easy project with almost instant result, my favorite part is the quilting, probably because of the OCD in me making sure all those lines are straight and spaced perfectly.

You see, I received my sewing machine a year ago this week for my birthday, Ella was just four months old!  Not the best time to start a new hobby as involved as sewing with nobody to teach me except my trusty book from Lori!  Well, I didn’t get around to sewing until October, at which time I thought I would commit myself to the loony bin and MAKE everybody Christmas and Birthday presents!  Somewhere in there I also thought I would hit myself over the head and commit myself all together and make Ella this perfect little Olive by Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls.  Needless to say, I didn’t actually start until a couple days AFTER Christmas… after all, 6 month ella won’t know any different, right?  Well, Ms. Olive here turned out to be much more difficult than this inexperienced sewist expected, and after the holiday marathon I wasn’t exactly committed to hanging in there with it.  Somewhere along the way a few months into procrastinating I regained my confidence and popped it out in a night, but then her rear remained un-sewn for a good month until I figured that out too– again, not too committed to the project.  And here we are August, Ella is nine months older, Olive is finally getting photographed, and technically still has no face…

There is a bit of an explanation behind her facelessness too.

Since she sat so long on my mantle in various stages of being complete, visitors started to comment how much they liked her NOT having a face.  It seemed a bit crazy at first, and honestly I had every intention of giving her a cute little face, but the idea started to grow on me and here we are.  That does not mean that she will never have a face, just that right now Ella is enjoying her quite a bit without one.  I made sure to give her the big floppy bow she was suppose to have but I made it out of satin because I knew it was sure to be her favorite part.  Turns out I was right.

I thought it fitting to also attach a little something so she doesn’t get lost in the shuffle through the years, I think it turned out pretty nifty.  I just used 100% cotton fabric made to be printed on, like this, and viola instant tag.

In hindsight this project wasn’t all that difficult, there were just a couple sticky spots that I think I gave up on too easily.  I learned a lot, I would totally do it again, and I think I am better equipped to do other tricky softies in future.

Hopefully it won’t take me this long next Christmas, cross your fingers!

]]> http://seventeenandem.com/blog/2008/08/12/to-ella-on-your-first-christmas-heart-mom/feed/ 1 http://seventeenandem.com/blog/2008/06/12/a-bit-more-back-project-briefing/ http://seventeenandem.com/blog/2008/06/12/a-bit-more-back-project-briefing/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:36:26 +0000 Emily http://sardofamily.com/blog/?p=32 I made this hankershief for Mr. K this past Valentine’s Day after he not so subtly dropped hint after hint that he wanted something hand made by ME. This created quiet the inner conflict– what the heck do I know how to make for a man, besides a card??? I make lots of things, but turns out nothing is suited for a man! Prior to his prodding I had never taken much thought to this, and was perfectly content not ever thinking about it, but the the request was made. It would not have been wise to bow out of such a challenge, so here enters the timeless monogrammed hanky with a bit of a bright twist. It doesn’t need much explanation except that it was my first stand alone embroidery project, small I realize but oh so satisfying! I used a couple small sheets of Sulky’s tear away stabilizer to help with the puckering on the thin fabric and it worked like a charm. I am not so sure if a seasoned stitcher would need such a crutch, but for my lack of consistent tension it was appreciated.

… and then of course there is always the token card that Mr. K has come to expect.

The red and white polka dots (which I see they don’t have any more, but they were part of the luxe collection) and beautiful chocolate paper are from my beloved paper-source.

I bought this wonderfully 100% cotton flannel print a while back ago on the cheap with just this in mind. The backside is plain white flannel and there is an extra piece inside for additional absorption. If baby Rocki is anything like Ella was she is going to need it for sure! I used whatever rickrack I could find at Joanns, since we don’t have a proper fabric store here. The rickrack its polyester, which I had reservations about at first, but turns out it was great to use on a project like this because I was able to melt the ends instead of worrying about how to finish them. Super simple. I made these burp clothes a bit wider than anything I had and longer. More width and length is a necessity when volumes of yuck come out! Final measurements are 9.25”x15.25”, perfect for any accident baby or toddler.

So after much thinking, and very little writing or organized thoughts I have come up with some topics that I am going to try to write on in the coming weeks as well as sharing my normal interests and crafty to-dos.  You must be thinking “Oh God, no, please not another pointless blog!”  I will save you the agony and drama, ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’  You see, it is just a place for me to put my thoughts down and share with the few people that care about what I do, and what is in my head on a weekly basis… besides no Ella don’t pull the power cord out of the wall, Ella where did you find that, no bunny poo is not to eat…

So hello again my few friends.