In my experience, there is nothing sweeter than a baby with little animal ears on his hat. I crocheted this baby bear hat for a little man who will be making his entrance into the world shortly. Congratulations, Holly! I can't wait to meet Hunter.
This was a no-pattern hat ... I like to crochet on the fly. :)
Don't you love learning something new? Last week I learned how to ruffle fabric using my Brother serger, and it sure beats pulling threads (thanks, Pinterest!). Check out the tutorial at {lbg studio} if you want to learn, too.
I made this little top for one of my favorite baby friends using the Sweet Little Dress pattern by Leila & Ben. I shortened the dress to a tunic, lengthened the sleeves to about 3/4 length, and added lots of playful ruffles. It felt really good to pull the serger out again - I even changed the thread!
I sewed something! One of Oscar's buddies had a birthday party this weekend, and making a gift was just the motivation I needed to dust off the sewing machine. I made a little take-along art caddy in hopes that it will be useful in keeping a 3-year-old busy and happy.
There are lots of variations of this project floating around the internet, and I used bits and pieces of many of them. I've referenced my favorite versions at the bottom of this post. I didn't follow a specific tutorial partially because I wanted to create something unique, but mostly because I am feeling too tired to try and follow written directions. :)
Is it silly that I am proud of myself for including a zipper pocket? I have known how to sew zippers for a long time now, but for some reason I tend to shy away from them. Zippers are not scary! I need to remember that.
When you open the caddy, you find crayons and markers on the left, and a paper pad and an extra pocket for goodies like stickers on the right.
The fabrics for this project came from Riley Blake's Wheels line. For inspiration or instructions on a similar project, check out the following blogs:
Can you believe it has already been 7 weeks since Cora was born? Time really flies. While I can't say it has been super fun so far, I sure do love her.
I have not done any sewing or crafting since Christmas, but I wanted to stop by and say hi. Want to see what Christmas Eve looks like in Santa Barbara?
I know. Life is rough, right? On Christmas Eve, we headed out to the local butterfly preserve to see the monarchs that migrate here every winter. This year was the most impressive display I've seen yet.
Do you see the big brown clumps hanging from the trees below? Those are butterfly clusters!
The pictures really don't do this place justice. On cold days, the butterflies stay in their clusters for warmth, but on warm days (like the day we went), they break free. Walking through the eucylyptus grove with thousands of butterflies flying above you is nothing short of spectacular. This year they estimated about 40,000 monarchs in the preserve.
I took a little video, but you'll have to ignore the running commentary of the people around me. :)
Oscar and Ruby loved the butterflies. I don't think they really understood the clusters, but there were plenty of butterflies to watch fluttering by.
I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and that the new year is a very happy one!
