Updates

While the Log Cabin Quilt sits on the shelf, patiently awaiting the day I will again have the courage to tackle it (not too far off, I think), I've been doing a few small things to help me feel productive again. I think it might also be because Bub-Number-Two is now fully en-route (20 weeks today!) and despite feeling a little sore (thanks to Sophie putting her knees and feet into my ever expanding tummy) I'm also feeling quite energized.

These are what I've made in the last three weeks for Sophie, most of which happened in the last week actually. Again, I'm using up what is in the material stash, rather than going out and being distracted by a sale rack at Spotlight. :P The shorts were actually once Sarah's, who generously donated them to me. I've pretty much worn them to death, so they have now been recycled into their new life as Sophie Shorts. The bottom right ones still have all the pockets intact and working (including the back ones which you can't see) and also cuffs. I am pretty happy with these pants.

The dress on the bottom left was made for Sam's 3rd Birthday (Party Dress!) from my old frog skirt, which Mum made for me when I was a teenager. Ahh, it's good to see it living again. Self drafted pattern too actually. I made it way too big, so in another year, I'll be able to take out all the extra seams that I put in and Sophie will be able to continue wearing it. Excellent.

The party dress at the top was from Sophie's 1st Birthday. Special thanks to Cheala who gave me her sister's pediatric nurse scrubs to use for dresses. Yet another dress that cost nothing. It also has pockets. :D Here is Sophie enjoying those pockets.

The dress in the middle (the only one not worn yet, which I'm sure you can tell when you look closely at the photo) I made on Sunday. It's supposed to be a size 18-months, but when I put it on her to have a look, it actually fits at the top already. Maybe she won't grow too much....

Aside from doing copious amounts of sewing, I'm also in the process of making a cardboard car track that will hide under our TV cabinet which I'm pretty excited about. That said, I think I'm putting more effort into it than it's worth, because I want to cover it and re-enforce it and what not. Given that it's made of cardboard and will be used by kids, it's probably not going to last that long anyway, so why bother? I don't know, a good way to pass the time perhaps?

Log Cabin Quilt Part 3

So yesterday I went through the stash and found some purple (left over from Steve's Aladdin costume (sorry there were never any photos of that :P)) which worked. I cut it out, I sewed it together and then sewed it on. Hooray, the top is done!

Then I grab the material that I have lined up for the backing, put it down and find out that it's actually an inch too short! AHHH!!! I figure, that's ok. I'll cut it down slightly more and then put a boarder on it to make it the right size and it will all be fabulous. Excellent plan.

I loved the fabric before (thanks Ikea) but now that it's got a cool boarder, it's 100% better. Excellent. Now I put the top on to check that the measurements were correct and it's all ready to sandwich with some batting and make a quilt. The evidence is below, the backing is now two and a half inches too wide! GAHH!!

It may be a while before I can bring myself to do something about this. It cuts so deep when you have a such a set back. Sigh.

Bento Box 2.0

Sophie had another day with her grandparents on Monday, so I got creative on Sunday and made her another Bento. They are pretty fun and easy to make, especially given she can't actually critique them yet. :P

Also, two weeks ago, I made a roman blind for our living room. Unfortunately, things in windows don't photograph easily or well, so there are no pictures of my handiwork. That said, I feel very proud of my roman blind because it blocks out the sun and rolls up easily to let in the breeze. Yay! I used some good tutorials I found linked from here. I also got to use a saw to cut the dowels and wood to size and the drill to do drill things. So handy!

Re-using Jeans

I have been so super slack about updating what I've been doing in the last few days/weeks. So many great things that are slowly fading into obscurity, just like my entire life will one day. Oh well. This, however, will not pass unmarked.  

I followed an on-line tutorial linked to me by a friend to whip this baby up in less than an hour. Luckily Steve had a pair of jeans that needed re-purposing in the circle of life, or this would have taken a while longer to become a reality. Only made one mistake in the making, and you can't even tell. Ha!

Here was where this tutorial came from. :) 

Log Cabin Quilt Part 2

So I did work a lot more on the layout of the Log Cabin squares for this quilt. I ended up taking photos of the squares, whacking them into a table in word and then moving them around as I saw fit. The random layout was pretty quickly discarded and I tried a few others before I stumbled on this diagonal one which worked quite well. 

I was going to get more feed back from people and what not, but I just wanted to get the thing done, rather than have it sit around unfinished. Today, I pieced all of the squares together with the sashing (that's quilting term for the bits between the squares). I even sewed a little while Sophie was roaming around - risky! 

This square is my favorite. I don't know why.

Log Cabin Quilt Part 1

So I don't know if you remember these:

but I had a set of four of them from the 2013 Block of the Month Quilt that I did last year (in 2013 funnily enough :P). Anyway, I loved the block, but I ended up re-doing them for the actual quilt in different colors (and when I did that, I made some extras just cos I love them).

While wasting away the hours earlier this week, I had a strange desire to sew something. It had been a whole week since I'd sewn anything (Sophie's birthday dress) and I guess I was having withdrawals. Also, I couldn't sew my actual next project because I was waiting on getting some things. So I set that all aside, took out the quilting box, found the Log Cabins and thought to myself; "I'll just make a few more and then I'll have a quilt top in the makings."

I now have 48 Log Cabin squares made out of scraps. One of the goals for this quilt was that I would make it out of whatever I had on hand. No going to the material store and buying material (even if it was on sale and a good price :P). I do have enough material to get away with it (more than enough in fact) and it was a great way to use up lots of little scrapy pieces that I had in the box. Excellent.

The tricky thing now is to come up with a nice balanced layout for all these lovely Log Cabins that I am happy with. I was happy this morning with the layout pictured above, but looking at it now, I'm less happy - why are those two dark blue squares in the same row at the bottom? Why are three of the "yellow heavy" squares all on ones side of the quilt? What was I thinking; where is the balance?? Gah!

With 48 squares of Log Cabins, working on the layout is no easy task in itself. With Sophie to help, it's even harder.

Milestone

It's Sophie's first ever Bento Box! She won't remember it and wasn't physically capable of using the cute frog pick, spoon or chopsticks, but man it was fun to make. :) Totally worth it.

For those interested, the food is yogurt, watermelon cut into flower shapes, a star egg, Aunty Shirley's Pancakes (left over from the party) and some cheese sticks. Healthy and delicious. The boxes stacked on top of one another when they were full of food and then into one another when they were empty, so they take up half as much space in the cupboard. 

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes

Sophie turned one yesterday. I have a one year old. In some ways, I am amazed at the growth and changes that have taken place in her short life. And at the same time, weren’t all these things expected? It makes me think of the song Seasons of Love from the musical Rent. How do we measure a year?

I’ve been collecting the bottles from various baby products this last year (not hording, but collecting for future use in crafty projects). Interesting to look at the number of baby powder, soap and hand sanitizer bottles that I now have. In some cases much more than expected, in others (only half a bottle of shampoo used!), much less.

Thankfully Sophie’s life is not measured by these things. Even though, I’m now well acquainted with them and will probably always associate them with the first year of her life.