Recent Projects

Here are a couple projects I managed to finish up the latter part of the summer.  I realize we're well into fall now, but I had loaded these pictures as a draft and apparently forgot about finishing the post and publishing it, so here they are now.  One of these days I'll get back in the swing of things. (Maybe.) (OK, probably not.)

Taggie Blanket Version 2.0

I had made a blanket like this when Melanie was a baby.  It was actually the first thing I made for her, and all three girls used it.  Then when I was shopping at a fundraiser garage sale this past spring (on my birthday actually) I had left it on our stroller as I carried Amelia around and chatted with some friends that were working the garage sale.  During that time the blanket went missing.  Whether it was stolen outright or someone thought it was for sale and bought it we'll never know this side of eternity, but needless to say I was very upset that the blanket was gone.  Scratch that, I was heartbroken, which I realize is a pretty big statement to make about a blanket, but I was.  I cried, and those of you that know me well know I don't cry about much unless I'm pregnant, and even then it's few and far between.

  A generous friend gave me a gift card so I could go buy some new fabric to make a new blanket, and I searched multiple stores in the hopes of finding the same fabric again.  I finally settled on a new print to make a blanket, but just thinking about it made my heart feel heavy.  The other blanket had lots of sentimental value to me since it was the first thing I made as a mother for my child. I felt in a way that someone had stolen a part of the memories of my daughter's early months, which I realize isn't true, but that blanket held so much sentiment of those precious first months I was seriously having a difficult time letting go of it.  

So imagine my joy when I found some of the same fabric in my fabric tub after scouring stores in the hopes of finding it again (4 years later) and checking my fabric stash multiple times.  I was thrilled!  It was folded and tucked inside another piece of fabric.  St. Anthony really came through on that one!  I still had a lot of the same ribbon I used on the first blanket, so I set out to make a second blanket, buying a little more ribbon to supplement the ribbon I had used up.  There was one important difference in the second blanket though.

I added a couple "tags" made from some of my personalized sewing labels.

While I realize this won't ensure the blanket may not go missing again, I feel it will help I.D. it as ours if it accidentally gets left somewhere (not that I've let it leave the house on very many occasions so far!)

As silly as it may seem, I am thrilled to have a second chance to wrap some more memories up in this new blanket.

I also finally finished this sock giraffe for Amelia.

It wasn't a difficult pattern to do, I'm just an incredibly slow knitter that doesn't take much time to actually work on projects. As a result, seemingly simple things such as a small toy take me around six months to finish (I started the giraffe shortly after Amelia was born, when I finished knitting her blanket)

 I sewed on some pink felt spots for a finishing touch and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  

I do enjoy knitting quite a bit, it just isn't relaxing for me to do when the girls are running around since I get distracted by their antics, and since I gravitate towards projects that require quite a bit of counting and actually paying attention to what you're doing I just tend to not knit when they're awake and needing my attention.

Amelia seems to enjoy her giraffe as well.  I would like to find some sort of little rattle insert I can put in toys I knit/crochet for babies, but it's nice to have a quite toy as well.  And leaving it quiet will probably extend its longevity beyond infancy as a toy that is enjoyed and doesn't just sit on a shelf.

I personally find this picture to be especially sweet.

The chew test is definitely the real seal of approval, and the giraffe passed with flying colors!

Father's Day Cards

 For Father's Day the girls and I once again opted to go for the homemade route when it came to cards for the dads in our lives.

 The first original card was Melanie's "Tickle Monster" card for my dad.  

I thought it would be cute for Melanie to make the tickle monster (the girls' nickname for my dad) into a real image.  So I had Melanie tell me what shapes/colors she wanted the various parts of the monster to be, I would draw them and she would cut them out and assembled them (aside from the hands, those were a bit too detailed for her scissor skills)

The finished card

 The next cards revolved around the girls' first experience with watercolors.

I knew I wanted to go with a theme revolving around hands like we did for the Mother's Day cards this year.  I tried tracing their hands and telling the girls to paint them lots of colors, but Claire would become so focused on painting the hand that she would paint right through the paper.  So I scratched that approach and just had them paint the paper as they saw fit, and they had a blast!

 Amelia supervising the watercoloring

 

"You missed a spot."

 If it involves getting messy it will most likely make Claire happy!

 *Maybe if I try and look cute mom won't mind that I made a mess*

Thank goodness for washable paint!

 Once everything was dried I traced the girls' hands on their respective paintings several times and cut them out to use on the cards.

I also painted a page myself and had Matt help me trace Amelia's hand so she wouldn't be left out of the cards.

 Here are the cards I came up with

It was fun to hear what the girls came up with for their list of favorite things about their grandpas.  They tended to get repetitive with their lists, playing chase and tickling were big sticking points for the girls, so I had to remind them of things they have done with their grandpas and see what they said about those events.  Against my personal wishes/better judgement I was a good mommy and did write down what the girls said, even if it encourages something I'm not particularly fond of (i.e. my dad sneaking candy to the girls when he helps me load them in the van when we leave their house)

I'm planning to get a simple black frame for Matt's card so we'll have this record of the girls hand prints for years to come.

I still have a painting from each of the big girls and a few of Amelia's hand prints left over.  I think I'll also get frames for the girls paintings to hang in the playroom to add a bit of color (I've been thinking about giving them a wall and a couple frames for each of them to display their most recent masterpieces in to help keep my refrigerator from becoming so overrun with artwork).  I'm also planning on getting some of those laminating sheets to use on Amelia's hand prints and turn them into magnets for the refrigerator.  They're just too cute not to!

Cute Homemade Cards

 For Mother's Day we opted to make cards instead of buying them.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to go out and find the perfect card.  I used to really enjoy picking out cards for special occasions and "just because" alike.  Times have changed, though, and the idea of hauling all three girls with me to our local Hallmark (which is definitely one of the most boring stores for kids, I'm sure) to pick out six Mother's Day cards and spending around $25 to do so just didn't seem like fun to me.  So we went the craft store route, which I think yielded a much cuter end result (hopefully our moms and grandmas thought so as well), plus the girls really enjoyed making them.  A card and an art project in one - bonus!

I decided to go with a flower theme, using the girls hands as the leaves on the flowers. 

 

Both Melanie and Claire thought the feeling of the paint on their hands was kinda funny.

 

 Do you like our multi-seasonal supplies?  A vinyl Easter table cloth I picked up on clearance for messy craft projects and a leftover St. Patrick's Day paper plate for the paint.

They thought the project was pretty great, especially since I never let them get that messy.

I tried to think of a way to get Amelia in on the cards but wasn't successful.  I thought about dipping her big toe in paint and putting a few dots on the cards and using additional colors of paint to turn the dots into ladybugs or using one of her fingers to make the blades of grass at the base of the flowers, but that was getting way too complicated.  She can just join in on the fun next year.  The only problem is that means I have to come up with another homemade card idea :/

Once the flowers were glued on the girls got to add some stickers to finish off the cards.

(In case you're wondering, the flowers were from one of those small silk floral bushes.  I got the ones we used at Michael's and they're regularly $1.99 and came with six blossoms, two of each color.)

I didn't take a picture of the backs of the cards, but I had Melanie write "We Love You!" on each of them before we started working on the fronts and had the girls sign the cards.  Well, Melanie signed. Claire scribbled and I signed on Amelia's behalf.

Then it was time to show off their handiwork (honestly, no pun intended, it just worked out that way)

 I'm amused by how you can visibly see Claire's focus deteriorating with each picture.

I also had Melanie use the same card idea for her "Thank You" cards for her teacher and preschool director.  Hey, they were cute, I already had all the supplies and Melanie's hand was already dirty, so why not?

A Few Completed Projects

The blanket I knitted for Amelia

You can find the pattern here

I had planned to  back the blanket with some smooth minky fabric and use satin blanket binding on the sides to give it a more finished look and to hopefully decrease the likelihood of snags in the blanket. Unfortunately when I took it in to the extension office for advice on how to go about doing so they recommended against it due to the difference in the amount of stretch between the fabric and the knitted blanket.  I'm still really pleased with how it looks, I'm just a bit too nervous to use the blanket much at all since I spent so much time making it!  Silly, I know, but it is what it is.

A couple hats I crocheted for Amelia (pattern found here).  The one on the right is made from Caron Simply Soft yarn and is actually the one I made to go with the outfit the girls gave her at the hospital.  It originally had a ribbon threaded through it.  I whipped the aqua one up for Amelia's newborn pictures and made the little flower clips from some silk flowers I got at Michael's (the cheap $1 clusters that have three blooms on them).  I purposely crocheted a bit looser on the aqua hat since the pink one was already getting a bit snug on her.  It's made with I Love This Cotton yarn. 

You can see Amelia "modeling" these items in her newborn pictures.

I Finished the Blanket!

 I finally finished this blanket Friday night while we watched "The Muppets Take Manhattan" as a family.  I started it  while we were on vacation in July, but I am definitely not a diligent crafter if I don't have a deadline, so despite this being a very simple pattern it took me quite a while to finish up.  It's the first project I've done for myself that was more than a dishcloth, but it's just as simple so I guess I just made a huge dishcloth with tassels in the end :) 

 I'm pretty happy with how it coordinates with the furniture upstairs, it's new "home".

Right now it measures 40x50, but it will stretch out as it gets used.  You can tell by looking at the right side that that's the side I ended on because the stripes are narrower, a telltale sign that that part of the blanket hasn't had as much pulling and tugging as the left side did from the weight of hanging off my lap while working on the blanket.  

Now to start on this blanket for Stockemer baby #3!  Hopefully the deadline of her impending arrival will help keep me motivated to stay on task better than I did with this blanket!

Claire's Hat

In typical Elizabeth "everything has to match" fashion, I made a hat to match Claire's coat, the same as I did for Melanie last year.  She really likes it - a lot!  Whenever I go to get something out of the hall closet she toddles over and gestures at the shelf and makes noises, and is very happy when I get her hat down and let her wear it, whether we're going somewhere or not.  Here are a few pics of her in her prized hat.

The ensemble

A closer shot of the cables

 

  I taught myself some basic crochet with the help of some online videos so I could make the flower for the finishing touch.

 

Bundled up and all ready to set out on an adventure!