Felt Dolls

Yesterday in a burst of creativity, I finally made some felt dolls for Ingrid.  I'd seen on mamasmiles and it looked super cute.  Ingrid has the magnetic ones from Melissa and Doug, but I have so many felt scraps that she loves to play with, I thought I really should try to make some of these dolls.

They were a hit!  I drew out a shape onto cardstock paper, along with shapes for pants, shirts, and dresses, and then we used those as templates for the felt.  I made different hairstyles, bows to put in the hair, and we had random scraps that Ingrid used to add to the shirts and dresses.  It was super easy, just took some scissors and a bunch of felt.

 Of course I couldn't just have them sitting around in a ziploc bag, nor could I have Ingrid putting them on another scrap of felt.  I had to make a little carrying case, with a pocket for the clothes, right?  Of course.  So I put two pieces of cardboard in between two pieces of felt.  I'd put on a name tag on the front, then a pocket on the inside first, then I sewed everything up into a little folding book.  Portable and functional! 

 They do not look as fancy as some I've seen on Pinterest, but Ingrid loves them anyway.  She has seriously been playing with them nonstop since I made them yesterday while Otis napped!  And that, my friends, is a thumbs up in my book.

I Made a Coat!

As I've said in the past, I am not very good at following patterns while sewing.  I usually get confused and do my own thing and lament on it turning out not quite right.  But I've tried a few patterns now, and seeing how if I slow down and follow the directions properly things actually turn out right, I am loving it!  My most recent creation is this coat from Heidi and Finn on etsy.  It is so cute, and really was so easy! 

I loved that the directions were simple, there weren't a lot of pieces or steps to follow, and the end product looks very polished and put together.  I am LOVING the little placket (is that what it's called?)  on the back, I just could not get over how adorable it was after I sewed it together last night!  My poor husband had to listen to me gush over how excited I was...

I cut out the pieces yesterday, then started sewing after Ingrid went to bed.  It went pretty quickly, and by my own bedtime I had a finished coat, all the but the buttons.

When Ingrid woke up we tried it on and I figured out where the buttons should go.  I did that all while Ingrid ate breakfast, and by the time we had to leave to go get the car fixed, she was sporting a new coat!  Hooray!  I am definitely going back to Heide and Finn, they have SO MANY cute things to make.  Another place I'd like to try is Oliver + S, although their stuff looks a bit trickier. 

Retro Rockets Quilt

I had an order for a rocket blanket a couple weeks ago, so I bought extra fabric.  This fabric is so cute!  And I love that it has both girls and boys in space costumes so it can be for either gender.  Anyway, with some of the extra fabric I made this quilt over the past few days.

I just love how it turned out!  The corners all actually met up, which is something I struggle with.  I am no master quilter by any means!!  But each one comes out a little better than the last. 

Ingrid and I went to the fabric store yesterday armed with our 40% off coupons and an idea of getting something to back the quilt.  First thing I saw was chocolate brown minky dot fabric, which they never have in stock!  And it was on sale!  I died.  And then bought two yards of it.  However, I had ideas of a prequilted fabric for the back and was pleased to find a nice chocolate color in that.

So now I just have to send this off to the friend for whom it was intended, which is no easy task.  Even though I know I can whip one of these up for myself any old time I want to, I really love how this one turned out and it's going to be hard to pack it up and ship it away!  How selfish is that???  But I know my friend will love it, and her baby will get lots of use out of it.  And that's what's important, right?

Etsy Junk and Vintage Stuff

Lots of stuff going on at Applesauce Crafts!  I got a few orders this past weekend, which made me realize how depleted my store had gotten.  I have not sewn in weeks, this pregnancy is kicking my ass right now!  But this week has been productive.  First, I got a custom order felt book, which was fun to do.  I love that this kid's name is Fox, it's so XFiles! 

Then I sold almost all my blankets I had made, so I threw together these three:

I need to get some of my vintage sheets cut up for a cool baby quilt too, but that's another story.

And as for vintage stuff, Ingrid has been sporting some ultra cute vintage dresses lately!  The fourth of July one is a Polly Flinders, found at Salvation Army last week.  And we saw a post from Lishyloo on Facebook and made an impulse buy for this little gingham number.  OMG, so cute!

I also have another one I got when I was at my mom's, it's got little flowers embroidered on it.  Why don't they make cute things like this anymore?? 

Bunny Hats and Sewing Rooms

Ingrid found her old rabbit hat the other day and decided she needed to wear it.  I came into the kitchen to find she had also decided upon one rain boot to go with it.  She's got style!

I got the sewing room set up and could not be happier!!  It has been so nice to go downstairs and watch Ingrid play while I measure, cut and sew up some creations.  I am extremely pleased with how the hanging sweater holder from our old closet works at holding my fabric.  This way I see what I have, realize that no, I really don't need more, and get inspired to make things.

Here's what I was inspired to make this morning:

I love love love this deer fabric, and had been debating whether I should save it for something for etsy or use it to make something for Ingrid.  Ingrid won.  We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow and won't this look so cute??  I love the ruffle, me, the ultimate non girly girl loves ruffles for my equally non girly girl daughter.  But because I make her clothes or thrift them, I never seem to mind when she gets mud and muck all over them!

I did get some things done for etsy, too.  Six new bibs with a new and improved pattern.  It's SO MUCH EASIER to get things done when cleanup is unplugging the iron and making sure the scissors aren't in reach of a little someone instead of having to put away every last thing I had to lug out to get the job done in the first place.  Hooray for new houses!

And Yet More Sewing.

I go in spurts of sewing, I find one thing I get obsessed with and I make a million of them in a few weeks.  Then I get bored of them and hop to the next thing.  Baby shoes became tiresome so now I'm onto summer dresses!  I made another from the vintage pattern:

And I have had this pattern for some time and only now got around to trying it.  I got it from this etsy shop.  It's a bit time consuming but I think the overall result is pretty cute.  This turned out a bit shorter than I was expecting, so it will be a tunic.  Or I could get some ruffly bloomers, that would be sweet, too!

Ingrid loves her dresses, she oohs and aahs when she sees one and says "pretty dress, mama!"  Yep, pretty dress that she will spill, drool, and get mud all over.

Busy Winter Days

Yesterday we stuck around home and kept ourselves busy.  I had a pile of Ingrid's drawings I didn't know what to do with so we cut them into strips and made a paper chain!  When we take it down after the holidays I'll put it up in Ingrid's room.

We also played with the punching balloons we'd gotten for party favors for our party last week.  Ingrid LOVES these things, so entertaining!

And she helped me wrap her presents.  I like this age where I don't have to hide what we got her.  She thought it was great fun laying on the wrapping paper saying "night night" and drooling everywhere...

I got a lot of sewing done yesterday, I just realized how much.  Not only did I finish the apple quilt, but I finished and listed a few more coffee cup holders on etsy, and I made two little aprons.  They are my next endeavor for my etsy shop, aren't they cute?  I have to take some pics of Ingrid wearing one, she looks adorable.  Of course.

Apple Quilt!

I just finished an apple quilt for my friend Katie.  She is due for her first, a little girly bean!, in April.  I am so excited and I really hope we are able to be back in Milwaukee around then so I can shower that kid with so much love and handmade goodies :)

Here it is:

I took so much care trying to match up seams and press them the right way and make everything look good.  I think the first few blocks I had to rip out EVERY single seam, as I'd made some stupid mistake.  And it was very unlike me to do that, usually I just say oh, well, and let it turn out wonky.  But I slowed myself down and it took me three whole days to finish, which again, is very unlike me.  I usually speed through.  It still is a bit wonky, but I think I've only made three baby quilts before, so I'm still learning.  Hopefully I'll get better...

It's Christmas, Y'all!

Here are some pictures from yesterday.  Brendan went to work late so I got to get some work done.  We got twinkle lights the other day for our shelf, so it looked all nice and festive. 

I got a bunch of coffee cup holders done for Applesauce Crafts.  Within five minutes of posting them for sale, I'd sold two!  Yay!

I also worked on the goody bags for the party on Sunday.  I need to get more goodies for them, but they are coming along nicely for scrap fabric and ribbon!

And finally, it is COLD here now.  Like windy blustery snowy cold.  I shouldn't say snowy, we only have a dusting.  If anyone's seen how crazy it's been in the midwest, we missed all that...I love how weather works, my family lives on the other side of the state like two hours away and they got dumped on and schools have been closed.  We, however, got the smallest dusting and that was that.  But it's enough for me to realize it really is winter...Ingrid and I got super bundled and took Cody out yesterday afternoon.  Thank god we have the ring sling.  I remember last year I couldn't fit the pouch sling over my coat or hers, it was too much fabric!  But with the ring sling we have tons of room for all the extra padding. 

New Stockings

I finished our stockings today!  I really didn't need to make them but I wanted to.  We have stockings from before we had Ingrid, and she has two other stockings people have given us.  But one says Baby's First Christmas, which it isn't anymore, and the other one isn't actually finished.  My aunt cross stitched one for her and it's gorgeous, but unfinished and I know I won't make it by this Christmas.  Maybe next year!

Traditions

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was on last night. I remember watching that every year, and so does Brendan. We recorded it and let Ingrid watch some of it tonight after dinner. She never gets to watch TV before bed, so she was a little confused at first. But she cuddled up on Brendan's lap and I watched another generation starting the Charlie Brown tradition. She is getting so big so quickly!!

I made a couple crowns today. I'm loving these!! They are so cute. I was hoping to get them done for Ingrid's playdate with Allie today, but it didn't quite happen that way. I got them done after she went to bed. So, they are for next time.

Silly Hats and Feeding Bears

After seeing this post from Claire, I had to try to make this Pixie Hat. Ingrid and I took a trip to Salvation Army yesterday and got a pretty green sweater that was half off. I got it home and tried to sew it together, and found that the needle just pulled the sweater down and ripped it. Fun! After reading the manual to the sewing machine, I found a tip to use wax paper under the fabric, so I tried that--it worked so well! I added some ribbon for ties and viola, in ten minutes I had a cute little hat! The spots weren't on the sweater originally--I'm going to blame drool for those.

I used the same basic idea with flannel and a lining fabric and came up with this one:

Ingrid wasn't too pleased to have her picture taken, but she did keep the hat on the whole time we were outside! Personally, I think it's the cutest thing ever...

Unless this is the cutest thing ever:

I looked over at Ingrid today and found her feeding goldfish crackers to her teddy bear. Every day she does something more adorable than the last!!

Our Bruiser

Ingrid tripped a couple days ago and scraped her face up. She just completely face planted into the sidewalk, didn't even put out her arms to try to save herself...So, she has a black eye. It looks a lot better now, but she looked so pathetic when it happened!

We found a hat our friend Hannah made for Ingrid. I got this at a baby shower and it only just now fits. Doesn't it look cute on Ingrid?? And it's inspired me to try to make a bonnet for her, since I keep seeing them and wanting to try to make one.

I've also been wanting to try a felt crown, after seeing Heather make hers for birthday gifts. What a great idea! And our friend Ben is having a party on Saturday, a monster themed party, so I made this for him:


I hope he likes it!