CHECK!

In my life before sewing, I was a scrapbooker. It was one of my first creative hobbies and the 13 albums I have to show for it are among my most prized possessions. However, the creative challenge sewing presents and the vast array of projects to be made has kept me intrigued from the moment I brought my machine home. I hadn’t scrapbooked a page since. My poor 3 year old’s baby book only went up to 6 months. When I found out I was pregnant with our second daughter, I made a list of all the things I’d like to make for the new baby and forced myself to add “finish Elle’s baby album” to the list. I’m beyond happy to announce that I did it! Here are some of my favorite pages:
Now I have to remain committed to making an album for Liv’s first year and then I’ll allow myself to switch to the less time intensive, but still archival, electronic scrapbooks. I must keep in mind that I need to record what a wonderful time in our lives this is and that my children need to be able to look back at pictures from their childhood … how else will they remember how all those handmade goodies I sewed for them looked in their prime?!

Cutie Booties

I found a really versatile pattern for baby booties on Etsy and decided my first set (I’m already envisioning many more variations on these to come… a girl can never have too many shoes right?!) should be for Liv’s coming home from the hospital outfit. So, now her outfit is complete: bubble suit, bonnet, and booties. Cross your fingers with me that it all fits!

Soft Blocks

Yes I have an embroidery machine… no I haven’t used it for the majority of the projects I’ve made for Liv. I get “in the groove” of making something and having to stop, create the design on my computer, setup the embroidery arm & foot, hoop the stabilizer, stitch the design, and remove the embroidery arm and foot to continue the project breaks the “flow” of the process and I end up breaking it up into a two step and possibly 2 day project instead. I think that’s as much evidence as I need to justify buying a 2nd machine. I can have the embroidery function of my current machine set up all the time and I can sew on a 2nd machine so there’s no disruption. That makes perfect sense right?!

If you have more than one sewing machine, show me some love and leave a comment, it wouldn’t hurt to have supporting evidence should I decide to make the case to my Doug :) Okay so that was a bit of a tangent because I felt the need to explain why I went with appliqué letters for these blocks instead of embroidering them… back to the regularly scheduled post.

These are the soft blocks
from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones book. I added the appliqué letters, but other than that, they’re by the book. If you decide to do them my word of caution is to be sure you take heed to the note about starting and stopping ½ inch from each end when you’re constructing the sides of the blocks. As long as you do that, putting them together isn’t hard at all. If I make another set, I think next time I’ll cut out a bit of the foam they’re stuffed with and insert a bell or rattle of some kind. However, future sets aren’t terribly likely because I so DON’T love hand sewing! You have to hand sew two of the sides together, so it’s not a lot of hand sewing, but the perfectionist and instant gratification junkie in me complained the entire time… annoying girl!

What next??

Nearly all the "must do" items on my before Liv gets here to do list are done. But I can't stop now... not when nesting is in full swing and not when this is my last opportunity for sewing uninterrupted by breast feeding, seemingly never ending diaper changing, and the overwhelming desire to spend hours on end just cuddled up with my little bundle of sweetness. So will you help me decide which project to do next? I'm finishing up the curtains for the nursery and I have one more bootie to go to match her coming home from the hospital outfit, but when I'm done with those I'll get started on whatever the general consensus is. There's a poll in the right margin. Here are your choices:

* I have all the materials to make a messenger style diaper bag, I just haven't felt terribly excited about the project for some reason... and I have a diaper bag already so I don't HAVE to do it, but I was planning on it.

* I have an idea for some artwork for the nursery. It's pretty simple, it'll be a painted canvas and vinyl decal.

* I'm planning labor mostly in the water, like I did with Elle, so I have my own clothes to wear during that time, but I'll need to get out of my wet clothes when I get out of the water and those hospital gowns are terribly convenient despite how ugly they are. So, I'm thinking it would be nice to make my own hospital gown out of cute fabric... who knows, if it's really cute I may even wear it those first few days at home.

* I have some burp clothes from when Elle was a baby (she didn't spit up that much) and I don't totally get the cute burp clothe thing in general, but I do need to have a few more burp clothes on hand and have plenty of scraps I could use, so I figured I may as well make some rather than buy them.

Thanks so much for weighing in! Who knows, if Liv holds out to her due date, I still have a little more than 5 weeks to work on projects, maybe I'll make it through them all. Your input will at least help me decide the order :)

Featured Etsy Seller - LazyTCrochet

This month's Etsy Bloggers featured seller is LazyTCrochet

I LOVE this wispy clouds crochet fringe scarf! It wold be perfect for Florida winters when it's not cold enough for coats, but you still need something to take the chill off.

Or how about this great apple green cloche?! It would add a perfect punch to a black trench!

Stop by Lazy T Crochet and check out all the beautiful crocheted accessories!

Office Reorganize

We're in the process of turning my sewing/crafting studio into a nursery for our soon to be new baby. I feel very fortunate to still have some space available to move my sewing/craft cabinet out near the table in the “great room” (those of you who’ve been to our house are probably laughing… there’s not much “greatness” to our main living space, but it’s not exactly the kitchen, not exactly a dining room, and relatively open to the living room, so I’m going with “great room”). I have a big cabinet that has housed 2 different sets of covered boxes in various sizes that I’ve picked up at discount stores here and there. I decided that since I was making the sacrifice of my entire room I should ease the blow a bit by getting all new matching boxes for my cabinet that will better utilize the space that is available in the cabinet. I ordered a total of 25 boxes in different sizes from The Container Store and managed to fit every sewing/crafting/Elle Belle business supply that was not only in the cabinet previously, but also everything that was in a two drawer file cabinet, a floor to ceiling book shelf, and my machine itself… it’s amazing what a difference the right storage containers can make! I downloaded a cool free font from dafont.com to add a stylish touch to the labels. Finding all my supplies has never been easier or looked this good!

Kimono Booties

I’m always amazed by the wealth of craft knowledge to be found on blogs! I keep a catalog of tutorials that grows on a weekly basis. Latest to be pulled from the file: kimono booties! I made this little set from Home Spun Threads' tutorial to match the ruffle butt onesie I made for Liv. My only revisions were that I shrunk the pattern by 10% so they would be newborn size and I did just one layer of felt for the soles (although I wouldn’t suggest that unless you use a thick/substantial felt). I also used fusible fleece in them which gave them some body, but it also made them a little bulky and they didn’t want to turn really smoothly, so I may try my next pair with a little heavier weight fabric and no fleece. They’re not perfect, but they’re so cute and tiny I think it makes up for it :)

Us

I usually keep my blog posts craft or at least creativity related, but I thought since we just had pictures taken and the last blog post that pictures of my family made it into they were looking forelorn and a bit smug (the Etsy Widower post) I would post these as a more accurate portrail of where we're at these days.

And since I'm treading in personal territory anyway I thought I'd take a minute for something that's been on my mind lots lately. As I get closer to my due date I've been thinking more and more about the actual labor and delivery. I honestly couldn't have asked for a more wonderful birth experience than I had with Elle. It was amazing and I attribute a large part of that to having had a drug free, natural childbirth. There are so many reasons I chose natural childbirth, I could go on and on about all the advantages (and do any time someone is rude enough to make comments like "are you crazy" or "you know you don't get an award for that" when they find out that I purposefully didn't have an epidural) but lately I've been considering why more women don't know about the options that are available to them. So many women don't know what is happening in their bodies during and after labor and delivery, or what shots/tests/procedures they'll give the baby immediately following the delivery, or even what a midwife is and the choices they have with regard to all of that. I hope that some day more Doctors will at least have conversations with their expectant Moms about the body's natural processes during childbirth and how that's impacted by the medical intervention that's so common these days. I understand natural childbirth is not for every women, and I respect women's decision to have the birth that they choose, but I don't think every women even realizes she's making choices about the process they're about to go through, choices that will affect them and their infants beyond just how much of the contractions they'll feel. I've read some really great books on the subject, I'd be happy to refer them to anyone who's interested, just leave me a comment.

stepping down from my soapbox... for now ;)

Car Seat Cover

When we registered for baby items while I was pregnant with Elle, there was only one car seat at Babies R Us that was specifically “girly”. These days you can find some pretty cute girly stock car seats, but why buy one of those when you can design your own?! I’m in love with this Anna Maria Horner fabric from her Good Folks line! I knew I wanted to use it for something I’d get lots of use out of, and the car seat definitely fits that bill!

The next time I mention making something without a pattern, someone please remind me that I really don’t like that! I took apart the cover that came on Elle's car seat and used it as a template to make a slip cover with the new fabric. I used fusible fleece on the back, added additional foam padding to the seat itself, ran elastic along the edge, and used my manual button hole maker (I guess that’s what you call it… it’s where I select the stitches from my machine that make each side of the button hole and I control the length of each instead of it being determined by a button you set in the button hole foot) to make the openings for the straps. The hood is the pink fabric on the outside and lined with the black and white print. The head support insert and the lining on the strap covers is made from super cuddly soft white "minky" (I figured I could be impractical with the white since she'll only use it for a little while). It ended up coming out well, but second guessing myself throughout the process and constantly wondering if there’s an easier way to do things was frustrating. It’s one of those projects that I’m glad it’s done, happy with the way it turned out, but wouldn’t want to make another!

Free Family Film Fest

Florida Summers are always hot hot hot and being 8&9 months pregnant this year isn’t going to make it any cooler! Elle and I usually spend the majority of our time in the pool or in the air conditioner. One of our favorite air conditioned spots… the theater! Regal Entertainment does a Free Family Film Festival where they show G & PG movies in the theater through out the Summer on week day mornings for FREE. The million dollar popcorn (I bring bottled water with me) seems a lot more reasonably priced when you don’t have to buy tickets too :) Click on the graphic above to see if the Regal theater in your area is participating.