Toddler Clothes

Tasha mentioned that Miss Libby -- the Purple Princess -- refuses to wear pants and doesn't have many winter dresses, so I decided to make her a couple. I purchased a jumper pattern and it turns out patterns for apparel have all sorts of strange language -- it was so much more confusing than a quilt pattern!  I got most of it down, except the zipper. The directions were impossible to understand so I just improvised (and not very well). Anyway, I made her two jumpers -- one out of fabric left over from the backpack and one from an old pair of Mike's jeans (I even used the zipper). The dresses are lined so with a long sleeve shirt (which we spent at least an hour looking for) underneath and a pair of tights (white for the plaid dress and light purple with dark purple polkadots for the jean dress), she should stay nice and warm during the winter. Let's just hope the dresses fit...

I also made Silas a pair of pj bottoms out of his leftover backpack fabric. Talk about simple! I used this pattern and tutorial: http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-and-pattern-kid-pants-the-basic-pants.html. If I didn't already have some flannel pajamas I would totally be making myself some!

Silas' Backback

I am a little worried that Silas' backpack turned out a little girly. The orange/yellow/blue combination seemed more boyish in the store than when it all got put together :( I might have to make him a new one...

Libby's Birthday Backpack

I started working on a backpack for Libby's 3rd birthday last weekend and finished it up today. She loves Dora, and Dora has a purple backpack, so I figured Libby should have a purple backpack, too. I didn't want to make her a replica of Dora's backpack because it's not very exciting, so hopefully Libby won't mind that her's is not completely purple and doesn't have a face on it? Tasha will have to do her, "Libby, I LOVE your purple backpack" act so she goes along with it.

I used this pattern -- http://www.made-by-rae.com/2009/03/finally-here-toddler-backpack-pattern/ -- and made a couple of additions - a front pocket and a side mesh pocket for a water bottle.

I have fabric to make Silas an orange backpack like Diego. His will be next weekend's project.

Mike's Disc Golf Bag

Thanks to Mitchell and Brody's disc diving excursions in Branson, Mike outgrew his disc golf bag from mom. He's been toting around a sort of unwieldy bag and has been wanting a new bag. When I hit up JoAnn's yesterday, I found some native american inspired fabric that he approved via pic-messaging (it's hard to find fabric for guys). I drew up a simple pattern after making my bag (and Krista's) and basically just doubled the size, added a stabilized divider to help give it some shape and made a bigger front pocket. It fits all of Mike's discs and then some. Maybe a little bigger than he wanted, but it'll do the job.

Lone Star Quilt for Baby Girl Berberet

Not sure what I am going to do the rest of Labor Day weekend as I finished the quilt for Stephanie's baby. She is due October 8th so I'm not too far ahead of the game on this one. It is a pretty small quilt -- about 36 x 36 -- good thing babies are small!

I realized too late that I forgot the quilt label. Oh well!

Caterino Wall Hook Sign and Kitchen Chalkboard

Now that we are all moved and have things on the walls at the new house, I can finally post pictures of the Caterino wall hook sign and the kitchen chalkboard. Both are quite useful.

Repurposed Cabinet Doors

I found two old cabinet doors in the small shed outside. I decided to repurpose them into art! I am making a kitchen chalkboard out of one and a entranceway sign that will serve as a coat/purse/key hanger.

I started with two of these:

I sanded and painted the frames today. The chalkboard got a red frame (to match our kitchen aid mixer) and the entranceway frame is white. This is what I have now:

And this is my vision for the final product:

I am in the process of ordering a decal with our last name. There are tons of options out there, but I've got a couple of cool ones picked out on Etsy. We'll see if either of them can accommodate the size I need. More to come on these soon!