Rosita the Monster

Bunny's been a bit fixated on monsters in her play lately.  I would like to keep monsters a positive thing for her, so this morning I decided to whip up this little girl.

I drew the shape on printer paper (making the arms, fingers, and legs wider than I thought I'd need) and then let Bunny decide on her facial features.  I appliqued them with a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine, then sewed the body parts together, turned the whole thing right side out, stuffed it, and closed the hole with a baseball stitch.  Bunny loves her.  She's currently "braiding" her hair.  Sweet! 

Now if I could just have as much motivation when it comes to my housework...

Handmade Easter Dress

A couple of weeks ago I found some pretty cream colored remnants on sale for a couple of cents apiece.  So I bought them with the intent of making Bunny an Easter dress.  Now, I could have done the easy thing and bought a pattern, or even found one online, but no, I decided to design my own.  The problem was, that Bunny was asleep and not only did I not want to wake her, but I've found it impossible to do any sewing when she is awake.  So I made the pattern using a dress she currently wears as a guide for size without being able to check it against her little body to see if it would fit.

The dress came out well, but has a couple of fit issues across the shoulders.  The semi-perfectionist in me isn't pleased about that, but the rest of me is proud at the finished product.  Coupled with a little, sweater shrug with 3/4 length sleeves, this will be darling on Easter Day!

Is it Prefold or fitted???

One of my friends and I both sew cloth diapers.  She does them just for her son, and I do them, as you know, for friends, family, and My Etsy Shop. 

In any case, we've often given each other diapers--sometimes store bought, sometimes sewn.  It's sort of fun to obsess about cloth diapers with her occasionally, share our new CD discoveries, and show off the adorable little things we've been making lately.

A couple of months ago, she found a pattern online for this oddly shaped prefold.  I don't remember if the pattern called for elastics or if it's something she added herself.  But I do know that she tweaked the pattern to make it more form fitting and that some of this idea is all her own.  In any case, she made about five of them, and I would put the snaps on for her, since I have the Kamsnaps pliers and she won't ever need enough snaps to justify buying a set for herself.  Despite the fact that I didn't need to be compensated, she offered me one of these adorable diapers made out of the most luscious bamboo velour and I was so in love with it, I just couldn't refuse!  It's not only soft, gentle, and fitted, they also dry quickly because  it's made of only one layer! Best of both worlds!

Check it out:

In our house we use it both covered and uncovered; for night and day.  I think it's currently my favorite diaper! :-D

(Pardon the picture quality.  I find it hard to chase my daughter down these days and get a good shot from her because she just doesn't sit STILL for anything!)

More Knit Fruit

I've been slowly chipping away at knitting a collection of wool play fruit to add in my shop.  This fruit is awesome because it's not only knit in 100% wool, but also stuffed with clean wool so it's all natural and very safe for your baby to play with! My daughter just loves her wool fruit!

I created a pattern for this orange most recently and will be adding it to my apple, and banana pattern.  When all's said and done, I plan on having sets of apples, bananas, oranges, and pears in my shop to start with.  I have also created patterns to knit strawberries, plums, lemons, and grapes--though the grapes are so time consuming I'm not sure I can ever be convinced to knit a set of them again!

Elmo/Cookie Monster Reversible Hat

My dear friend Jess's daughter just had her SECOND BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!! And since her daughter loves Elmo (and Cookie) and my daughter loves Cookie (and Elmo), I decided to make them matching reversible hats.  Somehow, knowing they have the same hat seems to somehow span the miles and miles between them.

Here's the pattern I used, and then I just cut out my own appliques. 

 Jess's daughter reading her letter "from Bunny."

 I love how this is a picture of both girls.

 Hmmm...

 Um...

 All those pictures come to me courtesy of Jess, and I can take no credit for taking them (or for the little girl in them)

Here's some of my pictures:

 Testing the hat out to make sure the size is right.

 The completed hats!

 Woah! Two elmos!

 Isn't she just a little doll? My daughter is just so strikingly beautiful! But honestly, even if she weren't beautiful, she'd still be strikingly beautiful to me. 

 STATIC!!!

You can even tie the braids if you want to keep the hat on! However, Bunny LOVES this hat and sometimes wears it just because, so keeping it on is no problem.  This is a milestone for us because it's the FIRST hat she keeps on voluntarily!

I know I'm obsessive, but I think I'm going to make an Ernie/Bert reversible hat when I get a break in my crafting/Etsy schedule! :-D