Some good pictures

No, I still don't have a camera, but I went to a place that had a really nice one. My lovely cousin works at a photo studio and we went there earlier this week, kind of last minute. Because it was so last minute, I didn't do a lot of outfit planning or accessory making like I did here, here, and here. I decided to just let my girls wear their everyday stuff. I actually kind of like how my almost-3-year-old dresses herself- it's always so bright and colorful and pretty funny sometimes. Anyway, as it turns out, I couldn't completely leave well enough alone and I made my little one a last minute headband.

 Just some concentric wool felt circles and a button. I sewed it to some fold over elastic that I had. Then, later that night, I ended up making a bunch. They're so easy and there's so many possibilities, it was actually kind of hard to stop.

Here's a little set I made for my newest niece:

Besides those, I made 4 more headbands for my little one and 4 or 5 more flowers attached to little clips that my oldest can wear.

After making that many, I kind of have a system down. I freehand cut out the smallest circle, place it on my next bit of felt, and then cut out the next biggest one around it.  And so on. Here, I made you guys a pattern!

TA-DA!

 

My materials: The thicker headbands are fold over elastic.You can usually get black and white at any fabric store (mine is from JoAnn's), but the colored stuff there sold in the little packages is super overpriced. I'm placing an order from this little Etsy shop for some different colors for a much more reasonable price. She has a TON of colors to choose from, too.

The elastic lace is also from JoAnn's, I imagine you could find a greater variety on Etsy, though. I might try dyeing a few bits; I'll let you know how it goes if I do.
The skinny little headbands (which are probably my favorite) are just normal elastic. I think it's quarter inch stuff. I might try dyeing some of that, too.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with these. Super cute and super easy- WIN!

Tummy time mat, all the rest

Well, I got it done for Christmas.  I sure didn't get step by step pictures of the rest of the making, though.

Here's the finished product, complete with baby:

The play gym above her is from Ikea.  I find it not nearly as obnoxious as a lot of the other ones I've seen.  I love babies, but I hate the baby land feeling that comes when you have a newborn and your whole house is just covered in blankets, bouncers, swings, burp clothes, and all the rest.  Am I alone there? Anyway, I feel like the Ikea play gym is a lot less baby-ish than a lot of others, so I don't mind it so much.




Now for some details. Here's the other vision quarter:

{Don't mind my feet there at the bottom}

Just a child mirror attached to a wedge pillow and two loops for attaching toys. 

The mirror is one of those ones you can get for your car to look at rear-facing children.

The mirror sticks to the mat with velcro.  The wedge pillow actually has two sets of velcro on it- one set on the short side to make the mirror stand up at a steep angle, and another (in the picture above) on the opposite long side that will make it be at a low angle, for when the baby is sitting up and looking down at the mat.  I feel pretty smart about that.
I also felt smart figuring out my pillow dimensions.  I used the pythagorean theorem and the sine function to get things right.  I always liked trig, and as it turns out, it's still actually useful!

For the last quarter, the sound/hearing one, I had a bit of a dilemma.  A lot of store bought play mats have squeakers in them, or buttons that play music.  I thought it would be really cool if I could DIY that, but I never figured out anything that was actually doable.  Thus, for this quarter, I just attached a bunch of loops.

I'll use the rings to attach things that make noise.  It's nothing too special, but it works.  My parents got Elle a bus that lies flat and has a bunch of buttons that make noise and play songs, so that works. 

After I finished all the quarters, I pieced them together and then put the grey square down over the center and just like that my quilt top was done! The grey square is attached like an applique- I cut it, folded the edges over once about a half inch and ironed, then sewed it down around the edges over my pieced top.

I quilted it quarter by quarter, too.  My original plan was to use different techniques in each section, like a grid in one and stippling in another, but that proved to be a bit ambitious.  I just did wavy lines instead.  I kind of wish I had done them a little closer, but it was Christmas Eve night and I just wanted this thing DONE.

I machine bound it using this tutorial and it worked out pretty well.  It's got some problems, but I'm not embarrassed of it as a first try. 

{The backing is the same grey as the middle square and the binding}

{This was by far my best corner.  The others are a bit wonky.}

 Here it is, all finished.  It was such a great feeling to get this done.  The littlest miss likes it, too, if drooling and chewing and spitting up on everything is any indication of fondness.  I'm pretty sure it is.  If you're less than a year old. 

Making it was not nearly as frustrating as I thought it would be (my expectations of frustration were incredibly high, but still).  Working on it in quarters made it pretty manageable- I definitely recommend it as a strategy. 

I hope everybody else got all their handmade projects done in time for the holidays!

Tummy time mat, part 2

The mat is organized by senses (it was the easiest way to think of things to put on it) and yesterday I finished the touch quarter.

So, the big thing is like a little touch book.  I took a bunch of different fabrics with distinct feels, used Heat n' Bond, zig zagged the edges together, then put eyelets in.  I just used normal 3 ring binder hoops to put it together. The fabrics I used include velour, burlap, denim, terry cloth, minky, satin, felt, monk's cloth, suede, flannel, cotton with puff paint on it, and corduroy.   I thought I was going to have a hard time thinking of more than 3 or 4 fabrics, but then I couldn't stop thinking of them.  I already had all of them, too.  Nice.

The book attaches to the mat like so:

 
Those little bits with the trims on them are detachable, too:

One of the goals I refuse to sacrifice with this mat is that it NEEDS to be washable. Pretty much everything will be detachable. 

Again, I know that the book might be a little advanced for her at this age.  Mim will be there to help, though.  The little tassel bits will be perfect for Elle, though.  She loves grabbing and pulling right now.  My hair, Mim's hair, faces, everything.   

That's part 2.  Here's part 1. 

Tummy time mat, part 1

So it's possible that previously I've mentioned the tummy time mat that I'm making.  Maybe here.  And maybe in my last post.  Things are moving on it, though.  Today I actually remembered to take pictures of some progress, so here you go:

It's my little picture flap quadrant.  Now that it's done, it doesn't actually seem like enough, so there might be more added to it.  Maybe like pockets on the tops of the flaps for more pictures.  I'm not sure.  Maybe some simple appliqued shapes. 

The details:

 I first sewed the flaps down while they laid open, the folded them over to cover the pictures and sewed them down again.  Also, you might notice the tape on the vinyl.  That's what I was using to hold the vinyl in place while I sewed.  I didn't want to use pins.  I thought the tape would just rip off, easy as that, when I was done and it would be awesome.  It was not. 

 I just used a zig zag to sew the vinyl on.  Don't make the stitch length on the zig zag too short, or you might just make it really easy for the vinyl to rip along the perforations the needle makes.

And there it is.  A drool proof little pocket for pictures so the baby has a little something extra to look at during tummy time. I realize the actual opening and closing might be beyond her at this age, but I want her to be able to grow into it a bit.  I'm betting that her big sister will be more than happy to help her until she can do it on her own, though.

Stay tuned for part 2!