Dumplings and such.

I've been working on a new and more affordable style of softie to put in my shop and yesterday I believe I may have found a decent match, because it is hellaciously cute but not so cute that it will cause me to lose some of my street cred, (because you know, street cred is tres important and we can't be flitting about without any in our pockets, now, can we?). Okay, maybe they are that cute and I never had said cred in the first place.

They remind me of a mix between onigiri (rice balls) and awesome.

Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot

Here's a set themed for little boys that includes a bib, burp cloth, and set of 3 weenie beanies. It can be altered for a girl by substituting a headband in lieu of the beanies.

Fresh from the sewing table

It's a summer garden themed set for baby girls! I'm seriously considering making a little skirt out of the red polka dot fabric (and maybe a set of booties...?)

If I make those up, conceivably, all a parent would need is a onesie in a solid color and they'd have a ready-made ensemble!

University of Kentucky Gift Set (Boys)

I made this University of Kentucky gift set this weekend. It is for an infant boy and includes one bib, one Burpy Beans burp cloth, and one set of (2) Weenie Beanies. (This set can be altered for a girl by exchanging the beanies for a stretchy headband with bow made of the bib fabric).

Here are some pictures of each item:

Bib Front(100% cotton)

Bib Reverse (Cotton Flannel)

Bib folded to show both sides

Burp Cloth folded to show both sides

Set of 2 Weenie Beanies (Cotton Flannel)

Custom Order: Megan's John Deere Gift Set

Here are the first two items in a gift set (split into two orders) ordered by a young woman named Megan for her nephew. (My apologies in advance for the low-quality indoor pictures with flash, but we haven't had any good sunny days here to allow me to work in natural light for a week or so).

The first, a crib sized blanket in the John Deere theme. The blanket is backed with a solid cotton flannel in a coordinating green. I sewed along the squares in the fabric with my machine to quilt the two sides together. Detail shot below.

The second item is a set of John Deere-themed weenie beanies, a diapering accessory for little boys.

Custom Order: Kylee's Strawberry Shortcake Bib

Kylee's mother sent me a swatch of the fabric being used to make another boutique-style outfit for her. I feel this bib was a great example of coordinating a bib to an outfit that allows the clothing to stand out with a bib that has a personality of its own instead of simply being "matchy-matchy".

Instead of going out and buying an identical measure of yardage of the same fabric, I pulled colors from the fabric and based my bib design on elements in the swatch.

Here is the front side of the bib. If you notice, I chose a green gingham print for the main background that would mimic the square elements in the swatch, and pulled the strawberry design from the fabric and replicated it in applique, as shown in the detail shot below.

I then embroidered around the strawberry top with a darker shade of green to add texture and make the image stand out from the gingham background.

The reverse is raspberry dots on a bubble gum pink background, which matches the dark pink on pink elements in the swatch. I am able to enhance the look of the ensemble and make it more visually appealing by harmonizing the bib with the fabric instead of making a carbon copy (which in a lot of cases with children's clothing, a carbon copy is perfectly fine, but with a very busy fabric like that found in this swatch, it is my opinion that the bib can actually take away from the outfit's look if it matches because it will camouflage the outfit's design).

Custom Order: Kylee's Ladybugs

This is another bib from Kylee's custom order, made to match an outfit with ladybugs on it.

Here is the picture of the outfit her mother sent me:

And here are both sides of the finished bib:

Quite a nice match, don't you agree?

Custom Bib Order: Kylee's Bee-utiful Bib

This bib were ordered for an adorable little 1 year old named Kylee to match or coordinate with existing boutique outfits she owned. More posts to come!







Bumble (front)













Bumble (Reverse)












Detail of the hand stitching over an existing design in the fabric.

Paint Chip Swatch Needle Book

I love those handy little matchbook notebooks you can make from cardstock, they seem to do the trick when you're out and need to write a teensy note (or to substitute these for business cards to promote your blog or something...tee hee). So while doing my usual "sift through the art supply closet" at three in the morning for a doll needle I came across some old paint chip swatches (I couldn't toss those out either, and no, Mom, not the kind of paint chips kids eat...LOL) in a basket. Crafty gears started turning...

Ding! We have a winner!

I think this made the cutest little needle book. It took me all of five minutes to make (three if my inner voice hadn't insisted on using one of my fancy cut rotary blades on the felt).

I think if one were distracted by the paint info on the reverse side of the chip these little books would also look great with some decorative paper slapped on there with some glue. Take that one step further and add a tiny card of thread and tack in a couple buttons and you have yourself a purse-friendly (or pocket!) emergency sewing kit!

Bug Bites: Meet Suki and Baby Wasabi!

I have been bitten by the Matroyshka bug ever since running across a blank set of wooden nesting dolls at Hobby Lobby on a supply hunting excursion. On the hour-ish drive home, I started developing the idea of my own series of little stuffed matroyshkas in my head, went home, did a quick little sketch in my idea sketchbook, and waited nearly two months to act on it.

Like most of my creations, my inspiration comes from the simplest thing and continues to evolve. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? In Suki's case, Wasabi came first. I am notorious for saving components of my crochet projects gone awry. I was cleaning out a box of said components when I came across the dismembered thumb of a glove (too many increases too soon, I blame the radio) that had the proportions out of whack. It looked to me like a little baby all wrapped up --- boom.

There went those gears churning out another idea. I started tinkering with a small Robert Kaufman "Chopsticks please!" fabric scrap (because I'm notorious for saving those too) and a piece of felt and shortly after we had a little baby whom looked like a little pea pod...in a sushi-themed fabric. My inner voice kept referring to him as Wasabi, so thus he was named. He looked lonely and needed his mama.

The next day, after working up a few muslin prototypes, being satisfied with the proportions and making out a pattern, I set to work on giving little Wasabi a Mommy. I machine-stitched her body in the same Kaufman fabric, got her stuffed and started the handstitching and embroidering of her details (face, hair) and props (apron). All in all, I was very pleased with the way she turned out. More of Suki's cousins are crawling out of the woodwork and they'll be making appearances soon!