Smocks

So ever since I saw these smocks over at Make It and Love It, I've wanted to make some for our kids. I wasn't sure about the cotton material, though, or the ruffle. Seemed like those things would cause it to hold on to paint/playdoh/whatever else they were using for their creations. Then when my friend E. talked about making a raincoat for her daughter out of a vinyl tablecloth, an idea struck me. What if I just made my smocks out of a vinyl tablecloth? So I did. I bought the tablecloth at Walmart for a whopping $4, and have enough to make a ton more stuff, as it was a 60"x84". The more expensive part would've been the bias tape I used around the edges, but I already had that (and have NO idea where it came from, it's just been in my stash for a while now). Other than those two things, the only other stuff I needed was a little velcro (about 6 inches total for 2 smocks) and some ribbon for a tie, which is totally optional. So now, for just a couple dollars and a half hour each, I have 2 smocks to keep my girls' clothing clean while they paint/sculpt/craft to their hearts content. I'm pretty excited about them.

General size and shape (I decided to do this differently than the smock at Make It and Love It--I wanted one that I didn't have to pull over the girls' heads--if they get gunky paint or whatever on them, I don't want to have to pull that up over their heads.):


Simple Velcro fastener:


I changed up the pockets, too:


and this is how I attached the ribbon (I went over it at least 5 times for some security, since this will get the most pull of anywhere on the smock):


And the smocks in action:


(And in case you're wondering, we are having a jammies day over here, what with the rain outside and everything. Normally I don't like them, but I'm being productive this morning, so it's going ok. And I know it's hard to believe, but I really do actually do my girls' hair every now and then... and I usually make Janey wear pants... and Breanne generally wears pj's that match... just not today. Oh well.)

Who has a diaper bag they love?

Me!! And I made it myself! I'm pretty ridiculously proud of it, sorry. :)


The exterior is corduroy, for two reasons. One, I love corduroy, and two, it's so durable! You're supposed to use a home decor weight fabric of some sort, but most of those are dry clean only, which just doesn't scream diaper bag, to me. So thus, the washer and dryer friendly corduroy. :)

It has an outside pocket for papers and such,



an inside pocket divided into three sections, meant to carry three sippy cups or bottles, or other snacks,



and an inside pocket for my keys, phone, wallet, and whatever else.


I've been wanting a bigger and nicer diaper bag for a while now, but just couldn't find anything I loved, and everything was so expensive! So, I finally got up the nerve to make one myself. I got inspiration from this tutorial, and this tutorial, but ended up making it how I wanted it. I still need to sew on another piece of velcro, but because I broke my sewing machine needle (first time for everything, right?), it will have to wait. But I am excited, and I love it. And, it cost me less than $20! (and one sewing machine needle...) Pretty great. :)

Snowman Craft Day

So every now and then we do some sort of new craft. Both the girls really love art time, but now that Janey's participating, I have to be more careful about what they do (I like low-supervision, low-mess crafts). I finally decided to let her do something with glue the other day, and she did great! We made snowmen out of cotton balls on paper--I drew one for Janey and let her put on the cotton balls, Breanne did hers completely by herself.






I think if I do this again, I might do it on paper plates, and use chocolate syrup as the glue and use marshmallows for the snowmen... yummy! And if it's going to be messy, it might as well be yummy.

Carseat Cover

So after the whole RSV thing, I've been a little bit protective of Cailin... I really, really don't want her to get sick again. So, everytime we go anywhere, I want her covered up. I was using a blanket for a while there, but finally decided to just make a carseat cover--and I LOVE it. It's been so nice to not have to worry about it falling off/blowing away/becoming a baby doll blanket and getting more germy... I love that it's stuck to the carseat. So nice. I used a tutorial from A Wednesday Afternoon, though I saw tons more when I was researching it, and may have tweaked it some to fit my needs. I still need to add some details to the handle thing to make the ribbon prettier, but for now, it's wonderful and functional, and just what I needed.

Another Project...

...and perhaps my last before the baby is born? I suppose we shall see.

Anyway, I've been wanting to make a nursing cover for a while now, and a couple weeks ago I bought the for it fabric on sale (at JoAnn's, as usual). I finally had the time and energy to make it today (maybe Janey is going back to her usual napping self... I can only hope!), so here it is:



I pretty much love it, but I wish I'd used a little shorter piece of boning--the original pattern calls for 16", but I think mine ended up being closer to 18, because I forgot to cut it down after I originally bought it. It's probably just not discreet enough. If it ends up being a problem, I'll fix it and cut it down to probably 14" or so--I just don't want the opening quite so big. I do love the fabric, though, and that I did the straps and everything all on my own, and it was so easy. If you want to make one too, there's another great tutorial over at Sew Much Ado. I love that blog, can you tell?

And for those of you that are wondering how I'm doing, I'm still pregnant, and for the most part doing really well, though I'm very tired, and my body is giving me more grief, pain-wise. The baby may or may not have dropped some, I feel like I'm breathing a little easier these days, but moving is more painful. I'm definitely looking forward to having a normal body again, but am still nervous at the thought of having three kids. I had my 37 week appointment this morning, and I seem to be progressing (dilated 2 cm, 70% effaced, for those who care), so she's certainly on her way. I'm (mostly) excited, and very grateful everything has gone so well so far. Only a few more days until I get to meet this little girl. :)

And here is a picture that accurately portrays how I feel like I look:


nice and large and squashed.

Latest Projects

I've always admired women who were able to get things done during their pregnancies--with both Breanne and Janey, it seemed like all I could do was live from day to day, nothing new or extra. For whatever reason, this pregnancy I've had a little more desire to craft, and many more things I want to make, and even some energy to do them, so I've been trying to get them done. I realized the other day when I was getting things out for the new baby that Janey has taken over most of the baby blankets and uses them for her baby dolls. I don't want her to be taking blankets from the baby, so I picked up some fabric a few days ago, and came up with these blankets today:



A few things of note: I love the purple fabrics, and the edges are purposely left unfinished and cut so they'll fray over time, as you can see in this tutorial, which is also where I got the idea for the blanket. One more thing on this blanket--it was my first time using a zigzag stitch on my machine... go me!



And then there's this beauty, which I LOVE the fabrics on:



Using a tutorial from the same site, for this blanket, I learned how to sew on rick rack, which I know seems obvious, but was actually different from how I saw it working in my head. Don't you love this happy fabric? And I think the rick rack makes it just slightly more girly, so maybe people will still realize the baby is a girl when she's wrapped in it... maybe?



And last but not least, I picked up 2 yards of this fabric, which I love and reminds me of my childhood. I intended on just using it front and back for one more blanket... but I'm not certain I love that idea. What would you do with it?



Next up: a nursing cover. I have the materials and everything, just need to get it done. Hopefully in the next few hours, if Janey will EVER take a nap... all of a sudden she has no desire to nap in her bed. So frustrating. I'm pretty sure I'm going to NEED her to take a nap when the baby gets here. If you have any great suggestions on getting her to stay in her bed for naptime, just let me know.

New Beds!

So here are the girls' new beds--they LOVE them, and I really like how they turned out, too. I wish there was more room in their bedroom, but for now, this will have to do.

Breanne's bed:


and Janey's bed (as modeled by Janey):


And to show how much Janey is like her dad:


When I started dating Cory I was somewhat appalled to learn that he slept with a million blankets on his bed, all just kind of curled up around him and over him, not with any real sense of order... I can't sleep unless my bedding is on straight, with the sheets tucked in at the bottom so they don't move so much. While it's never become a source of contention in our relationship, it is something we've had to adjust to. Looks like Janey takes after her dad, at least this far. She just looks so sweet all curled up in her blankets, though. :)