Tutu

I've seen the pictures and tutorials on how to make tutu using a crocheted/woven headband and tulle a million times over and always think "my girls would love one- or twenty" but I've never made one... until now.

I was looking for the elastic for KL's squared circle skirt and found a headband on sale on JoAnn's site while I was there. I also used the left over tulle from the circle skirt and the teal glitter tulle from my niece's bow.

Here's how it looks:

 It's pretty much a big poof ball.

Look at that^, that's 8 full inches of flare, but it's oh so adorable.

The headband I found, is perfect for about size 6-9 months, so I won't be able to try it out for a while. (I will say is stretches far enough that my K twins were each able to try it on while making it because they were just drawn to it.)

This was actually so simple that I was done in 2 hours (counting cutting time).
I started by finding an infant skirt pattern online to see what the length should be (about 5-6 inches depending on the pattern- I chose 6 just to be safe). Then I cut up all the remaining tulle on my spools, in twice the desired length because they'll be folded in half (but only used about half of what I cut because it got so full so fast, I honestly expected to need another layer that I definitely did not need). And I used my latch hook tool to attach them, and from there it was like magic.

Here's how they're attached- just folded in half and loop them through the holes- it's so simple!!

Here it is before I attached the teal. I finished the row of pink alternating dark and light (although I did all the dark first and then all the light) and then just a few rows up I added the teal about every forth loop to spread it out because it was already full, and because I didn't have as much.

 Can you imagine the big poof on a baby learning to crawl? The thought just makes me smile!!

That's all for now,
Jo!

Finished Quiet Book & Quilt Update

I've been feeling particularly motivated lately, possibly the "Spring Cleaning" feeling telling me to "clean" up my WIPs or maybe it's the nesting telling me to get it done while I can. Who knows.

But because of it I now have a finished quiet/soft book. So here's a look:

This the the Front Cover, I thought about adding a decal or lettering, but my desire to finish it made me whip it up before I had the chance to. (This motivation is kind of win some, lose some.)

Now, I'll just go through page by page, there's not a lot of activity in them, it's really meant for toddlers or older infants- it's more of a "look" book than a "do" book. 

So here's pink: 

 Red and Orange:

 Yellow and Green:

 Blue and Purple:

 White and Black:

 Brown and a rag style Rainbow (it needs a little fluffing):

 Then there's the 1 activity page:
Matching the "crayons" to their color words, which were stitched with their respective color thread (by hand because I don't have a machine for that and they're too small to try to do with my sewing machine).
Also, I planned on attaching a pocket to hold them in, but again the desire for progress skipped a few steps. The ribbons of the crayons are sewn into the spine, not the page seam like I originally planned, but I fray checked the ends to prevent fraying and decided they could just lay in the page, no need for a pocket.

 All matched up! As you can see the color names are stitched on the "crayons" also.

The pretend play, art pallet.

 I forgot to add a pocket for the paint brush, but I was able to pull up just a little of the Heat N' Bond to store it under the pallet. (Now to find a paint brush that fits, for now, here's a corner pusher stand in.)

 Here's the spine. I sewed the cover to the pages in the direct middle (or as close as possible- there wasn't a perfect middle). And then I sewed the first and last pages to the cover also, to give the depth of the spine, you can see all 3 lines in the picture below, for the middle I stitched the whole length of the cover, for the sides I just stitched seam to seam (less a little short coming on the lower right, oops).

After finishing this last night, I also started piecing my quilt together. What started out as 21 t-shirt pieces, is now 3 large groups waiting to be put together- I was so excited to start piecing my first quilt! It was a great feeling to get that far too, I wasn't sure if I'd make it. Here's a picture of the pieces sitting next to each other before I started sewing.
Sorry it's a dark picture, it was meant to just be a quick look for the person I'm making it for, but I thought I'd share it with you. (Also, my K girls have dubbed this quilt, with what I'm sure is the utmost affection, the "Creepy Quilt".)

That's all for now,
Jo!

Bow and Skirt

My niece is getting ready to turn 5 this month.
She is quite the girly girl, so I thought I'd make her a cute circle skirt (actually a circle instead of square this time) and a bow to match it.

Here's what I have so far.

I looked around at a few shops and liked this fabric the best (I chose a jersey knit so I wouldn't even have to hem it!!). This fabric is called Spring Dots and I got from Hobby Lobby; while I was there I looked at their sale section and the thick blue, purple, and green polka dotted ribbon was marked down so I went ahead and grabbed it, along with the teal glitter tulle for below the bow. I looked through my ribbon stash but was missing a pink that matched, so I headed to Walmart and found the thin pink and brown that topped it off. (The pink elastic is left over from the last skirt, luckily both the girls I'm using it for are pretty thin so there's plenty left.)
It looks like I need to fluff my pink and brown a little more (on the left side of the above picture) but I think I managed to incorporate most the colors pretty well and it turned out not too bad.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Easter Craft

I forgot about this one last week.
With Spring Break we had a planned a fun day with friends to do a little crafting and enjoy a little company. Unfortunately, our friends got sick and we have to reschedule, but I did still let my K girls do their crafts, I just didn't take any pictures of it, because they were working while I was doing chores, stopping by when needed for the next set of directions.

Here's the example I made though:

Isn't it cute. It's also pretty easy.
Here's what I used:
1 plastic Easter Egg
2 pipe cleaners (1 cut in half, and you only need 1 half)
1 pom pom
glue and a permanent marker

The ears and feet are pipe cleaners (full for the ears, half for the feet). I bent them in half to help make them even, and then put one end through each of the holes that are in the egg (I'm assuming from the mold for the plastic but I'm not really sure why those holes are there- also, some eggs don't have the holes or only have one, so make sure you've got an egg that will work). Bend them around and tuck them back into the holes, just enough to make a small bend to hold them in place. The ears go on the "top" portion of the egg, the feet into the "bottom" shorter portion.

Glue the pom pom to the back of the "bottom" portion to create a "tripod" with the feet so it can stand.

Finally, use the permanent marker to draw a cute little bunny face on.

I didn't come up with this idea, I found a picture on Pinterest, but couldn't find actual directions attached to it. Also, I know I used all the same color for my example, but how cute would it look with something like a purple body and pink ears? Have fun and use you're imagination.

That's all for now,
Jo!

New Skirt, Again

Every time I finish with one skirt, another girl wants one.
The last one I did for KK was so "twirly" that KL wanted one too.

So, after some looking around I finally found a cute fabric (in the remnants mark down at Hobby Lobby- even better) and their tulle was on sale at the same time, so I decided why not tulle as the lower layer(s).

Here's the finished project:

 

Of course, she wore a dress today, so it looks a little silly, but she was so excited to try it on (not that you can tell from the photo.

One again, this is the same skirt I made for KK. It's just squares of fabric with a circle cut out for the waist, and thick elastic for the waist band. But for something so simple, it always turns out so cute!! And they love to just spin and spin and spin while wearing it.

Want proof? Here's a few more photos:

That's all for now,
Jo!

PS- I am making progress on other projects too, but I've had some sciatica acting up and nesting has been making me clean the whole house and toss a lot of garbage, which wears me out but I can't seem to stop. I've also made a few minor repairs that aren't worth blogging about. I promise I'm still crafting, just also busy with other things too.