Cheer bear

Loo received a Care Bears movie for Christmas this year and it's now his favourite movie. He loves it. Beri got a Cheer Bear and since then Loo's adopted it and declared it's his favourite Care Bear. Then something funny happened. He asked me to make him a Cheer Bear shirt. I have to admit it took me a couple weeks to really think it through.

I'm pretty proud of it for a few reasons.

I combined patterns to make this. Usually when I try things like that it blows up in my face. For this shirt I combined Figgy's Tee for Two, Lil Blue Boo's Recycled Hoodie, the hat from Little Things to Sew and the pocket from the Mani Mini secret pocket blouse.

It's one of the cutest things I've made in awhile and more importantly he's super in love with it. When I dropped him off at daycare the other day all his friends were standing around him asking him questions about his shirt. He looked so proud! Even if I did hear one older girl ask him if he was a "green rainbow alien".

This kid's had a rough couple weeks. We all have. We found out early this year that he has Nephrotic Syndrome. What, you might ask? That was our reaction too.  I'm making the decision not to share many details here but I'm also not trying to hide it from anybody. He is okay! We're all okay and we're dealing with it as positively as possible. He's doing fantastic and we have so many things to be thankful for.  Choose Joy right?

It was really nice to make him something that means so much to him.

Outsmart a toddler mittens

Hot dang, I think I just just won the never ending mitten war.

My little Beri will not keep her mittens on, some days when we get in the house her hands are ice cold. Daycare mentioned they have to put men's work socks on some kids and pull 'em right up their to their shoulder before they put their coats on. That's when I had this light bulb moment. A zero dollar fix! I hacked up an old sweater and made one to fit her (nice and stretchy--should fit over any sweater or dress she already has on) then sewed a pair of LTTS mittens to the end of the sleeves.

Maybe your toddler isn't wildly obstinate and independent and you don't have to result to such measures, but I think this could be the next new toddler trend. She didn't even flip out when I put it on her, she wouldn't stay still for a picture but she didn't try to get her mitt-shirt off either.

My first attempt at a Japanese pattern

From Happy Homemade vol. 2.

It's not perfect but it fits. I definately needed all my sewing skills to pull this off. The pictures were really helpful, I just wish I could read Japanese because it looks like there's some good sewing tips inside as well.

Bubble dress

I made this:

I made made it. I drew the pattern for it using math and fractions and measurements! Pretty exciting. I kind of freestyled the bottom part but I'm still pretty excited about it.

It's 18 month and Beri could probably have worn 12 months but even still it fits! She'll probably fit in it for the whole year.

My oh my how times flies. A year a go she was a bump on a log and now she's running round this house in a messy half falling out ponytail.

A gift

I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped with sewing gifts this year. There's something so unmotivating about a list of 20 things you've posted on the fridge and told yourself you have to make. I think I might stick to birthdays since they're spread throughout the year. I made an assembly line of Treasure pocket pants for little ones I know and halfway through I was so sick of them. I actually gave up on two pairs halfway through.  The pants I gifted I never took pictures of and there are little ones I really wanted to make for that I never found the time.

Here's one little outfit I did complete and take pictures of:

A Lil Blue Boo Sienna dress size 6-12 months with a MADE diaper cover. I wish I'd have discovered diaper covers sooner. Absolutely worth the 15 minutes. I actually made two of these and another of these, I might be addicted to this fleece. Should I make myself one? (The dress not the underpants!)

Good thing there's a new baby coming to town. Hooray!!!

Elephant pants

Nope, these weren't even a Christmas present. I'm so far behind that I'm still posting sewing projects from my pre-Christmas sewing blitz. December 12th to be exact.

Another pair of treasure pocket pants I just had to make. Which turned out great since the Elvis pants are super stained with spaghetti sauce. I should really do a post some time on the wear-ability of the clothes I make. It probably hovers around 50/50. Seeing as I usually make them each a piece of clothing each week that still equals a lot of homemade duds. 

This pair is a favourite around here. Old men's corduroy pants given new life with some cute little elephants.

Happy New Year!

I took a break from the Internet over Christmas and it was really nice to disconnect. My resolutions include less Internet time or perhaps better use of computer time. Also more sewing, being nicer and less critical, cooking soup, making my own patterns and not eating junk food for a month. And possibly weaning my caffeine down to a more reasonable level. I'm not convinced I'll last the week but hey I tried.