On my To Do List

My son is now 18 months older and is very intelligent, he comprehends pretty much everything we teach him. So I've been wanting to get some little books on numbers, letters, shapes and colors but I want them to be soft (he had a tendency to shove everything in his mouth and I need these books to hold up). Well what do you know, I found myself some books that are so cute and made of soft materials to boot!

Everyday Celebrations has a number of quiet books, but these two I'm definitely going to do. And I plan on using a similar format for the shapes books.

The ABC book isn't soft, but it's still so cute and really simple. No sewing involved!

Something else on my to do list is an advent calendar and I just love the ones she has on her blog for all the holidays. I'm definitely planning on doing the Christmas one, and I'm thinking of doing the Thanksgiving one as well. Plus I want to get the cards that go with it, I think it's such a neat idea instead of putting candy in each pocket.


I've really fallen hard for this blog - I just love everything she has posted so far! So check her out for things to do for your kiddos. :)

Cleavage Cover-Up

Ever since I became a mom I've been more aware of low necklines on my clothing. I didn't care about it before, but after the baby I didn't like bending over and exposing the "girls". I still don't, 18 months later. So I added a little something extra to one of my dresses and a t-shirt to help out with the problem.

The t-shirt was by far the hardest, it had a low scoop neck that took a while to get the measurements just right. I took a scrap of unbleached muslin and folded it in half to get the coverage I wanted. I used one of the decorative stitches on my machine across the top at the fold and then machine-sewed the muslin to the shirt around the hem. The thread doesn't match 100%, but it's close enough that you wouldn't notice it without me telling you about it.
I chose this decorative stitch because it went well with the military theme of the t-shirt.

The dress was the easiest by way of measurements, but it took the most fabric. I used extra scraps leftover from Betty's quilt, but since the white fabric was still sheer after folding one piece in half I had to add a second. So there are four layers on the dress! It was also the more extreme of the cover-ups. The elastic banding is just under the bust, so this deep v-neck required more length than the t-shirt too. Other than that, it was the same process as the t-shirt.

I chose this decorative stitch because of its leafy pattern, perfect compliment to the flower on the dress.

So what do you think? I think I passed for doing on-the-fly sewing. :)

Diaper Clutch

I've been eyeing diaper clutches lately. Alex is getting to that stage where I don't need to bring the big diaper bag with me, just a small clutch with a few necessities. So instead of paying $25+ for one, I decided to make my own for less than $5! I got really lucky and found the adorable dinosaur print cut into a fat quarter in the remnant section and I had a coupon for 40% off, which I used on the zipper. For the interior lining I had a ton of leftover white fabric from Betty's quilt so I used some of that up. Here are my results. :)


It can hold a Pampers wipe case, 3-4 diapers (size 4!), a travel size of baby powder and a tube of Desitin :)
I found the tutorial on the Craftster forum here but it was made bigger to accommodate all the diaper necessities.

Pack and Play Sheet - Take 2

I showed you my first attempt at a pack and play sheet. Well, it fit but only if we didn't include the foam topper. So I made another using the same tutorial but instead of adding 7 inches, I doubled it to 14 inches which put the square cut out at 7 inches instead of 3.5 inches. It fits perfectly now. :)
And a close up of the fabric - again, I got something that coordinated with the jungle theme of the pack and play.


Here's a link to the tutorial again from Prudent Baby

Cupcake Coin Purse

If you're like me, then you greatly dislike having your wallet become deformed from an abundance of coins in the little zipper pouch provided. I've been wanting a coin purse for a while but couldn't find one that I liked (or simply put, I couldn't find one at all!) so I decided to sew up my own. There's quite a few tutorials out there but I wanted something extremely simple. Here's what I came up with! :)



I used a scrap of the pretty paisley from Betty's quilt for the interior. I love seeing the pattern peek out whenever I open it. :)

Here's the tutorial I used from: Me? A Mom?
The only difference is that I didn't have a piece of batting, so my coin purse is rather thin. The next one I make will definitely include the batting.