Sophea's New Hat and Lunch Bag

 

 

 

Sophea wanted baby chicks on her bucket hat and lunch bag.

 Fabric Depot  had about 30 choices so it was difficult to decide what a 5 year old would want.
I went with the quiet blue with the words, "peep, peep, peep"

 I love these Stearman biplane patches. The hats are reversible.

I thought about adding a chin strap and decided not to. Someone in blogland added straps that attached via  a buttonhole just above the brim on the side of the hats. I thought about it for all of 20 minutes but decided not to. Those straps would get taken off and put somewhere special or flop around when not attached and......one more thing.

I did attach a cross body strap. Re-purposed from some belts with d-rings, I saved these striped beltings for this very day! haha.
Still - you never see striped beltings at the fabric store so being thrifty is useful.

Still coming up with stuffing.
I'll ship them to Battleground tomorrow.

Ella's hat is here:

Formula 1  bag is here:

First bucket hat - too small for Sophea was here:

My niece still wants a bucket hat for gardening. I like the oval tops and most of the free adult bucket hats have round tops. I'll have to get out my thinking cap and do some circular maths and come up with something that will fit my head, thus, fitting her head. We run to big heads in our family.

Ella's Hat & Lunchbag

I managed to get Ella's Bucket hat and Lunch bag done today.
I'll finish her sister's Lunchbag tonight.

 Ella wanted Ladybugs of which there were only three different cotton fabrics at Fabric Depot.

I found a small airplane logo fabric while I was there and I added a patch to the gingham side so they remember their airplane auntie.

 Sophea's choice of little chicks was more difficult with about 30 choices.
I'll post her hat and bag tomorrow.
Got to finish her bag first.

Owl Valentines

For my little grand-nieces - cutie pies that they are.
Mailing it today - the package should arrive tomorrow.

I saw this idea traipsing through the internet. 
Saw a pattern for five bucks.
Decided to make my own.
Just the right size to hold a few Valentine treats.

Kitty Nightie

The nightie arrived in a package from Minnesota today.

I am this close to becoming one of those grandma's who have life-size dolls at their houses.

Fortunately I still have this big teddy bear floating around one of the bedrooms so I have a model. It's not like Rusty would ever wear this and not try to rip it to shreds at the same time. There are moments when I really miss my other dog, Rocket. He lived to dress-up.

The nightie is for the three-year-old great-niece, Sophea. My sister found the fabric and a pattern and sewed this really cute nightie to go with the doll bed.

at least we can drink the beer now that it is no longer needed as a model.

The Phea bear modeling in the hangar as it is chilly outside (freezing fog this morning).
I don't know how she climbed up into the airplane.

A  friendlier perch on the tail.

Rusty is not ripping this outfit to shreds although a thin trail of lab slime might have attached itself to the hem. This is the fifth photo as Rusty cannot hold still.

Close-up of the front details.
Pretty ribbon and flowers.

Notice the perfect kitty button closure and the pink-heart stitching around the neckline.
Purr-fect placement of the button, sis.
 

 

 

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  I did an informal  survey at work Friday.   Until 3:48pm, I had a 100% response  for Not staying awake until midnight (hubbardites are SLUGS), then all of a sudden, I had four in a row say THEY WERE STAYING UP to see the new year in.
I went from being very impressed at having a 100% survey response to  understanding the night owls hadn’t come in yet to my retail business.

Striped Bunny

I had been wanting to make this bunny forever but it wasn't until Friday that I found a striped t-shirt.
Pencil Girl and I were garage saling and I think we found something at almost every stop. Including this NWT striped women's t-shirt for $2.50.
I've been looking but pencil girl brings me luck every time.

Somehow, looking at the PDF pattern, even after I printed it out, I thought it was about a foot square. Instead, little bunny is just a handful and too cute.

On it's way to Miss Ella - sister to Phea. I had not found anything I wanted to make for Miss Ella and here she is - almost five months old now. Both girls have eight sets of grandparents (almost kidding) so they get stuff. My niece lives in a small house so - where to put all the baby stuff? is always a good question.   This bunny, being so tiny, will be just right.

Nursing Covers

This is Phea's best expression. You can't get a smile out of her otherwise.

 Missy Sophea got an owie the other day - no, not the one on her cheek. It was a slightly invisible owie and prompted her to run to mom & dad where they were building a chicken hostel  to cry and carry on.  Then she ran into a piece of 2x4 wood. That's the owie on her cheek.

 She came to visit and had to see the plane.

 Here, she is out of focus, whirling like a dervish, tickled to find she fits under the wing.

 She found Rusty amusing until he threw the ball at her.
Rusty will fetch that ball until he keels over.
We have to watch him so he doesn't re-injure his left shoulder from running too hard. Dang ball.

 You try weeding, on a momentarily non-rainy moment with a pretty good wind
AND a ball being thrown at you.
This is one of those Artillery Weeds, aka Pop-Its.  Or "@#X**&#   in my eyeball!"

 My niece needed a new Nursing cover for baby Ella. I made her one for Sophea and it has held up quite well to being stuffed in a diaper bag & used as a burping cloth. The boning has given out. I switched out the tired cover and gave her the one I had just sewed with batik fabric from Puyallup. In fact, I sewed two with the turtle batik. One to give, one to sell.
The second one sold so fast, I never had a chance to list on etsy.  Oh well.

We were so busy talktalktalking that this is the only photo I snapped of Baby Ella.

Phea's New Chick

Gone today but posting into the future is this nifty blogger tool.

Practice grandchild with her new Spring chick.

 

 

Missy Sophea

 Missy Sophea and her new sister, Ella.

She will probably wear a long-sleeve white top underneath for the 'winter' months. 
Or, maybe a black top - don't you love those tights?
The temperature rose to be 48' today!

Photos taken with android phone and sent to the proud great-aunty.

Mini Pompoms

 OMG - are these cute or what?
Well - they are actually a disaster in clothing construction because they MELT if the iron gets'em.
They are so stinkin' cute though.

 This is a dress I have been sewing for my great-niece, Missy Sophea, who is two years old. I used a New Look 6473 pattern but made quite a few changes. I believe all clothing needs pockets - so I designed this cupcake pocket.

 I also made a smaller opening at the neck instead of buttoning it all the way down. Sitting on butt buttons can be similar to a Princess and the Pea experience. All I did was to lay the back pattern piece on the fold and cut out. Then I slit along the fold about 5 inches or so from the top edge. I then bound this with some 1/4" bias tape.

 This pattern also has some cute shorts and pants. Tamara Bostwick, who saved me from the missing instructions - a possible fiasco -  made the top.

 I found a ton of rickrack flower tutorials on the web. Here, here, and here as well.

 New Look 6473 utilized a slit opening at the hem line. The designer put a ribbon bow at the apex. I fanned it straight and sewed my mini pompom trim around.

I'll post pictures when I get them of Missy Sophea wearing her orange dress.



First post is here.

Second post on the orange dress.