Playing Catch-up

Whew, I knew it was coming.... I'm rolling in hat orders right now!  September is the time people start thinking about looking cute in the warm weather, and I don't blame them.  One of my favorite things to do is pull out all of my sweaters, scarves and hats and accessorize at the morning bus stop!  I have worked on quite a few things over the past few weeks, but here are a few of my favorites:

First is a set of 3 hats for a newborn boy, and 3 & 5 yr old girls.  Their mom wanted them all to have coordinating hats, but for each to be unique.  We went back and forth with ideas on colors and styles and came up with these.  I'm so pleased how they turned out and I can't wait to see how their family photoshoot turns out!

I had tons of fun working up these fall-color teacher totes!  I love how they have fall/Halloween colors while still being cute and trendy :)

My daughter went gaga over this sweet red and white Kitty Hat and I'm pretty sure she'll be bummed if there's not one of these in her stocking this Christmas.

Another fun hat was this dino newborn photo prop.  It was a special request by the winner of my 200 Fan Giveaway on the Knits and Knots Facebook page!  I hope she'll send me a pic of her sweet boy in it when he's born :)

Softie

My daughter loves headbands.  She cannot stand the way that an elastic hairband pulls on her (apparently extremely sensitive) hair, so the only way to consistently keep her hair out of her face is with a headband.  I made a rouched headband for a client out of soft knit material and had her model it for me, and she didn't want to take it off.  So, of course, I had to make one just for her :)

It can be worn with the rouched area in front and accented with a flower clip

or, Anna's favorite way, with the rouched area in the back, almost giving full head coverage. Great for keeping hair out of your face, working around the house, or putting on a really good pout.

It can even be worn when coming too close to a "big scary bug" (notice the tear from the trauma of said event)

Good news is you'll still look pretty cute when you finally compose yourself :)

Just like the Interchangeable Flower Headband, these are made from very soft knit fabric. The headbands stretch nicely and the flowers are completely interchangeable. Flowers come in crocheted, fabric, or silk varieties and can be made any color of the rainbow.  Please indicate flower type and color and headband color when ordering.

Pricing:
$15 for one headband and two flower clips
$3 for each additional flower.

School Year Wrap-Up

Well its officially summer break here, which means 3 kids in-house all the time, playdates galore, trips to local attractions, and even a chance for a family vacation next month!  All this also means I am having to work harder to fit crafting time in :)  I won't complain though, I am truly truly enjoying this time with my kids.  My oldest was in first grade this past year and I realized for the first time that, while its nice to have time to do work while he's in school, I really missed him.  He left at 8:30 am and didn't get off the bus till almost 4.  Then there was homework, after school activities, dinner, and only about an hour to actually enjoy time together.  Next year my middle child will be in first grade and I am already anticipating how much I'm going to miss the older two!  Luckily I still have one at home to keep me company though.

Anywhoo... I have gotten a few things done in the last few weeks.  I wanted to make an extra special gift bag for my kids' teachers because of all the love they put into teaching them this year.  Last year I did a movie-night themed bag for Eli's teacher, but I wanted to do something a bit different this time.  Just like last year I made simple patchwork-style gift bags using some fun coordinating fabrics and lined them.  This time I added an interior pocket and a fabric flower turning these totes into almost a fashion accessory!  I posted a pic of them on the Knits and Knots Facebook page and got a lot of positive response. I had several follow-up orders and I had fun seeing how they each turned out with different fabrics.

I was contacted by a photographer for some seasonal hats for her fall/winter newborn photo shoots.  I loved the outcome of both of these sweet toppers.

And my last project is the most fun of all :)  This sock-monkey photo prop set was commissioned by a girl who had seen one online and tried to order it for her soon-to-be-newborn baby only to find out the woman selling them had closed her shop to new orders because she was swamped with business!  I couldn't blame her as the idea is simply darling.  Its a sock monkey earflap hat and matching diaper cover with the cutest little tail on the rump.  Unfortunately for me I don't have a good model to show it off, so this was the best I could do.

Sister Set

My first order from the Summer Line was a "Sister Set" of coordinating pillowcase dresses.  The dresses are for the daughters of a dear friend of mine.  She wanted them to be in the same print but not identical.  We chose this gorgeous bold print and accented it with cream on one dress and black on the other. 

I love the versatility of the pillowcase dress.  It can be worn as a typical dress, with leggings or capris for a fun contemporary look, layered over a long-sleeved shirt and jeans or tights for a fun winter style, and it can even be worn as a top as the owner ages!

Easter Dressing

For some reason Easter is the time of year I feel the most motivated to make an outfit for my daughter.  Maybe its the expectation that everyone dresses up for church on Easter Sunday.  Maybe its that the dreary weather of winter is finally gone and with its departure comes the desire for bright colors and breezy clothes and something new.  This year I started with a skirt.

I used a fat quarter pack I had bought last fall, cut strips of varying width, sewed them vertically into a rectangle and made a simple gathered skirt.  I trimmed it out on the bottom and added a nice comfy waistband in a coordinating knit.

I scoured Anna's drawers for a tank or t-shirt in coordinating colors that I could embellish to match the skirt,  but just couldn't come up with what I was looking for.  I did, however, have a ton of the knit leftover so I decided to throw caution to the wind and work up my very first t-shirt.  I'll be honest, sewing with knit fabric scares me.  Inset sleeves scare me. adding a neckband scares me.  Making up my own pattern scares me.  This was a BIG leap for me!  I took a t-shirt I knew fit her and used it as a pattern for the new one.  I kinda just winged it, but I think it turned out pretty nice!

I whipped up a little flower in matching fabric to add some feminine charm.  Turns out the outfit is great for jumping,

spinning,

and overall looking sweet :)

*lets all pretend we don't see those weeds in the patio, ok?  I can only handle on task at a time these days :) 

Catching up

So, my blogging has been pretty non-existent lately.  I can make lots of excuses, but the largest and most realistic one is that my baby boy has needed me.  Alex is healthy, smart, and full of energy; but he is also a bit anxious, clingy, and needing my full attention for large portions of the day.  This comes with the territory of adoption, especially adoption of children 6 mo or older.  So, upon the advice of some dear friends and other adoptive mamas I decided to set aside eagerly pursuing business and instead keeping myself free to just be a mom.  The good news is I have gone from seeing this most of the time:

To seeing a lot more of this:

Its totally been worth every moment away from my craft.

That's not to say I've done nothing over the past few months.  I just haven't been cranking out project after project like I was over the early part of the winter :)  Here are a few pics of the last couple of projects I've worked on:

These are decorations that go on a camera lens.  Professionals use them to get babies and children to look at the camera rather than the person holding it!  I made these for Jill from Raindancer Studios.  She's trying them out and giving me suggestions on how to improve them! (these photos are awful because I had to take them with the camera on my phone in order to show how they looked on a lens.)

I made a cute custom set of coffee wraps for a dear friend.  She is getting married in a few months and picking out all kinds of handmade goodies for her bridesmaids.  I was so honored when she requested personalized wraps for each of them.  We made them in her wedding colors and they are personalized with flocked lettering.  LOVE how they turned out!

And last but not least I finally got around to making one of these little birdie rattles.  I have seen this idea floating all over the internet for a long time but never had time to sit down and work out a pattern.  I had an excuse while making a baby shower gift for a friend.  I love how it turned out and will definitely be making more of these in the future.

Wrap it Up

Using some bright, fun spring fabrics I put together these coffee cup wraps.  These are adjustable to fit all standard-sized disposable coffee cups.  The are backed with a coordinating fabric and have a inner batting that does a great job of protecting your hands from heat.  For added flair they've got a sweet little birdie felt applique from Two Kazoos.  These make great gifts!

The top two were purchased by fans on the Knits and Knots Facebook page, but the bottom one is still available (the blue/green) for $8.56 plus shipping!

Coffee Cup Wrap

Along with the Beaded Christmas Tree Keychain that my kids made for their teachers, we are also giving them a giftcard to Starbucks and a reusable coffee cup wrap.

For the wrap I followed this pattern, substituting a bit of thin quilt batting for the fusible interfacing and an unused hairband for the elastic. 

I love how simple this project is, and its a great way to use up scraps!

Lots O' Hats!

In fall everyone's looking for a good hat to keep their little ones' ears toasty.  I've had a variety of different orders lately with lots of fun colors!  I'm pretty lucky to have several in-home hat models to test out my sizing on, and to just enjoy the cuteness of these little toppers :)

Gifting

We have been encouraged to bring gifts to our son's foster family when we pick him up, and I knew I wanted to give them some things that I had made as a way of personally connecting with them.  I love presenting gifts in fabric bags, they are re-usable and much more sturdy than the paper gift bags that are all the rage these days.

For the foster family's children I thought little drawstring bags filled with American candy might be a fun gift.  There are 3 biological boys in the foster family, so I picked some fun boyish fabrics to fill with candy

For the foster mother and the adoption specialist from the agency in Korea I made these reversible gift bags with pretty feminine fabrics.  These are based on the Morse Bag pattern, with some minor adjustments to the height and width to make them a better gift bag size.

Since making these I've been compelled to wrap every gift I give in fabric!  Its a fun, unique, and sustainable way to present a gift.

Shirt to Dress Makeover

Today I turned this women's 2X shirt (found at a garage sale for $1!)

Into this girl's dress

Definitely had to sport the crossed straps.  Much easier to keep on my squirmy 5 yr old's thin shoulders.  Although you can't see it, they need a bit of tightening up.  That's what I get for trying to measure the straps on her instead of using a measuring tape!

Oh she's so sweet :)

Ok, now I officially am a slacker mom to my son.  I gotta figure out some boy crafts to do!

Layer Dresses

I recently had the pleasure of making two sibling sets of layer dresses.   One for my good friend Anne and her two daughters.  They are about 18 months apart in age, but pretty much the same size.  We picked out some fun safari-type fabrics and coordinated the dresses without making them identical.  You can't tell from the lighting of the photos, but the fabrics are the same :)  The fabric for these was Fabric Central Exotic Bundle 2 plus an extra fat quarter of the yellow fabric purchased from JoAnn's.

The second set was for a friend of Anne's two daughters who are several years apart.  This time we went with fabrics that were "pink and girly" by the client's request and the dresses were made in different sizes.   The fabric for these was Bloom and Grow by Riley Blake in the pink and cayenne colorway (purchased at Karamat on Etsy - great service!)

It was so fun to take a design I made for my daughter and make it for others too!

Teacher Gift

I made an extra special teacher gift for my son's Kindergarten teacher this year.  She did such a great job with Eli and worked extra hard to make sure he had a great year.  I wanted to make sure she knew all her hard work was appreciated, especially as this was her first year teaching! 

I had seen the idea on a blog somewhere to make a "movie night" gift bag and thought it was so cute!  We got some microwave popcorn, movie theater candy, trail mix, a bottle of water, and a gift card to Blockbuster.

I put it all in this little tote that I made from leftover scraps from my most recent project.  I lined the tote with some soft but sturdy felt to give it a little stiffness and to hide all the seams from piecing the project together.