Two Grandson Stockings

My mom had two grandson's born this year. Mine fourth child and my younger brother's first child. Its a good thing I made my son's stocking last year, because I just wasn't feeling too crafty this year.
It took me a long time to embroider any of these names.
But then it turned out I re-embroidered my third child's name, because I was never happy with how it turned out.

I was feeling so uncrafty I didn't even take a picture of my baby's stocking by itself.

My youngest's cousin's.

More Cowns

I think crown posts will soon come to an end. I might make another crown or two for my baby boys as they are preschoolers, but I'm pretty sure my daughter isn't going to want to give crowns out at birthday parties for very much longer. In the beginning of the summer a friend turned 6 and we gave her a crown. After walking around our box store in vain, I suggested shopping on Amazon. Instead Nat asked me to make a crown, she designed it all herself, and told me how to make it. She wanted it to say queen not princess. She wanted a very long veil just like Rapunzel, she picked out the fabric and the jewels.

Big Sibling Shirts

Remember how I made shirts for my kids?  

Well it took me too long to take the photos, so Ikey's shirt is too small for him, but I finally got pictures of everyone in them. (Look at that drool bomb.)

I over saturated the colors in attempt to see the embroidery, but I'm not sure it work too well. Ah, such is white shirts.

 All the boys. Oh their brown eyes.

 This girl loves the baby more than humanly possible.

Oh how I'll miss hearing this toddler voice yelling for his big brother one day.  I love the way he says, "Osh!"

Big Brother Shirts

Everyone has grown out of the big sister or big brother or baby brother shirts from a year and half ago.  So I guess it was time to make new ones, actually my 7 year old kept talking about his future big brother shirt when the new baby came.  I probably would have tried to skip this tradition, if it wasn't for his excitement.  This time around, I really hated this craft. The only reason I started or finished was my love for my oldest child.  (That is the common refrain for the crafts posted today. I didn't enjoy the craft at all, but I did it so my child would feel loved. In a way it makes sense, they watch me make lots of things for the new baby, so it helps a little for them to get new things I've made. They beg for far more than I make them, but how many mini pillows and doll/teddy bear blankets does one house need.)

As you can see I did not go over the top this time, they are as simple as I could make them barring using a sharpie instead of embroidery. I didn't want white shirts, but I had white shirts for everyone but the oldest, so it was far cheaper and easier this way.
They say, Baby Brother
Little Big Brother (I never could figure out what order the adjectives should go in)
Big Sister with a heart
Biggest Brother
Hope my children enjoy them, I hate them.

Door Hangers

My 7 and 5 year old really love things on their bedroom door, to indicate it is their room. When we moved around bedroom roommates, the toddler is now with the 5 year old, because the baby will be with the 8 year old.  (His birthday is coming, I guess both of their birthdays.)  I made new door hangers, but mostly because the old ones were wooden and made too much noise, making me crazy.  

 The embroidery isn't original designs, I saw them on pinterest, which probably came from etsy. They were on hoops not quilt squares though.  There is something about me in my third trimester that is drawn to making children's bedroom decor from unfinished quilt squares.  (Check out a year and half ago. Here and here.)

I love them, because they are silent, and each kid has their own.  But overall I ended up hating this project.  I had to will myself to finish.  I'm having the hardest time naming this baby, so his square doesn't have a name. 

Speaking of names, last night my oldest suggested Elvis Lee.  Kind of catchy actually, but I'm not using it.

More Stockings

I know you have been waiting and waiting to see the rest of the stockings I made this year.  I was having technical difficulties with the blogger app on my new google phone.  Which I never did solve, BUT my pictures automatically update to my google account, and then I just select what I want to put in the post.  Its amazing! On to the point of the post.  The stockings, I really love what I made this year.

 I wish I could explain how much I love these stockings.

 Also I made a tree skirt for my sister.  I figured might as well pick material that matches with anything!

 The back/the reversible other side.

 Hope she liked it, the fabric was a little different style then I picked for the tree skirts I made the previous two years.

#4

When I told my brother I was expecting again, his response was the race to four is on. He and his wife beat me by months, which was expected. So I made them this blanket and stocking.

I love the embroidery on this blanket, it looks so jaunty, which I feel is fitting for the name. 

And here is the stocking, I really love how it came together, I hope she liked it. 

In their family they have two red stockings, a green stockings, a blue stocking, and then another mostly green stocking, so when i found this fabric I hoped this stocking would sort of tie everything together. 

Patriotic Pillow

I needed a pillow for the Fourth of July. It was super easy to make.  I used fusible bond.

Different Bunting

My husband agreed, my bunting was all wrong on my wreath. So I whipped up some more. The bunting was very easy to make, so it was worth my 30 minutes. I hand embroidered the numbers.

Mustached Tooth Fairy Pillow

Remember the preview the other day.  Well I finished it the next day, and now I'm posting.  I love it so much.  The felt tooth is double sided with two pieces of felt, so there is no exposed stitches from my embroidery.  My seven year old still hasn't lost any teeth so the pillow is plenty in time. (Sad day for him, both of his parents lost teeth later than average, plus he didn't get any baby teeth until he was 14 months old, so he'll loose teeth even later than his parents.)

Fits a mini card, with money.

Stay tune, of course my daughter wants a girly one.  Even though she probably has another two years before she loses any teeth.  I'm sure she'll be late too, but not as late, because she grew teeth a good 5 months before her brother.

Love Pillow

I'm slightly pillow obsessed right now.  I wanted a throw pillow for my bed, so here is what I did.
I of course embroidered the pillow, and the fabric rosette I hand sewed instead of glue gunned.

Tooth Preview

I made this little guy, while sitting next to my husband as he watched USA vs. Mexico World Cup qualify game. (Apparently it takes a year and a half to qualify for the World Cup. It was a tie.)
I think he is super awesome!
My kid loves mustaches like only a 7 year old boy could find them funny. So I've been waiting to find a mustache craft for him. Other than that I think mustaches being the new put a bird on it is silly. And actual mustaches on men are gross.

Valentine Envelopes

I made my family PB hacked felt valentine's envelopes. Then my daughter wrote all over hers. :(

Tree skirt

After making Alisa a tree skirt last year, I decided I needed one. One in the same material. I am such a poser. I changed it a little bit and I didn't make mine two sided.

This year was a new experience because my mom wasn't here to offer her help on the hard parts.  I really did intend to make Alisa's tree skirt all myself, but my mom was in town for thanksgiving, and she offered.  I accepted her help because I really wanted to send out the presents asap, because you need a tree skirt in the beginning of December not the end.  Anyway, its hard work sewing without your mom.

Revist

Remember all the shirts I made?  I think the kids look great in them.

Christmas in July

Remember how we talked about how maybe I'm not so sane in my eighth month of pregnancy?  Well I figured I might as well make my baby a stocking now, instead of in a few months when life could be potentially crazier.  The stores are already selling christmas material so why not.  Well I got out my other stockings and I got out my christmas material, and decided I've never really liked my daughter's stocking.  So I pulled it all apart, and made a better one. It goes so much better with the family's pile of stockings.

Here is the before of her stocking, here it is with the whole family's stockings, see it just didn't match. It needed more green.

  Then I set about making my new son's stocking.  I absolutely love this christmas material, and find it very challenging to match, but I think the black polka dots worked well.

Oh and you were hoping to see his name... all in good time, my eight faithful blog followers.
So here is my happy little family of five stockings.  I decided I'm making a "the stockings were hung" board since I don't have a fireplace. (I bought my friend's Family Home Evening board, for $2 at her garage sale and am refinishing it.)

Then as I stared at the stockings I realized the embroidery on my firstborn's stocking has always looked awful, so I unpicked and redid that.  Plus I have never liked the shape of the toe on his, so I fixed that too.  Can you see the difference from the pictures above and this one.

Ahh, Christmas.

Insanity

I might be a little insane.  Want to see my latest pre-baby craft?
First off a trip down memory lane. Last time I had a baby I made this shirt for the older sibling.  For some reason things get bigger and crazier each time. That "big bro" shirt took about 30 minutes.  Instead of a simple shirt, I did this:

Which also served the purpose of a coming home from the hospital outfit for my august baby. I couldn't find anything I like that seemed good for bring a baby home to a hot house during a heat wave.  I pray that the heat wave will be over by then, I thought a onesies and a light blanket would be perfect.  Who knows?
So big brother got a shirt.

 As did big sister.  She is super excited about her shirt and monkey, she loves monkeys.  Unlike my first born. Ignore the fact that you can see my tracing lines under the shirts, I guess I should wash them huh?

 Then the crown jewel baby brother's shirt.

 A close up on the embroidery.  (By the way this is not an original design. That's just not how I flow, and I'm pretty sure most crafters don't.)

More projects

Turns out I have more unposted projects.  My daughter went to another birthday party, back in April.  This is the crown I made for it.  Who knows what they thought of a homemade present?  I think it turned out wonderfully.

Two finished

I have a new niece, the only one born this year, we just saw her last week. She was about four weeks old, I think. Here is the blanket I made for her.  For some reason this blanket was my Eleanor.  Normally I whip out these blankets, but for some reason I really struggled with this blanket.  I love it though, because I like purple. Luckily, her mom seems excited to receive it.

 By the way, for the sake of privacy, I use to not post pictures with the names of my nieces and nephews that embroiderer on the back of the blanket but now looking back I can't always remember what blanket went to what baby.  So privacy is going the way of privacy online, sorry.
My daughter absolutely loved her new cousin, and want to be very helpful.

She also adored her new boy cousin who is two month olds.  There are still two more boys to be born both in August.  Its a race to see who wins! (I'm sure I'll lose, I go late, and I'm due a week later.)
Oh no, I just tried to link up the last baby blanket I made, for the two month old, but I couldn't find it, turns out I didn't post it, so here it is.

I have had this green material for so long.  Its been waiting for the right baby boy, a baby boy born to parents who wouldn't mind wrapping their son in beetles, frogs and lizards. I will also say it was hard to find a backing, but I think the orange polka dots are perfect!

Princess Crown

My daughter's friend had a princess party and my friend (the mom) told me I did not need to buy a present.  So I made this instead.

I had an unwilling model so here is my lamp modeling it.

 I based it off this pin I saw of tulle crowns, and J's crown. As I made it I thought either this is ridiculous or ingenious.  Its a fine line. I couldn't tell if if it would look like a 70s headband.
 Best part of this craft/present is I already had the material.  The other two moms at the party loved it, so I guess it wasn't ridiculous.