Noah's Gift...

...well part of it anyway! I finally finished him!

I know if I said he needed a face but I decided he looked so cute the way he was that I decided not to add one.

And as for giving him a name...I decided to let the birthday boy do that. But he is totally rocking the shorts I made for him!

Remember I said he has a surprise? Well...

Please ignore the lovely smudges on my phone. It was late and I wasn't thinking when I was finally able to photograph him.

...a secret pocket for tooth fairy money or whatever else Noah could think of!

-Erin-

Happy Birthday Noah Daniel!

My favorite little nephew turns 1 today!

I finally had a chance today to finish up the last item I had planned for his party. A special request from his mom was a tee that went with the theme. A little heat-n-bond, tee and some fabric scraps and this is what I came up with.

Pretty darn cute in my opinion!

-Erin-

Busy, Busy, Busy

My course load for school this semester is super difficult so I spend most of my time studying, but I did manage to finish this little project today.

It's one of those journals that come with blank sheets inside. It was a little boring so with fabric and heat-n-bond I gave it a little personality. Don't worry if the picture looks a little blurry, that is really how the fabric looks.

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

I couldn't convince him the goggles were upside down!

Digging up dinosaurs at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Trains!

What made you smile today?

-Erin-

I Finally Did It!

I opened an Etsy store!

And these are my first three items listed along with a custom listing.

-Erin-

It's The Little Things

So it looks like I haven't done anything, however, I have been super busy. It has just been little things. The kind of stuff you don't photograph. Like replacing the buckle on overalls. And editing pictures. And organizing. And school takes up a huge chunk of my time as well.

-Erin-

Ethan Caleb is 3!

Ethan has been a crazy handful since the day he was born!

He sure keeps me on my toes!

But he almost always has a smile and a giggle to greet you with.

When he is not making this rotten face anyways! : )

He is an outdoor boy. Full of energy and spunk.

He likes to make messes and get into things. But he likes to help and is good at cleaning up too (well when he feels like it he is!).

I love those brown eyes!

He is getting so big, so fast. He tries so hard to keep up with his older brothers and does a pretty good job of that as well.

He has hit the Toy Story phase hardcore and just in time for the 3rd movie to be released!

(OK so he hit the phase a while a go, but it's still going strong)

He was so excited to get Evil Dr. Porkchop and even took him in the bathtub with him tonight.

Oh, and the vest was a special request.

I love you Ethan-bug. To infinity and beyond!

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine

As a mom of boys my life has become all about superheroes. Batman. Superman. Spiderman. Thor. X-Men. Fantastic 4. And so on. Day in and day out I am hearing about, talking about or seeing a superhero of some kind.

I am so proud to say that among those superheroes they include firemen, policemen and "armies" (any person in any branch of the military). 

They say they can't wait until they are "big" so they can join the army. Whether they do or don't, I am just so proud of them for considering them superheroes as well.

What made you smile today?

-Erin-

Quilt-A-Long Part 2

So I have my 24 9-patches all done!

The next step is to cut 3 inch strips to make borders around the 9-patches. I had to be careful with the lime and white hippo fabric. It was directional, so be sure to check with your own fabric!

Then sew them together alternating them so that they are solid-pattern-solid-pattern or pattern-solid-pattern-solid and so on. Be careful and make sure the seams line up for a more professional look. If they don't line up it tends to look wonky.

I followed up with a photo shoot. That step is optional, however, totally recommended.

The bias tape is made from a different fabric from the same line. I wanted to use some of the fabric in the quilt but the pictures were a larger scale and just didn't look right in the pattern. I do think I will be making a couple of pillow cases out of that fabric just to throw a little more of it in there. It is a super cute fabric after all. I just didn't want to have to drag the serger out the day I finished up this project. 

I had a couple of extra 9-patches with borders attached so I made a couple of small throw pillows. I think they turned out super cute.

Now it's time to hand them over to my mom. She is planning to hand quilt them for her youngest grand baby (and my super adorable nephew!) Noah, who is the lucky recipient of all this!

-Erin-

A Special "Best"

When I head to the fabric store, I always check the remnant bin because I make a lot of doll clothes and my kids are still small enough that remnants are big enough chunks of fabric. So when I found this corduroy that was just over half a yard for $1.00 I grabbed it not really knowing yet what I would make.

This little guy fell in love with it and asked for a vest.

I wasn't sure if it was too 'girl-y' or not so I sent a picture to my best guy friend for his opinion. He gave the thumbs up because Ethan is still so young and still thinks it's 'cool for mom to make stuff', so I should take advantage of it while I still can.

Plus his birthday was coming up, so I totally did! But I didn't just stop with his vest. I made this doll about 2 years ago with the intention of selling it. However he found him a year ago (I hadn't gotten around to listing it yet) and fell in love with him. He takes him everywhere and sleeps with him. But he has lived in a set of pajamas for the while time. So I make him a vest too.

I stole the turtle neck and overalls from a stash of doll clothes I had already made for the photo shoot. Maybe someday baby Charlie will get lucky enough for me to make him an actual boy shirt to go with the outfit. The one in the pictures is a bit too 'girl-y' for me.

Ethan was so excited with this part of his gift and wont hardly take them off for bath time even. So all in all this project was a complete success!

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

I was looking back over pictures from our trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum back in April. And I found these!

Who doesn't love Barbie?!

What made you smile today!

-Erin-