Packin' it in

I've been keeping an eye out for a little backpack for the Big I but haven't been able to find anything. Then I came across this pattern. What do you think of the results?


Big I was very insistent on that fabric. He grabbed the bolt from me in the store and put it on his lap in the cart. I offered a few other options but it was always 'green one!'.


I love that there are no zippers or snaps or anything else to foil little hands. The little flap at the top is all there is. I added the front pocket and the top loop as well.


As soon as I showed him the finished product this morning, he immediately started shoving his two bears in and out.


We put it on his back and he was off for adventure for the morning along with his faithful, um...rabbit.

::sigh::

Toddler + paint project + distracted mom =

FAIL

FAIL

FAIL

(Yes, he tracked it across the family room carpet, across the kitchen tile and onto the up-until-now pristine patio to tell me what he had done.)

Undercover Project

A few months ago, my sister's co-worker's daughter (follow that?) started a great non-profit project to benefit a local Virginia children's hospital. The hospital had pitiful old blankets for the kids, so this fine lady decided to collect 600 blankets for each child to keep. (The hospital sees about that many kids a year.) Melissa, my sister, contacted me the other day to let me know that they're still working on the project but support seems to be waning. No waning!

Here's some recent info she sent me:

I am working with a friend and her daughter on behalf of the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents (http://www.ccca.dmhmrsas.virginia.gov/) in Staunton to collect new blankets for the children in this hospital. The hospital is a state hospital that has been hit hard by the state budget cuts, and they cannot afford to replace basic supplies like blankets. They are in danger of closing in the next few years. It is a psychiatric hospital for children. Many of them come to the hospital with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The blankets are a basic need for the hospital and also a security item for the child who gets to take the blanket with them when they leave.

My friend and her daughter have named their project, "Undercover" - you get the imagery. They have delivered several hundred blankets since the fall, but momentum is waning and we are now going to civic organizations and corporations asking for donations.

Your blog is a great resource for crafty people. [Ha! You mean all 4 of the people who read it?] I thought maybe since you have an audience who have the talent to quilt, perhaps you could share this information with them.

There are requirements for the blankets:

All the children sleep in a twin size bed so the blanket can be no smaller than 50x60" and up to a twin size blanket at most. Fleece blankets, quilts, comforters, and specialty weighted blankets are all welcome.

If there are any questions, they could email undercover@takesalltypes.com for further information.

No need to make a blankie if you're not crafty, just find a good deal at the store. But if you want to make one (or more) here's an easy, fun method below. (This 'pattern' also came from Melissa, by the way. She and her kids made Big I one for his first birthday. He loves it.)


Easy Fleecy Blankie

1. Go to local craft store
2. Find fleece fabric section. It is probably very large and very colorful. Bonus if there's a sale going on.
3. Pick whatever fleece fabric looks fun/pretty/soothing/wild-and-crazy to you. Be careful, fleece is easy to get addicted to.
   
4. Take fabric to counter and ask for two yards. (Normally one yard is a great size, but for this project, two yards will be more useful for older kids.) Repeat as necessary for all the fleece prints you just can't live without.
5. Once home, unfold the fabric completely and find the edge of the fabric with a selvage. It will be obvious that it is not part of the pattern. Usually it's a white strip. Use a nice sharp pair of scissors or rotary cutter and cut it off. The other long edge of the fabric will have some holes and a funny rolled edge. Cut it off as straight as you can manage as well.
   
6. Locate the short edges of the fabric. Take your scissors and begin at one corner to cut 2-3' long fringe about 1 inch wide all the way across the short edge of the fabric. Use a large pair of scissors that cut all the way to the tip and that will give you a good length. I use the pad of my thumb as a rough measurement of width. If you're a true perfectionist you may have to pull out a ruler, but really, no one will notice that they don't all match perfectly. You can choose to fringe all sides if you wish.
   
7. Tie each individual fringe piece in an over-hand knot and snug up to the main body of the blanket. Spouses and children are particularly helpful for this part.
   
8. Admire!
   

I had a great time making a bunch of fleece blankets for the Undercover Project already and I think I'll make some more. If you're local to me, feel free to drop some of your blankets off and I'll be happy to ship them.

Pleased as punch

I just finished my first two 'real' sewing projects. I've been forever intimidated by my sewing machine and hauled it out only to do simple pillows or other low-risk, straight-stitch projects.

But when I saw this pattern and read through it I thought it would be a perfect project to enhance my skills. Plus our friends' 3-year-old son, A., loves to help his mom in the kitchen and could use a little apron.

I couldn't decide between fabrics, so I made two and figure whichever one A. doesn't want, Big I can use. They aren't perfect, but they're pretty darn good for a beginner if I do say so myself.

He just woke up from his nap in that picture, that's why he looks so grumpy. He does have some more growing to do before it fits.

I even added a pocket to the second one.

Totally wired

If you live with a guy who loves electronic 'toys' like I do then you may know how it is to have wires and cords and plugs and cables and chargers for everything. It gets tough to keep track of them all so I decided to do something to keep them corralled.

For several years we have had one of those over-the-door shoe holders in our front coat closet (see pic at right). It works great for stashing hats, mittens, scarves and so forth. So I figured one of the same type of holders could hold cables. I'm sure it's not an idea original to me and it's definitely not rocket science but I'll show you how I did it anyway.

I picked up a shoe holder for $6 bucks at Ross. It held things well, but how was I to tell what was in each pocket? Any number of ways would work. If the holder had nice see-through plastic pockets like the one above, masking tape labels would work fine. Or even labels you can use in your printer. But I had concerns about the longevity of something sticky on the cloth holder I bought. It occurred to me that I could pin a label to the pockets and since I have a ton of safety pins from my race numbers, I decided to go that route.

First I assembled the safety pins, some old note cards from college (actually, I think those are from high school), a pair of scissors and a pen. Baby feet and baby toy feet are optional.



Next, I folded the note cards in half and cut. Then folded those in half again until I had 16 roughly equally sized little cards. (16 since that's how many pockets on my holder, of course.)



Next, I used a hold punch to put two holes close together near the top of each card.



After that, it's as simple as pinning the cards to each pocket through the holes and deciding what goes where. Label as you go so you don't have to remember what's what...the labels do it for you.


That's it!


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In gardening news, the spinach seeds I planted two weeks ago that I thought were toast, er popsicles, in the ice actually germinated! Well, two have at least. (You may have to click on the pics to actually see the green!) I'll keep an eye out for any more.














Also got some red onion starts in the ground today. Hope they do well.