I’d love to think I actually used fabric enough to justify scooping up these scrap bags from Purl. One day I’m going to learn to quilt, but judging by the amount of spare time I have at the moment, I’m thinking that hobby might be decades away.
Perhaps I will make a quilt for my baby’s baby. Only one generation later than I planned.
It’s here you guys. Finally. It’s kind of hard to believe, I’m the first to admit. We’ve been talking about this and working on it for soooo long. But yesterday we just sort of held our breath and flipped the switch. And now it’s out there!
Amanda and I designed it. Do you like? It was such a fun project. It’s like all the years we’ve spent doing web design for other companies/start-ups/people have finally made sense. We got to do our very own site! And we have like 1 mm things we want to fix, add, update. But that’s all part of the process.
Go check it out.
We did a post yesterday explaining the main features, if you’re curious.
FIRSTLY, you can subscribe to my feed now. I hope. There’s a little icon in the right column for you reader peeps. Or you can just click here. (Pls. let me know if you still have problems!)
Next, I finally got around to making a little set of those bean bags I bought from M•O•M for Dashiell, for a friend’s baby. Born in June. I’m a wee bit behind.
They’re really pretty easy to make. Little squares, sewn into bags and filled with lentils.
They are so perfect for tiny hands learning to grab and squeeze and toss. And such a great way to use pretty fabric scraps. I think they’re going to be my go-to present for new mamas.
Let’s all go on and enjoy the weekend now, shall we?
Ooh, last week was crazy. Apologies for the lack of posting. Getting ready for Hitched took up every moment of my non-mommy time. But it was such a cute event. We’ll be posting photos and projects on 100 Layer Cake all week, but for now here’s just a teensy peek:
(Heirloom LA cocktails… yum yum.)
I had the most fun arranging flowers for our table.
And because I’m a week behind, I haven’t even posted about the Heath LA Craft Bazaar from last weekend. It was great too. So many lovely things, including tiles and little wooden toys and Matteo linens for practically a song.
And Krank Press, who I love.
Just when I was giving in to the pretty light of fall, (and beets and squash at the market), it’s super summer all of a sudden again. Or for the first time all year, actually.
AND, a birth center opened up literally in our neighborhood. Isn’t that crazy? We loved the UCLA midwives, but I’m definitely curious what the Sanctuary Birth Center has to offer for our next babe. It’s going to be an amazing resource for families around West LA. Very very exciting. But here’s my question: What does a birth center offer that a home birth doesn’t?
More this week, for sure.
Fabric, I love thee. Even though I am barely competent with my sewing machine and have learned that sewing things yourself, while satisfying, is not necessarily less expensive than buying them premade.
I was hunting around Etsy for some bits for our Hitched decor and found this lovely Liberty print with tiny white leaves. Which I thought was black and white. So I purchased it, along with 2 other little pieces for good measure. Once you’re paying for shipping from the UK, you might as well add a few extras to your purchase, after all.
And then my little package came in the mail yesterday (which I had already forgotten about, is that a sign of a problem?), and my perfect B&W Liberty print is actually navy. But still very very pretty. And by some stroke of luck, I actually picked two other patterns that make up the perfect trio.
If only I were a quilter, and had about 23 times as much fabric, I’d be set. So the question is, what do I do with these? Again, if I had a girl baby the possibilities would be virtually endless. But I don’t. Any ideas? I’m actually don’t mind just keeping them close to my breast and adoring them for their perfect, soft, silky cotton-ness. But I would also like to actually make something from them one day.
So the first set of crib bumpers I made were sad. So sad that I had to make a second set. I used the wrong kind of batting, I cut some of the fabric BEFORE washing it, I improvised on dimensions.
Note to self: sewing is not like cooking in that you can’t just get the gist of the project from the instructions and then do whatever you like. Especially when one’s sewing skills are barely competent.
But this new set turned out great. Or at least good enough. The sad part is that I didn’t have enough of my extraordinarily cool vintage Marimekko triangle fabric for the whole set of bumpers. But I did have a different vintage Marimekko pattern to use for the long sides and do you know what? I kind of like the new combo better. I love it when that happens. And I love that these are nice and neutral, but still patterned enough to be interesting. And the neon ties are pretty fun too. (Though they make taking a good photo really hard!)
It’s so satisfying to have such cute little pillows lining Dashiell’s crib. But I will not be starting an Etsy business making custom crib bumpers, like I thought for a fleeting second whilst in the middle of the first failed set. Wrangling 170+ inches of fabric and batting and pins is not something I want to be doing on a regular basis.
I used the instructions in Lotta’s Simple Sewing for Baby, in case any of you feel like taking this project on yourself. The hilarious part about this whole adventure is that in like a month, I’ll have to take them out anyway so the little monkey doesn’t use them to climb out of his crib. But for the next baby they’ll be all ready to go.
This is perhaps the best before/after I’ve seen in a while. Plus it’s a freakin’ adorable little marshmallow of a trailer. You’ve perhaps seen it on Lily’s blog? If not, here:
It started as this:
And turned into this:
Le wow.
You can see the whole process on Big Bang Studio, and follow Lily and her hubs across the country before they set out for India. Again. Wow.
I think I’ve made it clear that I will love bunting and garlands forever and ever. But the same old same olds do get a bit tiresome when you see them every single day, decorating every single DIY wedding on in the blogosphere.
But isn’t this a cute, pared-down version?
Excellent way to use up little bits of ribbon, me thinks.
From Naturally Nina.
I saw a link to this quilt while catching up with Katy Elliot’s blog this morn:
It’s from the Tokyo international quilt show and it’s amazing. Apparently the quiltress has been collecting Liberty fabric since she was a teen.
Because I officially finished my last day of work (at the office) on Friday. Sooooo exciting. I’ve got a few more weeks (hopefully) to finish up some lingering freelance projects and then I’m taking a break to learn to be a mommy. Neat.
There are lots of things happening around the house as we frantically prepare for baby. Our diapers have been washed, the rocking chair is on the way, mobile hung… but of course there are still like 37 more things I NEED to have finished. Instead of doing them, this weekend was spent running errands and then doing a really fun project for 100 Layer Cake in Los Olivos. Fun? yes. Last 6 hour day in the car? YES.
It was so incredibly gorgeous though… worth the long day for sure.
Danielle, working her magic on the grey wood deck around the farmhouse.
Amanda’s awesome pink nails and golden iPhone case.
And me, 37 weeks. Doesn’t my belly look fake? Geez. It doesn’t FEEL that huge when I’m carrying it around. Officially full term. So it could be any time then?
(Do no pay attention to my crazy outfit. It was way colder than it looks so I had to ditch the flops for backup Uggs).
