I think I have a new favorite thing to make.

The Princess and the Pea is no stranger to the crafty blog circuit, but it was first drawn to my attention by a good friend who sent me this link one year ago. I’ve been thinking about it, on and off, ever since.

Inspiration was drawn from this book and these pages, in particular. The perfect little bed is from wonderful etsy seller Peter of Meadow Weeds Farm. (Meg at Sew Liberated posted about beds that she ordered from this seller, so I took note. I custom ordered a bed that is smaller than the one he typically sells. To give you an idea, the mattresses on the bed measure 8″ x 12″. ) The doll is Mimi Kirchner’s free pattern from the Purl Bee. I sized the pattern down to 75% without a problem. I love everything about this pattern, but I did think that the face was a little too grown-up for the one year old who received this gift. I also wanted something that looked a little sleepy. So, instead, I copied the face of this adorable Black Apple doll.

I think the reason why I love this project so much is that the stack of twelve little mattresses resembles a carefully folded pile of brand new fabric that has been fresh cut from the fabric store. Know what I mean?

We received the most amazingly beautiful and generous handmade gift from Olivia a few weeks back and I have been trying ever since to write a post that does it justice. I was simply blown away by this package. I am struggling with the words, but I think these photos express how truly grateful I am.

*Olivia, me quedo sin palabras. You are a wonder. And a kind, generous soul. Our little girl loves her special Spanish piglet and I absolutely adore my pincushion. And my tiny cyclops giggles each time he looks into his kaleidescope. Un monton de besitos y un gran abrazo.

**I’d be doing anyone reading this post a disservice if I didn’t point out Olivia’s blog, flickr stream (this is my favorite set) and shop. Note that her blog is written in Spanish but her flickr descriptions are composed in English.

I don’t normally post super simple projects like bibs and burp cloths, but I do have a few things to say about this set, so here goes. First, why didn’t anyone ever tell me about snap tape? It is so much easier to use than those crappy snap fastener things. Second, Juliette’s bib pattern is excellent. Fits a baby perfectly. Too small for a toddler – not enough coverage-but works wonders on my four month old. Which is probably why she calls it an infant bib, not a toddler bib. Third, text fabric in patchwork is great. She does it all the time – with a great deal of style.

So, what other little tricks and secrets do folks have that make sewing easier? I’m curious to learn whether anyone else has had one of those moments recently where they have said to themselves “If only I had known about this months ago!” Please spill it. I think I’d learn a lot.

This is a cathedral window doll quilt for my little girl.  All hand sewn. Excellent tutorial here.  I tried to stay away from contemporary fabrics to give this a more old-fashioned look.  I have an idea for a variation on this pattern using more modern prints that I may actually tackle soon. There is lots of folding and ironing and hand-stitching involved, but I enjoyed the process.  I don’t think I’d have the patience for a full sized quilt, though.

My mother’s aunt hand-made her a queen sized quilt in this style. When my mom saw that I had made this mini quilt, she said, “Now do you understand why I used to have a near heart attack when you kids would hook your fingers into the fabric to pull yourselves up onto the bed?”  Yes, Mom.  Now I understand.

Amanda has mentioned that she plans to try a cathedral mini quilt too. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with. More Mini Quilt Monday here.

I love the way this little boy looks when he first wakes up.  He is so cheery, yet still in a semi-dreamy state.  And he has, in my opinion, the world’s best bedhead.  I would love to take a series of photos of him just after he wakes up.  You know, pop him outside on the doorstep first thing in the morning to take advantage of the natural light.  {Yeah.  I am a wicked nice mom like that.}

OK.  One small housekeeping item.  I’ve had a couple of very polite hints recently from family and friends that I haven’t been posting enough current pictures of the kids. If you are someone I know and want to bore yourself silly with tons of poorly composed photos (see above) of my two rugrats, please comment or send me an email at acyder (at) gmail (dot) com. I will put you on an email list that will give you access to our family photos without having to sign into a website.  The kids will still pop up on the blog on occasion, so if you are a “small doses” kind of person, you may not want to be added to the email list.

Values Quilt, pictured above, from Metrosupial Designs {Important note:  I DID NOT make this quilt, but would like to do something similar one day!}

Just in case you missed them, there are three great tutorials that have surfaced fairly recently that I would love to try. Metrosupial Designs has an amazing values quilt, a new Sew Mama Sew board member did up some great instructions for a bunch of fantastic handbags and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts has done a brilliant job with a zig zag quilt tutorial for those of us who have a fear of sewing triangles.  I’d like to use the zig zag tutorial to do something like this.

Darn the interwebs for coming up with such great ideas.  And darn me for typing a post and complaining about not having enough free time when I could be making something.

My sister-in-law (I call her City Auntie on this blog) is getting married in about a year and I am honored to be a bridesmaid in the wedding.  I’ve been in three weddings before.  I was Alpine Auntie’s maid of honor and a bridesmaid for two of my best friends from college.  When Alpine Auntie got married I was living in Berlin, so I wasn’t able to get very involved in the planning.  I did get to chose my own dress and found the perfect one in a boutique in Luxembourg.  {Boy was my life soooo different back then.}  The details for the other two weddings were mostly handled by the brides and their mothers.  

This wedding is different.  Now that City Auntie lives so close to us, the opportunities to help her plan abound.  And, wow, am I excited to help.  I love coming up with all sorts of DIY ideas and badger City Auntie regularly with e-mails and links to lovely, lovely things.  I daydream about sewing up 200+ cloth napkins for the reception (unlikely to happen, but I love the idea) and assembling perfect little party favors.  I realized the other day that I could possibly be getting a little bit too into it.  Especially for someone who eloped.  *Ahem.*

Here is what happened.  My mom gave me a gorgeous bouquet of roses the first day that I returned back to work after maternity leave.  The flowers were incredible; they looked like this.  When the petals began to discolor, rather then throw them into the compost pile, I conducted a little DIY flower arranging experiment to see what I could come up with.  The result is the top photo. Another view of the arrangement is here. Not perfect. But not bad.  You know–for an overly enthusiastic bridesmaid.

On another topic, my baby girl is already getting old.  Notice how she can practically sit up on her own, on her handmade quilt, which was sewn with love by Alpine Auntie.  {How I love that quilt with it’s perfect colors, some of my most favorite dots, and it’s hand-tied pouffy goodness.}

“Hey Mom.  I’m not sure how I feel about this pedicure.  I think the paint on the toenails of my right foot is a bit uneven.  Can we go back to the salon?”

I’m not sure if it shows in these photos, but I have been fiddling with my camera lately.  Been trying to stay away from the auto modes and figure out how to use more natural light. The idea to capture her age each month with a tag comes from the lovely and talented Anna who works wonders with her digital SLR over at Hank & Willie.

I went back to work recently after a three month maternity leave.   When I tell people this, the overall reaction is something like:  ”Wow, it must be hard to leave the kids and go back to work.”  This statement makes me smile a bit.  Yes. It is hard to leave the kids.  I miss having all that free time to spend with them.  And I miss having a more flexible schedule.  But no, it’s not that hard to go back to work. In fact, compared to life at home with two wee ones, work can seem like a breeze.

At work I can go to the bathroom by myself when I want; I can eat lunch at a leisurely pace; I have both hands free at all times; and I get to talk to real-live adults. Yep. Pretty easy.

That said, I miss the chaos. And the kisses. And the deciphering of new words that spill from my two year old’s mouth. The baby’s coos. The dirty dishes (not really). The lunchtime visits with my husband.  The outings with my mom.  The hugs. The noses needing wiping.  The wonderful, yet exhausting, unpredictability of the average day at home.

Don’t worry about me, though.  I’m not crying into my keyboard every day. I have an interesting job that I enjoy, a great boss, a fantastic daycare provider, a tiny commute, two beautiful healthy children,  and a very supportive husband who helps us get pretty darn close to achieving that ever-sought-after life/work balance.  Things are good.  

But enough about me.  On to the breastpump bags.  Because I know you are just dying to hear all about them.

I pump at work and needed something that “breathes” to carry the attachments for my breast pump to and fro the shared kitchen near my office. I repurposed a laundry bag to make two drawstring bags that hold all the attachments.   This is my favorite type of project.  They were quick and easy to make and are something I will use all the time.  Also, I had all the materials on hand at home. Most importantly, they are pretty to look at and make the whole “I am a modern-day milkmaid” experience just a teency bit better.

Sewing on mesh is not a simple affair so I folded and sandwiched a piece of twill tape along the inner seams before I sewed them up.  And the drawstring casing also sandwiches the mesh, so my machine never touched that tricky fabric.  I love the floral fabric so much.  I found a few fat quarters on super sale in Salt Lake City at this shop when I was visiting my sister who lives in Park City.  The print is called Bloom by Laurie Bird for Windham Fabrics, style 25822.  I have no idea if it is still around in shops or not.

Two miscellaneous items:

-I won’t weigh in regarding the breast vs. bottle feed debate because I think that what’s best for the mom, ultimately, is best for the kid.  However, it is helpful to know that some health insurance plans will pay for a good electric pump.  I was lucky to have a friend at work who clued me into this just before I was planning to buy one.  I’m just mentioning it here in case the information can similarly help someone else. {I’d be happy to let you know how I got mine through a medical supply company if you are interested.}

-While I was on maternity leave, a package from CA was delivered to the mailroom at work.  That package never made it from the mailroom to my office.  Thought I’d say something in the event that the sender reads this blog.  Such a bummer to miss good mail!  Hopefully (well, not really) it was just work related.

Do you like the looks of this sturdy d-ring belt?   

How about these two?  

Then hop on over to my flickr account, check out my sturdy d-ring belt tutorial, and make one for yourself. (While you are there, do your best to ignore the poorly lit photos.  It was a cloudy day.)  Cheers!

I have reached that point in my blog life when history begins to repeat itself. Thursday night we had a visit from a favorite fuzzy friend. The Little Guy was so into it!  At first he seemed a little shocked, and kept slowly repeating the words “Easter Bunny” with his mouth wide open. But he soon got over it and hopped right along and gathered the hidden eggs.  The baby slept through most of the shenanigans, thought I do love this photo (above) of the three of them in which she is looking up at the bunny with an expression that says: “What the…?!!!?” 

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!