Two years ago for Christmas, Marion got this little table and chair set from Ikea, still only $19.99

It’s been a good table that has served us well, that’s for sure

But, it’s a little plain, even with a monkey as your snacking companion

So I made a some little chair covers to jazz it up a bit

Which worked until this one turned it into an eating table. Manners, they’re not so much her strong point.

So let’s kick off the new year with a little sewing tutorial, making a tablecloth and chair covers for an Ikea Latt table!

You’ll need:
One piece of fabric 30 x 35 inches
Two pieces of fabric 12.5 x 20(ish) inches (the length varies depending on how long you want your chair covers to be)
Scissors or a rotary cutter
Cutting mat (although it’s not necessary, it makes life a lot easier!)

Take your large piece of fabric and fold it in fourth

Now this is important. Find the corner of your fabric that has NO FOLDS and cut out a square

Cut a square of 4.5 x 4.5 inches

Your unfolded fabric is going to look like this

Turn your fabric 1/4 inch under, iron, turn under another 1/4 inch, iron and sew in your hem. I used a zig zag stitch and bright thread for a little visual interest. That, and I’m lazy and the machine was already threaded with turquoise.

I used french seams on my table cloth because I know this is going to get washed a lot and I wanted to contain all the raw edges since I don’t have a serger. Usually I’m a much lazier sewer than this, but in this case, the extra step is worth it.

To do a french seam, you essentially make a shallow seam with wrong sides facing, then turn it right sides face and make a deeper seam, which encloses the first seam, making things all nice and neat

With wrong sides facing, bring the two sides of a corner together (the squares you cut out), and sew in a 3/8 inch seam

Trim

Then with right sides facing, put in a 1/2 inch seam

It will look normal on the outside

But nice and neat on the inside

Also, since I’m not very good at cutting straight lines or ironing accurately, my hems will inevitably not match up. To fix this, I prefer to sew my corners from the outside to the inside, which makes sure the hems at least look matched up, even if they aren’t.

Put it on the table, and presto, a table cloth!

Okay, so if you want to see a much better tutorial, I modified this idea from Prudent Baby’s DIY Changing Pad. Her pictures and instructions are much better than mine.

For the chair covers, figure out how long you want your cover to be, double that length, add an inch for the hems, then cut the fabric that long and 12.5 inches wide.

Put in the hem on the two 12.5 inch portions of the fabric

And sew up your two side seams. Or in my case, two sides and a top because I was using scraps. If you’re using two pieces of fabric, you’ll add another 1/2 inch to the length to make up for the top seam.

Presto chango, a new table cloth and chair covers!

I made Marion a fancy chair cover but before I could waste three hours making another one, I realized my kids are way too squiggly and anything covering the seat was just going to help them wiggle right off.

So Eliza just got a regular chair cover. Poor second child.

There you have it, the table top stays clean(er) and you have a fancy pants Ikea table for your kiddos.

And to prove how easy it was to make (and to double check my measurements)

I made another one by the time Josh had done the dinner dishes. Seriously, that easy. Putting in the darn hems took the longest time.

I hope your new year got off to a pretty start!

From this

to this in a few short steps!

Of course, it’s a lot easier to do if you have a helper this cute

Supplies:
Glue gun and/or stick
Decorative paper or fabric
Ribbon
Cardboard (or a cardboard cake circle)
Scissors
Mason jar
Marker/Pen

Take a circular object (we used a dinner plate) and trace around it onto the paper or fabric

Using the same circle (duh!) trace onto the cardboard. If you are going to put something heavy on top, you might want to cut two pieces of cardboard or use one thick piece.

Let your toddler go to town with the glue stick, covering the wrong side of the decorative paper

Adhere to the cardboard circle

While you get ready to use the glue gun, let the toddler go bonkers with the ribbon. This is why I buy double. One to play with, one to use.

Apply a thin line of glue around the edge of the cardboard

More bonkers with the ribbon in the meantime

Press the ribbon down around

Mark as close to the center of the circle as you can

Center the ring of the mason jar and trace around it

Glue around the edge of the line

And let the toddler hold it down until dry. About three seconds, or the length of the three year old’s attention span

Screw the jar into the band and you’re done!

Now, if you’re going to put something heavy or unsteady on top of it (like cupcakes with greedy hands grabbing them off) you’ll want to put a weight of some sort in the jar just to help keep it anchored down. We might have learned this the hard way at the party!

Plus, we had a variety of ages at the party and I knew not all the kiddos would want to do the rides, so I had a two other options set out for them.

Make Your Own Farm

I got 12 x 12 scrapbook pages from Michaels (5 for $1) that looked sort of like grass and ordered these stickers from Oriental Trading.

Plus, I had lots of cousins wanting to help set things up, so it was nice to be able to say, hey, stick some stickers on a sheet to show the little kids how to do this.

And look, another use for mason jars!

I printed out (for free, woot) ten copies of four different coloring pages and set them at the end of the table with a mason jar of crayons on top. The entire party, there was someone sitting there coloring (I even think I saw a couple of adults join in!)

And the favor bags.

I hate even saying this because you can’t get them anymore, but I had the sweetest lady on Etsy make the girls custom coloring books. She has since closed up shop (boohoo!) but there are lots of other options on Etsy if you want to go this route. These were just super cute book, personalized with their names and a pink tractor on the cover

We also included a set of crayons and a few farm animal bath toys.

We handed the bags out right as everyone was leaving, so I didn’t hear a lot of the reactions. However, my 90 year old Mamaw asked me to send her one of the coloring books, so she was upset she didn’t get one, which I’ll take as a sign that they were a hit with everyone!

Supplies:
Heart shaped template
Hole punch
Scissors
Marker/Pen
Construction Paper

And not pictured, but vitally important, glue stick.

Trace your heart shape out onto the color you want the card to be and cut out.

Cut assorted colors of construction paper into strips about as wide as your punch (copy of Good Night Moon not necessary.)

Then get to punching

If you’re brave, let the toddler cover one side of the heart with the glue stick. If you’re not so brave, the the adult take care of this part.

Then turn the toddler loose!

Mar had lots of fun picking out just the right colors for each heart

(Ignore my man voice due to a head cold in the video, please)

And tada! Thirty minutes later, Valentines anyone would be happy to get!

The sweetest little giraffe

For the sweetest little baby girl (that would be Eliza Jane)

Granted, he wasn’t technically a Christmas present (more like a first week of the New Year present)

And technically, he’s not knitting (it’s crochet)

But I think he’s so cute, you’ll forgive me

We went the Friday before Halloween, so it was pretty picked clean. However, they still had a great collection of all these unusual pumpkins, warty, colored and odd shaped.

Marion had more fun with the unusual ones than she did the normal ones

She was also mesmerized by the magnolia seed cones (that’s my Mississippi in her coming out.)

Mr Brown Dog came along as well

She wasn’t allowed to sit on the pumpkins, but there were no such rules prohibiting Mr Brown Dogs

Like I said, “no sitting on pumpkins” doesn’t apply to small brown dogs

Her daddy’s new favorite picture

No matter how much she asked, I wouldn’t let her bring this guy home

Baby sister woke up from her nap long enough to get in a few pictures too

Look mama, I found her bow! Yes Marion, it was attached to her head.

Their sweaters are the fantastic Milo pattern

Lots of fall goodness coming this week!

I refuse to think how our lives are going to be turned upside down and instead, prefer to think of a quiet, sleeping, peaceful newborn who will allow me to have coffee or lunch with friends, lots of time for knitting and sewing and still maintain an immaculately clean house.

HA!

I can’t even think that without laughing hysterically.

So instead of knocking out some projects I’d like to get done, say, before Christmas, being productive finishing the nursery, maybe making some baby clothes or at least organizing and washing the clothes we have, I’ve been doing every thing I can think of to avoid doing anything practical.

Namely, I decided it would be a great time to start a new hobby! Brilliant decision on my part, yes? It was such a brilliant decision, I decided to take up two new hobbies!

The first at least uses a skill I already know and doesn’t take up much time. It also has the added benefit of helping me use up my yarn scraps (something Josh appreciates very much.)

However, on the practicality scale, it’s non-existent. I’m now marginally obsessed with knitting doll clothes.

Marion was going through a period of not wanting to get a bath and so we got her her first baby doll to take into the bath with her (and maybe, hopefully? help with adjusting to baby sister.) Since she’s made to go in the bath, her accessories included bath toys, baby powder, a towel, diaper and PJs. But no real clothes. Let’s just say she was in our family for less than 24 hours before I started making her a new wardrobe.

Like the little hand reaching up to grab her from me? And it took less than 24 hours for that dress to find it’s permanent home on a teddy bear of hers. Also, yet another lesson in toddlerhood, for mama. The lesson being that baby dolls are meant to always be naked.

That lesson didn’t stop me from knitting some more though.

A little summer skirt and top.

And since it is still summer, a pair of shorts.

I can guarantee you that this winter, she’ll have more sweaters than you can shake a stick at.

My other hobby, not quite so “practical” and infinitely more time consuming. It’s yarn dyeing. Why, why would I need to dye yarn when you can purchase it in any shade imaginable and know the color is colorfast, lightfast, usually washable, etc. I have no answers for that. Simply that this baby is making me crazy.

First up, a little dyeing with coffee.

On the left, the undyed wool. On the right, after a nice bath in coffee.

So I made Marion a little slouchy beret. Because exactly what she needs in this, the hottest summer ever in Houston, is a wool beret.

This baby is eating my brain. Maybe I’ll turn out something practical by the time she’s five.

I’ve also been trying for my second experiment, dyeing with black beans. It’s not been as easy as the coffee and I’m on attempt three right now (well, it’s in progress.)

This is the result of my second attempt. The first attempt just resulted in mold. Don’t ask. Maybe one day I’ll get the denim blue I’m aiming to achieve.

Which do you think will come first? The baby, or color results I’m happy with?

If you’ll remember last time, there was this little thing called Hurricane Ike and two weeks without power that hindered my finishing efforts. That, and the fact my sewing machine went nutso on me until I (a year after she was born) literally, literally, fixed it by smacking it with a hammer.

This time, I’m determined to get the project done before Baby Sister is born and another hurricane hits and my sewing machine is unfixable with a hammer.

With seven(ish) weeks left to go, I’m proud to say I’m halfway done! That’s a pretty big accomplishment for me. Marion’s bed is completely done and really, the only must do projects that are left are Sister’s crib rails and bed skirt. There are a few other little things I’d like to do, but those are just icing on the proverbial cupcake.

(Apologies in advance, but this room is really hard to photograph and often the best pictures are with my camera phone, so there will be a mix of good and not so great photos.)

Before we even moved, we picked out fabrics for the new nursery and picked this mix of fabrics from Michael Miller

And this is what we started with after we moved (at least on Marion’s side of the room)

And this is what we have now! (That thing in the bottom left corner is my ironing board)

One of the first things we had to do was to get a new blind for the room! The girls’ room faces due east and so the sun comes up bright and early.

So we bought this dark gray blackout shade from Ikea, and it was wonderful, but in the end, it didn’t work with the drapery rod we chose.

Which meant, not only did I have to make curtains for the first time, I had to make curtains lined with blackout material.

I think they turned out pretty good! (I promise there are two of them, it’s just really, really, really hard to get a picture of them both straight on.)

This is my favorite little spot in the room, Marion’s little reading nook

It’s constantly in use! (And yes, it’s meant to hold books, but she usually just has them scattered on the floor.)

A rare moment of cleanliness

And even though she’s pretty well past teething (we’re just waiting on the two year molars), I still did her a set of teething rails just because I like the way they look

She’s been sleeping with a pillow for a while, so I made her a pillowcase to match

Well, she got two actually. I think Mr Brown Dog likes the bird better than the polka dots

Along with two new changing pad covers and a bow board. However, I realized with TWO girls, I’m going to have to make a much larger bow board!

One little storage basket (we need a few more of these, but that’s a scrap project for when I have nothing else to do, hahahaha!)

It’s only taken me three and half months since we moved in to get this stuff done, we’ll see what else I can knock out in the next seven(ish) weeks!

In truth, I’ve been super crafty lately. I think it’s the cooling weather; it means you can hold wool now without breaking a sweat.

In non knitting craftiness

A bow holder for Mar’s every growing bow collection. Bows which, by the way, she can say “bow” and pat her head when she wants one. She also knows her bows versus my barrettes and gets a great big laugh out of it when I put one of her bows in my hair.

Marion is also quickly outgrowing her baby towels, so in an effort to de-stash my fabric collection

A new baby towel!

One yard of terry and one yard of flannel

Equals a very snuggable baby towel.

In homage to one of our favorites from last year

The first of, I am sure, many momma made pumpkin hats

Although truthfully, this looks a bit more like a pumpkin colored apple

Still pretty cute though

Or maybe that’s just the model

A little something for momma!

Not quite a perfect fit

And the pièce de résistance, a mere five months in the making

Marion’s February Baby Sweater Dress

Based on the super popular February Baby Sweater pattern

In Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

I’m quite proud of this

And best of all, Marion seems to tolerate it