Long before I was pregnant I knew I wanted to make clothes for my little person. I bought the appropriate Little Things to Sew by Oliver+S, stocked up on some choice Echino and other import fabrics from Etsy, Fabricworm, and local stores like Stitches and the now-gone Fabric Crush. I wasn’t sure if I would get a boy or girl right away, so I didn’t invest in patterns too much. But I did scour the internet for tutorials and fun things. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Made by Rae’s Celebrate the Boy
• Prudent Baby (hard to navigate for specific ideas, but fun to read)
• Lego Quilt by Wee Wonderfuls
• Make for Baby Boy – 25 tutorials (super cute!)
• Happy Together – Big Girl Room
• Sew Liberated – F & L’s Studio

Seattle had – is having – a rather large snowfall for our area. Now the weather persons are predicting ice storms and our main airport was closed for some time and my husband among many many other happy people, got to work from home.

I used this wonderful wintry time to whip up a couple of special items for my little man. He is growing so fast that he wears 12 month sizes, even though he is 5 months old. Crazy!

Cute little hat he will need to grow into a bit.

A pair of quick change trousers from Anna Maria Horner’s Handmade Beginnings… this is my test pair for my niece.

I am loving this pattern. I will have to make some waist adjustments for my not-so-little man, but the ease of putting these together is nice. Reversible pants are just fun!

Here is a link to all the photos, detailing the stripes and lining in soft yellow and orange flannel. but most importantly ridiculously attractive pictures of my son. I want to make him about a billion of these hats, he is so darn handsome.

And now I seem to have joined up in my first Quilt-A-Long, SWOON. However, my in between project will be more hats and probably a Heidi&Finn Urban Hoodie!

Now, off to “shop my stash” to find some extra bits for my first Swoon block! I got some great advice to make a test block first. I have NO IDEA what I am doing as I have never made a real quilt before, let alone followed a quilt pattern. I suspect that this year, 2012, will be a big huge adventure for me.

Love,

MaLora

Days ago Kimberly posted on my blog, which I haven’t had the time to update. It reminded me that I enjoy writing, that I enjoy posting because it gives me the chance to congratulate myself and feel proud of all that I have done. Writing helps me focus on what is most important. All the crafting, sewing, tradition making I do is for my family. And for me, my family is enough. Not just my men (my darling C and little boy A) but my brother who comes to visit and play board games with me every couple of weeks. My sister and her family in Olympia who always let us stay overnight and make delicious food and stay up late playing Catan. My other sister in Kansas with her new baby girl. My other brother in college, who is graduating this year, but makes time to talk to me regularly. I am a lucky girl, to have such a fantastic family. And I didn’t realize any of this on my own.

I read this post, here, by Bambino Steps, “You are Enough.” I have a community, of close and not so close people, that I keep near. And while I have a new infant to take care of, when he naps, when I am exhausted, I use my iphone from my husband and read my favorite blogs. I don’t post comments often, and it might make me a lurker, but I have blogs that I adore and feel like I am “close” to the author, like they are my friend. I want to build on these relationships and have a network of bloggers that I can ask questions too, that we can support each other, that we can remind ourselves that we are enough.

I am a little surprised I finished this last Saturday. It came out just perfect, and my little man likes it. The tutorial is from the fabulous “craftiness is not optional” and is great. I am taking her fabulous idea and going to make a couple more for my baby, with different sizes. It fits perfect! He isn’t quite sitting up on his own yet, but his drool from his first tooth coming in certainly makes this apron useful! I used flannel on both sides for extra softness.

So I hope that you understand that you are enough, and that the pile of crafting projects you have half started, or half daydreamed about, are wonderful at whatever level you get to them. That the time you have, you spend with the ones you love. That the energy and adoration you put into your projects are appreciated by the recipients. That there is time enough for love.

Best of luck this new year, with all your goals and dreams.

Love,

MaLora

However, I did manage to whip up a couple felt stockings and am working on a custom set of Christmas stockings for my little family. I estimate, with a 4 month old who is getting his first tooth, that I will get one stocking done in the next three days.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas this year!

Love,

MaLora

PS: Find me on instagram as “birdandbicycle” – I would love to have more crafters as friends to follow!

PPS: handmade clay ornament of my son’s footprint (huge feet!)

As this is our first family Christmas, I have really focused on building traditions we can enjoy for years. Completely doable, not to high of expectation or expense, traditions. We visited the Seattle Center for the train village and ice sculpting; got cheeseburgers from Dick’s Drive Inn; walked through the Woodland Park Zoo in the cold (my son is coughing in the dark while I type thus on my iPhone: am I bothering him with the light? Should I check on him? #newmomworries) and unexpected dry Seattle November; started a Lego nativity from scratch (meaning not the set you can buy so that it will change each year); drank copious mugs of hot cocoa already and it is only December 6th. Traditions I can remember to do, enjoy and create and laugh about because the holidays can be stressful too. I want everything to be just perfect. I want the gifts I make to be adored and appreciated. I want to balance social activities with family visits. I want my little, new family to be perfect.

We had a rough beginning. When my husband and I first met we were dating others. When we got married it rained in August. When my son came he was 6+ weeks early and I had already been in the hospital a week. We are a team, and a damn good one. Our newest member is the best so far, and our love as a team grows as he grows ( 4 months and easy 18lbs.) So I have a desire for a fantastic holiday, a vacation, a relaxing into our roles individually and together.

I have spent some time researching tutorials and patterns for holiday decor. What fits into our budget is anything I already have the supplies for. So I am in love with fabric (duh) and whipped up a couple of these awesome decorations in emerald green with gold dots. I am going to make a few more to fill up a glass bowl for my table.

Hope you are all having a lovely winter holiday!

MaLora

Adjusting as best I could to being a mother, having a baby, getting healthy myself, I have only just begun to sew. I finished off this fun sleeping slack from Anna Maria Horner’s “24 Projects to Welcome Baby” – a fantastic and fun collection of sewing patterns. The sleep sack is a quilted top with a flannel lining. I used scraps in yellow linen and a teal/brown shirting from a pair of pajama pants I made my husband for his birthday last November*. Since it was a scrap buster project, the shapes of the quilting were fun to piece together but remind me of modern art.

The pattern will easily fit him for a couple more months, and he isn’t a small baby, so the sizing is just perfect.

The only variation I made was to use snaps instead of velcro. I don’t like velcro for baby items. I feel it doesn’t wash and wear well. Also, I love my shiny snaps! They are very easy to line up, and won’t scratch delicate baby skin.

Lining up the scraps was also easily done with her pattern instructions, even with my wonky pieces. Check out how thick and cozy this baby sleeping sack is once it’s all put together! Very warm indeed.

I guess I did make one other change. The final closure across the bottom of the back, lining and front quilted piece was complicated for my new-mom brain, so I just did a french pillow case seam. It was a bit thick at the corners, but came out lovely and was very fast to complete.

Of course he needed a matching onesie!

I had to add in my handmade tags…

Anna Maria Horner suggests doing some top hand quilting stitches but I used a straight machine stitch in a butter-cream yellow, matching the linen. It was fast, and easy. I am reminded of the blog title “While She Naps” – every moment Ace is awake is too precious and I can’t do anything but play/hold/nap/kiss/hug him.

It is Fall now, and the morning in Seattle has been grey and gloomy with rain and clouds. My son and I have spent the morning taking turns holding each other. I hope all of you crafters out there are having fun and getting ready for some fun holding projects. I am starting on Happy Zombie’s sew-along “Tree Pants” with a FQ bundle of holiday fabric. It is my first real attempt at quilt blocks, and it seems a bit daunting. Let me know if you are also participating and we can support each other!

Love,

MaLora

PS: I just realized this counts for my Craft Book Challenge! Yay!

*Last November I agreed to have a child with my darling husband, and I am so very, very happy we did. Thank you Chuck for my beautiful kid.

I can’t wait to dress him up! (He isn’t expected until September.)

The bow tie I didn’t use a pattern, but rather googled images of a bowie and just whipped this together. It took maybe 8 minutes and is attached at only the center of the tie so that there is still plenty of stretch to the neck.

He will be such a dapper little fellow. I may have to make a couple more sets in different colors!

Hope you are all enjoying summer!

Love,

MaLora

PS: This is me at the end of June. I swear I am visibly bigger now, but I do love my deck-container-garden and someday hope to have a yard. For now, I just hang out with my darling Asia and let the summer warm us.

Her lovely package arrived last week and I was so excited to find a bird and bicycle themed sewing pin cushion, also in my favorite colors of yellow and grey. I haven’t seen this fabric collection before, and have decided I must get some yardage to make myself a summer bag. My photos don’t give the pincushion justice.

The amusing part is that for weeks I have had the pattern open on my computer, waiting for me to make it for myself. Here is the pattern from Sew Mama Sew, if anyone gets fancy and wants to make one themselves. I absolutely love Naomi’s color choice, and the linen removable basket is just perfect. The pincushion already resides on my cutting table, holding cutting devices and pins sorted by type! The three color blocks on top help me organize my pins, large quilting ones to delicate silk ones. It’s just the perfect gift to make for a person who sews!

Additionally in the package from Linen and String, Naomi sent along a mug rug, some scrap fabric with lovely birds, and two handmade dish cloths!

And a bicycle baby bib!

More photos reside here: Bird and Bicycle Flickr.

I love doing private swaps! So much fun!

I whipped up in response an instant “Party in a Bag” in bold colors, but my iPhone took poor photos of them to share. The colors are teal, magenta, green and yellow but look more like primary colors when taken on my dark dining table in the late evening when there is no daylight. I love having party decorations on hand, to make any meal or moment into a celebration!

Sewing has been a bit difficult lately, as sitting for too long makes my baby bump annoyed. I hope you all are out there enjoying summer and having instant parties and fun swaps too!

Thank you again, Linen and String, for such a wonderful swap!

Love,

MaLora

PS: Check out Linen and String’s post here: http://linenandstring.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/too-busy/

#3.  The Carpet Bag
Autumn | I love all of the zipper pouches so much, but I think I like the carpet bag one the most. Great job on the giveaway!

#2. The Bicycle Bag
64colorbox | I like the bicycle bag. I’ll use it when I ride my bike to do some shopping.

#1. Ruffles
Stephanie | Oh ruffles all the way BABY!! I do like the bike bag too…hehe    xo Steph

Love,

MaLora

PS: It is too gorgeous in Seattle today to sit inside any longer!

A zipper pouch is the ultimate bag, perfect for travel or for sorting, storage or decoration, a zipper pouch can carry a lot. I use them for sorting art supplies, cosmetics, bike tools, accessories, sewing notions, and more. I love them, and enjoy making them, and hope you will enjoy the three up for grabs below. To enter, just comment below. Don’t forget to leave your email address, so I can contact the winners. I will also post the winners on May 26th.

1. Ruffles

I had a lot of fun with Ruffles. The collection works together so beautifully, and cheers me up when I see it. Inside is a pocket “Hey, good lookin’, what you got cookin’?” and the back has decorate stain red stitching across the border of the red/yellow fabrics. The light sky blue zipper is a nice smooth finish. The pouch is slightly narrow, 1″ deep, but 10″ across at the bottom so it will hold a great deal while still fitting easily inside a messenger bag.

2. The Bike Bag

The echino bicycle fabric is choice for summer. The green blue hues complement  a sunny yellow linen lining with green accents. One side has a large pocket that fits my iPhone and cards. This one would make an awesome companion for day bicycling trips, easily holding tools and a spare tire along with your essentials.  In this photo you can see the boxy shape of the bottom of the zipper pouch.

3. The (mini) Carpet Bag

The (mini) Carpet Bag is my favorite. Luxurious fabrics, rich deep gold and reds, a sturdy build and a girthy middle, this little zipper pouch will hold a great deal. It’s a bit smaller than the others, 8″ across the top but around 3″ deep so it has a true pouch appearance. The fabric is lustrous in the light, revealing intense hues that make me think of Persian rugs or Turkish food or luxury.

To see even more photos (I do love my sewing table!) check out my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdandbicycle

To Enter:

Comment on my blog with the number of the bag(s) you’d like to receive. Yes, you can say any combination, but only one comment per person. I will draw a winner on May 26th. I am happy to ship internationally as well, and if you are also participating in the May Day Blog Giveaway, leave me a note – I’d love to see what you’re making as well. These three lovely little zip pouches were all handmade by me, in my Ballard home, today, during the nicest sunny day in Spring thus far. Each bag will have some extra some goodies in it as well!

Thank you for checking out my blog, and for participating in Sew Mama Sew’s May Giveaway Day! I am off for a much needed vacation, visiting Kansas and family for the first time. (I am hoping for lightning and storms!)

Love,

MaLora

UPDATE: May 26th – Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone for checking out my blog!

I really loved how they turned out! I used fabric from my stash, left over from Christmas and Valentine’s Day projects. The free motion quilting/darning foot is so gosh darn tricky.

I made 4 red (2 with seeds) and 4 green (2 with seeds) using a variety of fun patterns. Gingham, polka dot, solids. The thick linen base gave a nice texture while the red and cream plaid for the holder was a nice decor-weight, giving it structure (though I did use interfacing.)

Yay for teachers – and for sisters!

Also, yet another submission for my part of the 2011 Craft Book Challenge!

Love,

MaLora