I took this handmade (not by me) version of Butterick 4699, elegantly modeled by my husband:



...and this 1968 toddler pattern:



...to create this unfeasibly large jumper and hat for 8 month old Mrs Baby.



Tragically I miscalculated her size by a factor of three, so she's not going to be able to wear this properly until she puts on about five pounds....mostly in her head.

This picture taken during the fitting to see where I should hem it. At the time I hadn't found any appropriately overstated buttons, so she's held together with hair clips. Classy, I know.

After this was all said and done, I decided something had to change: I was actually going to have to measure the baby.

This is a huge break from my normal "doesn't this pattern know who I am?? I don't need to read the directions, know what the seam allowance is or have any idea of the size of my child!" approach to sewing.

In reward for my diligence, Mrs Baby got a dress that fits (let's all please pretend that any wonky parts are a feature of my child and not evidence of my sloppy sewing technique). AND IT HAS POLKA DOTS. Squee!

The fact that I didn't fussy cut the straps is eating at me, but if I remake them I won't have enough fabric left over to make the matching polka dot panties. The panties are critical.

A heat index of 101 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity akin to that found in a hobo's undercarriage and being heavily pregnant do not mix. At all. Until the new little person pops out in early October or Indiana stops being a hell dimension of heat, I'm voluntarily sequestered indoors with the A/C on full blast.

Everyone else is busy doing outdoorsy insane things that are inappropriate for someone 'heavy with seed' so I'm pretty much ready to scratch my eyes out with boredom, as evidenced by how many cartoon animal paintings I've made for the baby's room.

If she had a room yet... (I'm still a little reluctant to give up the sewing studio for someone who could, quite literally, be kept in a drawer...)

The great thing about creating things for babies - they don't care if you can't paint. Bright colours, big smiles and the occasional top hat and you're golden!

During a recent roadtrip out west, I became obsessed with the idea making a map of the US in quilt form and attached all the little patches I collected on my travels to it.

Now, there are a couple of ways I can think of to do it and I'm looking for some input from you folks to see if I can settle on one direction and get going.

I could applique each state by hand (because of the fiddly state borders) to the ocean coloured backing and then apply the patches on top, in their correct location on the map. The number of patches I have for Utah alone would mean the states would need to be HUGE and having already spent two years hand quilting a king size quilt (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=197185.0) without finishing, it's a big undertaking. Maybe too big.

I could make all the states smaller and then just apply the patches as a border around the edge of the quilt. Kinda loses some of the charm of being able to see where all the places are though. Maybe get round this with some sort of key or some arrows?

I could fuse the states (I want each one to be a different colour - the pastels you see in a 1960s world atlas) onto the backing, eliminating the need for a lot of fussy applique work. But, if I want to embroider state names and landmarks on also, is the extra gooey thickness going to make that difficult?

I could make the states out of felt, so not fraying, no applique and no fusing, and then it could even eliminate the need for a backing - making the quilt a funky shape rather than the traditional rectangle. Would it be ridiculously heavy?

Just some ideas....if anyone has any thoughts on the best method or things I've failed to take into account, I'd love to hear about it!

It grows....

First you accidentally destroy a sweater in the wash. Then you're hunting through goodwill racks. Soon you can detect 100% wool in under 0.0000003156 seconds from a distance of 15 feet. And when your husband is getting his winter clothes out from the back of the closet and trying them on, all you can say is "no, it doesn't fit - I'll take it.....Oh look, it's ripped, give it to me....it's very 'miami vice' - you don't want to keep it, really...."




...to be continued...

This is the great thing about Craftster - as soon as I post something, I feel compelled to go do some more.

Different vibe to this one. Alternating white and black centres with alternating thick/thin, thin/thick squares.

Little hard to see where it's going when I've only done 10 blocks but more photos to come. I think it's going to be lap size. Each block is 6" x 6"

Product of a bored moment in all its lumpy glory.

Just faffing around idly and came up with this. You don't get the full effect of what I'm going for here until it's quilted in...uh...pointy swoops (lean back and squint - it looks better) but I kinda have to decide what to make of it first.

Car keys for scale. What do you reckon? Big cushion? Start of another ill-planned scrap quilt? Bin it? Does anyone have an inventive use for this?

Twin size (looks bloody huge to me though) quilt for a little girl, cobbled together from what I had on hand at the time. Can't back or quilt it until I find a rich uncle who is willing to adopt me and then die so here it is, getting aired out before I put it away indefinitely.

Not entirely sure what I was doing putting the blues, greens and yellows in there - I think it would have been better just pink and brown, but I'm happy enough with it.

Super easy design - went together at the speed of light. Blocks are 8" x 8", meaning the white bits are 2" x 8" and the coloured sections 4" x 8"