Crowns, oh crowns. . . I can't quit you!

For my nephew Ethan. He turns 2 on Thursday. I'm told he likes bees. I'm pleased with this little design. I'm hoping to embroider something other than crowns soon. I'm almost crowned out. ..but then another birthday comes and I can't help it, my hands snatch up the felt and embroidery floss faster than I can control.

Pants Pants Pants

I can't stop making pants. I'm quite chuffed with myself really. I've been reading far too many blogs by English people, I'm starting to pick up the lingo. "Chuffed" means "pleased" or "puffed up" and is English slang. It can also mean disappointed. I find this confusing for so many reasons. It reminds me of living in Australia and someone would say, "I could really use a biscuit" and by biscuit, they might mean what Americans would call either a cookie or a cracker. These are two VERY different snacks. I could never figure out if someone wanted sweet or savory. So, to clarify, in this case, I'm pleased with myself.

So pleased that I'm putting more pictures up of these corduroy pants that I made several weeks ago.
In the case of these little gray pants, I'm chuffed in the not so pleased way. I didn't pay a lot of attention while cutting these out and made them too small. I had to add an extra panel of fabric to the butt. Considering that these were my first pair of pants and I wasn't using a pattern. . .well. All of the projects on this post are made from either reclaimed, recycled or thrifted fabrics and supplies, right down to the thread. Love that.
And, the crowns are taking on a life with adults in my little group of friends. Darek turned 34 this weekend and he is now the very proud owner of a baseball crown. He really didn't take it off all night. I was mighty chuffed (in the good sense).

Booties bootees and a halloween clip for good measure

Somehow this picture shows
a. how badly I screwed up the sewing on the hair clip on the right
and
b. how one is much bigger than the other.
They look much cuter in miss Abby's hair. Since she refuses to stand still for more than a nanosecond these days, a picture of them on the sidewalk will have to suffice. Candy corn hair clips are almost too cute for me. . .but not quite. I can't own this idea. I saw them here and here. I almost can't stand these little spider clips they are too good!. If I had more/any talent, I'd make those.
And, the bootees. When I write that out "bootees", it looks weird. "Booties" seems like it should be right. I looked it up. "Bootees" is listed first, but "booties" is also acceptable according to dictionary.com. And, really, if dictionary.com says it's right. . well then, it must be. Ha!
Same pattern as before, only this time I did them with the right gauge, so they'll actually fit a baby and not a very short, fat-footed adult. The yarn (Zitron Polo in color way 410) is left over from my dream swatch head wrap thingy. I love the colors and can't wait to pick which of the babies coming gets to wear them!

How an octopus became a bootee.

This is the story of a piece of oilcloth.
I cut it out haphazardly and edged it with bias tape. I did not fold the corners well. I did not measure the pockets to match.
It is wonky like most of my speedy quick projects.
It is functional. It keeps Abby's butt off of the floor when I change her diaper.
This is Adrian. He likes bikes. I made him a bike crown because it was his birthday. He was infinitely more pleased than this picture might make you assume. I'm mighty proud of that embroidered bike. I did not get a closer picture. I'm bummed about that.

This is an out of focus octopus of yarn. When I seam it all up and add buttons. It will be two more bootees for the 9 pregnant ladies I know. Yes. 9. Yes. That's a lot.