Remember to be creative

One thing that I hope I won't lose when I go back to work is the free time to create and especially sew.  I've been enjoying sewing projects for baby S and am trying to get back into sewing for myself.

Unlike quilts and toys, sewing clothes requires fitting to your body.  Cue sighing.  I've been putting off sewing clothes until I was the size I want to be but that hasn't happened for a while. 

Now post-baby I'm just happy to have a waist so to celebrate I'm putting off "until I lose X number of pounds" and saying "I'll work with what I've got now."  I've got some ideas saved from old Anthropologie catalogs.

                                    
Here's to Happy Sewing!

(Farm animal quilt pattern from Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living by Alicia Paulson, Patchwork Ball pattern from Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing by Anna Maria Horner and Bunny pattern from by Martha Stewart's Envyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Tips for Sewign, Applique,Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z by Martha Steward Living Magazine)

Baby Crafts: Stuffed blocks for baby S

I'm slowly getting through some of the crafts that I started while pregnant.
One of the easiest and fastest one is from the book Sweet Booties!: And Blankets, Bonnets, Bibs and More by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader. I just used some scrap fabric leftover from other baby projects. You just cut out six squares that are four inches on a side.  I used three different fabrics and cut out twenty four squares, eight of each fabric, to make four blocks.

Sew right sides together of two fabrics with 1/4 inch allowance and continue until you get a strip of four.

Sew last two fabrics on bottom of the strip of four to make a "T" shape.  Leave a 1/4 inch spot on top that you will later pivot and sew to start shaping the block.

Take one of the fabrics on the "T" and align it with closest fabric (for this block it is the adjacent trees fabric).
  

After aligning fabric sew 1/4 inch allowance seam to end of square but stop 1/4 inch before edge.  Pivot and align the square with the adjacent square.

Keep sewing and pivoting until you have sewn all sides but one.  That open side you will use to stuff the block.

After you have sewn all the sides to make a block turn the block inside out so the right side of the fabric shows.  Use  a pointed object to push out corners.

Stuff the block and then slip stitch the opening closed.

Can't wait for baby S to be old enough to enjoy them!