newborn pumpkin hat

My friend is having a baby next month and I'm constantly sending her links to things I think she should make for her newborn.  When I saw her yesterday I asked her if she was going to crochet a pumpkin hat for her baby since he'll be born in Oct.  She said she wouldn't have time since she already has a long list of projects she's working on.  I babysat this afternoon for a bit so I took this project to work on while the kids were napping.  It actually worked up really fast.  This is the pattern I used.  I'd never made a hat quite like this one before.  If I did another one I would make some changes to the top.  Also it looks really small to me.  I'm used to large babies with giant heads but I suppose this might fit a normal size baby.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see when her baby is born if this will fit him.

Ee is for Ethan

I found this great clipart site and made a couple of these signs on Sat.  Looking for a local print shop to print one out and see how it looks.  I think it'd be great in a black frame.  What a fun baby shower present!

Birth Announcement

I've been playing around with doing printables for a while now.  I have a long way to go to figure things out but I did make this today for a friend back in AZ who had her first baby yesterday.  The font is called "Grilled Cheese".  I'm not sure how it ended up on my computer but I like it.  The owl is a free download off the internet.  If you search for images of owls it will be one of the first pictures to pop up.  I changed the colors a bit.  I did the font layout in libre office and then saved it as a pdf and then imported it into GIMP.  Not the easiest method but as for now GIMP isn't as type friendly as it could be so this was the only way I could figure to get around it.  There seems to be an unwanted line under the owl pic.  Probably a result of an error in importing the pdf.  If you want me to make one for you let me know!

Blessing Certificate

Since I missed posting for a couple of days I'm posting twice today.  Here's a little project that I've been wanting to do for a while now.  Picked up a document frame in town yesterday and glued a rosette to it this morning.  Will be gifting it for a belated 1st B'day present.

Flannel Rag Blankets

I made these a couple of weeks ago for a good friend who is having twin boys in a couple of months.  They will look much better once they are washed and the edges fray.  I just love making flannel rag projects.

Jingle Bell Ball - Baby Shower Present

I found out about a baby shower going on today so I whipped this up yesterday for it.  I love the different fabrics.

Better Late Than Never?

Every time I tried to deliver this baby present it just didn't work out.  Finally gave it to him tonight at our ward Christmas party.  Luckily he'll still get some use from it even though he's six months old!  He likes it already!

Custom Order - Baby Cocoon

Ended up going to CA for the weekend and didn't get this posted before I left.  Got a custom order for a baby cocoon at the last boutique and this is what I came up with.  I just made up my own pattern but think it looks good.  It's crocheted from the same yarn I crochet the scarves out of so it's really soft.  I'd been wanting to make one of these for a while now so I'm glad I got the chance to.  It's going to be a great photo prop.

Rag Edge Receiving Blankets & Burp Cloths

Although I’ve made lots of receiving blankets and burp cloths over the last year I’ve never been a fan of making them.  I just don’t like the sew, turn right side out and then topstitch procedure.  A month or so ago I spied my friend sporting a rag edge burp cloth and loved the idea of making those instead.  So for this last batch I tried it out and thought they turned out great.  For the receiving blankets I cut the front and back about 42” square.  With wrong sides together I sewed a 1” seam all the way around and then used the rag quilt scissors to snip all around and then took them to the laundry mat to wash them.  For the burp cloths I used my regular pattern and used a 1/2” seam.  (Although for a few I accidentally used a 1” seam and I think I like those better.)  I also noticed that when I used a different fabric for the front and back they didn’t end up shrinking the same so they don’t lay flat.  The couple that I made using the same front and back worked out much better.  So from now on I’ll have to use the same fabric front and back or prewash the fabric so I can use two different fabrics which is much cuter!

So if you are in need of making baby presents this is a great project!

The one on the left uses the same fabric on both sides.  On the right there’s a different fabric on the back that ended up shrinking a lot and bunching up the fabric.

Baby Burp Cloths

Over the weekend I went through my stash of flannel and realized there were lots of smaller pieces that were the perfect size to make pairs of burp cloths out of so that’s what I made.  Ended up with 6 pairs of burp cloths and one single.  They will come in handy for upcoming baby presents.

Crochenit U.F.O.

This past weekend I decided to rescue an unfinished object of my mother’s and try to finish it for her.  It’s a baby crochenit afghan that she started and never got back to.  I haven’t done crochenit for over 20 years so I didn’t remember what to do but figured I’d be able to find some help online and I did.  Luckily I came across their website complete with video tutorials that showed me exactly what I needed to do.  My mom gave me a couple pattern books she had as well.  Between those and the patterns on the website I could make a lot of different items using this technique but I’m not sure how much I’ll get into it.  Does seem like you could go pretty fast.  I’ll keep you posted how it goes.

There’s a hook on each end and you take turns with each color picking up stitches and then crocheting them off.  It’s an interesting combination of knitting and crocheting combined into one.

Another crocheted edge baby blanket

Yeah! Another completed project!

Close up of the finished edge.

I finished crocheting the edge around this baby blanket earlier in the week and hadn't had a chance to post a picture of it yet. I really love this fabric. Of course I'm a big fan of the flowers and I like the coordinating blue on the back as well. I used a variegated pink thread and just made up an easy pattern. I can't tell you how many hours this took. I know I don't crochet very fast but whenever I crochet projects with thread it just makes me appreciate all the more people who make big items from thread. I seriously do not have that kind of patience. I think is the last blanket I'm ever going to crochet around.

I did bring back a sack of flannel from CA last weekend that my mom gave me but haven't decided what to do with it yet. So many fun possibilities! I'm very glad to have yet another ufo finished. Yeah!

White Newborn Headband & Bootie Set

I've started making headbands. Thought it would be cute to have a matching headband for the newborn booties. These would be perfect for a baby blessing. I'm going to list this gift set in my shop soon.

Blocking

I only had two skeins of yarn so when I ran out of purple I added a little lacy edge of white. I love how it turned out. At approx. 32" square it will be a great size for using in a carseat but as you can tell it wasn't laying perfectly flat. Since I mainly stick to smaller projects I had never blocked anything bigger than a doily so I did a little research online to figure out what to do.

Luckily, the piece fit on my kitchen island just right. I sprayed it down with water and stretched it here and there and now it lays flat even though I need to work on it a bit more to be perfectly square. This is a great way to use up yarn and as I'm constantly hosting baby showers I think I'll make a couple more to have on hand for some of the many expectant mothers I know.

Ric Rac burp cloth/changing pad

I'm out of all the girl blanket and burp cloth sets I made but I still had this cute blanket in my stash. I figured it's probably nice to get something not pink every once in a while. I wanted to give something with it of course and had one cloth diaper left so this morning I sewed some ric rac across the seams. Maybe everyone else does this too but when I thought of it I thought it was pretty smart - I melt the ends of the ric rac with a lighter so it doesn't unravel. I usually melt one end and then start sewing and then when I start getting to the other end I cut it off at the right length and melt the other end. Just don't wait until your almost at the end though. Probably not a good idea to use a lighter that close to your sewing machine. Of course I wouldn't recommend letting your children do this but I have found that this is way better than using any sort of fray check and it's fun too.
The decorated cloth diaper can be a burp cloth or a changing pad. I absolutely love ric rac and can't get enough of it. Luckily I happened across a store that was clearing out some packages for 25 cents each so of course I bought all that they had in stock. It will be fun to use up on sewing projects for the next bit.

Bear Hat

This was a happy accident. I was attempting to make a hat for a small child but it ended up being a bit smaller than I needed so I decided to add ears and turn it into a bear hat. I keep seeing these and they are so cute. Now I just need to find a baby to try it on.

Newborn Booties

I crocheted some booties from 2 strands of baby yarn and they turned out newborn size. Perfect for baby blessings. They come wrapped in tissue and gift boxed.

Off to market...

Some of my items are that is. I shipped off 20 scarves, 20 pairs of baby booties and 6 hats to a gift show in Salt Lake City this weekend. It's at the South Towne Expo Center. I went there once several years ago to a car show. It's a nice facility.

This weekend there will be over 400 vendors. My items will be in booth #613 and possibly a couple of others as well. If you go, find booth 613 and tell them Stacey sent you. Here's the website for more info. and a $1 off coupon for admission:

www.familychristmasgiftshow.com

I took a few pics of some of the items before I shipped them off so here they are:

A small sampling of some of my scarves. I've been making these for several years now.

Recently started making these hats and love them. I'm excited that soon it will be cooling off here so I can start wearing one.

One pair of each color of the booties I sent to the show. Started making these a few months ago. They are all gift wrapped in origami boxes and tied with a bow ready for giving.

Baby Floral Cloche

I made this hat this morning for a custom order and I'm so in love with it. It's so cute. I can't wait to make some more smaller hats now for little customers.

Pink Baby Booties

This is one of the latest batch of pink baby booties. I had enough yarn to make five pair. They come wrapped in an origami gift box and a bow. You can virtually send them to your expectant friends using my new Stacey Lyn Designs Gift application on facebook or can send them a real pair.