Baby clothes + fabric paint = cute gift

This makes a cute and customizable gift for a baby.



You need:
Plastic sheet or plastic pocket (or use freezer paper if you prefer)
Tape
Fabric paint
Pen
Scissors or knife
Iron
Sponge and/or paint brush
Baby clothes (begin with washing them)



Draw a picture (or find one on the internet + print it) and tranfer it to the plastic sheet with a pen. Cut it out with your scissors (I often use sharp nail scissors or embroidery scissors) and tape it to the fabric. I recommend putting an old newspaper (or similar) inside, to prevent the fabric paint from "bleeding" through.

Use a sponge and/or paint brush to apply the paint. After a little while you can remove the stencil (and if you want to you can rinse it under warm water to remove the paint and then use it again with other colors). Let it dry for a day (or according to the manufacturers instructions) and then iron it.

Ready to use, or give away :)

knitted + felted slippers

Do you remember the slippers I was knitting on a few weeks ago? I finished them last week and felted them in the washing machine. They shrunk by 50% and are now as long as Nora's feet :-) Nora had chosen the yarn and now she told me she wanted pink and purple butterflies on them. I needle felted the butterflies and added some pink and blue glass beads. I put "sock stop" under them. The yarn and pattern are from Garnstudio. The yarn is Eskimo and you can find the pattern here.

I am very happy with the results. They're pretty and they're her size. Nora's opinion? "I don't think they're so comfortable." She does everything she can to keep her old slippers, that are about three sizes too small (she's walking on their heels) and has a big hole in the front (growing every week). But I think (or hope) she'll change her mind after using them for a week. Because that's what I told her: Wear them only one week and hopefully you'll get used to them, and if you don't like them by the end of that week, we'll think of something else. She agreed to that.

Today has been about walking - but in other ways. Nora and I went to my physiotherapist and I borrowed crutches + some other things that will help me and simplify my life. Now it's just a few weeks until the baby will arrive, and after that I will soon recover and be able to walk again. However now I will spend a few days learning to walk with crutches. I've never done that before.

knit a cat

I knitted a cat and wrote a tutorial in Swedish. I feel a bit too tired at the moment writing it in English, but I wanted to share the photo with you.

what a newborn needs + needle felting

"Have you prepared everything for the baby?", people ask.

Well, um, no? Or, is there that much to prepare?

The baby will sleep with us in our bed, so no need to prepare a bed. We just have to move our bed to the wall, but that is done in a few minutes.

We have found Nora's old baby car safety seat (I'm sure there's another word for that, but my English isn't that advanced ;-) ) so that we can bring the baby home safely. We have also found Nora's baby clothes and begun to wash them. I have some cloth diapers ready in the bathroom (we will need more, but there's no catastrophy if the baby arrives before the diapers, it is possible to use conventional diapers for a while after all).

Another family borrowed our stroller a year ago and we haven't brought it back home yet, but as I sell baby carriers and wraps we'll get along well until it comes home again.

I can't think of anything else we have to prepare. A newborn baby doesn't need so much.

So I needle felted this for the baby:

Slippers and a boring book

Crazy looking slippers and a very interesting book ...



You wouldn't guess, but that slipper is for Nora's little foot. Yes, it's big. It fits me. But I will put it in the washing machine together with its friend (aka the other one) and felt it. I made slippers like these to my sister for Christmas and they were huge before felting. She seems to really like them, as she asked if I could make some for her kids as well :-)

Nora's current slippers are outgrown by far, and through a hole her toe is peaking out. She still wears them.

You hear, I really need to focus on finishing the second one. She choose the colors with me in the yarn shop so there's a great chance she might actually throw away her old ones and use these. I hope they will fit. You never know excatly which size they'll come out as when felting them in the machine.

The book. It's about book-keeping and annual closing. I have a business. It's that time of the year, yes. I wouldn't have read it if I didn't have too. But, it's helpful :-)

Yarn along with Ginny.

A rabbit doll for E

Busy days. Weeks. We have moved and now live in a flat in a beautiful place not far from where we lived before. But today I managed to craft a bit. I made this doll for a friend's son who turned 1 yesterday (and who'll have his very first birthday party next week).

Her new clothes

I've been sewing for Nora.

The doll I made for Nora

Back in November (or December?) I was crocheting a wig for a doll. I promised to show you the doll, but I never got along to take any pictures. When I finally remembered to do so + it was daylight + I found the doll, she was asleep and almost hidden in Nora's bed. Her hair was all messy. That's a good sign, that means she got to play with Nora ;-) Anyway, here she is:



She has a few blue/purple dreads.

And the dress, I never finished it as Nora was waiting impatiently. Maybe one day.

A few things I've made

Already Monday evening and I've just put Nora to bed. Now I'll sew a waldorf inspired doll, sitting in bed and hoping not to drop any needles ;) Yesterday I made a doll which was inspired both by waldorf and by kalikå. It's the first big doll I've ever made.



And here's a pair of earrings, the first thing I sold in my new Swedish shop.



Another wheat bag:

A warm/cold cat ;-)

I made this little wheat warmer cat for a friend's child. It's the size of my palm so it's rather small, but I imagine the wheat makes it nice for a child to hold the cat, to throw it in the air and then catch it again. It can be heated in a microwave oven or chilled in the freezer.



I've been addicted to wheat warmers lately. I made this one, below, for my husband, but end up using it myself every day (he uses it too).

My little tiger

I have a little tiger in my house. She's been a tiger for quite a while, but noone saw her stripes and her tail so I made her a tiger costume.



Do I have to tell you she wears it every day?

Nora's purple cat

This is "lila katt", purple cat. Nora has a made up cat and she says it's purple and called Pooh Bear. (She also has a purple car, equally invisible but often used.) One evening I made her this purple cat. I made it really fast and made several mistakes, but I does resemble of a cat and, most importantly, Nora likes it.



I was thinking it'd be stupid to make her invisible cat this visible, that I should incourange her imagination instead of making it into a "thing", but I shouldn't have worried. The purple cat very soon got three invisible kittens *smile*

New pants for Nora

I can't deny it. Fall is here, and it's here to stay until winter. And Nora needed new pants.



If you're not Swedish you probably don't know Bobo & gnuttarna. It was a comic when I was a child. I found the fabric of Bobo (the little boy/troll with - his magic - binoculars) and gnuttarna (the white fluffy little creatures) at a flea market a couple of weeks ago. I had other plans for this fabric, but there was enough for a pair of trousers as well.

I believe some of you have already seen Anna Maria Horners "Quick change pants" (small picture). They are reversible so you can quick "change" them into another pair of pants by simply turning them inside out. When sewing the Bobo pants for Nora I wanted to make them warm enough for this season and I came to think about Anna Maria's pants and made Nora's reversible too (however I used a pattern from Ottobre). The inside is maybe not so beautiful. It used to be a sarong and I used it for those pants since it's really silky and soft.

I used another Ottobre pattern for those two pants (below):


The striped fabric I got from my aunt a while ago. It's a knit, but quite heavy. I like those pants the best, I think.

I also made those teddy bear pants out of left over fabric I found here at home. They're maybe not the most fancy ones, but I'm thinking they're nice a cold autumn day or even maybe under oil cloth pants when going for a walk in the rain.

Lets play, lets cook

The other day I talked with another mom about play kitchens. She said she wanted one for her son, but their flat was too small. I suggested she'd make a table cloth decorated as a play kitchen. That way she could put it on a small table, night stand or some other piece of furniture and use it for playing when her son was in a cooking & baking play mode :) While I was browsing the net for some ideas of how to make one (because I remember seeing it somewhere) I stumbled upon some other great play kitchens. It was really inspiring to see how creative parents there are all over the world!

1. This kitchen is made of two Ikea REST nightstands.

2. A simple yet inspiring kitchen made mostly from things already in the house.

3. A kithcen made mostly from refurbished material.

4. This kitchen is made out of an entertainment center. Read more on this blog.

5. A nightstand play kitchen. Read more here.

Isn't it inspiring? I feel like a flea market hunt for some furniture to give a play kitchen makeover. Right now. Well, we already have a play kitchen - the one I had as a child. It definetely needs a make over. And I surely need the inspiration.

Here are some more links:
Nest Bliss play kitchen
Thea's play kitchen

Do you have a play kitchen? I'd love to see it!

(Here are the photos in original + the photographers, check them out on flickr:
1. play kitchen, 2. play kitchen 040, 3. Play Kitchen , 4. play kitchen, 5. Claire's Nightstand Play Kitchen )

Babywearing, five minutes

Good morning :-) I hope you had a nice weekend. I had (at least Sunday; Saturday I was a bit too stressed).

When Nora was a baby and until she learnt not only how to walk, but how to run, I used to carry her. Tummy to tummy when she was little, later on my back. Nowadays she walks herself a lot and if I carry her it's in my arms and for short moments when she needs a little break.



The other day I finished a baby carrier and when Magnus took some photos of me with the carrier (carrying a doll) she suddenly wanted me to carry her. I didn't let her sit in the new carrier, but instead suggested an old mei tai I made long ago (well, maybe not "long", but a year or more). She agreed and I carried her like this for five minutes. It was very cosy :-) I snapped this photo in the mirror. Earlier the same day she played with her face crayons and continued onto the mirror.