Second Babies

So its true what they say about second children not getting the same attention. I'm already not paying the same amount of attention to this little guy. I'm working on it, however.

I wanted to make him a blanket of his own, but I can't find any different yarn that I like at JoAnns. I really should find a real yarn shop with nice yarn, but who has the time? I found this gray on clearance at JoAnns the other day, so I bought all they had and made him a quick blanket out of it.


I used the same seed stitch as for the washcloths and the same crochet hook as well (N). Hopefully it won't get all wonky-looking with a loose stitch, but I wanted it to be soft and drapey and honestly, it was not enough yarn. I needed a large stitch to make the blanket big enough. Its not quite as big as I would have liked, but it will be a good stroller-sized blanket and work well while he's little. And its nice and soft.


Now I need to make him some washcloths of his own! Soon . . .

Another T-Shirt

I'm enjoying the whole freezer paper stencil thing. If I had any more good ideas for designs, I think I'd do more. I picked up this t-shirt and some red shorts for the Little Man at Once Upon a Child and decided to do a lifeguard shirt. It just seemed to go with the outfit. Since he is two, I added the "swim at your own risk" to be funny.

My little paleface looks good in red, I think. It seems to be his favorite color.

He got a new toddler bed recently so that we can use the crib for the new baby (the switch went very well, by the way - yay!) and we didn't want to make the switch at the last minute and let him feel like he gave up his crib for the new kiddo. Anyway, since he is now free to climb in and out of his bed at will, he's been getting in his dresser and emptying things out and spreading toys and diapers and clothes everywhere. It never fails, though, that he finds the two red shorts he has. If anything is pulled out of the dresser, it is a pair of red shorts. Sometimes he brings them back to bed with him. Why? Heck if I know . . . it must just be his favorite color. That's all I can figure.

Houndstooth Quilt

I mentioned awhile ago that I had made a baby quilt for my sister for her baby shower in January. The shower was a bit last minute (my sister only makes it home twice a year), so I didn't have a whole lot of time to work with. I saw the houndstooth quilt on Vanessa Christenson's blog and decided to make one like that.

My sister went traditional in the nursery and its completely done up in pink and white, so I did the quilt in the same colors. I didn't buy the pattern, because I figured the block was easy enough to figure out on my own. It took me a little tweaking to figure out the size of the strips to cut to make the block size that I wanted, but I got it and it turned out nicely.

I was too tired to remember to take a picture of the quilt before I gave it to her. How lame is that? Pregnancy does that to me, I guess.

Here's a bad picture from the shower, though.

I can't locate any specific instructions for making the houndstooth block at the moment - I don't remember what blog it was that I got them from, but you could pick up V & Co's pattern if you don't want to figure it out yourself.

I also saw a post awhile back at Camille Roskelley's blog with a ruler that would make the block as well. I should find this ruler somewhere in case I ever want to make one again.

Catching Up {again}

I know I said I was going to try to start posting again, but surprise surprise, it hasn't really happened! But I have a good excuse.

We are expecting again. Our second little boy is due in September. I'm sure you know how it goes...at first too tired to do anything, then too busy trying to do everything and then too tired to do much again.

I have been doing some things here and there, though. This is a project that I made for the Little Man for Christmas. Its his very own monogrammed bean bag. It turned out nicely, but it was more of bear to make than I expected, though.


I Googled for free bean bag patterns for awhile before I settled on one. I wish I could remember where I got it from, but I can't. Its been awhile. I just picked one that seemed as if it would be big enough. I made an inner bladder for it out of muslin so it could be washed and of course, this means that the outer cover needed a zipper.

I've never really understood zippers and I've only attempted it once or twice. I ended up buying a couple zippers before I finally got one that would be appropriate. I think it was a parka zipper or something ridiculous that I had to buy in order to get one that was long enough. I found a tutorial for a hidden zipper and it turned out well enough.

Then I picked out bean bag fill. I wanted to buy the tiny little beads so that it wouldn't smoosh down completely over time. Well, I can't say I recommend what I settled on. I bought the Poly-fil Micro beads. They're expensive, but I didn't figure it would take too many bags. We bought them at Joanns one bag at a time so that I could use coupons on them. And each time, I would carefully dump the bag in, make a HUGE mess, and realize that it wasn't going to be enough. Seriously. I can't remember for sure how many I bought, but it was waaaay too many. Six at least. They cleaned up easily enough, but they were everywhere.

I sewed up the muslin and the outer bag with a regular stitch and went over that with a zig zag stitch as well, hoping that would ensure that the bag would be leak-proof. I monogrammed Jack's name on it (that part turned out well - yay!) and stuffed the bag.

Well, the bag has been loved and enjoyed by both the little man and the dog since then. It of course, has needed to be washed by now. I took it apart in the basement, since it felt like there were stray beads inside. There were. Everywhere. There is about an inch long opening in the bladder. How? I have no idea. I tried to vacuum them out of the cover and then I gave up and put it in the washer. After the washer filled, I fished beads out by hand as best I could.

Its been sitting in my basement now for months while I get around to sewing it shut.

Long story short....I think I'd recommend plunking down the cash to buy a monogrammed bean bag elsewhere. Or don't use micro beads. Maybe shredded foam? This project was way too expensive and messy and aggravating. I did actually buy the pattern for a Rollie Pollie from Dana-made-it and perhaps sometime I'll try it again with another fill. Someday. When I recover from my annoyance at this one.