cookin’ up some happy colors

I had forgotten how fun it is to work with dye.  The past couple of weeks I have taken a hour or so to play in the kitchen and cook up some new colors on some boring white baby onesies.  Have I mentioned I’m not a fan of white?  Well, at least, not in clothing.  Yes, gotta have a few pieces of go-with-anything white but if I’m going to pick out something that I love it will not likely be white.  So, when it got hot around here with summer hitting us full force I realized that my little baby girl was living in onesies all the time.  You can’t beat them for being simple, cool and comfy when it’s baking hot outside.  However, they do fail in one area…style.  They are boring…at least the ones we had on hand were.  Sure, I could go searching at the mall for some pretty ones but do I really want her wearing the same thing every baby on the block is wearing?  No…not when I can have some fun making her some at home.  So I got out the dyes and put the pots on to boil and had some great mad scientist fun creating pretty colors.  Color wasn’t enough, though, I had to put the icing on them with some simple, fun & folksy applique.

I went a little crazy once I got to dyeing (remember I mentioned the whole mad scientist thing!) so I have plenty and have listed these in my Etsy store with more to come.  Didn’t I say I forgot how much fun it is to dye things?

Might As Well Face It…

I’m addicted to wool.

I can’t stop FELTING!!!  Oh boy, with a new baby on the way my crafting dream to-do list is growing leaps and bounds.  There are so many things I want to make for this little girl and now that I have my new serger I am having such a hard time not just sitting behind it all day long.

Here’s my latest recycled wool sweater creation.  Little bluebird recycled wool longies size 6-9 months…

On another note, Lucy over at Attic24 has made an amazing advent calendar that is making me wish that it wasn’t already December 12.  Maybe next year.  Gotta go check it out if you can…love it!

The Girl Skirts

I have been working on some summer skirts for Sierra and Claire .  I have found for the 3/4 year old that a bed skirt is a perfect knee-length with a provided hem.   This one is a nice soft blue cotton, the width can be chosen depending on how much swing is wanted and then I add a double waistline because I like the way it looks and fits.  The large flat section of a bed skirt that normally lays under the mattress can also be used for lining skirts or other projects.  Our local fabric outlet store sells them for a dollar so it’s a great way to use/find fabric.  For this skirt I added a tea dyed maternity sweater no longer needed for some charm.

For Claire  I found a beautiful butter yellow pair of corduroy pants for a quarter.  She’s still small enough so that I can just use a pant leg turned on its side for the main body of the skirt.  Some Ralph Lauren print for  contrast and a vintage flower button from my grandmother’s collection.

a Winter Embroidery

I’ve been inspired  to pick up my embroidery needles and take note of nature.  You really have to look closely in order to interpret a sprig or branch or flower.    This  was done in the last days of winter.

Crafty Friends

I will be the first to put up some work by Looliloo’s own Jennifer since I snapped some photos yesterday of her awesome felt goodies.  My children and I have a birthday party to attend tomorrow and had asked her to make some for us to take as our gift.  Not only did she fulfill my order of some cupcakes but she also threw in a very yummy looking cinammon roll and a beautiful slice of blueberry pie.

So nice to have crafty friends.  I’m sure that the 3 year old recipient will be quite pleased when she opens the 2 cupcakes that I am actually parting with.