Neon pillows should be sewn while wearing sunglasses

Finally, another day off, and I am getting to the next step.  This requires tacking little stitches into the interior rounds to keep the pillow straight and centered while I begin the reducing rounds around the outside of the pillow, essentially crocheting the rest of the project with the 'removable insert' inside.  If it ever needed to be washed, it could be - with some careful snipping of about eight little tack stitches.  This one is going to turn out just a smidge smaller than the other two that are on our bed - but that is okay, since it is for Esme's room and she is smaller, right?  There were some quilting rags that were in a bag waiting for a project and they went inside it with the stuffing to give it some heft and keep the corners filled.

Not much else, reading, scrapbooking some fabric pattern and other decorating and art ideas... reading the Fifth Elephant, drinking coffee, folding laundry and scratching a puppy behind the ears every once in a while.  I'd like to add another skirt onto my wish list for crafting.. and a pair of pajama pants although I've been telling myself that one for a year and haven't made another pair, yet (but, three skirts - so that is something).  Esme will be at home in an hour, so, I'm glad I've made some progress today besides sleeping in and lounging over some frozen waffles and maple syrup.  The winter cold has made lounging quite desirable, especially with feet tucked underneath knitted blankets.

Esme and her new pillow

after which she spent many minutes stacking them all up on the bed and claiming they were hamburgers or pancakes and we needed to have dinner.

sewing project for Esme

 I was sewing the little blue deer and Esme got talked into trying to sew herself a toy.  I made the knot and cut out the felt and she took great care in sewing (for a nearly six year old).. and actually did a good job with the weird bits of thread not wanting to go your way, when you accidentally catch the thread inside the loop etc.. I told her she was a natural.. barely cried when she poked her finger several times.  And she finished the project and was very proud of it!

Esme's pumpkin pillow

I was six when my Grandfather taught me to sew - a candytwist type pillow with stuffing in it.. and many after it until I finally got good at making seams that stayed... we're on our way :)

Random homefront projects

Back from town with Grandma, Esme is still up there, hopefully being helpful.

She was having such a hard time yesterday being good.  It was dark, cold.. she had Mom home all day but I wasn't catering to her activities 100% as I am still a bit tired out from being sick Christmas Eve.  She had about a half hour one person basketball game at one point.. and she has been very interested in exercise and getting big muscles lately, so she was telling me all about that and how lots of breath and muscles were good for her... *roll eyes*

 

dressed up for going out into the snow with the dogs yesterday

 

Yay, let's play!

I think it was about 15-20 minutes, and she was back inside claiming to have frozen to death.

I was impressed at that... I think I knitted an entire row on the afghan while she made snowballs ;)

I gave her a bath and knitted on it some more while she told me all about what toys could float and talked to a 'good spider' that was on the floor... telling it who she was and that she would not hurt it and asking it what it knew about her toys etc etc... very odd!  We also had more discussion about 'brain mad', 'pushing buttons',  and other things - Mark and I just want her to understand that she can't always have us do everything the way she wants, even if it does make her brain mad - she has to get over it and do other things, talk about other things, listen and make new ideas etc..  Her language skills are getting better, making it somewhat easier to talk about big concepts - but she still sometimes makes no sense at all, or way too much sense which is just as unsettling in one so small!

A round crocheted pillow I tried to recreate out of a book.. the ripples were not meant to be there but I did finish it, and it has already been in use as an elbow pillow while knitting, a book pillow for Mark, an 'extra' pillow for Esme when we are watching a movie.  I must say it seemed like a 'old granny square' type project at first, nothing that was going to get used, but it really turned out to be time well spent.

 

This was originally going to be Esme's blanket but it is turning out to be queen size, so we might steal it for our bed.  We watch a lot of movies here and the above pillow and other afghan (under it) have seen lots of use by everyone.  I have another patchwork quilt in the making as well, and am adding another row on the top of that today out of old outgrown Esme dresses.. recycling them in a true sense, pulling out zippers and cutting up the good parts of fabric for quilt squares.

Back to work tomorrow... and I received word my mom is still in the ICU yesterday.  I have a photo printed up for her now and have to send it.

I looked up several patterns for the round pillow, but did not like the idea of following any of them.  So, I just did it this way instead of following anything in particular.  

Round pillow: Large crochet hook, chain three, crochet four in each chain, join with slip stitch, crochet around as for hat, increasing proportionately (that is the hard part - and I was too lazy to use row markers of any kind, thus the ripples) until object is of proper size.  Cut and stuff a pillow form to fit this size.  Center work over pillow and tack in place with small stitches.  Crochet around evenly for thickness of pillow form.  Begin to decrease evenly with work in place, following form - until half of the back of the pillow is covered with decreasing circular crochet.  Tie off and secure further with stitches if you would like, or leave loose for removal later.

Car Shaped Pillow pattern and Esme's Alien Ears

Esme is 11 months old today! Yesterday when we came up from downstairs we found Esme had pulled a drawer out of her dresser, turned it upside down and climbed on top of it. She was standing there, a full 6 inches taller than usual, just extremely proud of herself. She had pulled some clothing down from the third shelf she usually can't reach. Mark and I both laughed at each other and her saying 'Wow - we're in trouble now!'


Original KnitOwl pattern for a car shaped pillow

I spent a good amount of time yesterday making this pattern for a car shaped pillow. Is it a convertible, a roadster, a race car? It's kind of a 'generic' car all around - and the pattern will take a little more work before I can figure out how to make it available through my shop. For one thing it is HUGE, but it goes together as easily as a three piece strip quilt. I think next time I'll use low quality stuffing though, as the high quality stuff combined with the 100% cotton broadcloth made for some weird results.


Esme has alien ears!
These tiny pigtails lasted for a very short amount of time - but her hair is getting long enough to get in her eyes now. I'll have to figure out something to do with it or end up snipping bangs in another few months.

Handmade Bed Bug Back Pillow in Use with the Wii

Caterpillar Back Pillow
Shown in use while Mark plays the Wii.

They say sometimes your back hurts when you play the Wii. Mark has this game 'Rampage' he has been playing for a few days, and the Bed Bug is getting some use as a back pillow.


Esme watches intently as Daddy plays 'Rampage' on the Wii.

Esme LOVES to watch the game as the creature tears up buildings in a city. There are lots of noises and the monsters have silly antics.

Dragon Pillow

One of my workshop items was this dragon pillow. I'd planned a large bed pillow out of this nice red and white striped fabric. But not just any boring rectangular pillow - it had to be special and interesting, something unique. Mark helped me evolve the idea into something worth it's stuffing ;) This 30 inch wide dragon took about two hours to make and one yard each of the front and back fabrics. With 100% cotton ticking fabrics and good seams he should also survive the washing machine.


Shown on top of our plushy dragon blanket which also helped inspire it


Esme thinks it's an interesting toy too, with his curly tail, floppy arm and mouth full of teeth. Here she makes for good scale as she pages through a new board book.

I've been using the dragon as a head pillow at night the past few days as well. It makes me happy to make something that actually gets used. I think this dragon bears repeating. A couple of times maybe... in slightly different incarnations. Mark already says he needs one of his own because I'm monopolizing this one :)

Next: Purple bassinet quilt, more aliens and lots of fabric!

Sleeping is getting to be an adventure

Sleeping is getting to be an adventure in creative pillow use lately. I've read online that there are all sorts of 'pregnancy pillows' they make to provide all-in-one solutions. They look like modified body pillows that curl up between your knees and back to support your spine. The only one I thought looked interesting was out of stock :( So I recommissioned one of the really beaten up regular pillows we have for extra support between my knees and under my hip bones. I think that will work for a while until my belly gets bigger :)

I've been sewing some more creatures - here is one that didn't quite make the cut. She is a prototype, and if you look closely her arms are sort of mismatched. I don't like opening the seams of my toys after they're done, so I'll save her for a while.



We also have some female alien monster dolls arriving. It appears the males were just scouts. I'll be working them up here and there. Last year I would push myself to stay up all night and sew a batch - now there is so much else to do, work and non-work.