pink, and ruffles, and hair clips! oh my!

We're having a girl!  I sure hope my sewing machine is up to the task.

gifts for my giveaway winners

I finally finished my totes and burp cloths for my giveaway winners last night.  Sorry they took so long to sew, ladies!  I'm putting them all in the mail today.

girlfiend and Meghan will be recieiving a spring tote.  Do you love this fabric like I do?  It is called Flourish Floral Tiles Turquoise by Studio e Fabrics. 

 

If you want to make one for yourself, just follow my easy Spring Tote Tutorial (now updated with additional fabric dimensions if you don't want to use tea towels)!

  

Lizzy will receive a set of 4 baby burp cloths.  I really love this flannel - it is bright and cheery.

 

That's all for now.  I have a big doctor's appointment today.  Any predictions on if I'll get to use the pink baby blanket I've been crocheting all week?

geek chic

This weekend was my hubby's 30th birthday.  I've always thought that 30 is the perfect age.  Prime of your life.

Anyway, I had plans to continue the geek-cake tradition started last year, but Jared requested a chocolate pie.  I needed something special and homemade to add to his birthday, so I made him a freezer paper stenciled space invaders t-shirt using this cross-stitch pattern as my guide.

 

While I was in stencil-mode, I made a birthday t-shirt for me and Oscar.  Oscar's said "I love daddy" and mine said "I love Jared." Jared was so embarrassed when I wore my shirt out in public.  But if you can't proclaim your love on a t-shirt, what's the point?  :)

 

KitchenAid mixer cover

This week was my sweet mother's birthday.   I think I've mentioned it before, but my mom is a pretty incredible person.  Not only did she birth and raise eight uniquely challenging (not to mention charming and attractive) kids, the woman can make anything!  Like, for example, before Oscar was born I asked mom if she could make him a moses basket to sleep in.  She says, "hmm ... I've never made one, but let me see what I can come up with," and then proceeded to send me one so beautiful it made me want to cry.  She also bakes a mean cheesecake.

So for her birthday the gang all pitched in and we bought her a KitchenAid mixer (swoon).  I made her this little cover to go with it:

 

I was really nervous to sew a cover, because I don't have a kitchenaid and that makes measurements tricky.  So I put my trust in the internet and luckily, everything worked out.  I used this tutorial on About.com to make the cover, and it fits her 5 quart Artisan mixer very well (phew!)

 

Two changes I made to the tutorial were I added a full lining and the pocket on the side.  It was so easy!  If all my small appliances weren't hidden away in cupboards, I'd make a little cover for each of them.

Tutorial: Baby Changing Pad

My contribution to Celebrate the BOY month is a baby changing pad.  Perfect for those on the go diaper changes, or handy as a portable changing station around the house, this easy-to-clean pad is as practical as it is cute.

Baby Changing Pad Tutorial (for personal use only)

Materials Needed:

1/2 yard laminated fabric (or cotton fabric and iron on vinyl)

1/2 yard cotton fabric

1 yard fusible fleece interfacing

1 inch velcro

6 inches of 1-inch-wide belting

1 pack 1/2 inch double-fold bias tape

Coordinating thread and other common sewing supplies

1.  Using either pre-laminated fabric or a cotton print that you laminate yourself using iron-on vinyl, cut a piece to 12 x 23 inches.  I've used both types of fabrics with similar results, but I prefer the pre-laminated fabric.  The fabric below is called Moda Funky Monkey Laminate Red, but I bought it over a year ago and I don't know if it is still available.  There are a few cute boy-appropriate prints in the laminated section at Fabric.com.

2.  Round all four corners using a CD as a template (trace the edge with a pen and trim).  Set your laminated fabric aside for later use.

3.  Cut your cotton fabric to 12 x 23 inches.

4. Cut two pieces of fusible fleece interfacing to 12 x 23 inches and following the instructions on the package, fuse both layers to the cotton fabric cut in step 3.

5. Round the corners of your cotton/fusible fleece using the same method as step 2.

6.  Make the closure strap.  Cut a 6 inch long piece of 1 inch wide belting.  Fold over one end about 1/2 inch and cover with the scratchy side of your velcro piece.  Pin in place and zig-zag stitch around all sides of the velcro, securing it to the belting.  Fold over the other end of the belting about 1/2 inch and secure using a zig zag stitch.

7.  Attach the strap to the cotton/fusible fleece fabric only.  Measure 9 inches from the top and pin the strap in place.  The velcro end will remain loose.  Sew only the non-velcro end to the fabric.  Double stitch for durability.

8.  Sew the soft velcro piece to the cotton/fusible fleece fabric, 1/2 inch from the bottom using a zig-zag stitch.  See photo below for placement.

9. If you want to add any trim or decoration (like an applique) to your changing pad, now is the time to do it.  I kept things simple and just added a strip of ribbon through the middle of the changing pad.

10.  Grab your laminated fabric again.  Lay the cotton fabric and laminated fabric on top of each other, right sides facing OUT (there is no turning seams in this project).  Measure 7 3/4 inches from both ends and mark with pins (I recommend only going through the cotton layer, not the laminated layer - laminated fabric is not forgiving, and any holes you poke through it are permanent).

Sew a test on some scrap fabric.  Like I said above, laminated fabric is not forgiving, and the last thing you want to do is pick out stitches.

Sew through both layers along the pin lines.  These seams will be where the changing pad folds into thirds.

11.  Also sew around the outer edge of the changing pad, using a very small seam allowance.  Here's what you should have at this point:

12.  So close to being done!  Time to apply the bias tape. If you are not familiar with bias tape, read my instructions below.  If you are an old pro, feel free to skip over them.  :)

Open up the bias tape and line it up with the outer edge of your laminated fabric (you want to do the machine stitching through the laminate side).

For a clean joint, fold over the starting end of your bias tape.  With the bias tape laying like in the photo below, fold about a quarter inch toward you and pin in place.  Continue pinning the bias tape as shown all the way around the edge of the changing pad.  When you get back to where your bias tape started, overlap about a half inch and trim off any extra.

Sew the bias tape to the changing pad.  See the fold line on the bias tape right next to the pins?  You'll want to stitch right along that fold line.

Now that you have finished machine sewing around the entire changing pad, wrap the rest of the bias tape around to the other side of the pad (the cotton side), as shown below.

I prefer to hand stitch this side of the bias tape, because I think it looks tidy.  You can, however, top-stitch the bias tape in place (it will just show through on both sides of the changing pad).

And there you have it ... a custom diaper changing pad for your little man.  The good news is, it is super cute.  The bad news is, you'll be using it to change lots of stinky diapers.  What's a mama to do ...

Pair this bad boy with a wipes clutch, and you'll have a killer baby shower gift.

 

 

Enjoy!

maternity shirt refashion

I have kind of a sad and pathetic maternity wardrobe.  There are a couple of cute things in there, but with Oscar I mainly got by on ill-fitting hand me downs.  This time around (btw - I'm  18 weeks pregnant.  yay!), I've decided to at least try and spruce things up.

Take this pink button down shirt, for instance.  It is not the worst thing I have ever seen (although it seriously needs a good press), but it isn't exactly flattering either.

 

I took out the collar (because I don't like wearing collars in general), shortened the sleeves, and added a bit of elastic to the front to give it a better fit.  I still can't say this is my favorite maternity shirt ever, but it is much more likely to make it into the rotation (ironing really makes a difference, huh?).   :)

 

Have you ever done a maternity refashion?  I have a few more shirts to play with, and would love some ideas.

Simple CD Wallet

 

  

Jumping on the Valentine craft bandwagon, I made this little CD wallet for someone special and filled it with my favorite tunes.  

No tutorial for this one, but it is easy to make.  You'll need two pieces of fabric measuring 12 1/2 x 6 inches (the outside and inside of the wallet), and one piece that measures 12 1/2 x 4 inches (for the inside pocket).  Back them all with fusible fleece interfacing for a nice, soft wallet.  I topped my pocket with a strip of double fold bias tape and added a elastic and button closure.

The CD labels are from Chronicle Books.

Happy Valentine's Day!

If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good.

By now, everyone is tired of hearing about the iPad, but the negative responses are so perfectly misguided that it would be wrong to waste this opportunity. Even better, we can look back at the 2001 iPod launch and see the exact same mistakes. But this isn't about the iPad or the iPod -- it's about product design.

The most famous iPod review was from Slashdot, which simply declared, "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." The iPad reviews are similar in that they focus on the "missing" features. Those missing features are typically available in a variety of unsuccessful competing products, which leads people to erroneously conclude that a successful product would necessarily have even more features!

I believe this "more features = better" mindset is at the root of the misjudgment, and is also the reason why so many otherwise smart people are bad at product design (e.g. most open source projects). If a MacBook with OSX and no keyboard were really the right product, then Microsoft would have already succeeded with their tablet computer years ago. Copying the mistakes of a failed product isn't a great formula for success.

What's the right approach to new products? Pick three key attributes or features, get those things very, very right, and then forget about everything else. Those three attributes define the fundamental essence and value of the product -- the rest is noise. For example, the original iPod was: 1) small enough to fit in your pocket, 2) had enough storage to hold many hours of music and 3) easy to sync with your Mac (most hardware companies can't make software, so I bet the others got this wrong). That's it -- no wireless, no ability to edit playlists on the device, no support for Ogg -- nothing but the essentials, well executed.

We took a similar approach when launching Gmail. It was fast, stored all of your email (back when 4MB quotas were the norm), and had an innovative interface based on conversations and search. The secondary and tertiary features were minimal or absent. There was no "rich text" composer. The original address book was implemented in two days and did almost nothing (the engineer doing the work originally wanted to spend five days on it, but I talked him down to two since I never use that feature anyway). Of course those other features can be added or improved later on (and Gmail has certainly improved a lot since launch), but if the basic product isn't compelling, adding more features won't save it.

By focusing on only a few core features in the first version, you are forced to find the true essence and value of the product. If your product needs "everything" in order to be good, then it's probably not very innovative (though it might be a nice upgrade to an existing product). Put another way, if your product is great, it doesn't need to be good.

So where does this leave the iPad, with it's lack of process managers, file managers, window managers, and all the other "missing" junk? I'm not sure, but one thing I've noticed is that I spend more time browsing the web from my iPhone than from my laptop. I'm not entirely sure why, but part of it is the simplicity. My iPhone is ready to use in under 1/2 second, while my laptop always takes at least a few seconds to wake up, and then there's a bunch of stuff going on that distracts me. The iPhone is a simple appliance that I use without a second thought, but my laptop feels like a complex machine that causes me to pause and consider if it's worth the effort right now. The downside of the iPhone is that it's small and slow (though the smallness is certainly a feature as well). That alone guarantees that I'll buy one to leave sitting next to the couch, but I'm kind of atypical.

Ultimately, the real value of this device will be in the new things that people do once they have a fast, simple, and sharable internet window sitting around. At home we'll casually browse the web, share photos (in person), and play board games (Bret's idea -- very compelling). At the office, maybe we'll finally have an easy way of chatting with remote people while discussing a presentation or document (e.g. audio iChat with a shared display). Of course these things are theoretically possible with laptops, but it always ends up being so clumsy and complicated that we don't bother (or give up after trying once).

Making the iPad successful is Apple's problem though, not yours. If you're creating a new product, what are the three (or fewer) key features that will make it so great that you can cut or half-ass everything else? Are you focusing at least 80% of your effort on getting those three things right?

Disclaimer: This advice probably only applies to consumer products (ones where the purchaser is also the user -- this includes some business products). For markets that have purchasing processes with long lists of feature requirements, you should probably just crank out as many features as possible and not waste time on simplicity or usability.

giveaway winners

Wow, guys ... way to comment!  There were 726 entries to the giveaway, and the winners are numbers 105, 516, and 620 (selected by random.org).  I'll contact each of you about your prizes.

 

  

 

Thanks to everyone who entered, and again, thanks for the dishwasher.  I have SO much more time to create things!

celebrate the BOY

I've made a few things in the last couple of days, but I have to keep them a secret.  :(  One is a birthday present, and the other is for an upcoming post that is part of Celebrate the BOY month with MADE.









Have you heard about this yet?  Dana from MADE and Rae from Made by Rae have teamed up with the fabulous idea of having an entire month devoted for crafting for boys.  I am guest posting for Dana later this month, so you'll have to wait a little longer to see what I've come up with.  In the meantime, check out the wonderful projects posted daily at MADE and Made by Rae!

making play food: salt & pepper shakers

I've been making a little progress this week on the play kitchen.  Since I am doing all the prep work at my in-law's house, I can't have an all night craft-a-thon and just get 'er done like I normally would.  In between work days, I am making play food and kitchen accessories.

I can't throw anything away, so I have several wooden spools hanging out in my drawers of thread.  This afternoon I used a pair of spools and two wooden domed disks to make salt & pepper shakers.

 

All it took was a bit of glue and paint.  I also filled them with seed beads so they would make a shaking sound.  The hole in the bottom of the spool is just covered with cardstock.  What do you think?

 

  

This is the nightstand I am working with to make Oscar's play kitchen:

  

You can't tell from the picture, but the nightstand angles inward starting just above the drawer.   It doesn't give me a ton of space to work with, but leaves plenty of room for a sink and two stove burners.

With the help of Oscar's grandpa, we now have a hole for the sink, the legs are trimmed down to a more toddler-friendly height, the drawer is dissembled, and the whole thing is sanded down.  I can't wait to start painting!

Oscar was really interested in "helping" and decided this was the best way to do it:

 

(thanks for my new dishwasher!) giveaway (CLOSED)

Hi friends!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend ... I know I did.  On Saturday, a big, beautiful, portable dishwasher was delivered to my apartment.   It takes up way too much space in my already tight kitchen, but it washes dishes like a dream.  I have a new lease on life, and I have you to thank.

Thank you, dear blog readers, for the dishwasher.  Thank you for coming to read and thank you if you have ever clicked on my ad space (may you never install ad blocker).  ;)

Do you see the joy?  I thought I'd do a little giveaway to show my gratitude - something handmade by yours truly.  I wish I has something more fabulous to offer, but we are in a recession, people.  Three lucky winners will receive one of the following items (your choice!):

A tote bag, similar to my spring tote (sadly, the orla kiely fabric is no longer available):

A set of (four) burp cloths (you choose girl, boy, or gender neutral fabric):

Or, a custom sock animal (within reason, folks. lets not get too exotic):

This giveaway is now CLOSED.  Thanks for entering!

p.s. happy birthday, Dad!