2012 Thing a Week - Week 4 - I made someone happy

Sot this week was not a crafty week. Some weeks aren't. I'm sitting here on Saturday night, with 2.5 hours to make something this week and not feeling interested in any of the ideas Hubs is tossing at me, when I realized that I did do something this week. I made someone happy.

Last week a friend of ours had a tough day at work and posted about it on Facebook. I thought I would try to cheer him up, so I had Minnie give him a call. Now, we love this friend and his partner. Love them to bits. But like with a lot of our friends we don't see them that much. We have a lot of super busy weekends, and sometimes when we have no plans it's nice to keep it that way. But sometimes months go by without seeing some of the people we love, and that's a shame. So after Minnie chatted a bit with Ryan, I talked with him too. And we made plans to hang out Saturday. And today we spent some time at their house, then shared a meal together. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening, and they did too.

Last year, at this time, I posted a "pay it forward" idea (that I got from someone else), where you agree to make something for the first 5 people that comment. I excitedly kept checking back, thinking of some possible ideas I could make for people. And you know what, people didn't respond. I ended up with only three people that responded. I was shocked. Making things isn't hard, as long as you open yourself up to different expectations of what "making something" really is. Sure it can be something permanent, like a knitted or sewn item, which is what most of my Things are. It can also be a non-permanent item, like some food. But it can also be as simple as sharing an afternoon with good friends and making memories.

2012 Thing a Week - Week 3 - Pillowcase

A few weeks after we got Minnie her toddler bed, my mom gave us a small pillow for her to use. It's been sitting up in the sewing room/office/guest room for two months now, so I finally made a pillowcase for it.

It was super simple to sew up. I just measured the pillow, making sure to account for the roundness of it, and added an inch for the seams. I added 3-4 inches for the side, so it would overlap the edge of the pillow. I think it ended up just being the selvedges for the opening edge. I sewed and then serged the inside seam, and sewed a 1" hem for the opening edge. I did a double seam on it, and it turned out nice. I want to pick up a double needle next time I'm out.

And Minnie? I think she likes it.

2012 Thing a Week - Week 2 - Cloth Wipes

When you cloth diaper your kids, you also want to get some cloth wipes. When you're changing the diaper you stick the wipe inside when you roll it up. For our wipes, I bought some cotton jersey sheets at a discount store and cut them up. I wanted to use jersey because the fabric won't unravel like woven fabrics. If I'd used something like flannel, I'd need to secure the edges some way, such as by serging them. The jersey fabric seemed too thin to use on its own, so I sewed two pieces together. It'd probably be fine with just one layer, and be a ridonkulously quick project.

Disposable wipes are 8" square so that's what I did with my wipes. They will fit in a wipes case, but since they're dry cloth we just toss them in the diaper bag with the diapers. I cut the fabric 8"x16" and folded the fabric to make an 8" square.

What is that cute pink and yellow fabric on the side going to be?

8" square

Then I just did a wide zig zag stitch around the three open areas. I remembered to switch to my knit fabric machine needle this time.

I probably should have sewn across all sides just so it'd look nicer, but oh well! You can see that I have different colored thread in the top than the bottom. I like to use up old spools of thread from my grandmother and mostly empty bobbins when I make wipes. If the thread runs out halfway through I just pop in some more and keep going, after backstitching of course. They're wipes; I am totally not seam ripping mistakes.

2012 Thing a Week - Week 1 - Play Diapers

Now that Minnie's been playing more with stuffed animals and dolls, I've been wanting to make her some diapers for them. I made a few last weekend for a birthday gift and of course and they were so quick and easy! I of course didn't take pictures before giving them away, so I made another one for this week.

I like how it fits on her larger stuffed animal... 

And on her smaller doll!

After playing with Minnie for a bit I realized this is a better gift for a two year old. Sorry Lacy! Minnie will bring the diaper and doll over to me and "help" put it on but she definitely can't do it herself yet. Hopefully in a few months! It's still fun to play with her because she will rock the baby and kiss it after the diaper is secured.