Wednesday, December 22, 2010

{ anatomy of a nursery } handmade


While I was pregnant I got it in my head that I simply must learn to sew. I think it's natural to look down at your growing belly and start daydreaming about what kind of mom you might be, or might like to be. I wanted to be the kind of mom that knew how to make things.



My first sewing project outside of junior high home-ec class was this baby chew toy. It's wonky and full of silly colors and a perfect first project. Alice loves these kinds of toys right now because they don't require much coordination to get them from hand to mouth.


Next up was a swaddling wrap with super soft fleece inside. I went all-out girly on this one. Alice grew out of it approximately 45 seconds after I turned off the sewing machine.



Lastly I made these little monster bookends so that I can rotate out a few books from her collection and display them on top of her dresser. I deviated from the pattern and added (my first!) zippers to the bottoms of these for easier washing. This resulted in only minor cussing.


All of these patterns are from "Simple Sewing for Baby" by Lotta Jansdotter, which is not only full of great pictures and patterns but also illicited the response 'I could actually make that' which I wasn't finding in other books.

100 days


Alice and her friend Dagny were born on the same day in the same hospital, just two hours apart, over three months ago now. Saturday they both turned 100 days old.


We all pitched in and made homemade potstickers (jiaozi) mostly giggling at our poor handiwork, while Dagny's mom Jing made perfect specimens and a whole spread of stir-fried dishes for our celebratory feast.

May both of our girls live for 100 years!