Meet Miss Maggie!

This is Miss Maggie Rabbit! I spent a couple of delightful weeks before Easter slowly stitching her by hand late at night. She is eventually for our daughter, but not quite yet. Right now, Maggie lives in our bedroom and comes out for supervised play. I think I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed making anything more than I did this sweet little rabbit! You can purchase either the pattern, or the kit (sold out, but more are coming) on Alicia Paulson's site.

I made Maggie a couple weeks before Easter, but wanted to hold off on giving free reign to my daughter, so decided to make other little bunnies for my children's baskets. While making Maggie,  I fell in love with handstitching felt, so I looked for a pattern that could be make quickly. I found this one, and made it for my daughter:

When I looked at the completed little bunny, I had an idea...

 

A babywearing Maggie!! I recently sat down and sewed up a little sling for her. Fast and easy! I thought it would be fun to do a little tutorial, so here it is. Please bear in mind that my machine sewing skills are at about the level of someone who is one week into Home Ec classes. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants/hack sewer.

 

Baby Sling for Miss Maggie Rabbit:

 

 

I cut out a rectangle measuring 14 by 9 inches (which turned out a tad generous).

I folded it in half lengthwise with right sides facing and sewed.

Trimmed the edges with pinking shears.

I then positioned it on Maggie to get an idea of fit. I made it a bit loose so it would be easy for my daughter to put on and take off without damaging anything.

Keeping it wrong side out, I sewed one end shut with the seam just completed positioned in the center.

I then turned it right side out, and fed the sewed seam into the other open end. Turned under the raw edges and sewed it closed...

...so it looks like this.

I then folded it in half to create a pocket for the baby to snuggle in.

Voila!
Feel free to enjoy this little tutorial! I'm sure plenty of you have awesome skills and will greatly improve on it!

In other news, we are looking into joining a new venue this summer, to be added into our regular circuit. Stay tuned for our upcoming craft fair and farmer's market schedule. And... wind chimes from recycled vintage flatware will be coming soon!



The beginnings of spring!

 

Spring has officially arrived with temps in the 70s this week - so lovely!! We've been celebrating with a lot of outdoor time, and many trips to the playground. It's always so interesting to see my children reacquaint themselves with our favorite playground at the end of the winter. A little more independent than the previous fall, and I find myself sitting on the bench more and more as I watch them make friends and tackle new equipment on their own. I am always slightly sad, watching them grow, but this change is one I welcome!

 

This week held a walk on the beach, searching for seashells, feeding the ducks, turtles, and fish at a local little pond, and a yummy stop at our local ice cream shop.

One of those days, I came home to find Mike had set up one of his wonderful flea market finds for me - our "new" kitchen table! Isn't it beautiful? The bottom pedestal needs work - repainting at the very least - but the top is in good condition, and I just love it. Even better, it matches my yellow/orange curtains that I made a couple of years ago! Phew!

 

How are you celebrating the start of spring?