sewing up a storm

There's nothing like a pile of projects to keep the symptoms of cabin fever from becoming too overwhelming. Here's a little of what I've been working on.

Sock Monkey

Many years ago my mom gave me a sock monkey kit that she herself had been hanging on to for many years. The "kit" consisted of a pair of red-heeled Rockford socks and a page of instructions that were fairly open to interpretation. When I found a hooded sock monkey fleece jacket for Matthew to wear for Halloween, I thought I'd finally try to put the kit together so he could have a prop. But then I ended up dressing him as a carrot and the sewing of the sock monkey got put on the back burner. I did, though, manage to finish it in time to give it to him for Christmas. It was a labor of trial and error (which is why the ears turned out so shrunken), but he I think it's cute anyway.

Drawstring Bags

For Christmas Caleb got a set of Melissa and Doug lacing beads that unfortunately came packaged very poorly as far as the long-term storage of them goes (the one major flaw of the otherwise pretty classy Melissa and Doug toys). I just recently figured out how to sew a basic drawstring bag and so made one to keep the wooden beads in. And then I went a little crazy and sewed more drawstring bags for the rest of the boys' puzzles and puzzle-like toys that had previously been stored in raggedy ziplock bags. Seriously, I whipped out like five more -- for the bean bags, letter magnets, lacing cards, and two puzzles whose boxes had long since been destroyed. I didn't take a picture of the others, but you can take my word for it that they're cute.

Treasure Bags

I didn't sew these bags (though after all the practice I got making the others, I easily could have). No, these I found in the gift wrap department of The Container Store (one of my favorite places to browse) when I was in search of some sort of container for the boys to keep their "treasures" in (so I didn't have to keep looking at/tripping over them). I did, however, do the lettering on them. I cheated and used a font as my guide, but I'm still pretty pleased with how they turned out. I may be the daughter of a pretty amazing calligrapher, but I have a long way to go before I catch up to her talent. At any rate, the boys love them and I love that they hide all their random special things.

Cloth Blocks

My sister-in-law made a set of these for her daughter for Christmas, and Matthew spent most of his time at Grandma's house playing with them. So, using leftover fabric from his baby blanket, I made him a set of his own. In addition to batting, I also stuffed in a crinkly grocery bag and a jingle bell into each one. He loves them.

Chalkboard Mat

While we were in San Antonio at Christmas we spent a day in and around Fredericksburg, and while we were there, I managed to squeeze in a stop to my favorite Main Street shop, Things in a Room. This is where I swooned over the vintage Moda tablecloths (and where I convinced Blake to buy me one for my birthday). It is also where I ultimately spent nearly all of my saved up trip money buying fabric from their discount bin. I also bought a yard of chalkboard cloth onto which, using some of the fabric I found, I sewed a binding on around it to make a big chalkboard mat to help ease the boys' symptoms of cabin fever this winter. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to and has already several times served the exact purpose I intended it for.


There are still a few more projects waiting in my pile, and I'm still house bound with sick kids and cold weather, so I'd better go get back to work.