from burlap gift bag to library tote bag...

I love burlap!  It looks fantastic with wooly yarn.  I acquired a sturdy burlap gift bag a while ago, and I knew that it would soon have wooly yarn embroidered on it.

My three year-old daughter is quite the bookworm, and she often comes home from the library with well over a dozen books.

I knew she would love to have a special bag to tote her literary treasures.  I hoped that the end product would work as a way to store her big girl books in plain sight but away from the destructive clutches of her 17 month-old brother and sister.

This bag is the perfect size to hold the picture books that she loves.  Its handles are attached with hard-working grommets, and the burlap has a sturdy backing on it to carry the weight of the books. I've had a stash of this Suss Design mohair around for years, and I've used it in so many projects (at least one burlap project prior to this one).  I'll be sad when it's gone.

I used some scrap burlap to make a pocket for her library card that I finished with a blanket stitch.  I have no problem with her leaving this bag laying around the house.

from random scraps to fancy hair clips...

My three year-old is into all things fancy.  So, I dug through my scrap stash and whipped up these fancy hair clips for her.  

The pink one is (of course) her favorite.  It is tulle with a satin band for contrast.  The white one is a tulle pom pon. The purple one is an improvised flower with a pearly found button.  These are the first hair clips that she's actually worn consistently. 

from old white t-shirt to reusable trash liner for icky diaper covers...

When I was pregnant with our first little girl (now 3 1/2), I made a commitment to use cloth diapers.  I kept picturing the enormous heap of thousands of diapers that would just sit here on our precious earth LONG after the end of our lives.  We're still using cloth diapers for our 15 month-old twins, and for a while, we had all three kids in cloth diapers.  I can't believe that I just figured out this part of the system now!  We use a great diaper service based in Pasadena, which is a great deal when you have more than one kid in diapers (I haven't made the leap to washing the twins' diapers like I did for our oldest).  While we don't have to wash any diapers, we are still responsible for washing their diaper covers, which get pretty gross.  I've always had a separate bin to keep them in until I accumulate enough for a load, but the can would always get disgusting!  I never lined it because it always seemed like such an unnecessary use for a plastic garbage bag.  I recently realized that I needed a liner that I could pull out of the bin and throw into the washer with the dirty covers...DUH!  Anyway, I looked around my house, of course, for materials that I already had....an old t-shirt, thread, and elastic.  

I started my cut at the armpit and rounded up toward the neck to get as much room in the bag as possible.

I stitched up the rounded, cut edge and added elastic to the other end.  One great thing about making things out of t-shirts is that there is a built-in elastic casing.  Just snip a little slit, shimmy the elastic all the way through, cut it to size, and sew the two ends together.  I like to use a tapestry needle to thread elastic.  It's long and easy to maneuver, with a large eye built in that accommodates bulky elastic.  

Voila!

Here is our hard-working diaper station.  

The changing table top is built from an old IKEA cabinet door and side supports from an old IKEA spice rack.  It sits on legs that attach to the wall.

Anything that I can do to make my work at home more efficient makes me really happy.

from 90's corduroys to squeaky puppets...

I haven't worn corduroys in a long time, but luckily, I cut up a couple of pairs many years ago and saved them for a future project.  I sewed up this monkey and owl for my twins as a Christmas gift.

This one is my favorite.  I know that owls have been super trendy lately, but I think they're so cute.  I like the frayed look that the puppets have, and putting them together this way saved a lot of time, especially with all of the appliqued layers.

I'm still not so sure about the monkey.  I didn't use a pattern for either of them.  I drew the animals out on graph paper to make sure that they were symmetrical.  I still can't believe that they even slightly resemble what I hoped they would.  I. Don't. Draw.

They are a hit, especially because I tucked a little squeaker inside each mouth that I saved from the inside of a dog toy.  The coordinating fabrics for each are from my stash of random scraps.

I don't know, maybe this one is starting to grow on me.