Question

The other night as my husband I were laying in bed I said to him, "honey, what are we going to give our second daughter as a nick name that would go along with small fry?" We started brainstorming. Here is what we came up with:

lil' sprite

fry sauce

side salad

mini frosty

lil' nugget

small shake

Just wondering if anyone out there has any better ideas?

Car Seat Cover

I have been seeing these around lately and I love the whole concept and wanted to get one or more made for our new baby on the way. The only problem is that I haven't got a lot of time. I decided that there must be a way to make one out of a blanket I already have which would save me a bunch of time. If you want to make one from scratch go here for a tutorial on how to make this one.

Here is what I did to make this one. I took a receiving blanket that I already had and made sure it was big enough to fit over my carseat and cover everything that I wanted to be covered. I then found a scrap of fabric that matched to make my straps to attach it to the carseat.

I found that the blanket was not a perfect square so I folded it in half the longest way and pressed the crease with my iron.

Next I placed the blanket over the handle of my carseat like this with the crease on the handle and marked where I would want the attaching straps to be with a pin.

Like this.

Next I measured from each side of the blanket to my pins to make sure they were even. Mine were not from my eyeball measurement so I adjusted my pins to be 10 inches from each edge. This would of course vary some from carseat to carseat and blanket to blanket.

Next to make the straps I cut two strips of my coordinating fabric 4 inches wide. That was just a measurement I pulled out of my head.

I did not worry about length at this point. I placed two strips together, with the right sides of the fabric together.

Next I sewed a seam down each side. My seams were 3/8". There again I just pulled that measurement out of my head for no particular reason. I did this for each strap set (you should have 2).

I then turned each strip right side out, pressed flat with the iron and top stitched at 1/8".

Next I turned under a 1/2" twice on one end of the strap. I sewed along my bottom fold to hold this in place. NOTE: I was using flannel and this was a bit thick for sewing through. I will share my solution in a couple of steps.

Now I pinned this strap piece to the center crease on my blanket and....

Wrapped it around my carseat handle to see just how long I wanted the strap to be. I found that the tighter the better. I cut off the extra part of my strap piece.

I found that 8 3/4 " was the length I wanted. NOTE: After completing this project I decided I would probably go 8 1/4" for the length next time and make it a bit tighter.

Now repeat your folding and sewing step from above at the other end of the strap. Do this to both.

Because of the thickness of this fold I found it was easier to sew starting in about a 1/4" from each edge like this:

I wanted my straps to attach to the carseat with velcro. I know that buttons or snaps or ties would work too but my husband who often calls himself "fumble fingers" would find velcro the easiest to do so I chose that. I cut two strips just slightly shorter than the width of my strap pieces.

I sewed each piece to one end of the strap. Make sure you sew them on opposite sides.

When fastened it will look like this.

Now fold this strap in half to find it's center and match that with the center crease on your blanket. I centered the pin that I had marked with in the middle (width wise) of the strap.

Sew down the center of each strap (I used the crease on the blanket as a guide). Technically you are finished here, and can attach this to you carseat. I did that but found that I didn't like how it hung (seemed like it needed more stability).

So I went back to my machine and sewed another row of stitching on each side of the center row.

I felt like this hung better. That is it, you are finished. A nice little tent for your little one that you don't have to worry about falling off as you carry your carseat.

Here is the side view.

Here is the second one I made.

Shrunken onesie revamp

I bought these onesies for Small Fry when I was in New York at a souvenir shop. Of course when I washed them they shrunk terribly. I didn't want them to just be put away without her getting to wear them so I decided to turn them into dresses. I started a tutorial with the white onesie which says, "somebody in New York Loves me" but as I was making this little outfit it got more and more complicated and I realized that there was no way I could explain in words what in the world I did. So instead you can just see the before....

My lovely assistant sitting on my knee at the sewing machine...

And the after!!

It ended up being shorter than I wanted so I just put a pair of leggings on her too.

I will make one confession about this project: I have had these for a while and wanted to try this out and today I just decided to get it done but like I say it got more complicated as it went and I don't like to start something and not finish it so poor small fry was left to watch mindless cartoons and entertain herself and I didn't even feed her breakfast until 10am. I know, I know, send the bad mother award right this way please. At one point she was really quite so I went to the living room to see what she was doing and saw her slouched in a ball in her little rocking chair with her play cell phone to her ear. The look on her face said, "I will just have to call grammy since mom is not paying enough attention to me." But she looked really cute in her new outfit today. The other one I made much simpler and will add a picture when I get it on my little model.

Sale, Sale, Sale!!!

Okay blogging friends here is set 1 of baby items that are for sale. I have more so if you don't see anything you like stay tuned (it is just a lot of work getting each thing photographed these days but I will soon I promise. It is the weekend, my husband is home more, I shall find the time). If you see something that you want send me an e-mail (thecanuck8athotmaildotcom) or leave me a comment to arrange purchase and shipping. I do have a pay pal account and you can pay that way or just send me the money. Either way I will need to have the funds before delivery takes place. There will be a small fee for shipping as well.

1. Baby bib, diapers and wipes holder and folding change pad set. $18.00 (yellow with animals with green backing)

2. Baby bib, diaper burp cloth and newborn booties sets. $ 18.00 each

3. Onesie and matching diaper burp cloth sets. The strawberry and the cupcake are both 3-6 month size and the cherries are 6-9 month size. $8.00 each

4. Precious Garland- Spells out the word precious with blue letters on a brown and blue plaid background. $15.00

5. Miracle Banner-Spells out the word miracle with yellow, brown and blue plaid letters on a blue background. $15.00

Here is just a look at the banners spread out.

6. Newborn onesies-a white with green polka dot turtle or a bright green love bug. $6.00 each

6. 3-6 month onesies- Yellow flowered sun that says "happy" or a watermelon. $6.00 each

7. 3-6 month onesies-Baby's first Christmas with gingerbread men. One with red buttons and writing and one with green buttons and writing. Include the year. $6.00 each

8. 6-9 month tie onesie-Red and Green Plaid. $6.00

9. Small reversible baby bibs (the bottom center one is pink floral print). $4.00 each

10. Angel, Miracle and Sweet Banners- $15.00 each Closer look at colors below.

Sweet banner- black with colored polka dots on pink flannel

Miracle banner with brown corduroy letters on pink floral backgrounds.

Angel banner with brown flannel letters on turquoise with brown polka dot background.

11. Pink and white patchwork large reversible bibs. $6.00 each

12. Large reversible bibs-puppy dogs with red backing and yellow, brown and blue plaid flannel with yellow flannel backing. $ 6.00 each

13. Large reversible bibs-Brown, pink and blue polka dots with brown backing, and brown and blue sunflower patchwork with brown with turquoise blue polka dot backing. $6.00

14. Large reversible bibs- Sorry the flower one is gone now, but I have the blue with the fruit with yellow backing. $6.00

Remember if there is anything that you see that you would like or if you need a better picture of something send me an e-mail or leave me a comment. The shipping cost will be $3-4 dollars per item. I can only ship within the U.S. Sorry for those who live else where. It is a first come first serve basis.

Other items I will post in my second sale batch include: folding change pads, change pad clutches, binkie clips, burp cloth cupcake sets (1 girl set and 2 boy sets), flower hair clips, hair bow holders, baby glasses, diapers and wipes cases, covered wipes cases, baby's sleeping signs and 'lil "guy"ser visors.

Thanks everyone.