sick [not tiny] baby

The boy has been sick for three days now, which means I'm officially two nights behind on sleep. I know I've gone through "baby with a cold" dozens of times, but I'm still having trouble finding a good solution for this poor little guy. Any good ideas for congestion in a seven month old? Nothing like a clogged-up nose and snargly lungs to make it hard for a baby to eat. And sleep. And just plain feel pleasant.

tiny man

In the spirit of the theme of tiny, born on Tuesday at 8:31 in the morning, here is the newest addition to our family.

[another] tiny dress

Following Jennie's lead, I made a tiny dress for a baby shower this week as well, but I went with a slightly (much) more simple version. I love this Amy Butler fabric, and have used it over and over.

With baby shower gifts, I'm always guessing on size (especially when it's the first baby for a couple). Do you assume that the baby's age will correspond with its size? We happen to have very large babies around here -- our seven month-old currently sports 12-18 month outfits -- so my idea of "fit by age" is moderately skewed. And what if you want to make something seasonal (like, say, a sundress)? With "fit by season" in the mix, it becomes a longshot that fit will apply at all.

Lots of trauma for such a small dress. But it sure is cute on the hanger.

This dress is essentially two rectangles -- a large one for the main body, and a 6" piece (double the width of the main body) to form the neck and sleeves.

I seamed the bigger rectangle into one large tube (what is the technical term for this? I feel like you have to decipher sanskrit to understand my instructions . . . my apologies.) With the seam in the back, I ironed the tube flat and cut off the upper two corners to form the bottom of the armholes -- about two inches down and an inch into the width.

Taking the smaller rectangle, I ironed it in half into a long 3" wide strip, and then ironed 1/4" fold on the sides (almost like making very wide bias tape). I stitched the ends together (making another big circle). Matching center fronts and center backs of the two pieces, I then placed the folds of the neck piece over the raw edge of the body (right sides out) and over-stitched it. I stitched around the top of the neck 1/2" from the fold and threaded 3/8" elastic through for the gathered neck.

The hem is a simple two-inch fold that I machine stitched.

Jennie asked about armholes the other day. After trying many different options, twill tape has become my armhole binder of choice for these types of dresses. Very simple; very clean.

You simply iron 1/4" of fabric to the inside, lay the twill tape over the raw edge, and stitch twice -- once around on each edge of the twill tape.

A clean and simple armhole, with a lot of easy thrown in for good measure.

wednesday's ode

To beautiful surroundings.

inundated

I know, I know. I should have adapted to this years ago. After all, I've had kids in school for nearly a decade. But I'm still constantly startled by the flood of papers coming out of folders and backpacks and covering the kitchen table every day: homework sheets, information sheets, quizzes, tests. Multiply all of this by four, and it's hard to escape the feeling that we are single-handedly responsible for the felling of a tree or two on a daily basis.

In the past I've recycled all the papers we didn't need to keep (and let's face it, most of these papers do not need to be kept), but there has still always been a twinge of . . . something. I mean, homework or the week's schedule just seems like such a sad life for a piece of paper.

So last week I decided to give them a second life.

We usually bring along little notebooks for the kids (and, well, both of us) to doodle in on sundays, but last week we ran out. And just like that, a new life opened up for the stack of papers piling up on the bookshelf.

Drawing books.

I thought "highly technical bookbinding" was a bit unnecessary for these, especially since they're eventually headed for the recycling bin anyhow (unless the doodles happen to be exceptional). Instead I opted for fold-and-staple.

I folded the papers in half, schoolwork on the inside. Then I stacked them five or six doubled sheets high, folded a drawing or painting (from the big stack of those languishing elsewhere in this house) on the outside -- placing the exterior fold over the non-fold edges of the inside papers -- and stapled the lot.

Took about five minutes to put together three books this morning. Took the girls about forty-five minutes to finish them off.

Fair enough.

Irish doorways (obsessions continued)

I loved Allyson's post about visual obsessions. Her photos of shadows were so striking, especially when grouped together.

I was looking for an old photo the other day and came across some pictures I took while in Ireland a few years back. Sadly not in digital form, but you still get the idea. Irish doorways! So many of them and all inviting me to peek through at what lay beyond.

In fact, when I began dabbling in watercolor, I used one such photo as the subject of my first painting.

I wouldn't mind another trip across the Pond to add to my obsessive collection.

more floor

Truly this boy spends half of his day on the floor. Even when he's supposed to be in his bouncy seat, he somehow makes his way out and down (clearly I should start buckling him in).

For the past few weeks I've been folding up a blanket and putting it on the floor for him to play on. Remember the Christmas blanket (and the duvet that just keeps giving)?

Well, on a clean floor with a baby that never spits up, it makes the perfect play mat. But on our floor (which is no longer clean ten minutes after a thorough cleaning), and with this particular baby who spits up pretty regularly, I finally figured an actual floor mat was in order.

Fortunately, half of the work for a mat was already done. Remember this other holiday blanket?

I ended up with a handful of extra stripes after putting it together (a few of them even sewn into a block), which had just gone into the scrap bucket. So I pulled them back out, added a few more (as well as a big chunk of baby cord on one end, because really, who needs the whole mat to be striped anyway?) The back is one more worn out sheet (this one a fitted sheet -- when I cut off the elastic corners I just randomly left about two inches of fabric on them, but I'm thinking they would make a great pre-made ruffle on . . . something. Don't you think?)

I doubled the batting, just to give him some extra cushion, and so far it has been great. It's big enough for plenty of play (about the size of a crib sheet), and small enough for easy washing.

Before binding the thing together, I over-stitched the seams of the stripes, to pass for quilting. The block of blue baby cord I just left open. I was thinking, the other day, while once again admiring the superb baby quilt our friend Melissa made for this boy when he was born, that it might be fun to stitch his name on the open spot. One of these days. Maybe. If my ambition outweighs the laundry basket.