Dilbert the Dino (times 2)

Happy Holidays everyone!!
I actually got all my sewing done with a WHOLE day to spare! :)
My goal was to make a handmade item for each child on my list - my own, nieces and nephews, and friends' children. This year was a baby explosion so the list almost doubled!

Here is one gift I made for 2 of my nephews - Dilbert the Dino! This is a Melly & Me pattern (yes, yes, I need patterns for almost everything, even stuffies).
I thought they came out so adorable. I won't lie -- those spikes were pretty ugly to turn inside out but once you power through that step you're almost done anyway.





For size comparison - next to baby monitor. They are a nice size!

Why not squeeze in an extra project or two? High chair cover is done!

Little Ben isn't quite ready for solids yet but we wanted to get him used to sitting at the table with us for dinner. Our high chair's original cover was cracked from repeated washings and I already had the Michael Miller Play Lolli Dot laminate and Michael Miller bias trims waiting around so another project got squeezed in among all the holiday gift sewing.

I started with the original cover as a rough pattern, but I did make a lot of adjustments and changes. Most were just time- and effort-savers, I mean WHY did the cover need 18 different ways to attach to the plastic seat? The orignal had a ruffle (blech) and an odd bottom shape, those had to go. The bias trim I though would be cute and colorful, plus it's a really quick way to finish things!

Fleece hats, scarves, mittens -- oh my!

I am not doing a handmade-only holiday, or even close to it, but I do love to give handmade things when I can, and particularly to the ever-growing list of babies and kids in my life. Maybe it's because they are less likely to be critical of a crooked seam. ;-)

Since these have already been given out I'm free to share them here now! I wanted to get these done early so that they could be used the whole winter season. I made seven sets of these. I didn't intend to make mittens too, but after I made a pair for my son Nate I really liked how they turned out, and they were pretty fast. First some pictures then some details for anyone else interested in making some.

The pink girl set with kitty cat scarf:


All my kitties:


Boy set with bunny scarf:


My model:


And now some sewing info...

SCARF -the pattern is from the book Cute Stuff. Even though the directions are really just cartoons I don't have any tips or changes to add here.

HAT - free pattern from the Martha Stewart site! I do have some tips for these:
* make sure the stretch of the fleece goes around the circumference of the head
* if you intend to join the top in a pompom (as I did for the girl set above) add 1 to 1.5" to the height. I didn't add any to the instructions on my first one and it wasn't tall enough. This one became Nate's and I just cinched the corners up to make "ears", also a cute option.

MITTENS - free pattern here. It's not a quick just print and go pattern, it's a small one on a grid that you use as a guide. I used a grid with 5/8" squares for the toddler/pre-schooler size. There is a flaw in the pattern though, if you add up squares on one side it's 8 and on the other side it's 9, you need to either lengthen or shorten one side.

The Toddler-friendly Tree

I love beautiful, ornate, delicate glass ornaments.
But glass and little ones don't mix well. So almost all of our ornaments have now been replaced by soft kid-friendly ones. Much safer now, and pretty cute too.

I made a big batch of these last year:


Here are this year's additions -- stockings:


And more of the Spool birdies - I just added ribbon loops and they are perfect as ornaments!!




An "action" shot of our tree:


Since we're in a holiday mood now, here is this year's picture with Santa (yes that as good as it got, Ben was not cooperative and Nate was a bit smiled out after family pictures earlier.)