It's been awhile again, but I have worked on Layna's quilt finally to finish the top of it. Now, I just have to decided what I am going to do for the back side, and quilt all three pieces - top, filler, back - together.  I have found the design I am going to sew for the quilt. I will be handquilting the design on. Good thing I started this early with plenty time to finish, even though there isn't a deadline. Better to take my time than  to rush !  Along with finishing the quilt top, I made some pillows to match ! Oh ! I figured that our room needed a change, and why not start on some simple room decorations for Layna's "big girl" room in the near future: a french memory board and a framed barrett/bow holder !

the finished quilt top !

matching pillow ! attemping the green polkadot piping was a good decision.
Very successful and a much cuter pillow !

she loves her "blanket" and pillows... but not as much as Mommy's Mac !

matching french memory board &
barrette/bow holder

The memory board was very simple to make ! Being a former art student and having scraps of fabric from the quilt, I had the materials laying around the house.

You can use cork board or wood or framed canvas for the main structure; I used canvas on the wood frame. Then I took my fabric, wrapped in around the edges and stapled it to the wood frame. Some people put pillow filler to give the surface a softer feel, I missed this step, but wish I did it. Then I took my coordinating ribbon, and stapled to the back of the frame. Do the corner to corner diagnol first. Generally you would only need 6 strips of ribbon, but it depends on the size of your board; mine is 16"x20". Don't cut the ribbon strips in advance. Staple one end, stretch in across the canvas around to the back, and staple the other end and cut. You will save a lot of time and wasted ribbon this way. After you are done, you can take bottons or similar embellishments and sew them or glue at the X where the ribbons cross. If you are glueing, make sure you glue the ribbons down to the canvas, also. TaaDaa !
In the upper left corner, I added three fabric roses to add a little touch of something :)  (I used a regular house stapler, not a staple gun)

Moved On From Apparel...

I have moved on from apparel and decided to make Layna a quilt ! I started a week or two ago and I already have the top center piece completed, which means the tedious and time-consuming part is done. I took my time, and worked on it one step at a time.

The quilt is a beautiful combination of pink and green fabrics that include flowers, polka dots, and stripes. I wanted to do something bright and girly, and use the bright pastel fabric and purple fabric I used for some of Layna's tops. However, I came across this shabby chic fabric: tiny roses and stripes, which I based my color and fabric choices off of. The pinks and greens are perfectly girly and not overwhelmingly colorful.

I did take photos of each phase of the quilt:

the fabrics have been picked !

I had to cut 72 of these little squares and then sew them together in 3x3 squares

..and then cut those 3x3 squares into quarters.

sew the squares together with short sashings to make columns...



and then sew the columns together to make the top center piece !

 Almost down with the top....

Ruffle Butts

I know I want to start my own business... open a little store, but I have a few ideas of what exactly I want to give it a go at. My daughter being my inspiration I want to do something with babies and children, but what? Clothing? Gifts? Toys? Girly girl stuff?

I am not a fan of ruffled bloomers... or ruffles on a baby's bum to begin with, but when they are made great and I see them sometimes I just love them !

  

I love how these are chiffon ruffles and at the top of the bloomers
and go down to the middle...let me see if I can find any tutu onesies/bloomers
where it wraps around to the front

Ruffle Butts .... rufflebutts.com

Along with ruffles on the butts, I just sometimes want plain diaper covers/bloomers for Layna. I think I will attempt to make one out of some extra fabric from her dress !

Baby Bloomers Tutorial

Now, let's add the ruffles... (tutorial)

or maybe I will attempt to make a "summer swing top" (as it is called) and ruffle bloomers and if I fail.... I can just order from Ruffle Butts....

Pillow Case Dress Tutorials

pillow case dress with decorative bottom edge



simple illustrated instructions for a pillow case dress

                 

measurements for lengths along with tutorial

patterns - armhole

Feels Like Spring!!

It was in the 60's here and no sign of snow just the sun and a nice bright blue sky ! By now Layna knows exactly what this means: photo shoot. Last week I spent some late nights sewing (I would rather sew than sleep when Layna sleeps through the night  haha). One day Layna woke up with a new bright colored romper and another day she got a cute black, white, and torquoise multi-patterned dress - both with matching headbands.

These photos aren't great, I must've had the camera on the wrong setting...

Hello

I am a Mommy of the most adorable 15-month-old baby girl, and she has inspired to use my creative elsewhere besides the computer (I went to school for graphic design.) When I found out I was pregnant with her my creativity of that moment was "what our we going to name her?" My family has its share of unusual names unless you are from the Ukraine or me or my brothers. My parents' named us our names with specific reasoning. My father's college friend's name was Andre and they liked it, so my older brother was named Andre Lee. Then, I came along... Amoura Lynn. "Yes, like 'love'..no, not spanish, the French word... just add the 'a' to the end." That has been the answer to "what is your name?" since Day One. My mother's name Luba (loo-ba; rhymes with tuba..) means love in Ukrainian. Now, do you see the connection from my mother's and my name? Ok... and then there is my younger brother, Austin Luke. The story is this: my parents asked Andre what he would like his brother's name to be and he said "Luke Skywalker" -that's where they get Luke from... I am not sure where Austin came from though. It started with A and not  so common when we were younger. Now... did you notice anything else with our names? We have the same initials (ALC); the A is from my father's name Arthur and the L from my Mother's name. Aren't they creative?

So, there I was pregnant, anxiously trying to find the perfect name. I have always known I wanted my children to have uncommon names, but how uncommon? how unusual? should the spelling make sense or be creative? Would *My Baby's Daddy* like it? Since high school I would "fall in love" with a name but within a year or two, that name would be popular and every new baby girl or boy would have that name. So, how would I know that wouldn't happen again.... Throughout my whole pregnancy, I would send lists after lists of names to *My Baby's Daddy*: just first names, names that would be good middle names, first and middle name combinations... Well, it wasn't the whole pregnancy I obsessed over names because when we found out we were having a girl.... my creativity stopped and I stumbled across THAT name. I had seen it before and said it before but this time it was spelt differently and I was in love... About 20 weeks later *Layna Elizabeth* was born.

Layna isn't super creative but it is uncommon. But the thing that was creative were the names I had brainstorm and thought out to get to Layna. (It is ironic, however, because my spanish name in middle school and high school was Elena (A-Lai-Na)... isn't it ironic?)

After the whole name thing. Layna was born and photography became my new hobby and my camera became my new best friend besides Layna. I loved taking photos of her ! And then I wanted them to look my artistic, so I needed clothes or something to make babies cute and girly and delicate.... tutus.  I have made Layna tutus for specific photos and outfits, and now since it is summer... it is time to make summer dresses ! 

Enjoy this blog and my homemade stuff for Layna. After apparel who knows what is next ! Whatever Layna needs and what I can make !