Sewing is Power!

I mean it. Learning to sew feels so empowering. There are so many things I've always wanted to make and I've spent hours trolling Etsy shops in the hopes that someone had already made something I'd imagined and I could just buy it. The things I found were never exactly what I'd wanted. But now that I can sew, I can make things myself.

I borrowed this book from my 4 year old neighbor because I love the colors. I've wanted to create some things for William using this color combination as a guide.

On a very fun play date that took a mommy-detour to the Stitch Lab (thank you, Jen, for introducing me to my new favorite place), I found this set of fat quarters designed by Stitch Lab owner and designer Leslie Bonnell.

Sorry about the orange hue in these photos, which were taken at 10 pm in our very warmly lit dining room.

It reminds me of the owl book, even though technically it has no owls. It has fish and dogs and cats, and I think it should be named Dogfish Head, but my husband disagreed. I love the colors and tiny print.

I decided to make a roll up changing pad that fits in my purse but is still big enough to give William room to kick his legs and spread out, since I have never been able to get him to stay perfectly still when I change him in a restaurant bathroom. I made up my own pattern for a longer than average portable changing pad. I wanted to use each of the fabric squares, but not just in a block pattern, which looked really choppy. I stacked the squares and sliced them up irregularly and intentionally crooked. Then I placed them together in a pattern I liked.

I fold the pad in half and then roll it up and tie it closed with a length of gold silk ribbon I sewed inside the pad. This fabric is so soft and squishy with the quilt batting I used that it could easily be used as a roll-up blanket, perfect for the car or for naps at grandparents' houses. I finished sewing this at midnight and left it on the floor just like this, and when I woke up on Sunday (which is Don's day to get up with William and make breakfast), this was happening.

These pictures are kind of fuzzy. It was 7:30 am and I really was in no mood to mess with my camera, but William was using his new changing pad as a bull fighter's cape. So far, it's a new travel toy. He pulls it out of my purse and plays with ribbon. It makes me so happy that he loves something I made that WASN'T a muffin. Yay for learning to sew!