The "Hearth Bed"

The latest Hearth Bed

The original Hearth Bed

Hubby and I bought our first house when we got married. One of our favorite things about it was the wood-burning fireplace in the family room. It had an arched opening, which was echoed by the rounded, raised brick hearth in front of it. It was very pretty, but when baby #1 came along, we wanted to keep him safe from falling against it and getting hurt. There are many plastic or foam pads available, but they aren't very pretty, so I decided to make a fabric pad for our fireplace. I made my own pattern by tracing the hearth on brown paper bags taped together. I used inexpensive home dec fabric from Joann's and lined it with a sturdy upholstery type fabric. Inside, I used 1" high-density foam to pad it. I trimmed the edges with a decorative cording. The whole pad sits on top of the hearth and the weight keeps it in place. It doesn't need any fasteners. When we built our new house, we had the builder copy our old fireplace (so we could use our custom doors); however, the hearth turned out a little bigger, so I had to make Hearth Bed #2. Why do we call it that? Because all of the kids have enjoyed lying on the soft, padded surface...and none of the 5 kids has ever been injured on the bricks (yet!).

Beachy Pillowcase Set

 These scallop shell and kelp pillowcases are a gift I made for my Mom. My parents have a house near the beach and my Mom loves nice pillowcases on the beds, whether she enjoys them herself or pampers her guests with them. These 4 pillowcases were part of a set of sheets, so I just embellished the hem with machine embroidery and had a custom set for her.

The embroidery design is from Embroidery Library. It is actually a corner design, which made placement a little harder, but it was just what I wanted and stitched well, as their designs usually do.

I'm linking this post to White Wednesday at Faded Charm.

Tan Michaela Romper

This little romper is one I made while pregnant with Andy last spring. The pattern is "Michaela" by Primrose Lane. I love this pattern: the way it looks, the ease in making it, the little touch of smocking, the great directions. It has boy and girl versions and comes in sizes NB-18 mos, so it is a pattern with a lot of scope. Also, it has a little smocking, but is still tailored and looks great on a boy or girl.
I made it in Pima cotton gingham from Farmhouse Fabrics. This was the newborn size, but it fit really well around 2 months old. I have found that it takes a preemie pattern to fit an average sized newborn.
I plan to make Andy another romper from this pattern when the weather gets warm again. I even have the coordinating pattern to make this outfit for a Bitty Baby doll.

Smocking Detail

I have been working on some posts to share Christmas ornaments that are fun to make. Today I noticed that Laura at Ellie Inspired is planning a link-up Christmas Extravaganza from Nov 14-20, so I'm going to hold my ideas until then. In the meanwhile, I'm still working on my Leaf Quilt and hope to have the top ready to share soon. I'm also starting to plan for Thanksgiving and hope to have some sewing and recipes to share for that soon. We had a fun Halloween last night. Here's a picture of a glowing pumpkin display we visited:

Have a great day and thanks to all of you who have become Followers or left comments!