How to sew green, or HOLY CRAP I MADE SOMETHING!

As some of you know, my friend MK had her second baby about a month ago. Her FIRST baby (who is now almost 2, and I think we get to call him a baby until that point) is having a wee bit of a hard time with it. This is the same baby that I used to babysit sometimes, and who got to be my sort of "test subject" on occasion on what it was like having a baby in this apartment. He will always have a special place in my cold, shriveled, teeny tiny heart.

He also likes buckles.

So somewhere along the line I got it in my head that I wanted to get him something special that would be just for him, that would help occupy him when mommy was tending to little baby E, that could help keep his attention during church...

And naturally, it HAD to have buckles.

So first I searched online to see if such a toy existed. I found this one and I almost bought it like seven times. Then I found someone's blog that was doing a giveaway for that very same toy and I thought--FATE! I'm TOTALLY gonna win this!

I didn't.

Then, my dear friends, I decided something that may have changed my life forever.

I decided to MAKE one. And this was my process:

First I bought some of these.
Yeah, I went to a fabric store and everything. I got 4 sets of buckles and straps, and I came home and hand sewed the straps on. No big deal.

But then I had no idea what to do next. So I pulled in a consultant. Under a ruse of a friendly dinner at our place, I invited the area expert in all things crafty over and she happily brainstormed with me.

So the idea started forming.

And then I asked you if I could borrow your sewing machine. I borrowed one (thank you very much!). (PS it was a Singer, not a Brother, but I think very similar. And I liked it.)

I thought, "Man, I wish I had buttons and zippers and stuff to add to this strappy toy thingie."

And then I thought, "But I'm really cheap, and I don't know if I can handle another trip to the fabric store so soon."

And my next thought was, I believe, the turning point of the whole thing.
I thought, "Why not use parts of old clothes I was gonna throw out anyway?"

And that's exactly what I did.
And then I wound a bobbin. Thrilling.

I cut up a pair of baby pants that had zippers up the sides.
And a pair of baby overalls that had lots of snaps.
And a raggedy bib with a velcro closure. Then I stitched his name on an old pocket.

And many [MANY] crooked stitches, redos, mistaken closures, etc etc later, it all came together.
I am fighting...FIGHTING the urge to post close ups of all my mistakes. It would just make the post way too long. I find great comfort in the fact that little L will never give a flying buckle about any of them.

And I'm deciding, rather, to just focus on the fact that I did this! All by myself!

I thought my first show of craftiness was a fluke, but hey. I suppose in this brave new world, anything is possible. I might even be the next her*.

*yeeeeeeeah right!