Leap Day Giveaway

If you are visiting from Such a Sew and Sew, welcome to Mulholland Homestead.

Have you heard about the Leap Day linky-party giveaway? I'm joining in and giving away this one yard piece from the new Early Bird collection from Free Spirit, pictured above. To enter simply leave a comment. For an extra entry become a follower of Mulholland Homestead.

The giveaway is open until tomorrow, Leap Day. I will close the giveaway at midnight and choose a winner. Good luck.

Now hop on over to see all the other great giveaways.

Simple Hat for Luke

This little boy is growing much too fast. I know everybody says time goes quickly and kids grow like weeds but it really is true. Luke already has outgrown two sizes of clothes including his little blue hat. So since the weather here decided to actually be cool lately I spent an afternoon nap snuggling with my boy and crocheting him a quick beanie. It is just a simple double stitch, crocheted from the top down. I added a few rows of single stitch at the end to give the hat a little interest. I used a soft black yarn that long ago lost its packaging so I'm not sure what brand it is. It was so enjoyable to hold him and crochet at the same time. I love snuggling with him but also like to feel productive.

This is the first thing I have made for my boy but I look forward to many more mama-made items. What are some of your favorite things to make for the little ones in your life?

Doll Carrier: Take Two

After making the doll carrier for Violet I made one for a friend's 7th birthday. The process was even faster this time since I was more familiar with the pattern. I choose to use some Anna Maria Horner fabric I had in my stash. Then I found some solids that coordinated for the pocket and straps.

Here you can see the velcro strip I used for both carriers. It makes for an adjustable carrier that will work for different size dolls and stuffed animals: as well as, allowing the carrier to work for years as the little girl grows. I hope it is a toy that gets lots of use.

Homemade Gifts for Baby Luke

We have been so blessed with gifts for Luke. He has received bags of hand-me-downs, beautiful organic sleepers, sneaker socks, and everything in between. Plus, all the prayers, support, and food we received over the past couple months has been nothing short of amazing. It is such a reminder of how blessed we are by our friends and family. Since I enjoy sharing the handmade gifts we give I thought it would be fun to share some of the handmade gifts we have received for Luke.

First up are these awesome onesies. Shane is a huge Star Wars fan. In fact so are our girls. They have a bucket of Star Wars toys, Sydney has been Leia and Ashoka for Halloween, they request to watch Star Wars frequently, and lightsaber battles are pretty common around here. So with a name like Luke this babe was in need of some Star Wars gear. We loved these onesies and are sad that he has already outgrown them. I think I'll make him some more in the future.

Another friend made this little tag blanket for Luke as well as this adorable crocheted hat. I love the bright color and the ears are so cute.

What are some of your favorite homemade gifts to give or receive for babies? Do you have a go-to gift or do you usually like trying something new?

Doll Carrier for Violet

I have wanted to join along in A Little Gray's sew along for awhile. Jessica is sewing a different project from Liesl Gibson's book, Little Things to Sew, each month and even though she is a few months in you can always join in now. The bear carrier was the project for January. I didn't quite finish in time but still wanted to share. Ever since we had Luke Violet has been loving her dolls and stuffed animals. She has tried using my carrier with her dolls but it is way too big so this was the perfect little gift for her. I used left over scraps from last year's Easter dresses. The print was a little too big for this little project so you don't see the animals very well. In the future I'll use a smaller print fabric. Overall I love the carrier. It came together surprisingly fast and I was able to use supplies I had already. I did not have a scrap of batting to use and instead of cutting into a new package I used a scrap of flannel I had. It worked well: giving the carrier enough stability while keeping it soft. We found that the straps kept falling off my little ones shoulders so one suggestion I'd make would be to cross the straps in the back. This seemed to help hold the carrier on much better. Also since Sydney is six but still likes to play dolls I wanted her to be able to use the carrier too. In order to make it work for a two year old and a six year old I just used long rectangles of velcro instead of just a square. This made the size quite adjustable and both our girls can play with it.

Homemade Granola

I first spotted this peanut butter maple granola from Dinner With Julie on Pinterest. It looked so delicious I knew I had to try it. I had all the ingredients on hand except the sliced almonds. I thought about just skipping them or substituting another nut since almonds can be a bit expensive but then I saw a bag of locally grown almond slivers at the store for 99 cents. Perfect. So I ran home and mixed up a batch. My first comment is that the house smelled amazing while this was baking in the oven. It is reason enough to make more. Secondly it was delicious. Half of it disappeared while it was cooling on the counter. The next morning I enjoyed the last of it with some milk. I have been meaning to make more ever since and I'm hoping to find time to today. I'm also looking forward to trying different variations of fruits and nuts. Now that I know how easy granola is to make I see alot of it in our future.