My Dads Rock!

Almost 2 months ago, my friend Lauren contacted me about a very special gift she wanted me to make. Back when I lived near Lauren I had given her some bibs. Frankly the best bibs ever and she wanted me to make some for her brother and his husband, who are expecting. If you remember back in April I mentioned some new fabric that I couldn't tell you what it was for, but that I would be able to soon, well this is it. I know bibs you say, what so special about that? Well every baby is special and such a wonderful joy to be expecting. I don't know if you can totally understand until you start to want one yourself. For us it was pretty easy to conceive. I got pregnant about 3 weeks after we got married with Tesla. To get pregnant with Ben it took us 8 agonizing months. I know it's crazy to think the turmoil we went through to get pregnant when all we had to do was do it the old fashioned way and wait for the right time. For some of my friends it hasn't been so easy, and for Lauren's brother and husband, well it's down right impossible. I can't imagine wanting kids and not being physically able to have them, I mean their guys in the first place so it's pretty conceivable that they wouldn't carry a kid. However, Lauren who is just about one of the nicest people I know is their surrogate. I am amazed every time I think about this, it kind of makes me teary.
Lauren is a pretty awesome person. When I moved to New Hampshire I didn't know anyone, and when I met Lauren and the other ladies of Stroller Strides I felt like I was part of an instant community. She's super confident, spunky, quick witted and funny. What more could you want in a friend. I loved the way that she talked like she'd been there done that with kids. She just wasn't going to let certain things happen, and you know I really admired her for that. I have to say that a lot of my confidence as the boss of the house comes from talking to her about her kids. She just tells them how it is and that's the way it is. I immediately loved it, because with the amount of kids that we would ideally like to have, I just can't be a push over. Thanks Lauren for being awesome.
Okay, so back to the fabric. Lauren asked me to make some bibs and burp cloths for the baby(s) at this point she didn't know how many she was having. She picked out some super cool Michael Miller prints and asked me to embroider on one of them. I am pretty sure I am going to have to make one more with the same thing written on it. It's just not possible for one baby to have the embroidery and not the other.

The four prints. I usually do a white flannel on the back but Lauren wanted a print on the back that way they were reversible.

The embroidery says "My Dads Rock!" in a copper orange embroidery floss. I tried a bunch of different colors but this one worked best to make it pop off the bib.

The bibs and burp cloths.

All rolled up and ready to be sent. Lauren originally wanted them to look like cupcakes in a box, but then said just put a ribbon around them. So I used some of this rainbow ribbon which is just so pretty and appropriate!

Lauren said the guys loved them. I was really delighted to hear and that everything is going well so far. I am hoping Lauren will want me to make some more stuff for the twins, I have quite a few ideas and I'm thinking some of the Ann Kelle rainbow stripes will get worked in for the future. Oh and I just realized that this post is just in times for Father's Day! Happy Father's Day Lauren's Brother and Brother in Law! Can I suggest a celebration of sleep? I'm thinking with twins, this may be the last Father's Day for awhile that sleeping in will be possible!!!

Winner!

Wow, what a fantastic couple of days! Thanks so much to Sew Mama Sew! for hosting such a wonderful Giveaway Day! There were really some fantastic items being given away, and although it looks like I didn't win anything, I sure feel like I did with all of your wonderful comments!

So who is the winner? I used the Random Generator to select a number. I think I messed up when I said that I wanted the widget to be editable after the code is created, so you're not going to see the result below. It's the first time I have used it and I can't preview a working one. So the first time that I hit the generate button the winning comment was #18!




Number 18 came from:

Candice @ Made With Love said... I love the blanket! I have a baby shower (for a girl) to go to in June, and this would be a perfect gift! Thank you for this opportunity! :) 

 

 

 

Thanks Candice for entering! I checked out Candice's blog, Made with Love man I wish I had won what she was giving away!

 

 

http://madewithlove-candice.blogspot.com/

I just realized I could still enter her giveaway and did! Everyone should hop on over there and enter to win one of her kits! I absolutely love them!

Mister Man enjoying cuddle time.

Candice I'll email you as soon as I can to get all the info for your baby shower gift! I hear the masses stirring awake so I need to get off now! Everyone else, I do make these cuddle blankets to sell. I can make them gender neutral for all those requests. I sell them for $20.00 each so if you'd like to purchase one please contact me!


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Toddler Cuddle Blanket

My friend Denise asked me to make a larger cuddle blanket for her sister in law who she was throwing a baby shower for. I really wanted to do a matching bib and burp cloth so I added those in. Denise bought all the fabric and then some for payment. I love the way these turned out. I hope she like them!

Gift Set

Here's one of my more recent orders, I just completed. It includes a Baby Cuddle Ribbon Blanket, 1 Bib and 1 Burp cloth in matching fabric. Looks so sweet. For the bib I was able to use my new snap press and the polyacetel resin (plastic) snaps. They work really nicely and my new snap press is a cinch to use! The bib is now adjustable and would fit someone as small as Ben who is just 4 months or Tesla who is over 2 years old. I love these bibs they cover so well and are very soft on the skin. Unfortunately Ben is not the best model, he's a great tester though. There's a few of the same type of pictures just different views of the items.

Burp Cloth, Bib folded, and Baby Ribbon Cuddle Blanket

Burp Cloth, Bib and Baby Cuddle Ribbon Blanket (Minky Dot side up)

Bib and Burp Cloth. Bib is adjustable.

Ben modeling the Bip in toddler size adjustment.

Bib modeling the bib in infant size adjustment.

Baby not included

Cuddle Blanket Love

Ben loves his cuddle blanket. He thinks it's very funny and yummy.

Orders?!

So last week I made a little snuggle blanket for Ben and a few of my friends who have had babies recently. Seems like everyone is having babies. I had this Minky Dot fleece that is so beautiful and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I had overbought previously for a project for Tesla that failed miserably. (Turns out Minky Dot fleece and regular fleece combined makes a very heavy cape.) Must remember to tear that out and reuse the fabric.

Here is the blanket I made for Mr. Ben. It's only 10x10 but it's super cute, and I love it. Which is the most important thing. He would like it if I drew a big smily face on it.

The flannel is from a fabric store in Portsmouth, NH. But I don't know who it's by. I just love it though. Does anyone know?

I embroidered his name on the Minky Dot side. 

This is my best fashion shot. What do you think?

Anyway, I made one for Ben and then one for his cousin... Then it just got crazy. I was looking around and realized I had pink fleece on hand and this super pretty paisley fleece I bought over 9 years ago to use as a table cover for my sisters baby shower. So I combined those and made:

 

This one is for Tesla, but then I made 5 more for other friends who had girls. I still have to finish one, but what fun! The best part is after I made these friends started asking me, could I make such and such for their kid, or friend. So I said sure! Now I have 4 orders placed since last week of different items that I get to make. I'm super psyched. Since I can't really afford to buy fabric that I want, I've been having them add fabric on to their order in the patterns that I've been coveting. Ann Kelle was definitely up there on the list. Pretty soon I'm just going to have to price things out though, because I just can't be buying fabric without repurchasing the other materials I need too. I was telling Jason if I could somehow figure out how to make $10000 in one year, I could maybe get that sewing machine I really want, and that would be so cool. One to pay for it myself and two to be doing so much business. Hmmm dreams. 

Baby Gifts

Recently, I have actually been able to sew again! I've made some super cute little snuggle blankies for my kids and some friends who recently also had children. (Seems like when you are at the age that I am now, there's always a new baby being born.) I also made a bunch of burp cloths and bibs. The bibs took about 3 months to cut and sew and that's for only 40 bibs so I kind of took my time on those. Below is a package I sent to a friend, it's pretty much identical to one I sent to my cousin too.

You can't tell but the box is from Omaha Steaks. It was the perfect size box and I thought it would be funny. Hopefully she and my cousin do too!

Fun Sewn Cloth Baskets

Recently, I found a blog that gives the directions of how to make a "Stash Basket". I had seen these before in a magazine or something and had always wanted to make them. The blogger used some pretty nice fabric, it was a much heavier weight fabric than what I wanted to purchase. I also wanted to make these for my daughter and sons toys and clothes, so I wanted to make them in fun colors, cheapish fabric and I wanted to make a few of them. So I took PurlBee's directions as inspiration and did a couple of modifications and made eight for the kids. They cost about $45 for 8. I just love them and showed them off to friends who wanted clearer directions. So I took some pictures and wrote up the directions below. I hope they are clear enough for everyone, let me know if you have any questions!

Materials:

1 yard of patterned quilting fabric, for outside*

1 1/2 yards of solid color contrasting fabric for inside of basket and bottom (I used an inexpensive polka dot)

3 yards of medium weight fusible interfacing**

thread

*I wanted a really nice patterned fabric and so I spent about $10.00 per yard on this, so I wanted to figure out a way to not use to much of it on the basket while still having a great effect.

**You can get this at any fabric store. It's approximately $3.00 a yard at one store I went to, but if you shop around you can get it for cheaper. It's also sold in different manners. At Pacific Fabric, it's not sold off of a full size bolt, so you'll need to calculate this out correctly for your individual needs. I happen to have had a roll of 12 wide interfacing that I used. The product is called Heat N Sta by Floriani, you can ask the clerk at the fabric store though for the best thing to use.

Directions: (this makes quantity 2)

1. Cut  fabric. With the patterned fabric folded in half cut 2 12x36 inch strips, this will be the outside of the basket. Cut 2 12x36 inch strips of the solid color fabric. Then cut 4 12 inch diameter circles of the solid fabric. I used a bowl that I had to create the circle and traced around it with chalk. It was very easy. You save money by using the solid fabric on the bottom of the basket instead of using the patterned fabric.

2. Iron on the fusible interfacing on to each piece of the basket. Both the solid and the patterned fabric and each side of the circles. (This helps the fabric to be stiff for basket.

3. Sew the disks together with right sides together, leaving an opening for turning the fabric inside out.

4. Sew one each of the 2x36 patterned fabric to the 2x36 solid fabric right sides together, leaving one end open.

5. Turn the disk inside out, pin opening shut and iron. 

6. Turn the strip inside out, being sure to get the corners, and iron, folding the opening in, and pin if necessary.

7. Sew around the outer edge of each sewn ironed piece. 

8. Pin the strip to the basket.

9. Sew the strip to the basket, I tried to stay along the line that I had used to sew the two strips together so that there was not an extra sew line.

10. Pin the vertical seam together and sew. 

11. Since on mine there was an overlap I sewed about one inch down on the overlapped section to keep it from flapping when the edge was folded over.

12. Fold edge over and fill with toys.

I hope you find these directions helpful. It's the first time I have written directions for sewing so I would not mind any kind critiquing. It was harder than I had anticipated and I'm pretty tired this evening so hopefully everything is coherent.