A Handmade Baby Quilt

This weekend I went to an amazing shower for my friend Meatball (a.k.a. Abi).  Abi and her husband are expecting a baby next month and she will be the first baby girl among my close friends.  Since Abi is one of my closest college pals & a true blue friend, I wanted to get her something special as a baby gift.  I decided to try making a mini quilt and even though I still have a lot to learn about quilting, I'm really excited about how it turned out.  I just wish I had blow dried (or maybe even just brushed?) my hair for this picture:

The front of the quilt is gingham style with a red hearts, pink floral, and white squares.  I didn't use a pattern or anything, I just sort of winged it and it came out pretty close to what I was hoping for.  The back of the quilt is pink seersucker:

I made a mistake when finishing the quilt - I ran out of binding and so there was a very small gap.  I could have maybe handstitched it together with pink thread but I decided to make a little heart tag to cover it all up.

As you can see, the stitching is not exactly perfect, but each stitch was done with lots of love and good wishes for little Meatball.  It's totally machine washable, so it'll be great for tummy time, laying in the grass, stroller walks around Boston, etc etc.  I can't wait to see it in action in April when the baby arrives!  Congrats, Meatball & Brad!

Embellished Dishtowels, Take Two

It's March, which means that my family members are scrambling to find something that's red or cooking-related for my dad's birthday.  Ideally both.  This project fits the bill, though it may look a bit familiar to you.

Two years ago, I hunted down red fabric to make some dishtowels for my dad's birthday.  Two years later, they're still in use, but battered, burned, and well-loved.  I was in New York this past weekend at my parents' house and tracked down those 2012 dishtowels to do a "Where Are They Now" photo.  Here's the one in the best shape:

Clearly two years of use has aged these guys and it's time for some new handmade red dishtowels.  I trekked to Joann to find some different red fabric to use this year.  Finding red fabric in non-girly patterns is surprisingly hard, so I grabbed a red polka dot pattern (manly) and a red heart pattern (since if you can't tell your dear old dad that you "heart" him, who can you tell?).

I sewed these the same way as last time, but I added a double seam to make sure the fabric stayed on for years and years of use and abuse:

Happy birthday, Dad!  Now that I've found a go-to gift for you, I hope you're okay receiving these dishtowels every two years.  Here's to many more years of chocolate cake, "go around the table" toasting, and you cooking your own (always delicious) birthday dinner!

A Polar Bear Stocking for Baby Will

A few years ago, I made Jesse a felt Basset Hound stocking.  I've been saying all month that I'd get around to making Baby Will his own stocking and I finally did:

If you're comparing this side by side to my Basset Hound stocking, I guess you could say I'm a one trick pony when it comes to stockings.  Blue background?  Check.  Felt animal with a red bow?  Check.  Oops.  Similarities aside, I love this little guy.

The actual stocking is a teal corduroy fabric and the polar bear & snowflake are felt.  I drew a polar bear shape onto some paper and used it to cut out the felt.  Unlike the Basset stocking, I sewed this together using the machine for the stocking, which was traced from my stocking, cut out, and then sewn inside-out.  I sewed the bear together and then attached to the stocking by hand.

As for actually stuffing this stocking, here's what we've got so far.  Some necessities (like outlet covers and bibs) paired with some fun stuff to enjoy, too.  If anybody has suggestions on some little items for a  9 month old (how did that happen?) to have fun with, please let me know!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Handmade Baby Items I Love

So I had big plans for this weekend.  Big, big plans where I finished off the nursery, vacuumed every crevice of my house, and crafted up some sweet and unique last minute baby items.  But last week my blood pressure spiked and the doctor told me to take it easy.  Like modified-bed-rest-easy, so all of my plans went out the window.  Yesterday's post was a project from a few weeks ago, but there was still plenty I would have liked to have crafted up.

Let's consider this post a little peek into my private "bebe" Pinterest board.  A rundown on projects I thought I could get done pre-baby.

1) DIY Crib Mobile - How sweet is this star and moon mobile?  The tutorial is in German but it looks like it's fairly simple... cut out some cardboard shapes and cover in colored yarn.  Sorry, bebe, no yarn crib mobile for you... (spoiler alert: luckily Jesse ordered an amazing mobile from Etsy for us to use instead)

2)  Fabric Diaper Changing Roll - We have a changing table upstairs in the nursery and a great to-go changing pad for the diaper bag, but I want to set up a changing station downstairs where we spend most of our time during the day.  I had envisioned sewing up a plush, portable changing pad to use.  Since any sewing project would involve a walk around the fabric store, I have put this on the back burner for now...

3) Handmade Baby Hat - I am obsessed with this project and not just because I used to have the same J.Crew shirt.  Late winter/early spring can be pretty chilly around here and I love the idea of stitching up a hat with ears for bebe.  Now that I've tried my hand at reversible hat sewing, I thought I was ready for adding on some ears and a flourish on top.  Not meant to be (for now).

4. Hand Stamped Swaddle Blanket - From what I hear, you can never have enough swaddling blankets for a new baby and this one is stunning.  Though I haven't used a potato stamp in ages, I had envisioned a basset hound stamp on the light, gauzy blanket.  This would also make a lovely baby gift if you can get the stamping down right.

So... a little glimpse into my yet-undone to-do list.  It's possible I will get them done at some point, but for now enjoy these sweet handmade baby goods and stay homey!

It's a ... HAT!

Although we've decided not to find out the sex of our baby before he or she is born, I find it tempting to buy some pink and blue items to bring to the hospital with me.  I know, I know... my inner Bates sociology major is cringing right now (I bet Charlie's inner Bates hockey player is laughing at that statement), but at 39 weeks pregnant, I'm up to my ears in yellow and green baby gear and ready to get this party started with some non-neutral baby items.

I decided a while ago that I wanted to sew a reversible pink and blue infant hat to take to the hospital for when the baby is born.  I bought some stretchy, soft jersey material in a bold blue and a light pink and hit up the internet for ideas on how to sew a baby hat.  This tutorial from Zaaberry looked easy to follow and fairly simple.  Even though her tutorial has a pattern to download and use, I just eyeballed the sizing based on (the world's cutest) hat I bought for this little Easter baby from BabyGap:

I followed the Zaaberry instructions for both the pink and blue hats, then sewed a strip at the top to connect them (wrong sides facing out)...

With the hats connected, it can be flipped to show either the pink side...

...or the blue side.

Pretty excited about how it turned out!  This hat is now packed in the hospital bag and patiently waiting  further instructions...

DIY Pacifier Holder

Here's a quick sewing project that took about 20 minutes and kept my OMG-there's-a-baby-arriving-soon crazies at bay for now.

When adding items to our baby registry, I saw that these pacifier clips were one of the best rated baby products Amazon carries.  It seemed crazy to stick them on the registry when I knew I could make a similar one myself.  Here is what I used:

scrap fabric (leftover from this bag)

elastic

mitten clip

I cut the fabric so it was about a foot long strip and ironed the edges...

...then sewed a hem onto each side...

...making sure to sew in the elastic strip as I sewed the end...

On the other end, I sewed on the mitten clip, then attached a pacifier and we are ready to rock!

This is an easy peasy homemade baby gift and I think I'll make a few more with my extra scraps of fabric.  I have a few more pre-baby sewing projects to work on and this one is for sure the simplest.  Stick with me as I go over my head in sewing and nesting!

DIY Decorated Dishtowels (& More Spoons!)

My sister turned 23 last weekend and she chose to come up from DC and celebrate with us!  I was so excited!  She graduated last year and is living in her first apartment with her old college roommate.  I'm getting a little nostalgic for my early 20s, so let's move on.  I wanted to make her some cheery accessories to use in her kitchen and she mentioned a while back that she's going with a yellow color scheme.

I made some dishtowels for my father a while back and wanted to do something similar with cute yellow fabric.  The problem was, I couldn't find any yellow fabric I loved.  I went to a local independent fabric store that usually has a great assortment, but their yellow selection was severely lacking.  Time to switch up the plan a bit.  I grabbed some yellow rick-rack and a quarter yard of a yellow & blue striped fabric.

Both dishtowels were very simple.  First, I cut my rick-rack so that it would run the length of the towel. Then I folded over one side and put in a bunch of stitches so it wouldn't fray.

Then I flipped it over and sewed a straight line through the rick-rack right across the length of the towel.  Then I folded over the rick-rack and stitched through it on the other side (again, to stop fraying).

With the rick-rack towel done, I cut my length of fabric in half and folded so it covered one end of my second towel on both sides.  I ironed the whole thing in place (including the hem, folded under the fabric)...

...and then started to sew the fabric on.

Once the fabric was on, I sewed another line of stitches towards the top of the fabric to help it keep its shape.

I wrapped up the dishtowels and paired them with three bright yellow spoons (similar to these and these).  Fun & homemade gift for a loved one!  Happy birthday, Jules... stay homey!

Embellished Baby Burp Cloths

One of my best friends is expecting a baby on July 1.  Since I missed her shower out in LA, I wanted to send her a care package with some stuff for the baby.  On a tip from another new mom friend, I decided to add some burp cloths to the package as well.

First of all, I can't believe I'm blogging about burp cloths.  I mean, I actually just learned what they are and it seems sort of silly to sew some pretty fabric onto a piece of cloth that a baby is going to be yakking on anyway.  But.  I whipped out my sewing machine and figured I could add some color & pattern to Jenny's baby cleanup schedule...

Here goes:  I started with prefold diapers (from Target or Babies R Us) and a few strips of fabric that I liked.  I cut the fabric to fit along the diapers...

...ironed and pinned...

...and then sewed all edges.  A quick and easy handmade baby gift (& in relatively gender neutral colors, though of course you can add pink or blue or green or whatever):

What are your handmade baby gift ideas?  What did you use most as a new mom?  It seems like I'm starting to enter the era of new babies amongst my friends, so any ideas are much appreciated!  Let us know and stay homey!

An Intermediate Dog Bed

I showed you how to sew a basic dog bed awhile back when I made this old thing for Fred to relax on in our bedroom. Since then, my sewing skills have improved slightly and I felt a bit more ambitious when creating a cozy space for our new dog.  I considered buying a dog bed, of course, but the ones at Petco aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing & the ones at LLBean are outrageously pricey.

Here's how I made a custom dog bed, done exactly to my specs, and under $25.  You'll need 3 old pillows, 2 yards of thick fabric for the side of the bed and the base, 1 yard of a softer fabric for the bottom pillow.  You'll have some fabric left over.

First, I sewed the bottom pillow.  I wanted it to be removable from the rest of the bed for easy washing.  Using a supersoft fleecy fabric, I sewed an envelope-style pillowcase for an old pillow that we had around the house.

Once that was sewn, I put the bottom pillow aside and got started on the side wall.  I know Fred loves beds with walls that he can rest his head on, so I designed a bolster wall for this one.

I had two yards of a colorful, home decor weight fabric.  I cut a strip from it, gauging how high I wanted the wall to be and cutting the strip to be that width.  Then, to make rounded edges on the bed, I used a large bowl to guide the cuts:

Then, I gutted two other old pillows that we had from our Brooklyn days.  I took the stuffing and filled the strip of fabric to make the wall...

...and pinned it closed...

I sewed the whole thing closed so I had one long, stuffed wall for the bed.  Finally, I cut a strip of leftover fabric the size of the bed's bottom pillow and sewed it to the bolster wall.  That way, the bolster has a base that holds it together when I take the bottom pillow out for washing.

The verdict?  Both dogs love it.  I was trying to get a few shots of New Dog on it...

...but I couldn't get her to stop squirming AND look at the camera at the same time.  Just as she ran off after one of our cats, Fred came climbing onto the bed... he's been there all morning.

Stay cozy and stay homey!

Embellished Dishtowels

Here's another beginner's sewing project (& another personalized gift idea).  I used my sewing machine for this but you could hand stitch these if you had some time while watching a movie or something.  It was easy peasy... I started with white dishtowels & strips of fabric.  I chose a few different red patterns since these were for my dad and red is his favorite color...

First of all, it's important to wash and dry everything before sewing so everything is pre-shrunk when you start sewing.

I pinned a strip of fabric across the dishtowels and sewed straight lines along the seams...

...and turned along the corners to sew the entire rectangle on...

I couldn't believe how easy these were to make and I love them!  I think they'd be a great bridal shower or housewarming gift.  One of my best girlfriends just bought a condo in Boston and loves red too, so I have a feeling I'll be making another set like these sometime soon.  Until then, stay homey!