more baby gifts

i still have no time to sew anything except for baby gifts these days!  and i barely have time for that it seems.  but here are the latest gifts i've made for friends over the past few months.

Bama burp cloth

Sister dresses

toddler blanket

new burp cloths

lots of my friends are having babies, so i'm staying pretty busy just making gifts for them right now!  here are a few of the burp cloths i've made in the past few weeks:

this last one, for grace, i added "taggie"-type ribbon at the bottom to double as spit-up-catcher as well as entertainment for baby. :)

evan's taggie blanket

similar to isaiah's taggie blanket i made a few months ago, it's minky on one side and soft flannel on the other with plenty of ribbon "tags" to keep evan busy!

the nursery is complete!

...and just in time!  evan was born on december the 22nd.

here are the pictures.  the only thing left to do are to fill those empty picture frames!

pillows for the futon

my friend Lindsey made me the picture frame

my friend Cathy painted the giraffes for me

the valance

my friend Jen made this for me...all it needs is a picture of Evan!

evan's diaper bag

this is one of my larger-sized diaper bags (16 x 19 or so) and...i actually used leftover scraps from other projects to make this bag, besides the interfacing.  the leather straps were also given to me by a friend who wasn't going to use them.  so...i'm proud to say that i basically spent under $10 or $15 to make this bag!  besides the time spent making it, it really is a bargain.

because of the different sized scraps, the inside of the bag is made up of 3 different coordinating fabrics.  i put in a cell-phone pocket, 2 regular pockets, and 2 elastic pockets.  the closure is a snap closure.

too cute to be spit up on

here are some burp cloths i just finished for evan...i tried out some more new applique/ embroidery/fabric designs for them and i love how they turned out!  i hate that they are about to be covered in spit.  oh well!

new appliques

i've been wanting to try out these adorable new appliques of a baby bird and an owl i bought several months ago, and finally the opportunity came up when a friend asked me to make a couple of burp cloths for a new baby girl.

all i needed was some cute fabric for the design and voila!

diaper caddy

since we didn't want to crowd evan's room with a diaper changing table, we opted for a pad on the floor that can be pulled out from under the crib when needed.  however, i needed something to hold all of the diapers, wipes, creams, lotions, on and on...so i went looking for something to do the job.

i fell in love with the diaper basket-caddies that pottery barn kids and other high-end stores make.  they are perfect for diaper changes that occur in more than one location.

...but i didn't want to spend a bunch.  so i decided to make my own!

i made a square fabric "basket" with two pockets on each side and a carrying strap, all without a pattern or a clue on how the finished product would turn out.  but i am really, really happy with the end result!

here is what it looks like:

introducing....the crib!

the crib finally arrived this past weekend and we put it together last night.  i woke up this morning just dying to try out all the nursery bedding i made for evan.

and then.....ack!  the crib skirt did not fit right! 

because i made continuous pleats at the corners, there was no place for the skirt to hang down because of the metal brackets that were attached to the crib.  basically, i needed to cut the pleats at the corners right down the middle so that the crib skirt could drop.  easy fix, right?

not so much.

the metal braces holding the mattress support to the crib are a couple of inches wide, meaning the skirt would not fit right at the corners.  in my desperation, i pondered just stapling the crib skirt to the bottom of the frame and calling it a day, but instead i cut the pleats and it fits well enough for now.

the bumper pads fit perfectly, except that because the crib we bought has a thick wooden piece in the middle, the ties at the middle would need to be moved to either side.  i did this by removing the middle ties and adding some extra ties to each side of the middle part of the bumper pad.  no problem at all.

here is the finished product...

evan's blanket

this is the softest blanket i've ever seen/felt, even in the stores.  i got the fabric at joann's and it is absolutely luxurious, especially the cream fabric.  and the price wasn't so bad! 

as you can see, we're a little into giraffes for evan. :)

isaiah's blanket

this is a small taggie-style blanket i've made recently for a friend.  the picture doesn't show it, but the other side of the blanket is the same print as the large "I" is.  i love this so much, evan is sure to get one too!

team bags

both of these bags were gifts/orders, so i've been holding out on posting them until they were received.

this bag is for baby conner, a steelers fan in the making.

complete with a steelers-type font!

and i made a matching burp cloth to go with it:

*****

and here is an FSU purse for a friend's birthday gift (looks like they're having a good season so far, too!  go noles!)

the closure is made with a button and FSU ribbon.

bumper pads...done! (with tutorial)

 the first part of the nursery bedding is done:  the bumper pads!

below you will find a quick tutorial on how i made them and some pictures.

i'll be honest, i cheated and bought pre-cut batting specifically sized for the crib bumper.  i am so glad i did.  i even got the batting on sale for 50% off, so i only spent about $13 for all of the batting.  instructions come with the batting, but i did not follow them since i wanted to tweak the pattern a bit. 

1.  i cut 2 pieces of my main fabric 27" x 11 3/4" and 2 pieces 53" x 11 3/4" for the bumpers.

2.  i cut 20 pieces of coordinating fabric 2" x 20" for the ties.

cut to be "tied"

3.  i cut 2 pieces of coordinating fabric 2" x 54" and 2 pieces 2" x 28" for the piping.  i only added piping to the top edge since it probably wouldn't show on the other edges anyway.

piping cord and fabric

4.  i did the piping first, by wrapping the piping with the fabric and sewing right next to the cord with a zipper foot.  further instructions for piping here.

5.  i did the ties next, by pressing 1/4" to the wrong side on all edges.  then i folded in half and edge stitched all the way around.

all of the ties completed!

6.  i pinned the piping to the right side top edge of my main fabric, with edges together.  i sewed it to the main piece using 3/8" seams.

7.  i folded the ties in half lengthwise and pinned them to the corners (above the seam allowances on the bottom and within seam allowances on the sides) on the right side of each main piece.  on the longer pad pieces, i also sewed a tie to the top and bottom at the 26 1/2" mark (middle.)  i pinned all of the ties so they would not get caught in the stitching.

8.  i then pinned the main pieces, right sides together.  i stitched the tops first where the piping was, and used the stitches already in place as my guide, using a zipper foot.  i continued to stitch all the way around, leaving a 8-10" hole in the bottom edge to slide the batting in place.

9.  i trimmed each corner and leftover piping away.

10.  i turned the covers to the right sides out and slid the batting into the covers.  i then pressed the seam allowances down in the open edges and stitched the edges closed.

congrats, you are done with your bumper pads!

when kate saw them, she exclaimed, "ooooh!  my brother will love them!  they're sooo cute!"  and then she kissed one of the pads.  ha!