Gifts for Another Friend

Well, while Scooter continues to safely grow inside the bump, I'm enjoying sewing with my stash for Him/Her and for friends :)

 A friend back home had a Valentine's baby! They knew ahead of time that it was going to be a little mister, so I was able to use some more of my boyish flannel for both the burp cloths and bibs.

 I really enjoyed the few days that I was able to set up an assembly line for making several burp cloths and bibs. Thus, Scooter is set with plenty of these, plus I even have a few tucked away for future gifts! (Planning ahead!!)

 For the V-Day baby, we also gave a book titled "Who Pooped In The Park" that we found during our Yellowstone trip. Grizz grew up with V-Day baby's dad (they're actually second cousins), and they spent a lot of time exploring and getting dirty outdoors, so we thought the book was appropriate :)

A last minute addition to the gift package was a crocheted hat using some leftover yarn from this blanket I made last year. Crocheting is such a great activity while substitute teaching - especially if the students are watching a movie or I'm covering a study hall, or even during my prep period. I can whip out these hats pretty quickly! Scooter now has two :) I'll show the pictures another day... but now, I'm going to go do some freezer paper stenciling on some onesies that I dyed two weekends ago!

Baby Gifts!

A few more collages...

 Right around Thankgiving, I had both a high school friend and a cousin welcome a new member into their families. One had a little boy and the other had a little girl :)

Above, you can see the burp cloths I quickly put together this past weekend. They are just my usual, easy burp cloths... a flannel strip sewn onto a cloth diaper. In the girly box, there is also a book and a little set of cloths - I tried appliqueing a heart onto a onesie, and I am definitely out of practice! Thus, I also sent along just a plain onesie, too. They are rolled up with cute little pink pants :)

In the boy's box, two baby bibs were added. I won some Fox Hollow by Monaluna last Spring. They were perfect for the bibs! The denim was a purchase at a thrift store (it was a 50% off day so I took home at least 5yds of that denim for about $4!)

 Here are the fabrics for the backing. I hope the little boy enjoys his new bibs (and if they're too big for him right away, his older brother can probably still use them!).

The best part of these projects? The only thing I needed to purchase was the onesies and pants! I already had the cloth diapers and alllll the fabric on hand. I'm trying to be good and not purchase any more fabric.... if we're going to be moving within the next 12 months, I'm pretty sure Grizz (and whomever helps us move) will appreciate me trying to use up at least a little of my stash!

Baby Package

 Cali Baby was born about two weeks ago, and he couldn't be more loved!
A week after he was born, I was able to send my box of goodies - He received two bibs made from his grandpa's jeans, a tie-onesie outfit complete with matching pants, a crocheted blanket, two burp cloths, and a few more pairs of pants. His older brother got a bright red hat!

 Right before mailing it, I whipped up one more pair of "Big Butt Baby Pants" made with Made-By-Rae's pattern... I call them "old man" pants because of the pattern, but I think they'll be super cute on little Cali Baby!

 Finally, I sent the little boys a book. My dad always used to do "This Little Piggy" on my toes, so this book is quite fitting for my nephews - I'm sure Pop will do it on their little toes too!

I can't wait until Grizz and I can take a little trip this summer to SoCal to meet the new addition to my brother's fam!

Letter-Applique Baby Bib

My first Baby Bib (with ribbons) can be found here...

This time, I printed off a baby bib pattern from here, and then continued on my own way without following that tutorial (although the process is similar, if you like more pictures to follow!).

I used more denim from my dad's jeans (aka Cali Baby's Grandpa). Cut one piece from the denim and one piece from the flannel (the flannel is actually a thrifted baby blanket - cheap!)

Instead of sewing on ribbons across the bib, I decided to practice my appliqueing. I got out my "Stitch Witchery" from JoAnn's and some out just slightly smaller than the letter (Q for Baby's last initial!)

 Actually, the big part of the letter was made from the neck-hole that I cut out from the flannel. Use those scraps!

 After adhering the letter to the denim with the stitch witchery, I just zigzagged around it. I think I should decrease the stitch length even more, so the zig-zags are closer together. It would probably look better that way. I'm still learning!

After appliqueing, I just sewed the denim to the flannel with right sides together, leaving a few inches open at the bottom of the bib. Flip it right side out, press and top-stitch. Easy-peasy!

I used snaps instead of velcro this time. I don't know what Sister-In-Law prefers to use; at least she'll get one of each when I mail the box (one more week to due date!)

 Final picture... I really like how it turned out! It came together pretty quickly too. I think I need to send my machine in to the shop though; the tension is out-of-wack sometimes - especially when I was trying to top-stitch on the narrow curves of the strap. Oh well, I made it work eventually.

Grandpa's Jeans

The title is a little misleading. The jeans featured in this post did not belong to my grandfather. Instead, they belong to my nephew-who-hasn't-arived-yet's grandpa... aka, my pa! :)

Inspiration for this bib came from here: See Blog

 While home for Christmas, I somehow managed to find room in our checked baggage to squeeze a pair of my dad's old jeans. I had already seen the Pinterest post, and I wanted to get started!

Admittedly, I bought a really, really cheap bib from Walmart to use as a template. I know, it seems silly to buy a bib, just to make one, BUT I really, really like making things :) So, it was worth the $1 or so. 

The first bib I tried to make went horribly wrong as I was trying to use bias tape for the edging. Bad idea. Well, it probably would have worked if I had worked with bias tape more in my limited experience, but I've only done one or two projects for 4-H back in the day with it. I'll practice again eventually, but not on something sooo curvy as the neck-hole of a baby bib!

So, here's the final project... isn't fun?!

The ribbon was from a previous project, and I just started stitching it onto the cut-denim piece. I also added a few zigzag stitches for decoration.

 Once I added the flannel back, I added a few more zigzag stitches to keep the flannel and the denim in line.

 Final step was the add the velcro. I don't remember the last time I sewed velcro on, but it went on more nicely than I expected!

TIP: when you are sewing the back fabric to the denim, leave the opening (where you can turn it right-side-out) on the bottom of the bib. For some odd reason, I chose a side near one of the "straps." My non-thinking-ness may have made this bib hardest project to turn ever. Learn from my mistake please!

Again, the denim was from dad (thus, free!). The ribbon was used for another project PLUS this project didn't use a lot of it (thus, cheap). The velcro was probably bought with a JoAnn's coupon, and the flannel was a remnant from JoAnn's and it has already been used in another project. I LOVE THRIFTY GIFTS!


I've talked to Momma... she's sending more used jeans in the next package. Then I'll sew a bunch just to keep on hand for gifts!


~~Obviously, this isn't a step-by-step tutorial... my posts are more intended to give you some inspiration to be creative! Just because you see something on Pinterest, doesn't mean you have to make it JUST like the picture. Have some fun with it!