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!

Grizz's Cousins' Baby Gifts!

 Grizz's cousins are expecting any day now (I know, I know, it's been a busy summer for babies, right?!), so I whipped up a gift for them before heading home for a two-week break from Big Sky Country. This cousin farms with Grizz's dad and uncle, so while spending time at Grizz's parent's house we headed over to their house to give them their gifts.

The only fabric I bought specifically for the quilt top was the cute International boy fabric from JoAnns. I made sure to check with Grizz before putting another other than Green-John-Deere into the quilt, but he assured me that there's a red, vintage tractor or two lying around the family farms :) The other fabrics were from my stash (remnants, thrift stores or rummage sale finds) - I was trying to get the old-farming-feel of having to use old clothing for quilts... so I added plaids, striped shirtings, corduroy and seersucker :) 

 To offset the red tractors on the front, I bought some John Deere flannel (JoAnns) for the back and some cotton (Fabric.com) for the binding. I can just see a little farmer boy having tummy time on either side of this quilt!

 Just look at that cute kiddo - and that puppy! Love it!

 This tan fabric gave me so much trouble! Whatever I had left after this project went in the trash. It was so slippery... it must have been polyester. I'm a little worried that it might slip out of it's seams, but I added some fabric glue and I warned the mommy-to-be that if it happens to let me know, and I will put a patch over it or something :)

 The finish off the gift, I folded it up, and along with this bundle of two burp rags (a strip of flannel sewn to fabric diapers), put it into a matching bag!

 If they already have a baby bag, I figured this could be used to hold toys or even dirty clothes in the baby room :)

The patchwork is all farm and western related scraps. I used denim along the outside and more of that same John Deere Flannel from the quilt back for the lining. I guessed on all the measurements for the bag and just kind of winged it as I made it... I look forward to trying different sizes/shapes in the future, as I do love the idea of making a bag to give baby quilts away in!

(Pretty sure I loved taking pictures at my parents' place - so many background options!)

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday and Linky Party Tuesdays - check them out by clicking on the buttons on my sidebar!

High School Friends' Baby Gifts!

 Two friends from high school got married two springs ago... and they just had their first baby two weeks ago! The mother was always considered the pink-lover in our class of about 40 kids, so it wasn't a surprise when their wedding colors were pink and orange! When I found out they were expecting a girl last winter, I dug through my flannels and found this perfect fabric! I made two burp rags with it - just sewing a strip of flannel to fabric diapers from Walmart. I love using decorative stitches to dress these easy projects with!

I also tried my hand at making a gauzy swaddle blanket for the first time. My sister-in-law used these types of blankets all the time with my first nephew, so I wanted to try making one! I used Dana's tutorial here...

After wrapping up the gift with some lace, I decided it needed just one more thing to complete it. I knew the baby girl would be getting a lot of pink clothes and accessories, but just in case she received a purple outfit that needed a matching headband, I decided to glue one together really quickly! I just took two fabric yo-yos, a scrap of flannel and a button and used hot glue to attach them all to a length of elastic. There is already a picture of her wearing it on Facebook, so it must have fit!

Math Friend's Baby Gifts!

One of my college friends is about ready to pop... another 10-14 days and there'll be a Baby-Math-Friend in the world! 

I knew I was going to be able to see her (along with another math friend) while spending 2 weeks visiting friends and family back home this summer, so I decided to have my gifts ready for her by then! Of course, I didn't finalize my plans until the week before we left. That's when I found this pin and I knew exactly what I was going to make!

 The pin links to a pattern, but I figured I could figure it out just by looking at the picture - I really enjoyed just winging it! It only took me a quick afternoon (the day before we left!).

I used a black towel from Target and the pink/red fabric I won not too long ago in a giveaway.

Because I haven't cut bias binding by myself in so long (and I was in too big of a rush to look up directions), I ended up messing up a few times, thus the waist straps had to be in a different fabric than the binding and the neck straps. Good thing I had quite a bit of fabric to choose from from that giveaway!

 I just used a kitchen apron to cut out the shape. In the pin, it appears like they kept the bottom of the towel intact, but that was too long, even for me... and Math Friend is a bit shorter. Thus, I just sewed it up and made pockets out of it :) I figured that was easier than cutting and hemming it!

 I've had these burp rags ready for awhile now - last winter I spent an afternoon just making up three sets for friends I knew who were expecting! Baby-Math-Friend's gender is a surprise, so this yellow animal print was perfect! I've made so many of these, that I don't need to look at a tutorial anymore... it's just a strip of flannel sewn to a cloth diaper from Walmart!

 Here are the two girls I visited. We had so much fun catching up and exploring the town where one of them teaches - the other is just about 40 minutes away. I can't even count how many hours the three of us, along with several other math guys and gals, spent studying during college. We had a tight-knit group of math majors, most of whom had plans on teaching... when studying Abstract Algebra and Real Analysis, it's important to have a great group of friends to be with!

Easy Peasy Burp Cloths

There are lots of babies coming up in the fam - one in the form of a SoCal Nephew, and two in the form of a Midwest Cousins' Babies. Before the "important" family babies arrive, I've had the chance to practice my sewing-baby-stuff skills for a past co-worker's newborn. 

Of course, this idea came from Pinterest, but here's the original website that I took my ideas from. There are plenty of different tutorials out there, so have fun creating your own version of the cute and useful baby gift!

I've been picking up any flannel remnants I find at JoAnns and Walmart. The green and white-stripe flannel I used on these burb cloths was not cut very well, so when I tried to cut it with the grain, it got a little narrower than I had wanted. They still turned out fine, though. Grizz thought I was crazy when I needed to buy cloth diapers... I think he understands now, but it was fun to see his confusion at first :)

 I first folded under and ironed a half-inch to get a nice, smooth edge. I tried my best to get it centered on the diaper, but I wasn't too worried either.

Pins, pins, pins. I remember when I started sewing in elementary school, I needed to put lots of pins in. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable now-a-days ;)

I took this opportunity to use a fancy stitch to make it a bit more special. My machine doesn't like sewing on thick material, especially when I use a fancy stitch, so the stitches are definitely not even, but I still think it adds a nice touch.

 I like the loop stitch better, but again, they aren't even. Maybe next time I'll try adding ribbons... but I kind of like just the fabric. Instead of ribbons, maybe I'll just use a contrasting thread.

So, I made two of them to send. I have 8 more diapers in the pack, so I think I'll just make some to have on hand. Yay for sewing!!