Crafts for My Baby Girl

Yeah it's been a while....and I tend to start each post that way a lot lately. But I've been busy! You see, my baby girl is due in 10 days (holy cow where did all that time go?!?), and I've made a bunch of stuff for her and her room. Rather than make multiple posts, I figured one big one with everything I made would be easier.

So prepare yourself....this is a long one (but mostly pictures)! :-)

One of the first things I knew I'd be making were of course burp cloths. Since the ones I've made for other friends were so popular, they were definitely on the top of my list to make sure we have plenty to use when she gets here. And me in my indecisiveness, found so many cute patterns, I almost couldn't make a decision! But finally I just picked some, they don't all go together, but they are cute. I made 3 of each print, for a total of 15. That should at least get us through to a load of laundry. ;-)

 

The fronts of each pattern

With the back colors

It might be a little hard to see the details of the patterns, so here's a close up of each one.

The next project I knew I'd be making was a ruffled minky blanket, and of course it had to be VT!!! I mean football season is right around the corner and all. ;-)

The front

Ruffle detail

With the orange minky back

And of course with the cute little VT cheerleader bear from Dad and Teresa 

Speaking of blankets....I had to make a crochet one too! It took me forever to decide on a pattern, and yarn for that matter. I went through several different options of both, and finally decided on this. It washed very nicely and is super soft, and just light enough for a summer baby. I used Caron Simply Soft Light yarn (which I can only find online). I took a chance with the colors since computer screens aren't true to color in person, and I think it turned out pretty nicely. Not sure I would have picked these together in person, but it still looks good.

pattern detail

edging detail

Another item I see a lot of, and think is a great idea especially for summer babies since you can't use sunscreen until 6 months old, are the car seat covers. Almost every one I see though, has minky on the underside, and I just couldn't imagine using it since it's not that breathable. Soft? Yes. But I thought it would get too hot in there for her with the summer temperatures, so I wanted something lighter. I found a really cute pattern at JoAnn's for the front in regular cotton, and decided on linen for the lining. It's still a dark color to help block out some of the light from her eyes, but so much more breathable! And because I like to make things more difficult then they need to be, I wanted to add piping around the outside edge. I love the way it turned out!! Now I just have to figure out what to do with that extra fabric. ;-)

front of car seat

side view

handle straps

opened up

Piping

Another sewing project I took on for the first time was making fitted sheets for the gorgeous baby cradle my husband's step-father made us for Christmas this past year. The mattress is a custom size, so a standard crib sheet wouldn't fit, and I didn't want any loose blankets or sheets in the cradle. I found a tutorial online here and adjusted the measurements to fit my much smaller mattress. So much easier then I thought it would be!

The beautiful cradle!

with the crib sheet

print detail

this is the other sheet I made for it, just to see the print

And last, but not least, I made several things for her nursery. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you've already seen these in the nursery album, but for those that aren't, or haven't looked there, here are the three items I made for the nursery. :-)

Butterfly mobile - time consuming but really easy and turned out great!

Beaded curtain tie backs.....a lot cheaper than buying similar ones!

A 24" x 36" canvas Dr Seuss quote for the reading area. Made with acrylic craft paints (darn you Martha Stewart and your awesome selection of very expensive paint colors!!!!!), the letters are a vinyl decal, secured on with Mod Podge, and finally finished with a very fine glitter spray paint.

I think that just about covers everything! If you made it this far, you probably like making crafty stuff just as much as I do! Or you're really bored with nothing better to do. Either way, thanks for making it through and checking out my work! Hope you enjoyed it, and I certainly can't wait for her to get here and get some good use out of some of these! :-)