swaddle wrap

a mom friend came to me with a request.  she had bought a sleep sack that had an attachable swaddle wrap.  the wrap was great, but she wanted to be able to use the wrap past the size of the sleep sack.  she had another lady make a different wrap, but the inside band was a bit small.  she also liked how the sleep sack swaddler had loop fabric not just strips.  

the hardest part was finding the loop fabric.  while i did find some it wasn't quite what i had in mind.  its stiffer than the original, but i just haven't had any luck finding that is nice and soft and drapey.  but mom thought it would be okay.  

i think that i made this one just the right size.  small enough for a  1/2 month old, but big enough for a 6/7 month old baby.  just wrap the inside band around baby's chest.

tuck arms in and wrap the outside around securing with the velcro.  i made mine with a layer of flannel and cotton.  its not meant to be super warm.  its meant to keep baby wrapped up tight so they don't startle themselves awake and sleep better.  but it would be easy to make it warmer.

i am looking for input and feed back.  should i make these a permanent item for sale?  what should i change?  the 1st two moms to contact me will get a swaddler for $20 in exchange for honest feedback.  i don't have a baby anymore to test it out on (hence the doll in the photo)  

color quiet book

sorry for the photo overload, but this is just too cute to NOT share a picture of every page. 

t & two of my nieces were all born in the same year.  for some reason that makes me think that everything i do for one, i need to do for the other two.  i made each of them a doll.  and this year for their birthday's its going to be a dolly diaper bag & supplies & this color book.   

this is the cover.  

and the back. 

i loved making these for the girls.  i did have some pictures/patterns to follow, but for quite a few of the pages i ended up coming up with my own idea.  t loved playing with the ribbons & buttons on the pages.  

wipes of fun

t loves to pull things out and put them back in.  well maybe sometimes, just pull things out.  if you don't know where she is, look for the trail of items laying where they aren't supposed to be.  

a while ago, i saw where scraps of fabric were cut to fit in an old wipe box for babies to play their in and out game with.  just so happens that i had an extra wipe box laying around.  i cut my scraps to a double layer of 7x9".  well not the fleece one, that doesn't fray and both sides are the same.  did a zig-zag around the sides (this was a quick project, you could cut the scraps bigger, sew them inside out & turn to make them look nicer)

t loves them.  not sure if she has a favorite scrap, but they have also been put in other items....a water pitcher she got out of the cabinet. and now she has leaned to open the whole box, so its also fun to put the fabric in and then dump it all out.    

my baby's baby doll

crazy to think that its been a month since my baby turned 1!  i made her this doll as her gift.  its always fun to do an 'i want to project'.  i got a couple requests from my sister & sister in law for when my nieces turn 1....hopefully i remember that i want to make the arms a bit different.  thanks to a bit o whimsy for the pattern. 

round 2 of quilts

i used to have 5 nephews and 1 niece.  then i got remarried and gained another niece and 2 more nephews.  then my siblings had (well my brothers wife technically) had a girl each so i got 2 more nieces.   the original 6 each got a quilt for christmas 1 year.  i thought that it would be nice to give them something i had made, that hopefully they would keep forever and always think of me.  my sister in law told me that my niece had to sleep with her quilt top down and facing her. so for s i know it will always be something that will make her think of me.  
and while i was SUPER excited to finally have more nieces (its fun to buy for a girl other than your own) that meant i needed to get my behind in gear!  so i figured i had better start with the oldest.  i have had some of the fabric for this for over a year, but ran out of time last christmas.  and i am glad that this was a quick pattern to put together, cause i got a late start this year.  while i cut the strips & squares, z helped me by tracing the circle on a smaller strip.  then he helped by putting a circle on a square for me to sew.
i love how bright & colorful it is.  now to find a pattern & fabric for the next nephew......

more zizzle zoo

a beautiful butterfly, 

playful puppy, 

and a watchful whale.

watch for one more animal to join the zoo (darn fabric order took too long and i couldnt wait to share these with you)

doll diaper bag

this was SUPER fun to make!!!  my friend asked me to make her 2 year old daughter a doll diaper bag & accessories for christmas.  but when her mother in law saw it, she also wanted one for her grand daughter.  we decided on the bag, a matching changing pad backed with minky, 2 burp cloths backed in minky, 2 bibs, 3 flannel diapers and a wipe case with fleece wipes.  and there is plenty of room left for a little girl to add a blanket, some bottles and anything else she would to put in her very own diaper bag.

monster tooth fairy pillows

so for those of you that know me well, know that i was slow with teeth. slow to get my 1st (i am told i was close to a year old) slow at loosing my 1st (that was in 1st grade) and loosing my last (i was a freshman in high school).  so no surprise, my kids have all been pretty slow with their teeth as well.  z just lost his 1st tooth this year as a 2nd grader. and it was no ordinary 'loose your tooth'-he had to have it pulled as the permanent tooth was coming in behind a NOT loose baby tooth.  and about 3 weeks later p had aaron pull her 1st loose tooth as a kindergartner.  so i don't know why it took me SO long to get these done for the kids (other than the fact that i recently stumbled upon them on pinterest-thanks b) but it did and they weren't done for our family's 1st tooth fairy visit (or the 2nd one either).  i made the pattern fro them looking at different pictures of monsters i had found on pinterest and after i got z's done decided it looked a bit off.  so i made my adjustments and finished two for the girls.  kids all love them and have to sleep with them (even though there are no loose teeth) and i should have a good 4 years to get the last one done for t!

                    just in case you are wondering
                     our tooth fairy leaves a $2 bill

zizzle zoo

i have had the idea to make these guys (or some like them) for a real long time.  i had a friend send me a prinerest-she said she just thought of me when she saw it.  i dont quite believe that.  but it was just the push to get me to make these guys finally. arent they cute???  i have plans to make a fox/puppy/kitty pattern too.  they are cotton on the front, soft minky on the back, the ribbons kids love and some crinkle material inside for noise.  

sheets, sheets, sheets

 so i had a custom order for pack & play sheets this summer.  but they werent just any sheets.  she wanted them lined with pul (that cool water resistant cloth diaper cover fabric) with flannel on the top.  best part was she had a sheet (it was just cotton) that she liked so i didnt have to come up with a pattern on my own.  they were pretty easy to do and can really be made out of anything.  if you would want the pul lined those are $30, flannel/fleece or cotton are $20.

then i have always had a hard time finding crib sheets that dont shrink after a few washes.  nothing is more annoying than trying to change crib sheets that are SUPER tight when you are 9 months pregnant.  so i decided to make my own.  these are on elia's bed.  i was also thinking of making a water resistant pad with pul & a few layers of flannel as those always seem to shrink on me too.

nursing covers

i have been busy in the basement again.  my latest projects-hooter hiders.  while these are not a new item for me, i don't think i have posted anything about them before.  they are about 26" x 41" with a 4" d ring strap and 32" adjustable strap, so you can make it fit your body and baby cant pull the cover off.  sewn between the straps is a 16" piece of boning that gives you clear view of what baby is doing.  this would also work great for a pumping mom (come on you know how silly you look) 

   $24

changing roll

the latest in my collection.  a changing roll.  diaper clutches and changing pads are nice, but what is nicer than having it all in one?  this is an original design.  pocket on the bottom is big enough to fit a wipe case and 3-4 big diapers.  the 16x24" changing pad is flannel lined, so even if you have to change a diaper on the floor, baby wont get chilled.  it all folds up with an elastic closure, making it easier for you when baby is trying to squirm away from you.  wipe case is included.  $24