Finally up

The nursery quilt is finally quilted. And I got the binding sewn on. And it's washed and crinkly.

I secured it to the wall (just used a few small nails).

Not that that isn't exciting enough, but after I got the quilt up, I could (finally) get the flag pennant garland up.

I love it.

If I could fit in the crib, I think I'd sleep in it.

Hmmm ... now what can I make?

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P.S. Go Vikings!

Custom cradle sheets

When I was born, my great grandpa made me this cradle. Aside from how beautiful it is, it holds so many special memories. Thanks to my parents for taking such good care of it all these years, so that our baby will also be able to use it.

It's completely original, which is super cool. The downside is that it's impossible to buy a mattress or sheets for it. Good thing I know a thing or two about sewing.

The "mattress" is two-inch thick, dense foam (from the fabric store). I covered the foam with a lightweight white vinyl table cloth for easy clean up.

Then come the sheets.

I combined a few online tutorials for making custom fitted sheets. For the fabric, I used old sheets that we no longer used - they are amazingly soft! I made two in white and two in dark pink/red.

I've heard that it's a good idea to place a giant burp rag-like layer under the sheet to contain any mess. I made two of these by layering one layer of batting between two sheets. For as unglamorous as these are, they sure are cute (and very soft).

Knotted baby caps

These knotted baby hats have got to be one of the fastest things to sew - the only downside is that they require cotton knit fabric, which is very different from my stash of quilt fabric (cotton knit fabric has a stretch that quilt fabric does not have). The stretch makes the caps more comfy and snug on the baby's noggin.

I had a hard time finding a pattern or tutorial for these, so I'm trying to make my own. Of course, I'll share it when it's done :)

My favorite cap (so far) is this one with pig-tail double knots.

They can also be tied together. Neat.

It'd be quite helpful if I had a real baby head to try these on.

...

On another note, if you like sloppy joe sandwiches, I have delicious recipe from my grandma to share.

Bed skirt for the crib

I made a bed skirt! In looking for crib bedding I didn't find a bed skirt I liked, so I set out to make one. Have you ever shopped for a crib skirt? Besides being very "loud" prints, they don't even touch the floor – what's the point in a bed skirt that doesn't touch the floor?!

Thanks to this tutorial from stardustshoes, I made my own bed skirt. The stardust blog is a great resource for tutorials - I got the baby booties tutorial there too.

I had to make a few modifications to make it work with a crib (especially one that has it's longest side against a wall, but it was quite easy. If you tackle this project - remember to measure twice and cut once!

Little Miss Swaddle

Do you remember these books? From what I can tell, most people from my generation (and the generation before - GenX) will remember them.

Corey had a set of the Little Man, Little Miss books when he was young. His mom passed them down to us for our baby. We've been reading them to the baby every-so-often and have found them to be very funny and cute. So far my favorite is Little Miss Sunshine ... but we have many more to go, so that could change.

Anyway, I was shopping at Joann's Fabric Store yesterday and found a brand new cart of fabric fresh from the back room. The bolts were still wrapped in plastic! I spotted the "Mr. Men" and "Little Miss" character fabric and knew I had to have some. Besides, there is something very cool about getting the first cut. Maybe it's a fabric nerd thing?

I'm not normally a character fabric type of gal, but these were just too special to pass up. Joanns had both the pink/girl and blue/boy versions, in flannel, and cotton sheeting. I decided a pink flannel swaddling blanket would be a good project.

I've done a fair amount of research on swaddling and have found that bigger is better (at least 30 inches, square) and thick blankets don't seem to work as well (the baby can get too warm). So I decided on a single-layer 40-inch (approx.) swaddler.

Here's a mini tutorial for this swaddling blanket:

- I wanted a square blanket, without any waste, so I got a piece of fabric cut that matched the width of the fabric. In this case, the fabric was 42 inches wide, so I got 42 inches of fabric cut (roughly 1 and 1/8 yards).

- Cut off the selvage ends.

- Iron all four sides under 1/4 inch.

- Iron under another 1/4 inch, hiding the raw seams, be sure to iron the corners well.

- Sew 1/8 inch from folded edge, around all four sides.

- Wash (with baby-safe detergent) and enjoy.

If you haven't worked with flannel before, they wash up well, so be prepared for an increase in fluffiness and softness (and a bit of shrinking).