Privacy Nursing Blanket

How many of us nursing mothers have ever tried to use a blanket to cover ourselves and the baby while trying to nurse! My biggest frustrations were always that the baby would wiggle, and I would always be adjusting the blanket to keep it in place, or that the poor little one would be too hot under there with no ventilation, or simply that I couldn't see my baby when I needed to.

I have a great friend who showed me a nursing blanket that she had been given as a gift. It was a fabulous idea, with a little boning in it to create a nice curve, with a little strap that goes around mom's neck and then snaps into place and wa-lah! A nursing blanket that provides privacy, but that also allows mommy and baby to be in comfort. And the best part, it only takes 1 yard of fabric.

So, I actually had this fabric scrap in my sewing room so this is what I used rather than going and buying more fabric. I believe that I started with about 1 1/4 yards. I trimmed the fabric so that it was a nice even rectangle.

The fabric that I cut off in order to make the actual blanket the dimensions I wanted I set aside to be made into the strap and also a burp cloth.

After I had the fabric trimmed, I hemmed it around three sides with a simple fold-over straight-stitched hem. I left the top side of the blanket untouched.After hemming the sides, I folded the top over and marked with pins where I wanted the boning to set. As you can see from the picture, it only took a small piece, just enough to create a little curve in the blanket. After marking with pins, I made a straight-stitch hem, securing the boning in as I went. Then to be sure the boning wouldn't slip, I went back and made just some small stitches on either end of the boning.I had some fabric left over, so I made this little burp cloth to match the blanket. I just made two rectangles the same size, and stitched them together, leaving one end open for turning. Finish stitched the end after turning, and then added some ribbon to embellish it a little bit. From this picture, you can see how the blanket will just naturally create a little "window" for mom and babe to peek through, while not compromising privacy at all. The strap I really liked, because my babies are wiggly, and I never had to worry about blanket flying off suddenly with a kick or wiggle. I wish I would have discovered these great blankets on the first baby!

It's Finished!

Okay, so I finished this quilt just in time! I finished it a few days ago, and I go into the hospital tomorrow morning to have this little one! I'm so excited about how it turned out. I decided not to do any tying on this one, but rather to hand quilt it. The butterflies were just too cute to have yarn coming out of them. :) I like how the triangle edging makes it so colorful and fun...and the flannel backing is so soft and cuddly! It will be fun to snuggle her up in it, and watch her grow with it.

Butterfly Quilt for Baby Girl

For each of our children, I've made a quilt, and with each child the quilts seem to be getting more complicated. It's kind of fun to look back at my square block designs and then to see how much I've learned through the past 8 years about quilting! I'm still far from perfect, but I've learned a lot from trial and error!

The design I chose for our baby girl was a butterfly design. The pieces of each block are small enough that I was able to use a lot of my cute spring fabric scraps. I had cute scraps left over from the girls' spring dresses and it was fun to put the different colors together to see what I could come up with.

These blocks were a lot more complicated than any I've ever tried. Lots of pieces and lots of angles.

These are a couple of my favorite blocks.

And here is the basic quilt top. I used a lighter shade of lavendar and a light beige calico for the strips and blocks inbetween the pieced blocks. I was trying to pull all of the different colors together and because I bought a backing fabric that was another shade of lavendar...I really tried to pull all the different purple shades together.

I decided to do three outline strips around the outside of the quilt. I started with the beige, then the green, and ended with the purple so that it would coordinate well with the light lavendar flannel backing.

Here is the completed quilt top. It's hard to see the detail in this picture, but I machine-stitched the little antennae on each butterfly block. I used a deep brown thread to match the deep brown strip of the blocks. They turned out really cute.

Now I just need to put it on a quilt stand and do some quilting and tying...and then binding!

Ribbon and Bead Necklace

I made this little necklace for my four year old. Her little fingers have a hard time with any type of clasp, so instead of using chains or clasps, I used ribbon and made it just the right size to slip over her head. I knotted the ribbon inbetween groupings of beads just to add to the design and to set off the center drop bead. She loves it, and there are no clasps or chains to break so I love it too!

Fleece Blanket for Baby Girl

Our baby is coming in just a few more weeks! I can't believe it! And since it is so cold here in the winters, I decided to make her an extra warm and snuggly fleece blanket. It was such a fun project, I can hardly wait to snuggle her up in it!

First, I chose two coordinating pieces of fleece. One yard of each was plenty. I actually have enough fabric left over to make her a cute jacket or something for next spring.

Then I just measured and cut the two pieces to my desired size, plus about 4 inches for fringing the edges.

After pinning the two pieces together with wrong sides together, I machine stitched around the edges, about 4 inches in from the outer edge. I used this cute decorative stitch.

Then I cute about 3/4 inch fringes all around the outside edge. I was going to knot the fringes, but decided that I liked it better without knots...and I also didn't want anything hard or stiff on this blanket for the baby...I wanted everything to be soft.

The last thing I did was to tie in random hearts and flowers with satin ribbonand I also tied each kitty's tail just to be sure that the blanket would wash well and not separate or shift.

And here is the finished product! Like I said, I can hardly wait to snuggle her up in it!

Handbag, Tote, Scripture Bag

This year, one of the things that my little girl asked for for Christmas was some new scriptures and a scripture bag. I learned how to make these little bags a few years ago, and decided to make her one because they fit a set of scriptures perfectly.

First, I started out with a placemat. I chose one that was out of heavy fabric so that it would be durable, since it was for a little girl.

Then I chose some grosgrain ribbon for the handles, and also to use for decorating the front of the bag.

I also bought some silk flowers to use on the front, so I sewed the piece of ribbon on the front that would complete the ribbon/flower decoration on the front of the bag when it was complete.

Then I placed and pinned the ribbons for handles and sewed them on, right along the seamline of the placemat. Then I sewed the side seams, with right sides together.

Before opening out the bag, I folded down a corner on each bottom and sewed a straight strip along the triangle so that the bag would have a nice flat bottom.

I trimmed off the excess fabric and then zig-zag stitched so that it wouldn't be bulky on the inside.

Then I turned it right-side-out and attached the silk flower using my hot glue gun.

We've made these before with our young women groups, and they are a fun, easy project for them to do, everything is so simple and straightforward, that it is a good "first sewing project" for them to work on.

A New Dress for Christmas

I spent a lot of late nights working on this dress, but it was worth it on Christmas morning when my little girl opened up the box and pulled this dress out.

I used McCalls pattern #M5742 , and really liked it. It was more complicated than other patterns that I've used, but I really liked it. The dress bodice is fully lined, which I like because then children who don't like itchy tags, seams, etc. don't have a hard time wearing the dress!

The dress also has an underskirt with a tulle ruffle added for fullness.

The sleeves are elbow length, which I really like for the winter months...and I found some crocheted lace to put along the neckline, waist and hemline of the skirt.

I really think that my favorite thing about this dress is the color. I again went away from her traditional favorite colors of pastel pinks and purples and instead went with a color that would compliment her hair color and complexion. She looks gorgeous in this dress. The olive green color just looks so beautiful with her honey-blond hair and brown eyes.