Noisy Taggie Square

I saw this tutorial at Joy's Hope and thought this would make a great little toy for Micah to play with during our 10 hour road trip! It was very simple to make and I can't wait for him to see it...I hope he plays with it for a long time! It's hard to keep one year olds occupied in the car, since he can't have crayons (he just eats them) or books (he just eats them) and since he throws most of his toys anyway. We'll see what he thinks!

These will make great baby gifts in the future too!

Not Broken...

My machine wasn't broken afterall. I changed the needle again and tried some new thread and it seemed to work just fine. So, while I was in the sewing mood I got a few things accomplished. I finished the pillow and burp rags for my little goddaughter, Faith. I made a felt lunch bag and I made a skirt for Naomi. I love the fabric that I used for this skirt and I still have lots to work with. Maybe I'll just keep making more and more skirts for her as she grows. She loves to twirl in her new skirt too! She's really been into dancing lately so it makes me happy to make her a skirt that she wants to dance in!This skirt was pretty simple to make (which is good since I don't have a lot of patience for fussy sewing and I have limited knowledge on the subject). I just cut the length that I wanted for the skirt plus about an inch, then sewed the two ends together so that no seams were showing. I'll have to post a tutorial on that sometime because it's really a neat way to sew things without having a serger. I made a pocket for the elastic at the top and then threaded the elastic through with a safety pin and closed the gap where I put that in. Then I sewed some ribbon onto the bottom of the skirt. I started with sewing the ribbon flush onto the underside of the skirt then folded it over to the front and sewed that down. Pretty simple but pretty nice too! Naomi loves her skirt and I can't wait to make her some more!

Baby Blankets

Last night I took the time after the kids were in bed (and after we watched 24) to sew some baby blankets. This was a very simple project but I just love the way they turned out. The fabric is so cute, I don't want to part with them. But I'm happy to be able to spread the love and send them to little ones that I love! I used a half yard of two fabrics and stitched them wrong sides together, leaving a small opening to turn them right side out. I've made pillows before and didn't really know how to close them properly, so last night I got online and found a tutorial for stitching things like that closed. I guess if you sew a lot it seems silly that I didn't know how to close them properly but I've really just taught myself a lot of the things I do. So, I used a blindstitch and I'm really happy with the way it finished off the blankets.I am so excited that they turned out pretty good. They may be a bit small but I envision them being used more as lap blankets for the stroller or car seat, or somethinng like that. I hope the little ones who receive these in the mail really like them as much as I do. M is sleeping with his right now. Hopefully the jungle animals won't wake him up!

Spit happens

I have a TON of friends who are pregnant right now and I love to give gifts that are really personal. Everyone is on a tight budget but these diaper rags are such a great gift, I know because I have some for both of my kiddos. My friend Amy is so kind in offering her embroidery services to me on these diaper rags that I just add the ribbon on the bottom and there you have a very personal, great gift. I hope that the moms like these gifts for their kiddos and I hope the kiddos spit up often so they can get used!