Savannah's Baby Shower Gift

 I didn't do the invites this time- and I wasn't able to attend the shower either but I did have to send back something to a super sweet Mom-to-be. 

Jacksonville is getting to be a very crafty group and not only that but she is related to a lot of crafty people. So coming up with a gift was just a touch hard. It finally hit me I should make her a doll.... totally useless to the new mom but hopefully fun too. 

Meet Miss'E' and her dog Mayberry. 

She is Black Apples doll pattern with alternate pattern pieces I pinned on pinterest (not sure where these are originally from... they link to Martha Stewart also but aren't what that post links to)

 Bella was sure this was her in doll form- I mean the world does revolve around her right? But this was actually just my guess at what coloring their daughter might have and Mayberry is supposed to be the miniature and not in anyway exact tiny version of one of their real dogs that is a standard poodle. 

Bella's dolls are naked.... a LOT... so I gave Miss'E' permanent undergarments and made her shoes permanent (because who wants to find and put on tiny shoes all the time?? Answer is not me...ha) Her shoes were made from some leather I had in the drawer. 

Her hair and flower are wool felt. All the detail work was hand embroidered. 

For now she has one little peasant top dress and a very small version of Mom's baby bibs (which I knit myself because I have finally learned how to do a very, very limited amount of knitting-- don't worry I won't be sending anyone scarves!)

Mayberry is also made of wool felt and hand sewn together. His (Her?) pattern was made up by me... super straight forward and simple. I wanted to be sure the baby could play/chew on this and there be no worries. 

To be practical a couple of felt hair clips and toy bags were also sent... because why not... I have such a hard time not making ALL THE THINGS for new babies.... 

Now who is having the next baby?? I am all out of pregnant friends!

Baby Dolls

I had no idea what to get Bella for Christmas. Two and a half year olds are hard to shop for especially when they are, shall we say, less then gentle. At the very last minute (very, very last) it hit me that a doll bed would be perfect.... Then I remembered, we now live in the land of no good retail stores (Jacksonville what is this?! I actually miss you!?) Last minute shopping brought no help until I happened to come across Danamadeit's baby doll basket pattern on pinterest. It was a life saver! Do you love instant download patterns as much as I do?  I bought it, and was able to find most everything  else in my stash. One quick trip to Joann's and I was good to go.

I made some slight modifications- one being heavier interfacing, because I wanted it to be very rigid. 

If you are want to make one I think the pattern is worth getting but I personally would not define this as a beginner pattern- even though I felt it should be. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as exact as I felt it should be for being a pattern you pay for. She over/under explains some parts of the process to the point of confusion. This is just my opinion. And as I stated, I would purchase it again because it took some of the guess work out of making a cute doll bed and I LOVE how it turned out!  (I just want to be clear if you go to grab it to make) 

These poor babies have been mostly naked for two years. It is impossible to find clothing for the tiny cabbage patches. I finally decided to bust out some additional clothing for them (what is it that makes you not want to do these projects and then when you finally break down and tackle them, they are so easy you wonder why you didn't do them sooner?) The left is a from scratch little peasant style dress. I just winged it and it worked out. The right one is one of Bellas baby dresses cut up and reused to created the same dress at 40% the size. 

She loved the gift when she finally stopped asking where the babies mommy was. It was funny and sweet how concerned she was opening up the box, she was more worried the babies mom left had them, then realizing they were her dolls.... she was very happy when she found out she was their mommy.... now if she would just take care of them and put their clothes back on! 

Eden Rose

Randi (the mom to be) does just about everything crafty you can think of. So thinking up something to make for her that she hadn't already done for herself or didn't have plans to do was hard. And then I ran across one of these organizers at Joann's. I hadn't seen one in years (and haven't seen any since... where can you get these things?!) It was actually one of the first baby gifts I did followed by this one, and this one (I never even found these to do for my own kids!)

Seriously love me some embroidering! 

Tiny felt flower hair clips (why won't Bella wear these... or stop cutting her hair... lol)

And a screen-printed onesie with one of my first graphics on it. Apparently I revisited quite a few of my first projects on this one. 

Pretty wrapping never hurts... 

I just love making stuff for new babies! 

Acacia Baby Quilt

In the shop.

Safari Mobile

Baby gifts have got to be my all time favorite thing to make. There is just nothing as fun as creating things for new little people. I might go a bit overboard. But I was so excited about Parker I couldn't help myself...  

Parkers room is safari themed - I will have to find out if I can show you pictures of his room- its adorable!

These were supposed to be about 1/2 the size they ended up being.... that's what happened when you make the smallest animal first and want them all to be to scale. 

and by scale I mean the giraffe and elephant are babies and the rest are adults...

They are each needle felted from wool roving. The giraffe was around maybe 7 inches.  

I kind of want to keep every mobile I make. But I am pretty sure matt would put his foot down... and it would be sad if Parker didn't have a mobile! 

Another favorite blanket- animal style

So I finally found the gifts I talked about in this post. (hope you weren't holding your breath!)

Parker's Aunt wanted a blanket made for  him so she asked me to create it. I recommended one of my kids all time favorites - a whole cloth, minky backed blanket. The kids love them, they are super soft and can take a bajillion washings.  

Now you know I love pieced quilts BUT if you are wanting something custom made for you and are on a budget which in no way means cheap.. don't get me wrong... minky is involved! I think these are fantastic. And seriously the kids all time favorite to snuggle up with... not that you are allowed to touch any of their other blankets... Bella will cut you!

I quilted a zigzag to follow the fabrics zigzags  and it turned out perfectly. 

If you didn't notice I appliquéd the same animals I made for the invite onto the quilt. 

The left over fabric turned into a bag -- because we all know I can't help myself  when it comes to bags! 

I will try to get my gift up on the blog soon.... I have finally taken the time to dig up the last years worth of crafting and I am trying to get it sorted to show to you- I hope you will enjoy it there is a lot of really good stuff! 

Horse Quilt

So yes to answer Kelly's question this was my gift. 

The Mom-to-be is from Texas and loves horses (hence the theme) so I had the star-burst idea stuck in my head. Originally she was sure she was having a boy but it turned out to be a girl so I switched my original blue and green plans for light and bright pink. I am really happy with how it turned out. I did it in voile because they will always live in Florida so warmth isn't needed often. I didn't unfortunately think through how thin voile and piecing probably wasn't a good idea... so in the end I had to double the fabric. Which was a ginormous pain in the butt. Piecing a wonky design like this is bad enough with out trying to work with double the layers. In the end it definitely isn't the most square quilt but I think the funkiness of it will hopefully make up for it. 

I was originally planning to applique the horses but mom mentioned painting them - duh! So I cut horse stencils (using the same design that I put on the invites) So there is a horse for each family member. 

The stitching is hand quilted. I also stitched her name into the quilt just because it sounded awesome! 

Hopefully they enjoy it. 

Custom Order Goodness

We've been super busy over here-- it's up to Mum to show you what else has been going on...BUT this is what I have been up to in the evenings. 

I might just be sewn out....