Hooded Towel

Chenille Truck Baby Blanket

If you know me at all you know I love to make baby blankets.  Do you remember these?  It is so fun to design them, pick out the fabrics, then give them to that adorable little baby.  My friend just had a cute little boy so I just had to make another.  So far I haven't made the same style of blanket twice but I loved this quilt so much that, that might change.

I used this Heirloom Cut Chenille Blanket Tutorial.  I followed her tutorial for the most part.  I didn't round the corners, and I added an extra layer right on top of the backing to make it sturdier since my fabric wasn't as thick.  I also added a few patches to the front to give it a little more character.

I added the patches after I cut the top layers.  It was a little harder to sew them on with it cut but in the end it is better.  I just pinned them down really well so the cut strips underneath stayed flat.  Then I sewed around the outside of the patch with a straight stitch, I left a small border so it would fray along with the rest of the quilt.

 This is after one wash.  The whole quilt will fray a lot more over time.  I love how the patches frayed and how cute they look.  They really add a lot to the quilt.

 Here is the fabric I used for the backing.  Don't you LOVE it? 

  

This quilt was a lot of fun.  It took longer than I expected.  You definitely need to think of this as 'quilting', it isn't instant gratification sewing.  I do have to say that it was faster than piecing and quilting though.



Baby Week Tip: Diaper Changing

I was kind of disappointed with myself. When I had decided to invite the whole team to contribute a tip or idea centered around baby week I thought I would have much more ideas then I did. You would think that after having 2 babies I might have some, but I really drew a blank.

This is what I came up with to share.

I don't know about any of you, but getting my just shy of 1 year old to stay still during a diaper change is nearly impossible. He twists over and is on his way long before I can even get a wipe out.  So, what I have found to work is changing him on the floor. I put him between my legs and then put my feet on top of his arms. I don't have to press hard at all, just enough to pin him down. Then, when I lift up his legs, he isn't going anywhere. He surprisingly doesn't get upset like he does if I am wrestling him around with out pinning him. I hope this helps anyone out there.

Please don't use this picture of my little guy. Thanks!

We here at The Polka-dot Umbrella would LOVE some helpful hints regarding babies seeing we are all new Moms and one will be down the road. If you have a baby helpful hint, please send it our way by making a comment!

Baby Week: Little and Big Sibling Shirts

I am at a point in my life where most of my friends are having their 2nd babies, when just a couple years ago everyone was having their first. I love giving something to the family even if it isn't their first baby arrival. This makes things a little tough, because what I usually make, nursing covers, car seat cover, baby slings and things to that sort, are not needed. I have come up with something that I have enjoyed giving for the second bundle of joy: big sibling, little sibling shirts. The mothers adore these, and the big sibling loves having something to celebrate the new arrival as well. These shirts are perfect for when the big sibling comes to the hospital, as well as fabulous for pictures when baby comes home. Personal, useful and inexpensive.

Here is what I did to make this set:

• I purchased some plain shirts. I love walmart shirts for appliqueing, very inexpensive and I think they are well made, not to thin.
• I pulled up on a google image search 'bird', found one I liked and sized it to what I wanted in Microsoft Word and then printed it out. I cut it out and then used it as a stencil.
• I went through my scraps and cut out my birds.
• I used double stick fusible web to stick the birds to the shirt, using the directions on the package.
• I did a tight zig zag stitch all the way around the birds and their wings.
• Then, with a pen, I wrote 'Big Sister', and drew the birds legs and beak. Next, I used embroidering floss, and stitched over my pen marks using back stitch.
• Finally, I sewed on buttons for the birds eyes.

There really are so many options of what you can do to make this gift personal.

Here are a few more ideas:

For boys, how cute would it be to do a big truck and a little truck?! Lainey Bug Lane has a darling truck shirt that she made.

These Mary Jane shoes that Make It and Love It put together are darling. You could do a big pair and a little pair.

Sticking to shoes, for a boy and girl sibling, how about a sneaker (representing the boy) and a mary janes (representing the girl)? You could make a freezer paper stencil and use black ink on white shirts to be unisex. One Crafty Mama put these darling shoes together.

Even though this is a very simple gift, I think it shows in a big way that you care.

PS- Make sure you enter our give-away! You can win any item FREE at Paper Cotorie! There will be 3 winners.

Also, do you want a free Photo Journal? They are giving out 1 free Journal until tomorrow! Go here!

Baby Week

Are we ever excited about this upcoming week!  From March 28th to April 2nd we'll be posting some of our best baby ideas.  Be sure to check back every day this week too see what each member of our team has to share on the topic of all things baby!  You'll find some great sewing projects, baby gifts and more.

PS - The cute, fat faced baby in our picture is one of our own team members.  Any guesses as to who it was?

Bunting Baby Quilt

I have tried to make quilts for a few of my good friends when they have had babies.  A little while ago, one of my really good friends had twins.  To be honest the thought of making two pieced quilts was a little overwhelming.  At that time my life was on overdrive and I had too much to do as it was. 

While searching for a fast and easy, yet cute pattern I came across this from A Pretty Cool Life.  I love the colors and how simple it is.

Since she had a boy and a girl, it was fun to change up the colors to make them gender specific.

I made my quilts a little different size then the pattern says.  They actually ended up being larger.  When I went to the fabric store to get the white material, I came across a great sale, so I ended up buying material that is meant for bed sheets.  This material is so wide.  When measuring the width of the quilt I was able to just cut all the way across.  The width of the material is the perfect amount for the front and back of the quilt.  I also used more bunting because my quilts were larger.

I wanted to add a little something to the quilt.  I loved the simplicity, but felt it needed a little boost.  I decided to add embroidered clouds as part of the quilting.

I wanted the baby girl quilt to be different from the baby boy quilt, so I decided to embroider pink clouds.  I love how they look with the pink fabric.



This quilt was so easy.  I am definitely going to make more if I ever need a quick project.