by Claire on January 17, 2010
…To quote a friend of mine.
I’ve been burning up the sewing machine trying to get rid of the stacks of projects (aka fabric) in my sewing loft. It’s been driving me nuts. In addition, baby Laila will be here in about 7 weeks and she needs receiving blankets. Lots of them. And burp cloths, and crib sheets. I also have projects pending for my other three grandkids from so long ago, it’s embarrassing. Not to mention a bunch of stuff I want to sew up for myself for this spring and summer. So, I have been focused and seem to have regained my sewing mojo.
Way back when… ok, well only about 10 days ago or so… I showed you the fabric my daughter picked out for her baby crib bedding. I wasn’t so sure about using the high loft batting, but as I mulled it over, I decided to go for it, even though I’d already purchased some other quilt batting. It took me 10 days of mulling this over to figure out how to actually quilt this stuff.
Totally flying by the seat of my pants (read: didn’t have a clue what I was doing, really) I sandwiched the batting between the top and the bottom of the quilt, pinned it in place, and then managed to get it into my sewing machine and I stitched along some of the design lines of the quilt. 
That was a total pain in the patootie as I just don’t have the kind of machine that supports stuffing large quantities of fabric and batting in between the needle and the main part of the machine. It was quite an adventure, but the effect is one my daughter doesn’t just like, she loves! (To quote her.)
Finally, after all that, I stitched on the ribbon blanket binding, and called it good. My perfectionist personality sees so much of this that could be improved, but my baby granddaughter won’t know the difference.
Next, after that, I stitched up two more crib sheets, and five receiving blankets, plus a fleece blanket for my littlest grandson that I meant to make him for Christmas.
Guess which receiving blanket is my favorite?
Finally, I ended my day by cutting out the panels and bias strips to make the coordinating crib bumpers for Laila’s crib. Once this is done, I can move on to finishing the doggie beds for my brother (sorry, Chris!), which I think I’ve totally hosed up and have no idea how to stuff, but that’s another post. I also have to make some curtains for Cayden before he outgrows Lightening McQueen – if he hasn’t already.
At least I feel like I’m making progress and accomplishing things. Oh, and I did get a 2.5 mile run in yesterday, got my hair done, and went shopping for some pretty unmentionables.
Phew.
Tagged as:
baby,
baby items,
creativity,
sewing,
sewing for baby
by Claire on January 3, 2010
It’s looking like this year is going to be a very busy year. That’s fine by me, but I’m exhausted already and we’re only on day three.
I started off my year with some sewing – my favorite hobby – next to bicycling and running. I had a choice to go to a New Year’s dance by myself and I might possibly have known more than one person there, but no guarantee, and that’s not a fun scenario for me. I chose instead to stay home and get moving on some creative projects that have been hanging over my head making me feel guilty every time I walk past my sewing loft on my way to get coffee.
My youngest daughter, Stacy, just got her crib and changing table – thanks to her grandma (baby’s great grandma) – and so she needed sheets and a dust ruffle and other fun stuff. She’s so lucky her mama can sew! I plan to do another post on just how much she’s saving by me sewing this stuff.
Stacy picked out some fabric from Joann’s and it’s too darn cute. We searched all over for some pink Tinkerbell fabric suitable for a baby and no success. I think I’m going to write to Disney and Springs Industries (who seems to be the main manufacturer of Tink fabric) and ask what’s up with no pink Tink. Tink IS a girl, after all. Possibly they’re aiming for 8 year old girls with all the blue, lime green, and purple, but they need pink!
Here’s my baby sewing status report:
- Prewashed all the fabrics we’ll be using
- Completed a flannel sheet, a second one almost done – needs elastic and I’ll finish that this morning.
- Made a dust ruffle. For the landing piece (the part that goes under the mattress) I reused a queen-sized dust ruffle that I hated and stitched on the cute baby border print. I have enough of the landing part for another dust ruffle in different fabric.
- Cut out and am prepping the quilt to go with the set but I need some less lofty batting, but not as thin as the Warm & Natural kind. Off to Joann’s today.
- On deck: remaining print from the border print to create bumper pads for around the crib, and additional sheets and receiving blankets.
I hope to have these done in time for her baby shower on Saturday, because you know those girls will all be traipsing upstairs to see the nursery set!
Here’s a closeup of the dust ruffle & the crib sheet:
The quilt top (the flip side is a matching flannel print with the little pink flowers like you see on the border):
You can see in this next photo how high the loft is of the batting I had in my stash. I don’t think my sewing machine will maneuver through that very well.
A shot of the border print – what you see there is what was left in the center of the three yards and the borders already cut off and sewn into the dust ruffle. Perfect for crib bumpers. Look at the cute faces on that bug!
Oops! My cat, Marie, at the top there vying for attention – she thinks her face is the cutest. Look at this pose! Showoff!
Okay, more later, peeps. I gotta keep busy!
Tagged as:
baby,
crib dust ruffle,
fun stuff,
sewing,
sewing for baby
That was a total pain in the patootie as I just don’t have the kind of machine that supports stuffing large quantities of fabric and batting in between the needle and the main part of the machine. It was quite an adventure, but the effect is one my daughter doesn’t just like, she loves! (To quote her.)
