Pretty burp cloths

My sister hand-dyed me some Gerber prefolds and they are absolutely beautiful. Miss E and I have been oogling them for well over a month now, but since Little Miss e has finally begun to have sloppy burps, I am now using all those burp cloths and am ready to make more. To my chagrin, she has been a non-messy burper for the first 8 weeks (doesn't even burp much!), and here I am with all these fancy burp cloths! Finally, messy messy spit-up. Can you believe I am excited about such a gross thing?

I started with the lovely grass green prefold and added some brown floral Heather Bailey fabric that I had left over from a scarf for my other sister. Very pretty, eh? Bring on the spit-up!

Boy stuff

I'm lousy at coming up with boy ideas, but I think I'm finally getting better. Let's just say it's a good thing I have two girls, or they would probably be sick of robots, monsters and aliens! That said, robots, monsters and aliens ARE cute, and yes, I've made two more. These were special thank you gifts for the two midwives who delivered little miss e (not to be confused with Big Miss E!), and since today was my final six-week checkup, we delivered the fun stuff to Anabel and Lauren for their little boys.

Anabel has an 18-month-old son, and he received a wacky robot, this one with some crazy ribbon hair. Lauren has a 6-month-old son, and he received a fun and crazy-haired alien. The idea for the alien came from one of the funniest books that Miss E has been given as a gift (thanks to my sister) ... "Aliens Love Underpants". We were reading the book a week or two ago and decided that the little blue alien on a particular page was too cute, and that he should be made into a plushie. Hopefully both boys will like the gifts as well as their mamas did!

A month or so ago, while still pregnant and waiting, I also finished the baby stuff for my sister, who is due at the end of this month with ... a baby boy. She selected the fabric, and it is truly cute. It's a brand-new David Walker print from the line Oh Boy!, with lots of little dinosaurs all over. I bought four fat quarters (stripes and pattern included) and squeezed out a bib, two burp cloths, and a small baby quilt. I have just enough left for a special surprise gift, but she won't get that until the little dude is born.

It's totally addictive

So this morning, I told the baby she couldn't come today. I needed to sew. I made another burp cloth, in maybe half an hour, and love that one. (Shown in the photo below.) I was going to start sewing Miss E's quilt together during the afternoon, but I got caught up playing on Facebook and Etsy ... and by the time Miss E got up, she told me that was NOT what I should be doing. No quilt today. Hmm ... So instead, I listened to her and pulled off another project that I've been wanting to try.

I took the simplest onesie from her Tidoo dolls, traced it onto a sheet of paper, cut it out, determined how I wanted to sew it, and an hour later (or less!) had a brand-new onesie for her dolls. (Saves me a whopping $20. I can't believe prices on doll clothes.) Miss E is in love with the fuzzy outfit. We found the fabric at JoAnn in the remnant bin and have held onto it for a month or two, wanting to use it for "something special" as Miss E likes to say. I have to admit, this was the easiest doll outfit imaginable. I just finished the edges and didn't even bother to hem the neck, sleeves or leg openings. The back closes up with a strip of Velcro, and I added a bright pink ribbon across the chest. Piece of cake, and darn cute, too.

And for grins, here's a look at the bedroom/office/sewing corner before we picked anything up. What a mess! Lucky for me, while I typed this, Miss E cleaned up ALL of her stuff, proudly asking me, "Doesn't it look marvelous?!" Why yes, it does!

Babies babies babies

I'm 38 weeks pregnant, and instead of packing bags for the birth, what am I doing? Sewing. I should be working on quilts for the girls. I have all the strips cut, and they are fairly simple. But no ... instead, I'm making fairies, and now burp cloths, wash cloths and probably bibs. Maybe a small blanket. Oy. I just can't help it! It's seriously addictive, and since my mother-in-law gave me a generous gift card to JoAnn for my birthday, I bought a pile of pink, flowerly flannel, pink and lavender terry cloth, and cream chenille. I also had this adorable kitten print (flannel) that I've hung onto for a year, wondering what to make of it, and it worked out, ahem, purrfectly.

I keep seeing all these cute baby things at baby stores and thinking that I should be home making them, so yesterday I went to work and made this whole pile, plus an extra wash cloth for Miss E (to match baby sis's) and two Miss E-sized burp cloths that she can use with her dolls. We have to match, you know!

I found some great tutorials and then just went crazy. I'll probably fit in a bib or two yet, like I said, but the burp cloths are so dang cute -- and simple, too. Sometime, I'll pack those bags ... hopefully before it's too late!

Baby Palooza

*whew* I did it. Starting last Friday, one week ago, I started cranking out baby gifts. The first was a set for my sister's sister-in-law, who is due to have twins in the not-too-distant future, so her shower is fast approaching. I needed to have that in my sister's hands before vacation, so I finally managed to bring my sketch to life. I had this idea a few weeks ago, sketched it out, and then had to wait until I had time. I was going nuts because I couldn't wait!

And ... I love them. I have dubbed them "Baby Beans"; the lil' bitty baby burritos. Don't even think of stealing my idea! Ha! ;) “lil’ bitty” because they are small. “beans” because they are human beans, as in the children's novel "The Borrowers" (Mary Norton). “burritos” because they are completely swaddled. How's that for a writeup on something so small that a three-month-old can hold it? I used a bunch of ribbons as hair and feet (yeah, I know they are swaddled, but use your imagination here!)

On top of that, I had recently seen some "loveys", so I extended my ribbon and bright colors theme to make some small blankets with ribbons as well. I did a patchwork of the coordinating Erin McMorris fabrics, along with pink flannel, and backed it with cream-colored minkee that has raised hearts. Too cute, really.

Then, somewhere in the middle of making all of that, I had to pause and make a burp cloth for Miss E to use for her dolls. I dug out an old (yes, used!) Gerber diaper, added a strip of flannel and some ribbons, and voila, a fancy burp cloth for my little mommy. It's not very impressive, but she likes it.

I forgot to photograph the other lovey I made to match the brown floral bib I made a while back and still haven't delivered, so maybe someday I'll post that. I have another lovey almost done that is four different squares (all four used on the twin beans) that I just need to add the ribbons to and sew the back on. I'll get to that after vacation. It was just for Miss E, who really doesn't need it, but still wanted one for her dolls. Oy. It's all about the dolls, isn't it?!