new taggie ball

I love these things! Great go-to gift. And, isn't the cutest thing of all that little blur of a girl?

Snail Pillow

This is another fun item I made for the baby's room. I'm trying to go with the color scheme of my favorite scarf- warm pink, peachy orange, yellow, and cream. In my nursery so far, I had pink things, orange things, yellow things, and cream things, but nothing that pulled it all together. I made this pillow in hopes of that, and I like how it turned out! When I finished it, I ran upstairs to find my husband asleep. So, I woke him up and showed it to him. His eyes cracked open and he said, "It's a snail." Then he went back to sleep.

Hopefully, whoever is reading this is slightly more enthusiastic about it.

If you're curious, the shell is made of cotton print scraps I had around. I sewed them all into one big tube, then ruffled them and pinned and sewed them onto the pillow. The sluggy body is made of fleece (very snuggly and easy to throw in the washing machine if anyone decides to spit up on it.) The antennae aren't sewn down, which makes him a little more 3-D. The body of the pillow is made from the

bottom of the curtain that was trimmed off. It has a folded closure in the back.

I know it's a longshot, but I'm entering this fun pillow in the pillow contest at Sew, Mama, Sew. Luckily, the photos don't show my less than perfect craftsmanship. They are having a pillow month, so if you're thinking of pillows, you can visit them and drool over the beautiful diversity of pillows showcased this month.

Nursery ideas

Here are some more specific nursery ideas that are inspiring me even more:

First, there is this really beautiful nursery over at Jones Design Company. The whole nursery is beautiful, but I loved how they chose a scripture for their daughter and hung it on the wall. 

It made me think that I wanted to do something similar, too. I think my favorite scripture so far is in psalms 31:24, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."


And, as far as other inspiration, Here is my brother and sister in law's nursery- isn't it beautiful? She has about the best taste of anyone I know.

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  And, her friend made this beautiful nursery. I am in love with the branch on the wall. I love how she used 3-d flowers on it. I'm thinking about giving my mom a project when she comes... :) 
  
  
  

Nursery sneak peek

Can you guess what these will be for? I've been wanting to make one for a long time now...

Coming soon...

Here's what I've been scheming about lately... Um, sorry this post is a little bit illegal because I closed my search windows before giving proper shout outs to the creators of these beautiful nursery. (but to be honest, I probably have only about 10 (awesome!) blog readers and I don't think you'll report me to the internet police if there is such a thing. If you're really interested in accessing it, you could click through the pictures to the original source and play with the URL till you get to the actual post. again, sorry)

I promised myself I would not try to do any nesting till after Christmas, and here we are! I have two months to turn our nursery into something totally yummy like these. Which one is your favorite?

Pink afghan

One of my best friends from high school just had her first baby, a girl named Hannah.I've been working on this afghan for a couple of months now, on and off. It's basically like a giant granny square. Except you'll see from the last picture that mine is a lot more crooked. But, really, crocheting is a great way to keep your hands busy while you're driving in the car or watching a movie. Once you get into the rhythm of it, you really don't have to pay attention to it that much. Plus, they make these sweet and soft little keepsakes. 

Someone made a blanket like this for my first daughter when she was born. She was so attached to it and it went with her everywhere. So, when my second daughter was born, I made one for her, too, so that my first daughter wounldn't have to give hers up. (I'll have to admit, my second daughter has never shown interest in her purple afghan, but just in case they decide to try to fight over one of them some day, we'll be prepared.)  

So, for this third daughter, (yes, we found out it is a girl!!) I'm going to make another one. My first two daughters have pink and white and purple and white. But, after the two that I made this year, I really want to do cream instead of white.  So, what color do you think I should put with the cream? I was thinking of a buttery marigold yellow or maybe a warm green like the one I did for my nephew. What do you think?

Family Baby

My brother and sister in law are having their firist baby, a boy! I crocheted the afghan, then when my husband saw it, he thought it would be a little hot for southern California, so I made a light blanket to go with it. It is just a single layer of flannel lined with this cute fabric. And then, of course, there were some shoes that needed to go with it.
I love the timelessness of baby afghans. I used cream and sage together and just loved to combination. It feels old and new at the same time. I hope this little guy loves it!

Kimono baby booties

Well, here is the link to the cute kimono baby shoes pattern: http://myhomespunthreads.blogspot.com/2008/10/free-kimono-shoes.html  I really like this pattern, and it seems to me to be slightly easier than the stardust pattern. I made three little pair of girl shoes, but I forgot to take photos before I gave them away. So, here are some boy ones that I made.

PS- I'm really exited about this pregnancy thing and busting out of my clothes, so don't be surprised if you find some new maternity ideas soon.