felt ball mobile for baby charlie

My friend Kim is having a baby boy, and she wanted a felt ball mobile for his nursery.

(photo from Serena and Lily website)

The bedding is from Serena and Lily- it's called Ben. She wanted accents of brown and grey added, since there are elements of those colors already in the room.

I learned a few things from making this mobile:

It takes a lot of practice to get these balls looking perfect,

It takes a lot more wool than you think,

and if left unattended, you cat will steal as many balls as she can. Luckily, only one was sacrificed in the making of this mobile.

Seriously, it was driving her crazy that I wouldn't let her have all of them. She would cry and whine and paw at them, like they were made out of ham or something. It's so weird that cats love wool!

I  finished it and I didn't like it. I ended up with not enough balls and no wool left over, so I had to order some more, then make some more balls.  And instead of just adding them to the finished mobile, I took it apart and re-did the whole thing.  

 I started with fishing line, but that stuff just doesn't knot well enough! So I used perle cotton instead, which worked fantastically. I also polished up the not so perfect balls with a felting needle.

I really do love how it turned out!

It was in a half finished pile the other day, and the kid I'm tutoring asked me, "what are all those things for??" So I lifted it up to show him, and explain what it was, and he said "WOW!" That's awesome! It's for a baby? But I like it too!"

Great news Kim- your little boy will love it even when he's older.

Matilda the kitty was just dying when I hung it over the bed to take these photos. It was just out of her reach, and she was trying so hard to get at them!

Sorry kitten- this is not for you. It's for baby Charlie!

I can't wait to see photos of sweet Charlie, who should be here any minute. I sent this off asap as is is the final touch of the nursery and Kim has been waiting so very patiently for me to finish it!

tag-a-long doll for Gemma

Alex contacted me through Etsy and wanted a custom doll for her daughters first birthday. She wanted the doll's dress to match one that her daughter has. You can see it here.

So I ordered the fabric and waited...

I spent all day making the dress and apron. But then the next day, I decided it was not good enough. So I started over. So glad I did, the original was too short and the apron just didn't fit quite right.

I love her big red bow!

Isn't she sweet?

Plus- she's my very first doll headed to Australia! I've shipped to Canada and Spain before, but Australia was new!

With little red bloomers.

I love embroidery.

And cute little red shoes!

Thanks Alex! I hope your little one has a great birthday!

travel wee's

I finally got around to making some travel wee's!

Lil orange fluff.

Complete with camera and a leaf for snacking.

Comes in an Altoid tin.

Perfect for your pocket, backpack or bag.

Lil blue fluff.

He looks sleepy!

For sale in the shop!

yarn haired doll for aniyia

My friend Aniyia is helping me market my business, so I made her a doll as a trade.

Good trade!

OMG how cute is she????

I love this hairstyle!

Aniyia loves purple, so I found this cute fabric.

This gorgeous yarn is by Malabrigo.

Purple bloomers.

henry's baby quilt

My BFF Nan was due to have her second baby boy in mid-august. Way back in May, I started this quilt for the new babe.

Since I made her first son's quilt so intricate, I decided to pick a fabric collection that had large prints and would speak for itself. Not that I didn't want to do all that work again, I just wanted something totally different for his brother. When I found the organic Commute and Mod Basics collections by Birch Fabrics, I fell in love. It was perfect.

I drew it out, making visualization so much easier.

It went together super fast- I had it all cut out and sewn together in one day.

Once I had it all together- I decided it needed an outside border. I ordered some more solid grey fabric and it sat on my shelf until....right before the baby was born and I was due to visit to give the finished quilt away. Hahahaha.

Luckily, while visiting in Utah, my mom introduced me to a woman that could get it quilted and back to me in a week. We gave it to her on a Thursday and since her load was light that week- she had it back to us on Saturday! I quickly made the quilt label, and my mom was nice enough to bind it for me so that we could give it to baby Henry on Monday.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Here is the back.

I used a few pieces that didn't belong to the Commute collection, like this cute little house print.

I love this shade of blue.

This triangle building reminds me of the Transamerica Pyramid in downtown San Francisco.

This is my favorite print- those dandelions and tiny birds? Sooooo cute!

I love that this collection is full of fun, bright colors- without being primary.

I know I'm obsessed with grey, and it's totally in right now, but I think this quilt will stand the test of time.

This bike print is the focal point- it ties in everything else.

The pattern that is quilted looks a lot like the trees from The Lorax. It fits so perfectly, don't you think?

The chevron prints are from riley blake and moda.

My mom does such a better job at binding than I do! I'm so lucky that she took over!

Total photo overload, I know- but I forget the details so quickly once I give them away!

Even though I may live far away from them, these boys will always know how much I love them. Always.

I think he likes it already.