October Baby Shower

Hello!

Just a few weekends ago I hosted (with my MIL) a baby shower.  She helped make some of the yummy sandwiches and I had fun making the decorations and cupcake treats.

The theme of the shower was pink and gold, the colors of my BIL and his wife's little baby's nursery.  Quite girly!

So we had pink, gold and white decorations.  Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in decorating and making it just perfect, that I forgot to photograph great detail pictures of the party.  Oh man, I'm kicking myself over that!  but, I went looking through the few pictures I did manage to snap, and found that hidden in them are a few shots of the decorations.  Phew! :)

We hosted the shower in the cafe of our church.  It's a beautiful and open space, and works well for soirees.

I made a banner with the baby's name on it for the gift table, but no great finished picture here, oops!  I"m hoping my BIL and his wife will use them in the nursery.

 

My little boy thought it was amusing that mommy was up on the tall ladder hanging tissue pom poms into the ceiling.  So he grabbed my phone and snapped a picture.  I was quite impressed with his photo.

I made some awesome table decorations with pinwheels in mason jars.  Again, no great detail picture, but I did find that I snapped some shots with them hiding in the background... just look hard :)

I love the cupcakes!  I made fondant toppers, used a stamp to impress "it's a girl" and then painted them with pearl dust.  Some toppers were scallops and others weree sweet little feet.

I also made some gifts for my BIL and his wife.  I made a baby quilt, the same pattern I created for this quilt here.  But I changed the colors to all one color of pink square, and used a neat shimmery gold chevron fabric for the centers.  I used the same gold chevrons for the binding as well.  The back was this super soft pink flannel giraffe fabric.  If I had any reason to use pink giraffe for myself, I would.  I'm in love with it!!

I also made a taggie blanket and a set of hooded towels.  You can see these two gifts hiding in the bottom picture and snuck into the gift display table.

We did an open house style baby shower.  Everyone that came said they loved it.  It fit the easy-going style of the showered couple and worked well for the day.  I think it's my new favorite way to host a party.  People could come and go as they needed.  I hate being trapped playing games I don't enjoy.  You too?  Then you'd love an open house party. :)

So sorry for my slacking in picture taking.  I was über fixed on making it beautiful for everyone.  Oh well.  I know it turned out perfect. :)

Jenny

Taggie Blanket

Hello!

I know there are man y tutorials out there for these awesome baby taggie blankets.  I thought I'd just show you a few extra tips that I use when making my blankets.  I like the make my blankets a bit longer than just the 12x12 size.  My blankets usually end up about 36 x 44.  Just about the exact size of a yard of fabric (minus just a bit for 1/2 inch seam allowance).

After I measure up and cut the fabric, I turn the fabric right sides together to get ready to sew.  I divide my fabric into sections and then pin the ribbon facing to the inside, so that it sews the right way later.


I sew using a half inch seam allowance and turn them right side out.  I give them a little press and tuck in the area i left open for turning. I then sew all around the outside to close to blanket.  Easy peasy, just like the other awesome tutorials out there. 

But here comes my own next steps that I use:

I use a wide masking tape (about 1.5 inches wide) and measure In 6 inches from the seam and tape all the way around.  I use my long quilting ruler to help keep it straight.

measuring 6 inches in from the seam

I also tape another line on the other side of the ruler, this would be about 12 inches from the outline of the blanket.  This will eventually give me two outlines of boxes on my blanket.

full picture of how I measure my tape lines

Then I take this all to my sewing machine (with a few pins holding all the fabric in place, but out of the way of tape lines).  I sew on the outside of my tape lines.  I try not to run over the tape with my stitching, but if it happens, I don;'t panic because the tape will still come off-remember, it's just masking tape!

Then I peel off my tape and enjoy my blanket!  The masking tape doesn't leave any residue.

You can see the outline of the two boxes.  This type of sewing just keeps the blanket together, like quilting.

Hope that helped you find a new way to make a large taggie blanket more stable!

Jenny :)

Friend's Baby Shower

Recently I had a very good friend had a baby shower.  So, I made some some super cute items for her and her sweet little girl!  The sweet little girl came several months early, but is doing well! :)

So here are some pictures of the gifts:

a set of hooded towels with cute pink ribbon sewn on

 

Here is a cute bag that held some of the gifts

Square fold card I made

The square card slides inside the fold over triangle card.

My friend was secretly hoping that I would make her a diaper cake, glad I could make her happy!

 I forgot to take a good picture of the taggie blanket I made, so here is my friend opening it up.

It had pink, brown and sheer white ribbons around the edges.  The front was brown polka-dot material and the bag was a pink soft "fleece-like" fuzzy polka-dot material.

I had fun making these gifts, and I know my friend loved receiving them.