I made the decorations and favors for a baby shower at the end of January.  The baby shower was for an expectant mommy of two twin girls, and she selected a "non-traditional" color scheme of aqua, gray, and coral for the nursery.  This was such a fun color palette to work with!

I incorporated the nursery fabrics and colors into the decorations, in hopes she would be able to reuse the decorations in the nursery.

I made 42 felt poufs in various sizes, and strung them into garlands.  The nursery fabric had large-scale flowers and birds, so I cut out about 25 of the motifs to hang on the garland, and place on the food table to further incorporate all the colors.







For the favors, I made heart-shaped sugar cubes (to go with the "sugar and spice and everything twice" theme) and packaged them in small canning jars. To stay consistent, I topped the jars with fabric circles cut out of the polka dot nursery fabric, and tied on layered flower tags with baker's twine in shades of gray, aqua, and coral.



Now for the really fun part, the gift! I sewed up two fabric bins out of the nursery fabrics and then filled them with items off the registry.  Each bin was about 9 in. x 11 in. x 8 in., with a handle on each side, and little window on the front for a label (I used a heavy-duty sheet protector I had at home, but you could purchase vinyl off the roll).  I lined one bin with an aqua ikat fabric and the other with the same polka dot fabric I used on the favors.

Here they are all ready to be wrapped.....



And here are a few shots of them in progress...









I loved how these bins turned out, but they were such a challenge to make, I am not sure I would make them again! Lol!  

I used some leftover fabric scraps to make a nesting ball for the new mom to hang in a tree, so the little birds will have some very tasteful fabric scraps to weave into their nests. Ha ha! Thanks PerfectlyBohemian for giving me the advice to break out some of the grapevine, or I would have never been able to get the fabric scraps to fit.  



Thanks for looking!

I sewed up two baby burp cloths and a little stuffed lion to welcome Baby Lillian back in December. Her parents selected pink and brown for her nursery colors, so I went with that color scheme.

For the burp cloths, I wrapped store-bought cloth diapers in cotton flannel, leaving about an inch border of the flannel to be seen all around the front. If there was ever a time to pre-shrink fabrics in the washer and dryer before sewing, it was for this project.  The cotton diapers shrank a tremendous amount and the cotton flannel shrank quite a bit, as well. I liked a lot of cotton quilting fabrics, better than the cotton flannel, but I read somewhere that flannel is good for a burp cloth because it is more absorbent and does not slide off your shoulder like regular cotton fabrics can.  The new parents said these burp cloths worked well, so I guess cotton flannel was an okay choice.

For the lion, I cut out two flannel circles from the scraps I had left from making the burp cloths, folded coordinating ribbons in half to make a mane, embroidered a lion face, put in a little poly fil and stitched it up---most of the ribbon I used for the mane was left over from a bridal shower I hosted over 5 years ago (I am such a craft supply hoarder. Lol!).

Oh, and a little crochet hat to match.

It is so fun to craft for babies!

I am getting into the Valentine's Day spirit by hanging a garland of small hearts I crocheted from yarn scraps.

I strung all the small hearts onto baker's twine and hung one garland from the fireplace mantle and a smaller garland over the doors of a china cabinet.

I really like the variety of colors, so these garlands just might stay up past Valentine's Day and transition into Spring! Lol!

I recently finished two cross-stitch patterns and had them framed for birthday gifts.

Hummingbirds and flowers for my grandmother's 92nd birthday



and a bicycle with the words, "It's all about the journey" for my mother's 60th birthday



Happy Birthday, special ladies!