Cuddly Clutch Blankets for Babies

People are having themselves some babies!  And I love me some babies even more than I love puppies.  We'll have to see what 2013 has in store for me (and that's all the information you are getting!)

This is a bit of a passion project I started after E couldn't be separated from her little clutch blankets.  She had a little monkey and lamb and then someone found her one like what I ended up making.  Evelyn loved the minky fabric on one side and the satin on the other, and she'd twirl those little fingers around the ribbons and then death clutch them.  So as usual, I thought "I can steal this idea and make it better." So I did.

My first try at it was this color combo...

  

...which I love.  I wish I was daring enough to do hot pink,black, and white room for E now. Maybe I'll get the guts to do it after I get the other 5 rooms I'm currently working on done. 

I showed my dear friend KJ what I had made and she wanted one for Davin.  I went to Hobby Lobby and checked out fabrics and got some chocolate brown minky and blue and light green poly satin.  She picked the green and chocolate and it turned out so great!

Then some others saw what I made and the subsequent styles were born.

This is probably my favorite one.  I have a mild obsession with pirates and this one could not have turned out any cuter! The pirate fabric is flannel.  I call this style "The Buccaneer."

The contemporary floral flannel fabric was a Joann only fabric and I bought the

last yard and made a few of these out of it. 

I love the monkey fabric - it's a flannel.  I made Evelyn a nap mat out of these fabrics.

These are pretty easy to make.  It's a tad time consuming for the prep for them.  Each one probably has grosgrain ribbons from 3 or 4 different stores so I could have the perfect combo.  If only I had the capital to get my own embrodiery machine I could mass produce them for a pretty low cost. 

 

My dear friend Penelope and I collaborated on one for her friend with airplanes - it turned out so cute!!

 

 

   

I've made tons of them as gifts and now Rita is getting too (along with a green and brown one and her nursing cover).  Here's what she's getting in her package!

 

  

 

 

 

 

....and yall saw the nursing cover in the post about it a month or so ago. 

 

This begs the question, why do they make such awesomely soft and cuddly things for babies and not for adults?  I want all my clothes and bedding to be made completely out of minky, satin, and flannel too.  No wonder babies sleep so soundly, they don't have to deal with wool and polyester and 300 thread count sheets!

 

Somebody's Having a Baby! And it's not Me.

I love me some babies.  LOVE! 

I worked in my church's daycare for 7 years - throughout high school and college. So I knew a lot more than the average bear going into this motherhood thing.  Mostly the grossness and noise making abilities. 

When Joe and I found out we were pregnant, I was pretty bummed - for like 5 months.  Evelyn was unplanned, but she's pretty awesome and can't imagine life without her.  Back to being bummed - Once we found out the sex of the baby and could start planning a room and picking a name things really started to come together for me emotionally.  Then the physical pain set in.  I had a ligament that wrapped the right side of my body from ribcage to spine that had me in so much pain I just wanted to scream bloody murder at my desk most days.  Nothing helped.  It was quite simply, awful.  Not to mention we had some personal problems with some immediate family that took over our lives for a few months and added to the emotional and mental strain Joe and I were already suffering.  When I look back on pregnancy, I get the chills.  So it's BIG that getting pregnant again is even a consideration.

But, I'm not there yet.

But, one of my best friends Rita is!  She is pregnant with her first baby and we already know that it's a boy!  Just because I don't want to be preggers - doesn't mean I don't want everyone else around me to not be.  Pretty much since the day she told me I've been sending 20 texts and emails a day with name suggestions, baby bedding, craft ideas for the rooms, and yesterday it culminated because I couldn't stand it any longer and just had to make that future bundle of joy something tangible.

I have a stock pile of white onesies at the house for baby gifts - usually I just get them embroidered with their names, but I wanted to do something else personal as a gift.  Rita's husband, Bryan, is really proud to be a Texan.  He loves Houston so much he told Lauren and I when we were visiting a few weeks ago "It's the greatest place on earth."  I beg to disagree (THE HEAT).  Anyway, I'm also painting this week a Home is Where the Heart Is painting and thought I could definitely apply this to clothing.  So I hit Joann and grabbed some fabric and thread and a button and VOILA!  Insta-gift.

I think Bryan was more excited than Rita!  But I think I was more excited than them both.  After sending out pictures of my proud accomplishment I was encouraged to put them in my Etsy store.  So I did.  You can view my store over on the right hand side of the blog menu bar at any time and I included a link here as well.  Next up, I'm doing an Oklahoma one for a special little lady I know! (not E) And an Arkansas one for the cutest most adorable little girl in the whole world! (I'm talking about Evelyn this time) ;)