Crafty Natalie
23Aug/080

Activity Mat

i'm sure you've been sick of looking at the ugly ol' comforters i've been using for my niece to sit/lay on- i know i am! so i finally got around to making her a little play mat! i was at Joann's the other day and found some remnant flannel in a butterfly and flower design, along with some pink minky fabric. they were both around the same amount of yardage so i thought it'd be perfect to make a blanket for her! when i brought it home, i realized the flannel wasn't as wide so i was way off! but luckily i had some leftover pink swiss dot fabric from other projects (i like the pink swiss dot print for linings in some of my bags). i was able to whip this up within an hour and had it ready for her after she woke up from her nap! the inside has a high loft batting, so it's extra soft- which she needs since our floors are all wood!

23Feb/082

Baby Shower Keepsake Quilt

for my sisters baby shower a month or so ago i wanted to make her something that she'd be able to show/give to the baby just to remind her of the day. i was at the fabric store and saw some quilting kits that could be used for baby showers, bridal showers, and weddings. i thought spending $50 on a quilt kit that wasn't really her style would be a waste of money and thought it'd probably be more fun to make one up myself! so i ended up getting some canvas, cut them into squares and bought some fabric markers and pastels. the guests were able to draw or write on the squares and i turned the pieces into patches for the blanket. i FINALLY got around to making one of the blankets yesterday! (i ended up needing to make two blankets because there were just so many squares! so i made one blanket for the friends that attended, and am still working on one for the family members). the quilts are a lot smaller than a normal child's quilt, but i thought this would be a good size because then we could use it as little play mats. i put some nice cushiony batting inside, so it's supersoft!  i definitely need to look more into quilting. i think once i get the hang of it i'll enjoy it more, but right now it seems so tedious especially since i don't have all the necessary tools...i get a little too bored and want to move onto something else real fast when i'm just sitting there cutting out square after square! i'm also trying to figure out how to make the quilting stitches on my sewing machine...i think my quilts would probably look better if i could get those fancy swirly designs stitched into them!

i guess we should get bad weather more often...i'm actually hanging around the house to work on some stuff! although i guess one reason i'm sticking inside is because i took a spill yesterday when my husband and i decided to head out to get some groceries for dinner. you know, this winter mix we had, really wasn't much of anything. pointless precipitation really. but anyhow, got down the stairs to our house just fine, got to the store, no problem, but the second we came home...before i even got all the way out of the car, my leg slipped, my knee banged into the car door, my back slammed in the seat, and the arm that was holding the bag of groceries, twisted. so today, i'm pretty sore. my knee hurts like a mother! i swear, not even 30 yet, and i'm already falling apart!