Heading to New Zealand now...

So as most of my readers know, we've got another niece on the way... Yay! Anyway, this spring I sewed for the first niece we got this year, and then the past month I've been sewing for niece#2, by order of appearance. :-) Anyway, through a lot of conversation with her momma, this is all the stuff we came up with for her. I was gonna try to wait and post about it after her Momma&Daddy got the package tomorrow, but I'm just too excited, and they know pretty much everything that's in there anyway, so I decided to do it this morning instead.


A baby carrying sling... I wish I'd sewed when I had babies!!! I wanted one of these when I had kids, but they're really expensive, and I just never bothered to pay money for one, although after playing with this, I'm pretty sure I would have used it a lot. Anyway, I'm really excited about this. We went through about 5 different online patterns and techniques for making these, and I gotta say, I'm pretty unimpressed with what's out there. Almost every pattern said something along the lines of "don't bother hemming the edges". Seriously?! So, we decided on the basic pattern, and then I set about making it more tailored. This really is more of an accessory for mom, as opposed to a thing for baby, so we decided to tailor it to mom's taste as opposed to making it a "HELLO! I HAVE A BABY GIRL HERE!" announcement. So, it's bound on the ends with coordinating fabric, has a few different clips for things like keys and Binky strings, one larger pocket and one credit card/drivers license sized pocket, and is long enough to double as a nursing cover if needed. Yes, that is fox-in-sox proudly sitting in the place of honor. Since I don't have a child small enough to practice with, I used various sized stuffed animals to fill in the blanks. :-) Auntie M, you will have to let me know what you like and don't like about this, I'm looking forward to getting feedback. And, since Auntie M is an artist as well, I had to make another art smock. :-) I've been eyeing this fabric for a long time, and just haven't found a project to use it with yet... so when I started thinking about the art smock, I knew this would be perfect.

I lined the front piece on this one, so it might be able to double as a bib as well. I've got to remember to get my hands on some oilcloth one of these days, I think it would be great with this pattern!

And, the rag quilt... This one is bright and cheerful, and I love it. :-) Well, I love all of them, so that might not be saying much, but it did turn out pretty cute, I think.

I love how these quilts just allow the fabric to shine. Also, adding just one color can completely change the look or feel of a quilt. The blue and green squares in this quilt just cause the whole thing to sing. :-) Also, I love that it coordinates with her room. It's not always possible or necessary for me to do that, and it can also be a lot of fun to choose colors that are way out there, but I like to try to get a little matchy, because that way if the parents want to hang the blanket over the edge of the crib or rocking chair, it looks stylish and coordinated instead of jarring the eye.

And, since little Miss KiwiGirl's nursery is done in mostly soft green/blue/tan/cream New Zealand theme with little lambies... we had to add some pops of aqua blues and pinks... so we made an organizer...

And filled it with fun baby supplies... :-)

And, my favorite part, the baby mobile. Because the nursery is New Zealand themed, Auntie M asked if the mobile could be Lambs and Kiwi birds. It sounded like fun to me, so I said, "Sure!" I found a lamb pattern, and those were pretty easy. But would you believe that there is only one Kiwi bird pattern in all of internet land?! (that I could find anyway...) And it was too big, and looked like it might not shrink down very well. So, I set about looking at every stuffed animal I could get my hands on... not hard, as my girls have a bajillion, including two kiwis from Auntie M and Auntie Dhasa and their spouse's trip to New Zealand last year. And I looked at about 40 pictures of real kiwis and watched every video of kiwi birds I could get my hands on, and then I started designing. :-) It was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad she asked for this, because I enjoyed the process a lot, and never would have done anything like that otherwise. I wish I'd started on it a little earlier, as it took me longer than I would have guessed, but there's nothing that can be done about that now. Anyway, may I present the mobile... !!!

We had to have a black (actually chocolate brown!) sheep. :-) I feel madly in love with this little guy! So cute! So did Debris, and she actually hid it in her bedroom when it came time to take it to daddy's work to ship it so I wouldn't send it away.

We're calling this an action shot, because it's blurred. I didn't realize that on my tiny camera screen, but it's a side shot, so it's included here. :-)

And, side shot of one of the kiwi's... eek! Cute! Wee Wee!

And now, as I felt compelled to say "Baaaa!" or "Wee Weeee!" like lambs and kiwis constantly throughout this whole process, it is safe to say that I have probably spoken sheep and kiwi more than any other person in the world and should not do it again ever.

Welcome sweet KiwiGirl! Can't wait to meet you!