Texture Quilt for Babies

I love when ideas just come to me. My very first quilt I made was for my daughter, Sydney, when she was a baby. We were at JoAnns and she was in a front carrier. I was looking at fabric and she kept reaching for this one print. It had butterflies and was a deep purple. She really liked it!

I decided to buy the fabric, but wasn't sure what it would turn into.

Finally the idea for a baby quilt came to mind. But I wasn't sure I had time or energy for a quilt as I had a young baby and also a preschooler.

Back to JoAnns we went in search for coordinating fabric. I knew then that I would like to find materials which had very distinct textures. We looked through the clearance area and found all kinds of great things: corduroy, bumpy, lacy, slippery, satiny, dotted, and more!

After finding 9 different fabrics, I started making my squares and trying to get the pattern to look right. Then I had a very tired baby on my hands. I never liked having to take a break in my sewing before having kids, but now I have seen the benefits of having extra time to think about things.

During that nap and some computer time, I learned about sashing and how nice it would look. I was hooked. The butterfly fabric would have a place in the middle with lace over it, be the sashing, and the backing. After the nap or the next day, everything came together.

Here are some more texture quilts I've made as gifts. They are always pretty small and just right for some tummy time. Later the small quilt has become a blanket for a doll.

Nutcracker Gifts for my Little Performer

The summer before Sydney was in Kindergarten I remembered a friend telling me about her daughter's experience performing in the Nutcracker. I did a quick search and found that auditions would be the next month! Great timing!

She tried out and got a part as a Page. It is a very small part where a group of children march onto the stage with their horns, raise their horns as if to play, and then march off stage. Because all of the pages are between five and seven years old, this part of the ballet is especially cute.

I was at JoAnns for some reason and saw all the shiny metal ornaments. They seemed to be all musical instruments. Kyle was a saxophonist now, so I looked around for a saxophone. No saxophone, but I found a horn that looked identical to the ones the kids used in the ballet! I was certainly going to get one for Sydney and then thought about getting some for the other kids.

The horn was the same shape, but it was missing something. The horn the kids used had red cording around it. I looked around for red cording and had a plan. I hot glued the cording on the horn and it looked great!

Because the Nutcracker experience seemed so significant for my daughter I thought about what else I could do for her to help her remember. I was able to take backstage pictures and also saved the letter of acceptance and the program. With these items and some Christmas themed stickers I made a little photo album for her.

But one more idea was in my head. I wanted to make a little doll Page, just like Sydney's costume. We already had doll clothes pins and fabric wasn't a problem. A little glue, a little cutting, and we had a little Page.