Family Heart

A couple of days ago, Justin was offered a new position with his company, one that will require rather a lot of travelling. And so, as a little present for him (and fun project for me!), I thought I'd make him a little something that might make the travelling a little easier.

The inspiration comes from Handmade Home again, and is what Amanda calls the "Family Heart". The idea is that when one in the family has to go away, whether for a sleepover or a business trip, they can take the heart with them and feel a bit more connected.

My heart is made out of my favourite spotty red batik fabric, with a little patch of soft flannel sewn on for the pocket. And inside the pocket is a little note.

It's the first few lines of E. E. Cumming's poem, "i carry your heart with me" which I thought fitted extremely well. (Although I did add in grammar and capital letters... sorry, E. E.!)

And it sits inside my big branchy heart over the fireplace, ready to be given to Justin tonight, when he gets home from accepting the job!

P.S. My sewing machine skills are improving no end! I can sew curves now without stopping to adjust every two seconds! Yay!

Moose Rattle

Here's another simple little toy to add to my "Ready for Baby" box! Again, the pattern is from Lotta Jandotter's "Simple Sewing for Baby", and again, it was incredibly easy.

Just a bit of pinning, cutting, machining, and then stuffing with poly fill and a little bell.

Lotta's example in the book was a sweet little giraffe, but somehow mine came out looking more like a moose! I think it's the uneven seaming on the nose which creates a moose-like bump!

Bella goes a bit crazy over this rattle, and begged me to let her model it, but I didn't think it would last longer than me taking the photo if she had!

Ribbon Blanky

"Simple Sewing for Baby" has arrived! And so today I got started on my first project: the Tag Blanky.

The idea is that babies love to put the tags of toys in their mouths, and little ribbons sewn around the edges of a blanket feel just like that.

So, with a little red gingham fabric (I told you our baby would see a lot of that!) and some ribbons, I got pinning...

...and then simply machine stitched it together inside out, turned it, and stitched it once more. Finished!

Bella thought it might be a nice bottom warmer...

...or possibly a hat!

So, I'm feeling very good about having something completed from my book already! It was the perfect little project to refresh my sewing machine skills (or lack thereof!) as a warm up for some of the more challenging ideas.

Next on my list from Lotta's "Simple Sewing for Baby":

• Gingham baby bloomers
• Simple trousers (for which I've got my eye on Justin's old striped shirts)
• Roll-up changing blanket
• Rattle

And a couple from the lovely lovely "Handmade Home":

• Family heart
• Eco-friendly cleaner

How wonderful to have such inspiring books! I highly recommend both of these.