Simple Baby Quilt

It's been a crazy few months. Getting ready for baby #2 who arrives in just 4 weeks while managing a toddler has made for a busy busy summer. I've been battling with mommy guilt over the fact that I have been so involved with T that I haven't spent the same attention on preparations for baby 2. By the luck of the draw (coming second) baby #2 is going to be getting left overs and hand me downs from his big sis but there are a few things that I wanted to make just for him. I was set on making a baby quilt and a (not yet tackled) room mobile. I have never quilted before and so for my first attempt I wanted something simple yet stylish. I found inspiration & great how to techniques online at Purl & on You Tube. The only thing special I had to buy was a quilting foot that enables you to sew multiple layers together without the fabric slipping. I started with batting or pinning the three layers of fabric together with safety pins then proceeded in sewing zigzag lines of different threads across the short length of the pinned material. I did this repeated and changed colors with each pass until I "felt" the quilt was "done". The last step was to trim the edges and attach binding material around the edges. My total budget for this project including the new sewing foot was $22.00 and total time was about about 3 1/2 hours.

Materials:
Cotton batting
2 contrasting colors of cotton material
Several thread colors
Safety pins
Quilting foot

Little Step

In just a few months Tess is will be turning two. I can't believe how quick these years have gone by and how big she is getting. In these next few weeks my plan is to work on several crafts that will hopefully serve as a reminder to me of these special "little girl" days. There are many pre-assembled kits for making baby prints that can be picked up at craft stores but we wanted to control the materials so that we would be able to make the same stepping stones every year to mark her birthday. We got all the materials at the local hardware store and spent less than five dollars on everything and we have left over for next year. We started out by mixing concrete as per directions and once ready scooped the mixture into the plastic plant liner we used as a mold. Next we rubbed olive oil on Tess' feet and let her press lightly into the concrete. To finish it off Daddy scribed TP2 to mark her birthday and we let everything dry for 48 hours before removing the liner. You can embellish with stones and marbles etc but we are saving that for when Tess can decorate them herself...that's for next year.

Materials:
Quickmix Concrete
Plastic plant liner
Olive oil
Mixing container
Stir Stick