one of my favorite kids clothes bloggers, Rachel from Stitched Together, is having a baby any day now! it will be her fifth child (!) and the new little gal definitely deserves some special gifts and attention.
another sweet blogger, Victoria, had the idea to make Rachel a collaborative baby mobile and contacted some of Rachel’s bloggy friends to secretly plot and sew. we set a color theme of navy, gold, mint, white, and peach – all used in a favorite fabric line, ARIZONA by April Rhodes. i love the colors in April’s line, so this was great news to me!
i wanted my ornament to be cute, but to also have a deeper meaning. in 2010, Rachel and her husband Dan adopted a little girl named Tarikua into their family from Ethiopia. in reading Rachel’s blog for a few years, it’s clear that celebrating the Ethiopian culture is extremely important to them, and I really wanted to make something that gave a nod to that country in a not-super-obvious-but-still-meaningful way.
i looked up images of the ethiopian flag, and used them as the launch point for my design. i drew a golden star with five rays, and sewed it onto a midnight blue background. the whole ornament is felt, stuffed with a bit of polyfill for dimension. i machine stitched the star and rays, but hand-stitched the rest.
according to wikipedia’s entry on the meaning of the flag, the blue in the emblem represents peace, the star represents diversity and unity, and the sun’s rays symbolize prosperity. all wonderful things to wish upon a new baby!
i added one more symbol – a little heart on the back – for health and happiness.
another sub-theme/design inspiration for me was from the Oliver Jeffers’ book How to Catch a Star (affiliate link). i love to read it to my kids, and i love the artwork in all of his books – there’s such a peaceful and playful quality to them. and frankly, i’m not the best hand-stitcher in the world, so a bit of imperfection was gonna happen, intentional or not! 😉
my mobile ornament didn’t turn out very girly, but i hope Rachel doesn’t mind. i’m so excited to meet her new baby! from her posts and from many emails back and forth with her, i know Rachel is a creative person who mothers with grace and passion, and she is someone i look up to. i hope this little piece of felt can let her know she has my love even though we live 2,000 miles away.
have a peaceful and happy labor and delivery, Rachel! i’ll be thinking of you.
follow the links to see what else will be joining my star on the collaborative mobile…
Victoria at As it Seams :: An at straightgrain :: Suz at sewpony ::
Gail at Probably Actually :: Sanae at Sanae Ishida :: Nat at La Gang á Nat
PS – special thanks to my husband who took these photos for me in a pinch! you’re a good man. :*
skirt as top 
I think it is so thoughful of you to have made an ornament that has so many links to Rachel life ! love this star!
Just precious 🙂 A very special pressie indeed 🙂
This sounds like a perfect addition to the mobile….so thoughtful and intuitive to represent the Ethiopian culture within your creation. I bet she is going to LOVE it!!
Lovely, thoughtful, and unique!
thank you all!
That is an incredibly sweet and thoughtful gift! I know she’ll love it!
Kristin! I was practically a puddle of tears when I read this! It is so,so special and I can’t believe the time and thought you put into the ornament. It’s so perfect! My kids immediately recognized it as being the star from the Ethiopian flag. I am so touched that you would do this for me. I really couldn’t believe it. I am so surprised and grateful. Thank you so, so much! I saw the posts while waiting for my midwife this morning and I literally was tearing up in the waiting room! It really means so much to me!
Woohoo, made the pregnant lady cry happy tears! Really, it was my pleasure to make something for you. I’m so glad your kids recognized the emblem and sorry about any waiting room awkwardness but I’m sure they’re used to it. Hehe.
I so love this! As a mother of an internationally adopted child, I love that you had the idea to include part of Tia’s culture in the mobile – a recognition of another culture that makes up their beautiful family. What a meaningful gesture! And I adore hand stitching which makes it even better:)
Oh that’s so great to hear, thanks Lucinda. 🙂
Such a beautiful idea to refer to the Ethiopian flag… I love what you made, Kristin!
Thanks An!
This is fabulous and so beautiful, Kristin! A perfect tribute — meaningful without being cliche, playful yet stylish. So so good.
Aw thanks so much, Sanae. I really appreciate it! Love yours too!!
What a thoughtful, meaningful gift.
so so sweet. I love the meaning behind these and they are so pretty! So thoughtful 🙂
it’s wonderful kristin! and your photographer did a stellar job! 😉
Hehe thanks!
Kristin, this is so lovely, and thoughtful and beautifully made. I love that it’s not ‘girly’ too! I think a baby will just love gazing at this…Thank you so much for taking part, I love that all the ‘ornaments’ are so different, yet will look so lovely together…x
Thanks so much for organizing it, Victoria! I love how well all of the ornaments go together!
I love this! You’re such a thoughtful person. The details you thought to include are really special. And am Oliver Jeffers inspiration never hurts. Love that guy