i was so excited to try made by rae’s peekaboo baby bonnet pattern that i made this little number for my expectant friend rizeld a couple weeks ago, but i couldn’t post about it because her baby shower wasn’t until TODAY!  that’s what i get for being too efficient. ha!

i wanted buy a pattern from rae after getting so much use out of her free newborn baby pants one, and i’m so glad i did because it’s SO cute.  this was my first time sewing piping correctly!  i had tried when sewing O’s car seat cover canopy, but didn’t really get it and my mom finished it off for me (still blaming my lack of patience on the fact that i was 38 weeks pregnant).  this time, i got it.  and when i was done, even though i have a 6.5 month old baby boy, i got baby girl fever!  rae’s pattern should come with a warning: “THE NEWBORN – 3 MONTH SIZE WILL IMMEDIATELY CAUSE WOMEN TO WANT A GIRL BABY – SEW AT YOUR OWN RISK.”  i suppose i could make one in em’s size, but for some reason a tiny baby bonnet is so classic and adorable, and i don’t think a 3T bonnet would have quite the same “awwwww!” effect.

so anyway, i made it in the 0-3 month size so the baby could wear it this summer (she’s due in just 4 weeks).  the fabric is liberty of london for target floral, and kaffe fasset shot cotton, the same fabric combo that i used here.

i tried it on O, who has a 90th percentile head by the way, so this bonnet is probably two sizes too small.  poor guy.  modeling too-small girl hats.  hehehe.

then i sewed up a few bibs for the niñita, con un corazón y mariposas y flores (that’s about the extent of my retained high school spanish but rizeld is latina so i had to sprinkle in un poquito español, verdad?  okay, that’s it).

my own pattern again (loosely based on a store-bought bib).  i restrained myself from applique of the bottom one, so it could coordinate better with the bonnet for “fancy occasions.”  fabric is mostly from scraps.  from top: riley blake’s rainy days and mondays first used here, the fabric i don’t know because it was a fat quarter but first used here, and the liberty of london for target scarf.  appliques are kona cottons, all bibs are backed with pink minky and close with velcro.

i also made her a crinkle teether.  O still loves his and they’re such a great use of scraps, so it’ll probably be a go-to baby gift for me now.  again stuffed with a travel wipes wrapper, but this one is backed with pink minky.  heather bailey, anna maria horner, and amy butler all in one little square!

here’s the gift all together.  rizeld seemed to really like it – yay!  she has two sons already, so it was fun to go super girly (okay no ruffles or lace, but for me this is super girly).  it was pretty neat, there were quite a few seamstresses (sewers?) at the shower, and lots of handmade gifts were given for the baby girl.  i loved talking sewing machine brands, fabric stores, where to get that bonnet pattern, etc. with ladies a generation above me (but i always feel like such a newbie!).

 congratulations again rizeld, it was a fun and lovely shower!

em’s screen time comes mostly in the form of movies these days.  my husband and i are pretty big movie fans in general, and it’s been kind of important to us that we actually can tolerate (or even like?) most of the shows that she’s watching.  so far, we’ve been introducing mostly pre-1995 disney movies (and their soundtracks.  have you heard a 3 year old sing “circle of life” from the lion king?  hilarious!).   however, my husband also wanted to check out the hayao miyazaki films, which we hadn’t seen, but had heard great things about.  em took an immediate liking to ponyo and watched it twice back-to-back on a car trip, but her lasting favorite is my neighbor totoro.

the movie chronicles two sisters who move out to the country with their father to be close to their sick mother, who is in the hospital.  younger sister, mei, comes across a forest spirit she calls “totoro,” who she loves.

the movie is mesmerizing, as is ponyo.  they’re beautiful, with real emotion (not just fluff – they’re a little sad, a little scary, a little sweet, and a lot whimsical).  when i sit down to watch them with her, i am totally riveted, as is she.  they’re really great.  em remembers every detail about totoro (you can quiz her about the name of totoro’s tree).  i saw some totoro plushies at a shop in town that were something like $40 for a little tiny felt one, and got “i can make that”-itis.  but i thought it’d be fun to make a giant, pillow-pet sized, supersoft totoro that she could snuggle like mei does in the scene above.  i brainstormed for a while on how to put it together, then went for it.

it’s made of a crazy soft fabric that i found in the minky section, which shedded EVERYWHERE and made me sneeze.  she picked it over my suggestion of a classic lower-nap minky because it was more “totoro-like,” and the key to successful sewing for toddlers is letting them make some choices, i think.  so the crazy, difficult-to-sew fabric it was.  the breast part and boomerang-shapes are appliqued microfleece.  there is a felt nose in there somewhere, too.  the minky shifts like nobody’s business, but the long “fur” hides some sewing ills.

needless to say, em is in love.  she picked out an outfit to model her totoro – i asked her what color dress she wanted to wear, and she chose her red polka dot dress, and said “i need to wear my hat like mei!”  i didn’t know that mei even wore a hat in the movie, but indeed, she does!

(she also has pigtails, not shown)

totoro now goes with her to daycare, she carries him around the house though he’s half her size, and she sleeps with him like a pillow at naps and nighttime.  pretty funny to get such a strong reaction of from her, but that was definitely my goal!  i wanted him to be as snuggly and lovable as humanely possible.

he’s also fun to just put around the house in random places, keeping watch.  he may end up in the background of future blog posts…you never know! sometimes totoro appears in real life.

our friends, paul and maureen, recently had a baby boy.  maureen is a professional photographer, so a quick etsy search for “camera onesie” led me to this perfect screenprinted one via sueCdesigns (currently on vacation).  i love that it’s a 35mm camera, and actually looks a lot like the pentax that my folks had when i was growing up.  digital cameras are great, but i do have nostalgia for film too.

also wanting to give him something handmade by me, i made him a bib.  i went on a bib spree for my son during dana and rae’s “celebrate the boy” month using my own template and backing them with a towel.  they work really well absorbency-wise, so after modifying my template slightly, i whipped this one up.  i was so excited to cut into my joel dewberry woodgrain fabric (from aviary 2).  i’m kind of a big fan of woodgrain and had dashed to bolt to get some of this the same week it came out.  then, because i can’t not applique boy stuff, i added a little red fox.  i read somewhere that foxes are the new owls in the crafting world, so here’s me jumping on the bandwagon.

now, if i could think of more uses to put that woodgrain fabric into action ASAP…anyone have any?  baby pants might be a little ridiculous…maybe another hat?  more bibs?  something to teethe on?  hm…
UPDATE: if you’d like to make a bib like this, my bib and applique templates are available for free download along with a tutorial here