Birdies and More

This was a crafty weekend for me. Here are the fruits of my labors.

Birdies
These are the felt birdies for the mobile I'm making. James will make the frame, and we'll hang it from the ceiling rather than try to attach it to the crib.

Once we get it put together I may add some felt foliage to the center to give it more punch. But it might be fine with just the birds. We'll see.

I did the embroidery and beading freehand, so it's not always symmetrical or well laid-out. (These are the "good sides" of the birds--the other sides aren't as pretty.) I had the hardest time finding the right fabric for the red bird's wings. I still don't love it, but it coordinates with the other birds and I'm ready to be done with the project.

Tie-Dye
I had the holiday off yesterday, so I decided to do some dying while James was at work. He tends to get stressed out when I undertake complicated and potentially messy projects like this, so I thought it best to get most of it done while he was gone. (I tend to jump into things without figuring out all the details first, and he's very much a details person.) So he was happy to help when he got home and I was halfway done and had a better idea of what I was doing.

I dyed my diaper bag (no, I didn't make it) and nine onesies:
The colors are a little brighter than in this photo. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. My favorite is the dark blue one with stripy arms. It was one of the last I did, and I got that effect by using tiny clear hair elastics, the kind I would use to tie off the end of a braid.

I plan to embellish the diaper bag a little bit. I'm planning an appliqué yellow bird on the bottom right corner of the front flap, with maybe some swirly embroidery around it. Now I just have to find the right fabric.

Bibs
These are the fronts of some bibs I'm working on. I dyed the flannel backing for some of them at the same time as the onesies. They're all a little wonky because I haven't ironed them yet, but I just wanted to show you a work-in-progress. I really like the sock monkey fabric. (Pattern is from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol, aka angry chicken.)


My next project is a "tummy time" play mat. I haven't drawn it out yet, but I have some ideas. It will have a plain quilted (flannel?) center, with "activity" squares around the outside: different textures of fabric (furry, silky, bumpy), a shatterproof mirror, and various dangly things to chew on or make noise with. I'll also have a "crinkly" square, and lots of ribbon "tags" to suck on. I already have a lot of the textured fabric, and I have a bunch of canvas I can back it with. So it's just a matter of laying it out and deciding what goes where. Do any of you moms out there have other suggestions of what could be added? What attracts your babies' attention? I see this as a pre-crawling toy, and I'm assuming he'll be able to grab things and maybe scoot a little. What do you think?