"Taggie" Blankets For My Wee One!

From warm cotton flannel...

                                      ...Japanese double gauze fabric (so soft!)...

                                              ...and bright grosgrain ribbons...

                                         ...I sewed a couple of 'taggie' blankets...

                                               ...for my darling new grandson.

                                     Doesn't he have the most beautiful smile?!? :)

"Big Sister" Crown and Unorthodox Baby Blanket- Part 2 of 2

Shimmery Blue Faced Leicester/Tussah Silk roving...

                                                 ...and a cloud of silk caps.

                                             Laying out a thin layer of roving...

                                                   ...and an additional layer... 

                                                 ...perpendicular to the first.

                                          Adding a layer of stretched silk caps...

                                               ...and wetting the blanket out.
    

                                               The finished project, drying...

                                                    ...and, again, once dry.

                                                   The back of the blanket.

                                         Silk caps add a cobwebby, silver sheen...

                                   ...and the finished project is very soft and warm.

       I've long been enamored of this luscious, heathered grey, knitted baby blanket...

              ...so for a 'welcome baby' gift for a good friend's newest daughter, Eliza...

         ...I decided to use some lustrous, dark brown and silver grey BFL/Silk roving...

                                          ...(a gift from my friend, Angela)...

                                    ...to make a rather non-traditional baby blanket!

                                   Made with only two thin layers of roving...

                                   ...plus a cobwebby layer of silk caps...

                             ...the blanket is especially thin and flexible...

                                                  ...and baby soft. :)

"Big Sister" Crown and Unorthodox Baby Blanket- Part 1 of 2

Making an art batt from wool and 'shimmery bits'...

                                          ...and turning it into a piece of pre-felt.

                                                    Using a paper pattern ...

                                                ...I cut the pre-felt to size...

                                 ...leaving the tips 'as is' for folding in during felting.

                                Stitching the pre-felt strip into a cylinder with nylon thread.

                  Applying variegated pencil roving as an embellishment to the crown base...

                                          ...and to the newly rounded-off tips...

                                        ...then adding a few circles, just for fun. :)

   
                                                      Mid-way through felting...

                                                    ...and the finished crown.

                                    I did sew on a few colored glass beads for 'bling'...

      ...but neglected to photograph the finished project, prior to mailing it off. (Sorry)

                                      Next time: a rather unorthodox baby blanket...

                           ...made from luscious BFL and Silk-blend roving, plus silk caps.

Wet Felted Baby Blanket- Part 2

More 'bleeding' of the blue roving (and pink sari silk) plus a new friend!

 

The finished blanket.

 

A close up of the wayward blue dye.

 

"Hello handsome!"

 

As you probably already know...

...I'm not a huge fan of 'cute' for babies.

Odd? Yes. A little aberrant, even? Bien sur!...

...but, please, nothing too saccharine for those impressionable little minds!

That's why I had to add a spider to an otherwise tame doggie blanket...

...and I think it makes the piece much more interesting! Giggle.

You may recall an earlier baby blanket of mine that I decorated with pre-felt germs...

...in comparison, this one's positively tame!!

I used dark grey pencil roving to make the spider...

...and yes, I know that it doesn't have the proper number of legs...

...but hey, I'm an artist here, and six looked better to me than eight! :)

You'll also notice that the errant blue dye moved around some during felting...

...and although I'm not exactly happy with it...

...I don't think that it ruined the piece, either.

If you don't look too closely or even squint a bit...

...you might think that I marbled it on purpose! Grin.

Microbe Baby Blanket

 

 

 

 

I really like to be organized.

I'm the kind of person who is happiest getting to appointments on-time...

...(my girls would call it pathologically early)...

...having back-up paper towels, baking powder and zip-lock bags...

...and being as ready as I can be for the eventualities of life.

So, I made a baby blanket.

No, no congratulations are in order, thank-you :)...

...in fact, I think it will be quite a while before any of my girls make me a "Honey"...

...(long, long story...my future 'Grandma' name).

This hasn't stopped me from making some items for my future little sweeties, however.

I've already sewn several crib quilts...

...in strange not-usual-for-baby colors...

...and bits of vintage linens and antique lace.

You might say that I'm not the most traditional of women...

...therefore, when it came to making something for my future grandbaby(ies)in felt...

...I didn't even consider the usual suspects.

(No boats or cars or kitties or rattles for me.)

"But what should it have on it", I wondered?????
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Then I thought of something adorable!

I had my youngest daughters draw some 'germs'...

...since they are natural artists (though they claim the opposite), and have taken a biology class far more recently than I!

I cut the baby bugs out of pre-felt and added bits of pencil roving and more pre-felt for the details.

I felted my blanket in the usual manner, being careful to check and reposition any errant bits...

...and did my best to re-shape it into a rectangle (it's still a little wonky!).

The red pre-felt was perhaps more 'felt' than 'pre-', so I found some matching thread and embroidered around those pieces...

...but the other colors virtually melted into the whole, pleasing me a great deal.

Now away to a cedar chest to wait...for a baby! :)