Baby Blanket

A friend of mine recently had a baby girl, and is not into the traditional pink everywhere look.  She and her husband have a very unique and cool style. She is also the type that really appreciates hand made gifts. I had ordered her a baby shower gift off of her amazon registry,  but I really wanted to make some handmade and useful for her beautiful baby girl.

While browsing through fabrics on a site another friend had recently told me about, eQuilter, I ran into a fabric I knew my friend would love.....Menagerie from the Peacock Lane collection by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics. Isn't it just unique and lovely? 

[By the way, when I returned to the site to buy more of this fabric,  I was only about to get 1.50 more yards since that was all they had left.  Not sure if any other sites still have some of this fabric left. Now on the look out for my next cool fabric find.] 



Menagerie from the Peacock Lane Collection by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics
 

As soon as I saw it, I just KNEW my friend would love it! I knew I had to make something from it.  I'm not extremely good at sewing or anything, so I knew it had to be something relatively simple so I decided on making her a baby blanket. I could get it done quickly and mail it off for her and her new baby girl to enjoy, so I dusted off my old sewing machine and went to work.

Instead of using batting inside, I went to Joann's Fabrics and picked up a yard of soft, thick, flannel material was just a shade or two darker than the teal color in the pattern.  I made this baby blanket a yard long, which I think is a bit bigger than most baby blankets.  After washing the fabrics, I layed the materials together flat with the Menagerie pattern facing down on the flannel back (so the outside of both materials were up against each other).  I lined them up and pinned them down.  Then I sewed the blanket together on 3 sides.  Some people choose to also sew most of the 4th side up and leave just a bit of room to turn the blanket right side out before sealing up the last little bit of space.

I decided I wanted the 4th side (which would be either the bottom or top edge of the blanket) uniform looking, so I turned the blanket right-side-out, folded the rough edges in, and then sewed the 4th side of the blanket closed about 1/2in in from the edge.  I made 2 passes with the machine. 

Finally, I ironed the blanket, folded it up nicely,  and sent it on its way. 


My friend sent me a message a few days later saying how much she loved it and how well it went with the baby's room. I felt great making something they really liked, and it felt good using my old sewing machine again after a couple years of it collecting dust.  I think one of my resolutions for the year will be to try more sewing projects. 

3 Things I'm Liking in January

** NOTE:  Not sure why some of my photos on this post got randomly deleted, but I'll be replacing them soon. Sorry about that! ****

I know I'm a bit late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone enjoy their holidays.  I had a great time with loved ones. I wasn't quite ready for the holiday season to be over. I always leave my tree and decorations up until 'Three Kings Day' or Epiphany. Traditionally I take the tree down the weekend after, but it stayed up an extra week this year partly because I was procrastinating and partly because it was sad to see the season was officially done. 


One of my favorite gifts was a gift card to Sephora. I had a great time using it, so I picked 3 of the items I bought with it to share with you guys.... so without further ado,  the three things I'm liking in January:




1) Too Faced: The Return of Sexy Eye shadow Palette.    It has 15 eye shadows organized into three collections, which makes it very user-friendly.  No guessing what colors would go nicely together.  It also comes with detailed get-the-look cards for easy step-by-step application.  Each get-the-look card has a day and a night look, for a grand total of 6 looks.  The cards are neatly tucked behind the mirror with only a tabbed-view.  It feels super organized and makes for application that you doesn't require much planning.  It makes for a quick, professional-looking eye shadow application. It also comes with a small tube of Shadow Insure eye primer, which is one of my favorite eye shadow primers, and a black eye liner pencil.

Too Faced The Return of Sexy Eye shadow Palette

Get-the-look cards

Cards come tucked behind mirror with tabs displayed 

2) The second is a set of Stila: Stay All Day waterproof liquid eye liner.  I'm not sure if the set is still available of not,  but it came with a full size black liner and 3 smaller liners in blue, green, and brown.  It also come with a instruction card on doing winged eye liner or a double line look.  This is the first time I've used Stila's eye liner and I am really liking them so far.  They go on smooth, the fine point make for precision application, and it really does stay on all day.

stila stay all day waterproof liquid eye liners

3) benefit: the PORE Fessional.  It's currently my favorite face primer.  I love the lightweight feel of it, and I like that  it actually seems to close up my large pores. It doesn't feel greasy or sticky and it helps my make up stay on my oily face.  It can also be used throughout the day to avoid shine.  I also must confess that on make-up lazy days (like some Saturdays) when I don't feel like putting my usual make-up on, I wear it with nothing else on top and just makes me look naturally "small-pored."   During the holidays, Sephora had a sale on a larger than normal  44 ml sized tube.

benefit the PORE fessional