Lots o' Links

It's a well known fact that good aunts need to bring gifts when visiting little baby nephews.  And this aunt likes to make her own gifts.

This toy is yet another pattern from 'Sew What you Love'. (Are you sick of hearing about this book?  I am loving it!)  I was very haphazard with my fabrics, using whatever I happened to find that looked like it could pass for a little boy print.  I'm feeling pretty good about it.  There's some Ikea fabric, Lotta Jansdotter, Cloud9, and I don't know what else - some random fat quarters.

After each piece is stuffed, this pattern does require a bit of hand stitching, which is not my most favorite thing in the world, but it turned out fine.  If I were making this pattern again, I would probably either make the base of the cone a little wider, or make the largest link a little smaller - it seems to want to slip off the bottom a bit.  

As you can see, rather than just being circles for stacking, the pieces can be linked together to make a chain.  I remember that baby Joanna loved toys that could be made into links when she was little, so I'm hoping Arlo will feel the same way.

Really, I just used our trip to Nashville as an excuse to make something new for Arlo - I'm glad I did, but he would have been just as happy with nothing at all.

Swaddled

I am sometimes sad (and other times I am glad) that my children are too big for cute little infant clothing and accessories.  Luckily, I now have a cute little nephew that I can sew for!

I actually made this swaddler a while back, but never took a picture of it (it's cuter with the baby inside anyway).  It was made using Lotta Jansdotter's pattern from Simple Sewing for Baby, and the fabric is an organic Cloud9 print.

There weren't many things that I felt I needed (or wanted) to alter on this pattern.  The only change was that I attached the velcro to the lining before sewing the lining to the exterior, because I didn't really want the stitching to show on the outside.  The disadvantage of this is that the fabric on the flaps isn't joined as securely as it would be if I had stitched through both the lining and exterior.  I felt that this wasn't a big deal - and am happy with the look of it without visible stitches.

All things considered, I thought it was a nice pattern - I just wish I had one when my kids were little!