Elisabeth from Growing Home is back with another gorgeous DIY for us. A Rick-Rack Baby Blanket! This is an excellent beginner project, a thoughtful gift and a perfect way to display your favorite fabric in baby's room. I think I need to make baby Vlad (not his real name) a robot blanket! And if you love this look, also take a peek at Jaime's Rick-Rack Place Mat tutorial.
And don't forget, any comment you leave this week could win your that gorgeous fabric up there to the left. Let Elisabeth know how much you love her project, and while you're at it, let me know how you spell ric(k)-rac(k). The internet seems to be confused and so is Jacinda.
Take it away Elisabeth!
Lately, it seems that conception is in the air. More friends than I can count are having babies, which means that I'm very blessed to have LOTS of baby showers to attend. Now, I love celebrating mommas, love welcoming new little ones, and especially love an excuse to get away from my own responsibilities and chat it up with my girlfriends. However, I get a little bored with my baby gifts. Or maybe not bored, just bummed, because what I WANT to buy my friends is something lovely and unique and surprising (like a hand-knitted mobile from a fun boutique...) and what I can fit into my gift budget is a package of Dr. Brown's bottles. And honestly, despite the fact that Dr. Brown's has seen me through two separate years of two separate fussy babies, I would like to have a bonfire and torch all those bottles and their silly parts (I have a weird feeling that I've vented about this before...apparently I'm a little angsty on the subject of infant feeding. Don't get me started on nursing. It was not easy).
Anyway, I have found a solution to my quandry, and it is the DIY receiving blanket.
All the credit for this creation goes to my mom, who made collections of these blankets for Big Brother and Little Brother when they were born. Four for each boy, mostly from adorable, preppy, boyish fabrics like seersucker, gingham, and bright Vineyard-Vines-eque plaids. She had the advantage, of course, of knowing that I was having boys, which I don't always have with friends (as cool as I think it is to wait, I am WAY too much of a control freak to sacrifice all that planning time). If they weren't meticulously packed away in the attic, I'd show you a picture--it would almost be enough to make me want to have another boy to wrap up in all of them. Almost, but not quite.:)
The wonderful thing about these blankets is that you can style them in any way you want, and once you get the hang of it, whipping them out in one evening is quite easy. This bright, funky pattern from Alexander Henry (also available in Pool and Bright) is one I've had my eye on for months, and the impending arrival of my dear friend Megan's third little man was the perfect excuse to snatch it up (I bought it at Whipstitch; if you're in the Atlanta area and curious at all about sewing, you must go there). Megan's husband is Czech, and the two of them have spent many seasons of their relationship living and traveling abroad, so this pattern seemed particularly appropriate.
For a another friend--a native Southerner who is waiting to welcome her first child--I aimed for something a little more delicate and traditional.
Two totally different looks, huh? The best part is that they are personal, handmade, and FAR more special than something that my meager budget could purchase at Babies R Us. Just don't hold me to making them for every baby...I might have to give up sleeping.
See the full Rick-Rack Baby Blanket tutorial and tons more pictures after the jump.
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Labels: Baby, DIY, Gifts, In One Evening, The Season of Cozy
in its entirety, got a belated birthday pedicure with my sister-in-law (thanks Becca!), went to the grocery store twice, the gym for the first time since April, changed approximately 15 diapers, and bought a pair of sunglasses at Target. Since coming to the sad conclusion that a mother's sunglasses are basically disposable, Target it is. I actually love them. I told Rick that since they were $125 less than the pair I really wanted, I saved us that money! (Does anyone else say fun things like that to torture their husband?)
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