I recently participated in a ribbon swap with Linda – one of the nicest gals you could meet in blogland.

She spends time in Spain and England and she makes loads of really cute creative things.

I hope you’ll check out her blog: Chalky’s World!

Here are the wonderful goodies she sent to me:

Love these colors.

Keepin’ it cute!

Hot pink/magenta seems to be finding me alot lately.

Lots of ribbon goodness!

Even a pretty card, little wooly goodies and pretty hearts.

Thank you so much, Linda!

You’re the best!

Jenn : )

I’m working on a project that calls for lots and lots of ribbons.

Fortunately, I happen to have lots and lots of ribbons.

I decided last weekend that I have kept them tucked away long enough.

It’s time to put these to good use!

Aren’t they pretty, all stacked up?

(Hope to show you the finished goods in an upcoming post.)

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PS – Thanks so much to Maartje (aka Tizz), for featuring me

over on her super cute blog: Tizzalicious.

*Check it out!*

Jenn : )

It seems like lots of friends and co-workers are having babies these days.

Two girlfriends of mine have babies who are less than a year old.

Being a fan of Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing,

I recently purchased another of her books: Simple Sewing For Baby.

So far I’m loving it!

It’s filled with projects that are practical and fun.

Some of the more whimsical items may not match your personal esthetic,

but they could be easily modified to “make them your own”.

The first project I tried from the book was the Tag Blankie.

And I’m so happy with how they turned out!

It was fun to choose fabric and then ribbons to match.

The sewing was very easy.

This one is for little Robyn.

I double stitched the edges to make sure those tags stay on.

And this one is for little Mylo.

I hope he likes robots (as much as I do)!

I washed both blankies together on gentle with woolite, tossed them in the dryer and they both came out looking great! This is a wonderful project because these sew up very quickly (and isn’t it satisfying to start and finish a project in the same day?), and they make a lovely handmade gift for a friend, or your own little bundle of joy.  I’m also proud to say that I had ALL the supplies on hand to make these – no trip to the fabric shop was needed.  I’ve been saving scraps of ribbon in the hopes of finding a project to use them for and this worked perfectly.  I used satin-y ribbon scraps that I hadn’t washed before – and they came out of the washer/dryer just fine.

My next Lotta project will be the Soft Rattle toy.  Again, I’m going to only use materials that I have on hand.  I’ve already had a learning experience washing cotton velveteen to use for this project.  I was very nervous about how to go about washing/drying it, as I have very limited experience (ie: none) with this material.  But you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss.  I just stitched up the raw edges and threw it in the washer, then dryer, and to my delight – it came out looking better than when it went in.

I’ll let you know how those rattles turn out!

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Have you tried any new projects lately?

Experimented with a new material or technique?

Tell me about it!  : )

Cheers – Jenn : )