pretty little burpies

As I wiped some chocolate milk off the front of my daughter it occured to me I will be using many cloth diapers everyday, again, when my son comes in a little over 6 weeks. : ) Also, the thought came to me that I wouldn't want cross contamination between the two of them. When Katie was an infant she had acid reflux for a while and we used multiple cloth diapers everyday to wipe up the little messies, and we still use them when her 'spill proof' sippies spill : P.

Fortunately, we have a lot of cloth diapers hanging around (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law). I had made a genuine effort to be eco-friendly by trying to use cloth diapers instead of disposable. Unfortunately, my daughter has sensitive skin, and though I would change her instantly she would break out in these rashes; I'd switch back to disposables and she would heal well, then I'd try again with the cloth and she'd break out again. I'm sorry Mother Earth : ) we tried. Doesn't help she has eczema too.

So, since I dont want to cross contaminate them I'd have to be able to tell their wiping rags apart. This is such a simple idea but I thought it was cute and wanted to share it. : ) Also, making a set and giving it as a baby shower gift would be nice and useful, not to mention thoughtful despite being so simple!

All this project is is giving a printed border to some cloth diapers to make some pretty little burpies. : )
You could use bias tape, ribbon, or like I did - make you own bias tape with a fabric of choice.

First, I measured the dimensions of the cloth diaper and in this case it was 14.5 " x 20.5". I'm sure they vary, so measure yours too!
Of the fabrics I used, one had the full 72" length I would use to make sure I had enough at the end after going around all 4 sides. With the other fabrics I used two pieces 36" x 4" to cover 2 sides at a time. The 4" came because I wanted my border to be 1" around.

before................................................................................................after...................................................................................................




I made my border by ironing the fabric in half, lengthwise, then ironed the outside edges in towards the center (like making a strap). Then I opened it to iron down the starting edge to avoid a corner that may fray.




I folded the corners as I pinned the 'tape' around to have an angle but squared edges would look good too. Afterall, these aren't going to stay as pretty with use anyway : D. At the end I folded under the same as with the start, to prevent fray. I used my machine and sewed 1/3 inch from the inside of the border to be sure both sides were being sewn to the diaper. And Voila! Pretty little burpies! for all of baby's not-so-pretty little messies! : )

Katie's quilt

This is my first quilt! made for my lovely daughter, katie! I think quilting is one of those amazing art forms that takes a bunch of pieces and creates something useful as well as meaningful. I figure it's a skill that could really help in saving from wasting down the line, I already don't like throwing away scraps and now i have a reason to hold on to them. :)

As a beginner I needed a simple plan. I knew I wanted six inch squares in printed fabrics, so I drew my plan on some graph paper. I figured three inch bordering, or 'sashing', would look good and add to size. I planned the dimension of this blanket to be 39" x 48" with 1/2" seams to allow for ironing. To make this blanket I cut:

20 7"x7" squares ( I used 6 different prints for this)
24 7"x4" rectangles (in the sashing)
5 49"x4" rectangular strips (in the sashing)
1 49"x40" rectangle for the backing fabric (I used fleece but you may want to use a piece of interfacing as well, especially if you're using a thinner fabric)

After I cut my squares I laid them all out to make sure I had them facing the directions I wanted and that they were in the right order by verticle rows. ( I apologize if this seems like I'm going into too much detail past common sense, but as I mentioned above this is my first quilt and I figure it couldn't hurt) Next, I sewed the verticle rows (shown horizontally : P) and ironed. Then, the long sashing was sewn in between the sewn rows, and ironed.

Since I didn't make a border I just sewed the quilt top to the back panel, right sides together and left about 9" open, on a long side, to turn it out. I clipped the corners so they would be neater. After the turning it right side out, I hand sewed the opening.

To secure the front and back and give it a 'quilted' look I top stitched a simple diamond pattern using clear thread. I used a regular sewing machine for this. As I've never made a quilt or taken a class for it, I dont know what real quilters do to achieve their top stitching. I used a piece of cardstock alligned with my squares on a diagnal to guide my stitches straight.

The quilt came together so fast and easily anyone can do it if they can cut and do some simple sewing. I do understand why people use charm packs to quilt though.... I spent a few hours picking coordinating fabric. : ) BUT it's personal for it and I will be making another very soon for my little guy who is due in two months. Now when I make something it will be in variable duplicate having two lovelies! Twice the joy! : ) And btw, my daughter loves her new blanket!!! What's nice is it is big enough for her to use for years to come too...... i'm thinking a new project is in line for the scraps left from this!