sewing for baby

Yesterday in the midwife/OB practice waiting room, Marian and I found a handy layette guide and I, with my first boy (pink polka dots I have saved not as charming) & first winter baby (he's going to freeze!), went into a sudden "not enough blankets!" panic. Luckily, we passed a fabric store on the way home and both chose our favorite flannel. I finished sewing this fabric tonight:Other baby sewing has been pretty much focused on crib sheets for the crib & cradle, as well as some covers for the inflatable diaper changing pad shown below. Sewn from my beloved green leaf Kaufman bamboo print (Meg sent me more this week in a darling baby package: thank you! I was down to selvage strips...) and a super-clearanced IKEA duvet I bought for the express purpose of cutting up and using its soft cotton textured weave for my new sweetheart.My other fabric passion is a very plush 100% bamboo fleece I bought from dharmatrading.com. Both sides are ultra-soft, so the two blankets I've made use a single layer. It's really, really lovely, and stays nice after washing. This one is bound with a nice chocolate linen, with a sweet little guild of the forest fern hedgie embroidery. The leaf blanket was inspired by this one on the purl blog, backed with a simple white flannel.I've also been delving a bit into diapers, and the bamboo fleece was originally purchased with diaper sewing in mind. Bamboo is the new hot diaper fiber--super absorbent, with natural anti-bacterial qualities. Plus soft for the sweet bum. I've zigzagged a few washcloths, and made some cloth inserts for my gDiapers: one layer of bamboo fleece over two of microfiber (super absorbent, but not so nice against the skin. Audrey refuses to touch our microfiber cloths, which I've happily used for cleaning for a long time). More maybe when I find what I like from my sample stash.

The girls are unexpectedly transfixed by the cloth diaper concept. When our sample pack came from Jillian's Drawers last week, everything got tried on stuffed animals. Then the animals were entertained. Audrey has determined that she is "diaper captain" and Marian may be the "diaper queen." Or the other way 'round. I get confused. Bets on how long their enthusiasm will last? Some are taking bets on mine...