canvas buckets to hold diapering supplies and mini burp rags (see below) in the baby’s room.  glad i finally found a good use for that awesome ribbon trim!  the buckets in the first picture are still a little floppier than what i’d like–even with some plastic needlepoint “canvas” tucked into them to make the sides more stable–but so far they’re working fine.

mini burp rags!  i’d originally made these to be cloth diaper wipes, but i’m finding that the combination of flannel on one side and jersey (old t-shirts) on the other side is a little too thick and stiff for a good diaper wipe.  luckily, my friends purchased some of the thin flannel pre-made cloth wipes i’d thrown onto my wish list at the last minute and those work great!  but do not despair–this big stack was not made in vain!  turns out that they make really great burp rags.  i can put them in that cute green canvas bucket above and then use them sort of like washable kleenex (hmmm… that would normally just be called a handkerchief, wouldn’t it?)–when the one i’m using gets too gross or mislaid, i just pull out another one.  they’re between 7 and 9″ square with a simple serged edge.  i have more than what’s pictured above.  i went a little nuts making these at christmas.

a sunshade for the sunroof on our honda element.  (who the heck designs a sunroof with no options to shade it??  not even as accessories??) and i added some of that cute michael miller fabric to give the boy something fun to look at.

then, last for today, i was in the nursery the other day with the window open, enjoying the lovely spring breeze when that same breeze slammed to door shut very loudly.  “hmmm….” i thought to myself, “that will never do.  i need a doorstop.” and then i remembered rebekah’s challenge to make something from a book that we already own and luckily, i own lotta jansdotter’s simple sewing book which has a pattern for a doorstop that i’d been wanting to try.  i rushed to my fabric stash and re-discovered these two reversible placemats i’d found at the dig-n-save last year sometime:

which, after a few naptimes, i transformed into this:

by the way, because i had cheap rice on hand and not a 5 lb bag of beans, i used rice.  i wouldn’t recommend it.  rice is much denser and more compact than beans, so my doorstop is quite heavy (too heavy for the handle maybe?) and still not filled all the way despite probably using 10 lbs of rice and an extra lb of beans!

and while you’ve already seen these pants that i made, i can’t resist showing them to you again on this cute little model:

i’ve made a few other things, but if i don’t post this soon, it will spend another week sitting in my drafts box!

we’ve been blessed with so many gifts from generous friends and family lately.  of course, most of my favorites are the handmade items.  here are pictures of some of those beauties that have entered our house recently:

flannel and terrycloth bibs from smallfox.

hand knit stripey monster with a baby monster that comes out of the pocket from the same friend who made me the toadstool rattle.

beautiful handmade cards from my dear friend crafterall that echo the theme from my adoption quilt (and yes, she cut out each heart and added a line of stitching to each card and there were a lot of cards!).

this hilarious onesie wasn’t handmade by the giver, but it was locally handmade and purchased at anthology.  perfect for the wisconsin baby.

and while we’re talking about purchased handmade gifts, i’ll also include two etsy gifts (wooden teether from here, crochet rattle from here).

then today in the mail, i was surprised by my dear friend, poor robin, with this gift for me!  (not the baby)  a necklace inspired by the nursery!  love it!

there are other handmade gifts, but i don’t have pictures of them yet and the daylight is waning, so that’s another post for another day.  i am thrilled to have such generous and creative friends who are willing to help me surround the happy baby with beautiful, thoughtful gifts.  thank you, thank you all!