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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Traveling Handmade

Nursing cover

Last year when QuiltCon (Feb. 21 - 24, 2013) was announced, I was so excited. I hadn't been able to make it to either of the Sewing Summits. So, I made tentative plans to go. I even told my mom about it (she's a quilter, but not necessarily plugged in to the online world of quilting or "modern" quilting). I've never been to Austin, but heard it's a fun town and I thought it would be a great chance to see some of my favorite quilters' work, up close and personal.

But then, something more wonderful happened: I discovered that I was expecting - on Feb. 21! So, no QuiltCon for this quilter. But I know it will be a great success, so I am looking forward to going next year, with my one year old in tow (or maybe I'll be ready for a little mom-alone-time by then!).

I've seen so many great Traveling Handmade posts from people attending the Sewing Summit and maybe we'll see some for QuiltCon, too. Then, I thought, "well, can still travel homemade!" I may not be traveling all the to Austin from Wisconsin, but I'll be traveling 25 minutes to the hospital and the infinite distance from being a non-parent to becoming a parent :)

car seat canopy

So, in addition to my hospital bag and nursing pillow and burp cloths, I put together a car seat cover and a nursing cover this weekend. I used this tutorial for the nursing cover from Made By the Mama Monster, but there are a ton of tutorials. I was going to use the Groovy Guitars print from Michael Miller but some of the tutorials suggested using a print more suited to mom, rather than baby. I actually agonized over which print to use and finally cut into my precious Tula Pink Birds and the Bees print (see above). I have some silly mirror/self-portraits of me wearing it in my Flickr photostream and I used a few flannel leftovers for corner pockets.

car seat canopy-window

For my car seat, I used this tutorial from Wannabe Crafty for the car seat canopy/cover. There are also a ton of tutorials for these, but I liked this one because it had little window. 

I used a Michael Miller flannel print and I backed the canopy with minky in a lovely color called "Tiffany." It's a little lighter than the hippos, but that's the challenge of picking colors online.

car seat canopy-window/minky

Minky is a PITA the sew with. I've done it several times. But this time, I thought I had cut the flannel and the minky to the same size but when I started to pin, it quickly became apparent that they were not the same size. Or, the minky stretched out of shape. So, it could stand to have a couple inches or so towards the top. But ultimately, I am pleased with it and it should stand up to a Wisconsin February.

Car seat canopy

Here are my Text Me swap fabrics already cut in fat quarters and ready to be sent! There are so many great fabrics in this swap and I can't wait to see what gets sent back. Anyone who wants to join in can - just have your FQs to Jessica by Feb. 15!

Text Me Swap fabrics

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