Ribbon Mobile

I'm helping a friend out with her nursery.  She is doing a lot of purple, and a little pink, and all the monograms.  I've made quite a few flowers, but I was trying to think of a fun mobile to go in her room, and saw these little guys on the web.  They are really simple to put together, and they would be cute in the corner of a room hanging from a ceiling as well.  

 I bought a 10 inch embroidery hoop, and 11 different ribbon spools.  I didn't use all the ribbon from each spool, but I did need 6 feet of each (as you are measuring, just to let you know this took 66 feet of ribbon).  Hobby Lobby has their ribbon on sale every other week, so I always wait for a sale week for projects like this, and they had a bunch of fun textures. 

 I looped these onto the outer ring.  I cut each piece 24 inches and folded them in half. 

 I pulled the ends through the loop, and pulled to tighten. 

 You could add a glue dot at this point, but I used the inner circle later just to hold them into place. 

 I figured out my 'pattern' and did three rounds of each ribbon. 

I then put two pieces of twine criss cross across the top and attached the inner hoop and tightened to hold it all in place.  Simple, cute, and it definitely hit the girly quota!

Nautical Mobile

 Soon I'll be posting some pictures of this mobile hanging in it's nursery.  In the meantime, you get my overgrown yard last spring.

My friend, Amber, was expecting a baby boy....but she didn't know she was expecting a baby boy.  I did because I was assigned the task of decorating his nursery.  When she had her first baby (Charlotte) a few years before I knew that the nursery was going to be nautical if it was a boy, or ballet if it was a girl.  Well, ballet it was.  So, this go 'round, she didn't find out in advance, but they wanted a gender specific nursery, so I got the privilege of putting it all together.  I stuck with nautical.  I've made a few mobiles for different friends in the past, but this time I went a little different.  

 I usually use an embroidery hoop, but this time I found these sticks/balls ready to put together via aliexpress.  They also sold these little wooden anchors (I painted two red).

I found these little crochet whales via Etsy (the gal was really quick, and so sweet, she even threw in an extra narwhal...if she only knew how much I loved unicorns).  I used some jewelry string to tied each one to the sticks.  Very simple, but it works perfect with the nursery theme!

Crib Skirt

 I made this bed skirt for a nursery, and the cost was under fifteen.  I'm not sure of the exact amount b/c some of the fabric was from other projects.  I originally was going to go with ruffles, but....it's for a boy, so....I just gave him a little row of polka dots....and left the rest solid.  I didn't want to receive therapy bills later, I'm a teacher.  Anyway, I asked his mama for the dimension of the bed (52 by 29) and I cut the white piece of fabric to that size.  The drop from the mattress to the floor was 17 inches so I cut about 5 inches of the polka dot and 13 inches of the blue.  Sewing them together I ate up half an inch attaching to the white, and the other half inch attaching the polka dot to the navy so that it would hit at the right length.

I left the backside without any fabric b/c it's against the wall.  The whole bedroom shebang coming shortly.

Baby Quilt

 I made this quilt for a nursery I put together this last fall.  I'll be posting all the details over the next month.  This is the quilt I made (and later ironed, whoops).  I went with a navy, mint, and gray heme, so I bought half a yard of a bunch of different fabrics/designs I liked.

 I cut the strips into 7 inch strips and sewed them together.

 I just did enough until it matched the length of the yard of soft white fabric I bought as the back.  I sewed the two pieces together.  It's OK to see the seam b/c I am going to cover it with binding.

 I cut 4 yards of three inch pieces of one of the fabrics for the binding and then I ironed it down the middle.  I matched the two rough edges to the rough edge on the front of the quilt.

 I sewed it all the way around (the fold will be facing the inside of the front at this point.

 It looks like this and then...

 Pull the folded edge to the back.

 Sew it all the way around the blanket again.

 Here's the finished front/back.  More details to come soon.

Rustic Pine Tree Mobile

 I have a friend who went with the rustic/camping-ish theme for her little guy's nursery and she saw a mobile made out of pine trees and asked me if I could copy the design.

I'll try most crafts once.  I bought an embroidery hoop (I only used the inside hoop), plastic rings...I have no idea what their purpose is, but the craft store had them near the yarn.  I got some string from the jewelry dept (I figured if it was sturdy enough to wear, it could hang this mobile up).  I found some unfinished wood trees online by searching.  They only cost about 5 dollars for 10, BUT....the shipping was also five dollars.  Oh well. I also got three colors of stain (which I had around my house):  Cherry, Walnut, and Oak.  

 I drilled a hole into  the top of each tree.

 ..and painted them with the different stains.  I actually used a paper towel to rub two coats of stain onto each tree (letting them dry in between each staining).

 I tied strings at different lengths into each tree.

 Then I tied the strings onto the hoop at different lengths, evenly around the hoop.  I tied several knots, snipped the edge, and then super glued it so it would stay.

I drilled four holes and then doubled up more string and tied those through and up towards the ring at the top.  

The hardest part of the project was trying to get a shot as the mobile swung in the wind....it's really not crooked, but...you take what you can get.  I put it all together for 16 dollars, and that's including the 5 for shipping I could have skipped if I had time to hunt down those trees at a nearby store.