Baby Swaddler and Fabric Adventures

Last week I got to make a sweet baby gift for a friend (who was giving it to her friend.) It's been to long since I've gotten to sew for a baby! Well, besides that baby quilt I started. It's the free Snuggler Pattern by Lotta Jansdotter. 

I first one of these before Elsie was born, and then made a few more when a bunch of friends had babies at once. The first 3-4 weeks of Elsie's life I had totally forgot to use it. Then when I finally put her in it, it was like a miracle. She always napped like a pro, slept all the way through the night at 6 weeks, and never went back. These results probably aren't guaranteed for all babies, but I know this snuggled made a huge difference! Every new parent needs one.

The fabric is from Sarah Watts' new Timber and Leaf line. It's just such a soft and beautiful woodsy group of fabrics. I wanted all of it, but kept myself to buying just two prints. This particular mom loved the fabric because she had already painted birch trees on the nursery wall. I had no idea! Call me the fabric psychic. 

Which I did on a recent shopping trip to Fabric Shack with some new and old friends. Fabric Shack is a great local quilt shop in the tiny town of Waynesville, OH, which is about 45 north of where I live. Everyone around here always talks about it, but I've never been. It's hard to be motivated to make that kind of trek to a fabric store when you are lucky enough to work in the best shop in the area. 

But I was pleasantly surprised by how much the selection lived up to everyone's talk. It's just a BIG little lqs, with room for lots of collections. Tons of modern designers, kona solids, Kaffe shot cottons, traditional stuff like repros and batiks, and even an extensive selection of novelties. That's where I found that super cool London subway print by Timeless Treasures that I couldn't resist. I also failed to resist some Tula Pink and Lizzy House. Before we got to the shop, I told Heather I wasn't looking to buy anything. Whoops. I should've known myself better than that.

But even better than the fabric shopping was the time with great sewing friends. A group of IG/ blog friends from Columbus came down and met some of us Cincy girls for lunch and shopping. It was so fun to meet these sewists I've admired from afar for the first time! From left is April, Julie (my boss at Sewn), Heather, me (I don't know what I'm doing. I was completely unable to take a non-goofy picture that day), Kara (I stole this picture from you girl!), Allie, Amanda, and Rachael. And Emily was there too, taking this picture. It was super fun to meet her since I started reading her blog ages ago. She was just as cool as I thought she'd be. I love when the internet comes to life and you think it might be weird, but instead it's normal and nice and mostly hilarious. Hopefully we can all hang again soon!