Crafts on the cheap

After those last posts, I felt it was time for a little bit of fun around here and thought I would show up some of the cute baby stuff I have been making. I had so many project ideas but wanted to start with the ones I had all or most of the supplies for already.

I really wanted a floor blanket/quilt but my first one didn't work out so well so I tried again. If I couldn't knit a cute blanket for Nigel, maybe I could quilt one from pre-knitted fabric. So I took my favorite old sweaters from college that I had saved.
They were too ragged to wear anymore but I just couldn't get rid of them, especially the blue one. It was my very favorite. I called it my Lorelai sweater because Lorelai wore the exact same sweater on Gilmore Girls once (it has a weird neckline so it is easily distinguishable).

I just cut the biggest squares I could from the front and back. Since I only had four sweaters, I only had 8 squares which is not a great number for making a quilt. So I used the sleeves to make a smaller patchwork for the center square. Then I sewed it together, alternating directions of the knitting to reduce stretch, found some old fabric and batting I had for the binding and back, sewed it all together then tied it.

I was a bit worried because they were different textures but that turned out to be one of my favorite things about it. In all it only costs me 35 cents for the embroidery floss to tie it!
To give you some idea of it's size. Here it is with a sleep gown from an old t-shirt. The gown was a bit confusing at first and didn't quite understand how it fit together so the front ended up being inside out but that is only a cosmetic problem. It really is a simple pattern and as soon as I round up some t-shirts, I can easily whip up more. Plus now that I know how to do the envelope neckline, I have so many ideas for more baby clothes! This one costs me $1.79 for three yards of elastic but that means I still have enough elastic for a lot more gowns.
I also made a minky taggy blanket. I have a love-hate relationship with minky. It is a great baby fabric. As soon as you feel it, you immediately want to put it up against your face it is just so soft. It is also super stretchy and doesn't glide through my machine very consistently which means I spend half my sewing time cursing the day I thought to use minky. But a square is relatively easy especially if you keep it small and use lots and lots of pins. Mine ended up being about 10"x10" so it's more of a cuddle toy than a for-warmth blanket but I really like it. It only costs $1.99 for a bag of ribbon scraps. And what baby doesn't want a lovey that matches their parent's lamps and camera strap?

That's about it for now but I have lots more projects in the works so I'll be back soon with another progress report. Yah for craftiness!