Two Favourite Things Together!

One of my best friend’s, Carmel, is a Grandma…again, and I’m so thrilled for her, well I mean, I’m thrilled for all of them obviously lol! The young couple, Shirley and Gabe, who already had a little girl, Ariana, welcomed a sweet little boy, Damon, and they are just the cutest little family of 4!

I had made a blanket and bunny minky set as a shower gift for their Ariana so as soon as I heard they were expecting again, this time with a little boy, I knew without hesitation that I’d be making another blanket….duh lol! As usual, there was only one issue….which print?!?

Every time I was cutting a minky order I was thinking, “hmmmm, maybe I should use this print”, and it was decided, until I cut the next order and the same thought was running through my head with the next cute print lol! And then something quite funny happened….Shirley reached out to me just to let me know that Ariana still absolutely loves her blanket and that it’s her favourite, she simply must have it for naps and bedtime! Isn’t that always the nicest thing to hear, that something you made brings such joy to someone?!? I quickly assured her that baby boy would also be getting his own and then I came up with an idea….I wondered if Ariana would be interested in picking out a print, that way she would hopefully feel involved and be a part of the process! I’m always soooooo worried about an older sibling when a new baby arrives, I never want them to feel left out or sad or that they are any less important! You would think that this must have been something I personally experienced and is engrained in my brain but no, it’s the not the case at all as I’m the youngest lol!

Thankfully, Shirley loved this idea and she said Ariana would enjoy picking out a favourite print! I gave her the link to our website and did suggest that perhaps she have a look first so perhaps she could narrow it down a bit so as not to overwhelm Ariana with all the choices lol! So I have left that job in their capable hands and since we won’t be seeing them for another month-ish, they have lots of time to choose!

Now the whole time I’ve been thinking about this blanket, I was, as I’ve already admitted, been wondering what I could make for Ariana as a “congratulations on becoming a big sister” gift! I considered a bigger minky blanket but since hearing that she loves her current one so much, that seemed unnecessary, but I really wanted to make something using minky! For inspiration, I headed over to the Shannon Fabrics Blog where they have a huge selection of free projects, surely I could find something there…and I did, 2 things to be exact, and this is where it gets super fun because they both included 2 of my favourite things…..bagmaking and minky!

These were the 2 bags I found and I thought they were both super cute and would be great for Ariana, but ultimately I decided to make the Sleepover Cinch Sack for the simple reason that I thought she could put lots of stuff in there and then just throw it on her back so she wouldn’t have to carry it, or should I say, Mom or Dad wouldn’t have to carry it lol!

For once, the fabric selection was easy because when I was cleaning my fabric shelves a few weeks back, I realized I had a piece of Shannon Fabrics Sweet Darlings that I’ve been hoarding for perhaps a couple of years! It is a favourite print of mine so I think I bought a yard once so that I would have it “just in case”, but that seems like a shame to have it and not use it, so use it I shall! For the lining of the bag, I found a cute little cat print in my collection so away I went!

The majority of the “Let’s Make a Sleepover Cinch Sack” video that Teresa does is talking about embroidering on minky and that wasn’t a need of mine so I just skipped through that and went straight to sewing the bag. It’s a super quick project and it includes a very unique interior pocket construction that I loved! I found some ribbon with little paw prints on it which I thought tied in well with the animals of the minky print and the kittens of the cotton print….a win win lol! Oh yes, and I also used a bit of a Kona for the cord channel at the top! And here’s what the finished little bag ended up looking like…

Isn’t that just, well….darling lol?!? Such a fun and quick little project, especially since I didn’t do the embroidery lol! I think it’s so cute and I hope Ariana loves it and enjoys looking at all the little animals!

Now, there’s just one more thing I need to say……the bag is finished, and I do truly love it but I have a concern, and I’d love to know your thoughts on it….do you think that the parents may look at the bag and wonder why I’m giving their 3 year old child a choking hazard?!? This thought never occurred to me until I was taking the pictures and now it’s all I can think about!!!! Please tell me I’m overreacting…please lol!! But also, if I’m not overreacting and my concerns are valid, tell me that too….I may have to set this project aside and perhaps make her the other tote bag I was considering, the one with the much smaller handles!

Aye yi yi lol, this is so me, jump into something and then once I’m done, that’s when I do the “thinking” part lol!

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts so please let me know!

That’s all for now my friends….wishing you all an amazing week!

Shawna