So SIL found out her baby-under-construction is a boy. I'm into quilting right now and have a fair bit of beige, brown and blue quilting fabric left over from my patchwork skirt project. So I thought I'd use that to make a smallish quilted mat for the baby to lie on - one of those ones with "activities" on it. Not the kind with a built-in toy dangly thing that the baby lies underneath, but the kind with ribbons sticking out the edge, squeaky toys attached or whatever.
So, any ideas? I don't want any toys/attachments that might kill the baby, obviously, and I'd like to basically keep to the brown and blue colour scheme (for prettiness and finance combined!). I want a theme that's boyish, but not cheesy-boyish, ie. no superheroes or trucks or, um, guns (hmm, gun baby blankets, wonder if they exist?). I also want the attachments to stick on with Velcro so the blanket can be washed. So far I've considered:
a garden bugs theme - have the quilt leaf-shaped or something with Velcro-on bees, snails, ladybugs etc (probably wouldn't work with my colour scheme)
a farm with tractors, cows etc and the blanket quilted to look like fields (beige) and ponds (blue) with various attachments in the appropriate squares (possible, but how I'd do the cow or tractor I do not know)
a farm featuring smaller animals like mice, ducks and chickens - was thinking a few ducklings or baby chicks attached to each other with ribbon could be cute
a pond with attachments like water-lilies, fishies, frogs and ducks (cute, I think, but again, wrong colours?)
a foresty theme with squirrels, acorns and leaves, the leaves could rustle with cellophane inside (too limiting? wouldn't work without green? labour-intensive?)
something he could use as a base for playing cars when he got older, such as a "town" with roads
Thing is, I can't see any photos of anything like this online for bouncing ideas off. I'm sure they exist - Etsy, maybe? Anyone made something similar, or have any bright ideas?
As for the attachments/activities, I need some ideas too. I've thought of something crinkly (cellophane sandwiched between fabric), something noisy like a squeaker or bell hidden inside a stuffed toy, some loops of ribbon to pull, something soft like a scrap of sheepskin to pat... what else? Would a tiny mirror be too hard to incorporate into a sewing project? I don't want to have too many different materials like felt and goggle-eyes and glitter, because I'm a purist/Aspie/want to use up all my quilting fabric.
Any ideas welcome!
I have four months...
So, any ideas? I don't want any toys/attachments that might kill the baby, obviously, and I'd like to basically keep to the brown and blue colour scheme (for prettiness and finance combined!). I want a theme that's boyish, but not cheesy-boyish, ie. no superheroes or trucks or, um, guns (hmm, gun baby blankets, wonder if they exist?). I also want the attachments to stick on with Velcro so the blanket can be washed. So far I've considered:
a garden bugs theme - have the quilt leaf-shaped or something with Velcro-on bees, snails, ladybugs etc (probably wouldn't work with my colour scheme)
a farm with tractors, cows etc and the blanket quilted to look like fields (beige) and ponds (blue) with various attachments in the appropriate squares (possible, but how I'd do the cow or tractor I do not know)
a farm featuring smaller animals like mice, ducks and chickens - was thinking a few ducklings or baby chicks attached to each other with ribbon could be cute
a pond with attachments like water-lilies, fishies, frogs and ducks (cute, I think, but again, wrong colours?)
a foresty theme with squirrels, acorns and leaves, the leaves could rustle with cellophane inside (too limiting? wouldn't work without green? labour-intensive?)
something he could use as a base for playing cars when he got older, such as a "town" with roads
Thing is, I can't see any photos of anything like this online for bouncing ideas off. I'm sure they exist - Etsy, maybe? Anyone made something similar, or have any bright ideas?
As for the attachments/activities, I need some ideas too. I've thought of something crinkly (cellophane sandwiched between fabric), something noisy like a squeaker or bell hidden inside a stuffed toy, some loops of ribbon to pull, something soft like a scrap of sheepskin to pat... what else? Would a tiny mirror be too hard to incorporate into a sewing project? I don't want to have too many different materials like felt and goggle-eyes and glitter, because I'm a purist/Aspie/want to use up all my quilting fabric.
Any ideas welcome!
I have four months...
