Saturday, March 24, 2012

Crocheted Owl/ Diaper Cake





Very pleased that Sue from SIBOL received my owl today.  Apparently, the postman could not read the postcode that I somehow must have printed incorrectly and it took a while to get to England.  Oh well! For those who don't know, SIBOL is the acronym for sunshine international blankets of love and I really like to read Sue's blog.  It is www.sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com   Sue has several "challenges" where she asks those who crochet or knit to make squares along a certain theme.  Won't the "Owl" blanket be a good one?  Sue receives the squares and then artfully arranges them and crochets the squares together, puts a border around each one and then delivers them to those in elderly care homes in England.  Sue receives squares from around the world, so they truly are international blankets.  Thanks to Sue for letting me know that this little guy was finally able to overcome my bad handwriting and made it to England.
Now, remember I told you I was in the midst of preparing for a baby shower.  I will be going there tomorrow and will be taking a diaper cake...Want to see how I do it? It's easy, if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it.  (They are called nappy cakes in England and Australia!)

This polka dot blanket (I love polka dots!) had a very pale pink rough kind of stitch around the side.  I took some lavender yarn and joined the yarn in one corner and just crocheted away...all the way around the blanket in a single crochet.  I could have gone around it again and made it a more lacy edge by doing a picot edging, but I'm a plain sort of gal and just liked that clean straight lavender edge on it.  What do you think?
Oh, and you know those women who always have beautiful nails and perfect hair and are always dressed beautifully?   I hope to be that like that one day, but the outlook doesn't look too good.






Ta-DA!  I think you can see from the photos how I did it.  I use clothes pins and rubber bands and just roll the diapers up and shape them into a round cake shape!  It really is best if you have a blanket or something that goes really flat so you can smooth that around each layer of diapers so it looks like icing.  You are supposed to pin the blanket at the back with covered baby diaper pins but I don't know if they even make those anymore, so it is just pinned together at the back with regular large safety pins. My second layer was actually girls trousers with a lacy bottom so it wouldn't lie as flat as I wanted it to, that layer is tied up with a white ribbon. It's a good idea to have something like a wooden spoon that you can decorate if you like or something similar...I found a little heart wand that was long and sturdy and so was perfect to push through both layers of diapers to kind of hold it together.
I fell in love with this little doll and knew I wanted it on a baby girl's diaper cake even though it says
" First Valentine's Day".  It's so cute that I hope the new mother won't mind. After all, that baby will have her first Valentine's Day next February!  The doll is sitting on top of a washcloth that I DID edge in a lacy edging and I hope the new mother will like that too! Very pleased I could wedge a Dr. Seuss book in there, Dr. Seuss being one of my favorites.  And "The Lorax" is a little onesie for a newborn!  I truly love to make diaper cakes and please, if you know anyone who is having a baby, I encourage you to make one too.  Let me know if you do!    I have seen them made with just diapers and ribbons, and I have also seen them with lots of gifts stuffed into them. Often, people will wrap the whole thing up in plastic, but I leave mine like this, just have to try to balance it on a hard piece of paper lined cardboard and get it to the baby shower.   Wish me luck!
 
DIAPER CAKE UPDATE:  Newsflash! Stop the presses! Overnight, the second layer of the diaper cake had settled making it look even messier than before, after frantic last minute panicking and more time spent with it, the diaper cake has now another layer and paper which probably clashes with the polka dots, but the artist in charge likes it anyway! I have added a crocheted flower which is tied to the baby wash on the front and now the doll is carefully perched at the very top. Since this is now so heavy, I found a plastic plate for it to rest upon. What do you think? It's got to be this since I have run out of time!

BABY SHOWER UPDATE: The baby shower was wonderful and the mother-to-be, Melissa, was just glowing! My cousin, Chris, was very, very happy too! (Can you tell by those beautiful dimples?)

It was a beautiful day for a shower...the dogwoods were in perfect bloom and the sky was amazing.


Melissa and Chris have lots of family and friends, look at all the vehicles lined up on both sides of the road.  (And there were more you can't see! )  What a wonderful showering of love upon these parents to be!

29 comments:

  1. The thought of someone in an elderly care home sitting with one of the blankets on just warms my heart. Such a meaningful effort. And I love your owl square ~ glad it finally made its way to its destination!

    I love the diaper cake and I know it'll bring a huge smile from the new Mom!

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    1. Dear Audrey,
      Thank you!
      After looking at my photo of my diaper cake, I think it looks a little lopsided, and I will work a bit more on it this morning!

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  2. Postal codes in England must be much like in the US, as i once heard a postal worker say, "No zip, slow trip; wrong zip, long trip!"

    That owl looks like he will be a handsome addition to the blanket, and i like the lavender edge on the blanket. Lace might have made it all look to busy.

    Love the idea of a diaper cake, i'll try that soon.

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    1. Hey!
      That's funny since it is so true! This time, it was a "long trip"!
      Glad you liked my plain edge too. There must be lots of examples online of diaper cakes. I can't look at too many, I will be too embarassed to ever make one again! (Because mine are a bit on the simple side).

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  3. What a wonderful and thought project, knitting and assembling all those squares and giving the blankets to the elderly!

    Love the diaper cake! Hope you have fun at the baby shower! My girlfriend just made one of those for her daughter's baby shower!

    Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog!

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    1. Hey!
      Sue is great, read her blog if you get a chance, those blankets that she puts together are amazing.
      Glad that you like the diaper cake! The mother-to-be always seems to like them.
      Oh, and I read your blog and leave comments all the time, rather, sometimes I TYPE a comment, decide it sounds stupid, then I delete the comment. But in my mind, I have sent you a comment! HA! Don't listen to what I say, listen to what I mean to say.

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  4. We don't have baby showers over here (at least we didn't in my day, I'm assuming we still don't) which is a shame. One of those cakes would be so perfect.

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    1. Guess what? Richard's cousin is expecting a baby and we were both surprised when his mother told us she was going to a baby shower for her. (She said that is one good idea that she is happy to see come from America!)
      She loved the baby shower! If only I could have made one of my diaper cakes!...

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  5. Only a few days ago, Fi from "Four Paws and Whiskers" showed a diaper cake on her blog (you can find her if you look at the followers on my blog). Such a creative way to give useful presents! I love the polka dot blanket (I love polka dots, too) and your owl, glad he still made it to England in time :-)

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    1. Hey!
      I went to see that diaper cake and I loved it! I left her a comment and ticked the box at the bottom that said !!!.
      I knew you would love the polka dots too!
      That liitle owl, he has the same beak as "Einstein" from AWARE but looks like the burrowing owl that we saw at the London Zoo years ago (except that owl didn't have bright orange eyes, artistic license, don't you know). ;-)

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  6. What a cute gift and I am so impressed with your creativity! I LOVE the crocheted owl! He's adorable. I used to be crazy about cats - but the past year owls are my new obsession. Such a worthy organization to be involved with.

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    1. Dear Jane,
      I love owls! I don't know if you saw the photo of the owl "Einstein" from my post on Jan.20th, but I also had a video on there about barred owls.
      I have seen some really artistic diaper cakes on the internet, but never mind, mine was fun to make!

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    2. Hi Kay, Yes, I sure do remember that post :)

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  7. I love this darling cake! I think it has to be one of the most heart-felt gifts one could receive. Thank you for sharing the tips on how to create one. Maybe one day I will be able to make one for a future grandchild!

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    1. Dear Cheryl,
      Thank you!
      What a wonderful thought, to make one for a future grandchild! :-)

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  8. The blanket will be wonderful, what a good idea.

    I think a plastic plate is the sensible answer, when something is that large and heavy it can become too unwieldy and anything to keep it together is bound to be welcome. What a lovely gift!

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    1. Dear Jenny,
      Thanks! My plastic plate was a good idea, we just got back from the shower and it held up very well...even though my present looked a bit plain, I still think she liked it. Never been a big fan of dolls even as a little girl, but I really loved the face on that little doll.

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  9. Hello Kay, The diaper cake is lovely, something new to me. I had a look at the link for the sunshine blankets, they do something similar to Linus Quilts. The quilting group I belong to had a Linus day yesterday where a group of ladies worked on quilts to be finished at home and collected later in the year by the Linus lady for our area and then distributed to hospitals or anyone in distress. I have read some more of your earlier posts now and am enjoying the scenes of your local area.

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    1. Dear Sandra,
      I love the SIBOL group and love that I can help just by the little bit that I do.
      You should see this area today...the dogwood trees are in full bloom, the azaleas are about the best colors I have ever seen, and the trees are just putting out their pale green leaves, along with a bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds...it was beautiful!

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  10. Kay, you are really creative! I love the diaper cake; that is gorgeous! And that owl is so cute. You've got talent, girl!

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    1. Dear Martha,
      You are so kind to think so. My joke is that if I show you what I have made, it looks really good if you think it was a creation of a SIX YEAR OLD! HA! Oh well, I enjoy myself anyway.

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  11. Your owl turned out really cute Kay. And I love the diaper cake you made - such a great idea...

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    1. Dear Laura,
      Thank you but I know a superior owl when I see one, your pattern is outstanding!
      I would love to see a diaper cake that you would make!

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  12. Kay,
    The diaper cake was so cute! We all loved it and was so proud to see all yesterday! We need to get together and hang out for a day and catch up on everything...had such a good time it just didn't last long enough! Let's get together soon!
    Love You Bunches!
    Gayle

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    1. Dear Gayle,
      Let me know and I will put a photo of Chris & Melissa on here! I have one of you too but since you are posing with Jan & Pam, they don't like to see themselves on here...so, but Chris & Melissa may say yes...ask them and let me know.
      Great to see ya'll too. Can you tell that Daddy & Dale had a good time? :-)
      Love,
      Kay

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  13. Hello Kate, just saw your diaper cake. Looks great. I'm sure it was a big hit. I once made this for a friend's baby shower and when I walked in with it, one of her relatives said "Oh,we already have a baby cake" I couldn't help but laugh.

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    1. Oh, that's a great story! You should have told her to "cut" yours and see what she would have done! I'll bet yours looked great!

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  14. Kay,
    Please post some pics...not of me, I always look so bad..can't take a good one to save my life!!LOL. Chris & Melissa won't mind..they always make good ones! It was good seeing yall, would loved to see Scott and Dale, haven't seen them in forever! We need to get together with Glenda and plan a family reunion how about it? Let me hear from you...talk to you later.
    Love, Gayle

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  15. Hey Gayle,
    Let me know if Chris & Melissa see this photo that I put here of them. Richard takes very good photos but I think I take good photos of people, don't you think? Of course, it helps if the people are GOOD-LOOKING! Also, I have a close-up of the dogwood blooming and the cars lined up at the baby shower...all the other photos had people in them! Would love to have a family reunion, sounds like fun!
    Love,
    Kay

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