Babies

Here's a simple costume idea for an adult/baby duo: a ventriloquist and a ventrioloquist dummy! The dapper suits with bow ties is the icing on the cake, but I think all you really need to pull this off is a creepy baby-sized wig and to draw lines straight down from the corners of Baby's mouth. Above is C, Brooke Reynolds' son, on his first Halloween. I discovered this clever idea on her blog, Inchmark.

I love this quilted playmat by Molly at the Purl Bee for it's beauty and sheer simplicity. (No basting necessary!) Make it in a weekend as a great new baby gift!

These duck feet baby socks from Jeny Staiman over on Knitty.com are fantastically fun and whimsical. I love that they can serve the function of keeping baby's feet warm while adding so much character and charm. [via Drew-O-Rama]

Doe-c-Doe has been sharing gifts she made for a recent baby shower this week on her blog, and I'm loving the projects. Forget about the baby, I want a set of these adorable embroidered pillows she made, using vintage coloring book pages, for myself!

I used images from a vintage coloring book, scanned them, re-drew them in illustrator, added color, printed them out on printable fabric I bought at joann's, then hand-embroidered them.

Brilliant!

I also love this sweet alphabet wall hanging she created as a wall hanging for the baby's nursery.

I wrapped a previously thrifted quilt onto a wooden stretcher frame then just attached the hand embroidered letters. the felt icons at the bottom are from a thrifted felt board toy.

So simple, but still so special!

Yarnabees adapted Lion Brand's owl bib pattern to make her own penguin bib version. It reminds me of our doe-eyed fuzzy panda amigurumi crochet along.

How adorable is this fleece baby Princess Leia hat? Cheryl of Sew Can Do made this "hairdo hat" for her daughter to wear to a Star Wars birthday party. She doesn't have a tutorial, but the inspiration and photographs are a great starting point for anyone wanting to give it a go.

Related:
Princess Leia Knitted Wig

Instructables user Mickiswing shares her technique for creating a fluffy big hooded baby towel, which she suggests makes a great baby shower gift!

I like these so much better than most store bought baby towels. They're cheaper to make, averaging around $10 per towel, and they're much bigger, thicker and softer. My almost six year old is still using his and loves it.

When my niece was born, I learned from my sister and brother in-law that babies' eyes first can see high-contrast images before they're able to distinguish colors easily. To stimulate their baby's brain, they used iron-on transfers to add bold contrasting patterns to the insides of her crib bumpers, but this how-to for a high-contrast baby mobile would have been perfect, too!

More:

How-To: Airplane Mobile

If you're looking for the perfect geeky baby gift, check out this awesome project from Craftster user, NameThatCandy. [via Geek Crafts]