The Three Wise Bags

Claire after her bath this morning--super stoked about Christmas Eve!

I can finally say I know more about sewing than I thought I did.  Last Christmas I made everyone a standard pair of flannel pants (and much to their dismay, I didn't go to the flannel sale at JoAnne's Fabrics this year, so no one got a pair of pants!).  However, in my quest in all things crafty, I found this pattern for an awesome bag!  I was going to make my own diaper bag, or a school bag, but I'd kind of been shot down on the diaper bag idea, and we already had one.  We really need two diaper bags so I can use one for just daycare and one for us.   But in the meantime, I got a great idea that these would make nifty "Grandma's Day Out" bags for our two new grandmothers!  This way they could have something special to carry when they go out with Claire (of course, they could just use MY diaper bag, but that's not nearly so special).  So I decided on the pattern, and bought some fabric, and came up with these:

The flowery bag is for Grandma Katy and the circle bag is for Grandma Paula. 

A close up... this is my favorite--except for mine, of course.

 So I picked coordinating fabrics for both Grandma bags.  I didn't want anyone jealous or upset about color choice (not that they would be, but you never know, I've made people angry over smaller issues).  I found the fabric at JoAnne's Fabrics, although I'd had my eye on some designer Anna Marie Horner fabric when I'd looked at the bag originally.  After I'd finished Bag #1, I realized that in fact it was a great size, and customizable to fit things like bottles and my phone (I can't find a good place to stick my phone in the current bag, drives me crazy).  So, I sucked it up and got in touch with Sew Fresh Fabrics on ETSY who was kind enough to talk me through the process of buying fabric online--and I did!  And I LOVE the end result:

My new diaper bag!  I love love love the fabric!  It looks so good together!  Who knew I could pick colors so well? :)

My customizable inside--note: I've got 4 BumGenius in here, plus a receiving cloth, wet bag, wipes, a changing pad, a bag of cleaning products, and assorted other goodies inside--more than enough space!

And on the outside, although you might not be able to tell, there are pockets on both sides.  One side is split in half and fits two bottles perfectly.  The other side I left open, which fits a bottle of water (to mix the formula, of course). 

But I wasn't done yet!  We've been trying to use cloth wipes, but found that we needed several more.  Remember all those flannel pants I made last year?  Well, their scraps went to good use!  I also picked up a remnant of fleece and made some fleece liners for her cloth diapers (for when we have to use diaper rash cream, since it'll ruin her diapers if it gets on them).  The fleece was better, because it was no stitch, but I made a ton of wipes (these are just some... we've been wiping with them since I made them, we are totally out of the cute purple ones, so I can't show you!)

Fleece liners in two sizes (for our two diaper types, since one is a little smaller).  And many many wipes!

 And what does Claire think about all this?

Claire's first smile on camera... she's been smiling forever, but it's sort of like Bigfoot--you can't catch it on film to prove it!