Spring Babies Are Coming!

Finally! The baby of our family is ten years old. So, looking forward to being a great-grandma this Spring of a little girl. She's coming soon. But my grand niece is having one sooner and it's a boy! I will be a great-grand aunt before I'm a great-grandma. So my great-niece wanted a golf crib mobile that she saw somewhere for an incredible price tag. For just a few bucks and a few hours time, this is the result. I already had everything except the 1/2" screw eyes and wood block which I got off of Amazon. I got the dowels from the Dollar Tree last week.

I drew the basic shapes out and then made a pattern. I tried to make improvements to the pieces where I could. I made the indent circles on the golf balls large and almost connected. And I decorated the pieces on both sides.

I did not have any navy felt so I had to dye dark blue with some alcohol inks and then when the piece was dry, I heat set it with an iron before cutting out the golf cart. So I will be the first to admit that my hand stitches are not that great but I did get the job done! I never was that good at hand stitching or embroidery. So it definitely looks hand made and not mass produced. That makes it worth it even if it's not perfect. 

I love the tree. I so wanted to put apples on it but it wouldn't go with the minimalist design and color scheme. I had to buy a box of eight blocks because I couldn't find just one block to buy online. I didn't have any screw eyes so I had to buy a box of those too. That's how I end up with so much stuff in my craft room. Nobody can buy just one of anything and I might need those leftovers some day.

I don't know what this is called, a fairway or a green? Maybe just the golf hole. The stitches around the pieces are just done with the blanket stitch, a large needle and twisted embroidery floss. It's really easy to do. I used tacky glue to hold the cutout pieces on each side before sewing them and a dab of glue on the knots before pulling them into the center.

The clouds were pretty easy. I used the blanket stitch around the pieces leaving enough space to stuff in just a little polyester batting. It's the same Polyfil I use for my stuffed dolls. I use the ultra loft so it only takes a bit to puff it out.

The golf bag was easy enough. In fact, there is nothing hard about making this. Even the wood pieces are easy if you have the right drill bit. My son drilled them for me. Four 3/8" wooden dowels cut in 6" lengths and he used a 3/8" drill bit to drill holes into four sides of the 2" wooden block.

HOW TO MAKE A CRIB MOBILE

1) Cut out the pieces in duplicate that you want to use from felt. 

2) Glue the decorative pieces on to each shape with a tacky or fabric glue.

3) Stuff with a little cotton or polyester as you blanket stitch the two edges together for each piece.

4)Use twisted embroidery thread to attach the pieces together and to the wooden frame.

5) Cut four 3/8" dowels into 6" pieces.

6) Drill into four sides of a 2" wooden cube with a 3/8" drill bit of a depth of about 1/4" to 3/8".

7) Glue the dowels into the block with wood glue keeping them straight and let dry. 

8) Stain or paint the wood as desired. Let dry. Add screw eyes to top and bottom.

9) Tie the string strand of felt pieces onto the dowels and the eye screws with a knot and a dab of glue.

10) Add decorative ribbon to the screw eyes if desired and run a string from the top screw eye to hang the mobile over the crib.

The screw eyes were self threading and easy to do. I stained the wood with a watery brown acrylic paint and then a satin finish when it was dry. You could pick any theme, any color paint and felt to cut out simple shapes to make a themed crib mobile. Harry Potter, Toy Story, Hello Kitty, Disney babies, dinosaurs... anything you can imagine or whatever your nursery theme is. Quick and easy decoration!