Felt Baby Rattle Ball and Owl Faux-chenille Blanket

Needed a project to keep my hands busy while my kids had a Harry Potter marathon, so I decided to follow a tutorial that I had seen on Pinterest for a felt baby ball from Wee Folk Art.  It was super easy to do.  The longest part was doing the hand-stitching embellishment.

I wanted the ball to be okay for a boy or a girl, so rather than the flowers, I just changed the pattern (not much at all) to just have circles and stuffed it with a rattle. 

     This was originally going to be for our baby, however, I ended up miscarrying this past Friday so I'm going to keep it on hand for when another baby gift is needed.  That's the great thing about being in a military town, always an excuse to whip up something baby related.  We are doing okay after the miscarriage.  Health-wise, things are going as they should.  We have also received a lot of support and well-wishes.  Perhaps we'll try again in a few months, but we'll see.

     I also went ahead and tried my hand at another faux chenille blanket.  Thankfully, this one did not bleed one little bit.  Yippeeee!  Now I've got two baby gifts stockpiled.  I'm loving this owl fabric.  There's something about owls and matryoshkas that just works for me.  I love anything and everything owl, matryoshka, or vintage.  I'm easy to please.

The fabric is by Robert Kaufman.  The blanket needs a few more washes before it fully fluffs up... but I'm happy with the result, thusfar. 
    
    A link for making a faux-chenille blanket can be found at Made.