cotton feet and woolen ears: Funny DIY baby blocks

You know those days, when the house is a mess, there is more laundry than clean clothes, the fridge is empty and your hair hasn’t been washed since what seems like months.Your baby is just going non stop, all day and not giving you a nano second of a break? At times like these the last thing you want to do is play the “building up the blocks 435 times so Rián can knock them over" game.

For these "funtime" play hours I decided to make these foam blocks with humorous quotes for my own amusement. As Rián cant read I don't think he will mind too much :)

The blocks were a present, but unfortunately I managed to bleach them in a wash once. This was a big problem as Rián absolutely loves them so I decided to give them a facelift.

I have very little knowledge of sewing, just a few dusty memories from my Nana's old table Singer. However with motherhood came an urge of owning my own sewing machine, so one day I enthusiastically purchased a machine in IKEA (yes they sell sewing machines too:) and started using it occasionally. I’m no expert what so ever, but okay with the basics. The machine cost 55eur, which I thought was great value, and was more than enough to get me up and running

I wasn’t exactly sure how to even start with these blocks. I came across plenty of tutorials on the internet, but instead of following any, I decided just to take off the old cover, see how it was done, copy it and kinda make it up as I go along.

Here is what I did:

1) Measured and copied the pattern - 1 long piece for the 4 sides and 2 small ones to cover the top and bottom.

2) For the top and bottom I used plain white cotton and wrote my funny quotes with my

textile marker (click here to see other use of the textile marker)

3) Sew it together with simple seams as shown on picture and hand finished the last side after tucking in the foam cube.

By the time I got to the third cube I had a fairly good technique. You could also do it with nursery rhymes or your own design. Give it a try it’s not complicated I promise.

Sourcing:

1) Material – My favorite fabric shop is Harlequin, Castle Market in D2. The fabrics I used were €8 a meter. You can also recycle clothes from your wardrobe for a project like this for an even quirkier design. Unbleached plain white cotton - IKEA, €2 /meter

2) T shirt graffiti marker: Home Focus at Hickeys at the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre or other craft shops Nationwide. Cost €9