getting ready for the boy...

i have been dying to know the sex of the baby because i have all the projects i want to work on but had to wait till we knew for sure what the baby was.  the monday after we found out the baby was for sure a boy i went off to the fabric store to buy material for my first project- recovering the car seat my sister saved for me.  my awesome sister saved all her nice baby stuff so that i could use it in the future.  the future is now here, but i'm having a boy.  the car seat is black and grey and purple.  i decided to take out the purple and put in something a little masculine and cute! i found this really cute black fabric with grey stripes and yellow and white dots.  i bought enough so that i could recover the matching stroller as well.  here is the finished product:

i started by finding a blog online that explained how another girl had taken apart the seat, saved all the pieces used them as a pattern, and then sewed it back together.  i had already decided to save the black fabric and the grey piping as they were both in really good shape.  this made it a little harder to find a fabric i liked that would match until i found the one i used and really liked it. 

 since i was using so much of the original car seat (including all the batting/backing inside) it made the process easy.  some parts were frustrating and definitely a challenge but i had so much fun doing it.  i took pictures during the entire taking apart process so i could remember how things were supposed to go back together and i';m glad i did!! it came in handy many times!!!  here is one part i'm proud of: making this hole for the seat belt button and making the button hole for the strap to come through the button.  i had never done either before but it was really neat to figure it out.

i'm really happy with how the car seat turned out!! i think its so cute and will totally work for this little guy.  i also did the little infant head rest which really adds to the whole thing... 

after i finished the car seat i decided to tackle the stroller.  this one was more difficult as i wasn't sure how to take it apart. it was also tricky as it had this plastic window and these pockets for the support bars etc...

 once i finished the hood i took off the seat and after looking at it for a while decided it was WAY too complicated to take apart and put back together... not worth the trouble at all.  there were only 2 little strips of purple and it didn't seem like it would be worth the mess to take it apart for that. so i left it.  but even just changing the hood i think adds soooo much to it!!

after i was finished with all that i decided i wanted to make one of those blanket covers you see so many people with these days.  they looked easy enough to make so i went back to the fabric store and picked out some fabric to go with the black yellow and grey i already had.  i ended up getting a really bright yellow black and white stripped fabric with a black with grey circles to mellow it out a bit and then a black fabric with grey and white squares on it for another contrast.  i had seen someone use giant rickrack on the border and thought it was so cute so i did the same and only used it on the front edge.  i also put an elastic band across the back to help hold the cover down when its windy (as it is in february in las vegas).  i already had some white snaps and decided to use that instead of velcro for the straps to attach it to the handle. 

for the inside layer i decided to use left over fabric from the car seat so when the front of the blanket was flipped up it would match the inside.  i also used white minky dot for a border on the inside.  partly cause i think its so cute and soft and also to give it a little weight to help hold down if windy.  i was going to attach a little velco to the side to help hold it, but once i finished it was heavy enough to hold itself.  

overall i'm really happy with how everything turned out!!! i am now waiting for some fabric to come that i bought online to make bedding and what not.  we aren't even getting a crib until we move in the navy, but i need to make it now in case i never feel up to it after the baby is born.  i love sewing and am excited to be able to do all these things in preparing for our little guy to come!!!