Locks for Love

So on Wednesday I did something that I have been promising myself I would do for over a year now. Last year when we were at the Relay For Life fund raiser to benefit the American Cancer Society they had "locks for love" there to cut and collect hair for wigs for cancer patients. I had mentioned before that I wanted to do this, but I didnt have enough time to think it over and decided to pass then and promised I would do it this year!

SO as the year went on I thought about it a little bit, but never too seriosly. When I found out my baby would only be a month old, not to mention that we would not be living in the same town this summer, and that my family wanted to do an every-other-year relay I decided I better get serious and keep my promise. After being bugged and bugged by my sister and mom I finally decided to go ahead and do it. I was ready for a change, ready for summer, and my neice is in the "pull any hair near my hand" phase that I am so not looking forward to again....

So I walked in and my sister chopped off 13 inches of my hair! 13!!! Do you have any idea HOW MUCH hair that is?!?! It is alot! I am still not sure I am happy with my new do, I havnt had my hair this short since I was in 8th grade! But I am glad I can do my part to help someone in need!

Here are some much anticipated pictures.... please excuse the 36 1/2 week pregnant frumpy mom look! :)

BEFORE:
AFTER:

Car seat cover tutorial

I figured what better way to jump back into blogging than with a tutorial! I am doing a "mom and baby needs" swap on my diaper forum and was paired with a sweet mama expecting a new baby girl! I have been wanting to make myself a new carseat cover as well as a new tenty blanket thing like I have seen all the babes around town sporting on their car seats. So i figured I would try it out- cant be THAT hard right? RIGHT!

First I wanted to know how much fabric I would need- because my car seat is locked in the trailer and DH has the key! SO I found a couple of great tutorials and somewhat followed them. Car seat cover from receiving blanket
Detailed instructions

So I had pulled a couple of cute cuts out of my flannel stash and went right to work! I beleive these were both just 1 yard cuts- the tutorials I read said cut it 37 by 43 inches, and that is basically what I measured (even though a yard would be 36 by 42.... lol)

I put both my fabrics right sides together and folded it in half so I could round the corners. Cut the first 2 corners and then take the fabric you cut from that and place it over on the other side and cut it the same- This is my trick for getting the same curve, because I SUCK at cutting corners straight! Make sure to straighten up the cuts as you go so you dont have to "think" so much as you are sewing. (And to cut any salvages off)
Now you are ready to sew! Stitch all the way around the blanket- leaving at least 6 inches so you can turn it inside out! Now turn it inside out and you can iron it if you want to. (Im too lazy! :) ) Then you will want to top stitch. (Close the part where you turned it inside out first and make sure to catch all the pieces!) I just put my foot down against the edge and get a nice straight sewing line!
Now for the part that holds it on to the car seat! You can use fabric pieces with velcro, buttons or snaps, but if you are like me- you only got enough fabric to make the actual blanket! lol So I just used ribbon and will tie it in a bow onto the car seat handle! (perfect for a baby girl anyway!) I cut two pieces of ribbon each 22 inches long and I made sure to put fray check on the ends! (You can burn them!) I then measured 9 inches in and 17 inches from the top of my blanket and pinned the ribbon right there. I liked the tutorial that said to sew a rectangle- genious because then it has less stress on the ribbon! SO I did that!

Wallah! There you have it- the perfect car seat tent/cover! If DH comes home sometimes today I will try to get a picture of it on my seat! I hope the mama it is for loves it as much as I do! I think it turned out super fun!!