Pretty in Pink (Coral)

My friend from high school, Stephanie, is about to have a baby girl in April. Since it's her second child I knew that she'd have a lot of stuff already, but since her first was a boy (and I know she's decorating the nursery in pink) I thought I'd make her a few pink gifts. Or rather coral, since pink isn't really my thing.

I searched online for a few gift ideas for baby items that weren't too time consuming to make and that I thought could be fun and useful. I came across lots of versions for "loveys" in yarn and fabric. Based on my reading, it appears that a "lovey" is a small blanket with some tactile nature to it. Some mothers said it helped their babies with sleep training, as they like something to hold onto while falling asleep.

I opted for sewing, which led me to the "minky" section of Fabric Depot. I have never purchased this fabric before because I think it is mainly marketed for baby items; and it's very expensive ($22/yd at Fabric Depot). They have an incredibly large selection of patterns and colors, which proved to be a problem. I knew it had to have pink in it (coral) but I couldn't bring myself to buy the really "girly" patterns. I found this turquoise/coral/black owl pattern that was cute, and then bought some ribbon with coral flowers on it (to up the girl ante without pushing it over the edge).

I think there are lots of tutorials online for this, but my process was:
1)  Cut two 13" squares of minky, and 2 yards worth of 2" sections of ribbon.
2)  Fold the ribbon in half, pin it along the edge of one square (right side up) with the ribbon loops facing toward the center of the square (raw edges aligned with raw edges of the square).
3)  Sew around the edges to secure the loops.
4)  Place the second square over the first (right sides together) and sew along the edge again, leaving an opening to turn it right side out.
5) Lastly I top-stitched along the edge (for a finishing touch and as a last measure to secure the ribbons).

The second item I made was a Pacifier clip from the Made blog. The idea here is that one end clips to your baby's clothes/blanket/bib/stroller and the other end goes around the pacifier handle (secured with velcro). That way when baby decides she's done with that pacifier it doesn't fall on the ground or under the couch.

Dana's tutorial on Made is very good, and I made a few variations based on personal sewing preference.