my new {green} craft

If you are looking for a quick, easy, inexpensive, Earth-friendly baby gift, I have the perfect thing! The only problem is that they are super addictive. Once you start making them, you won't want to stop.

1. Quick. The most time-consuming part of this project is embellishing the squares before they are sewn together, and even that only takes a few minutes at most. In fact, it's not even necessary. Sewing and stuffing the blocks take about 5 minutes, so you can crank out a whole bunch in a short amount of time. Here is the tutorial I used to learn--I make my squares 5x5.

2. Easy. Can you sew a straight line? Good. That's absolutely all you need to know how to do for these blocks. My favorite embellishments--ribbon "taggies", and fabric flowers and yo-yos--are very easy to make. For taggies, fold 3 inches of ribbon in half and pin on the right side of the fabric square with the open edge lined up with the edge of the fabric. Or you can do inside-out taggies--pin with the fold lined up with the edge of the fabric. For fabric flowers, I simply cut out several flower shapes--sometimes all the same size, sometimes descending in size--and sew all of the centers onto the fabric block. Finish it off with a button in the center. Here is a tutorial for yo-yos.

3. inexpensive. Because the blocks are made up of 5x5 squares, you can use scraps from other sewing projects. The taggies and fabric needed for embellishments can all come from scraps as well.

4. Earth-friendly. Like I said, these can be made completely of scraps. Instead of stuffing mine with cotton batting, I stuff them with plastic grocery bags for several reasons. First, it's recycling. Second, it's free (because if you're like me, you have a zillion of them crammed into your grocery bag organizer). Third, they hold the cube shape better than cotton batting. Fourth, they are crinkly and squishy, which babies love.

These are the first blocks I made for a boy, and when I tried choosing fabric I was at a loss. First of all, maybe it's just my JoAnn store, but most fabric is very feminine. It was hard finding anything for a little boy. I usually like to use three fabrics--two squares of each--but I could only find these two. I also didn't know what I would do embellish the squares--flowers and yo-yos are pretty feminine.Then I remembered the hole-y jeans I was about to throw out. What's more reminiscent of a little boy than torn jeans? I used the denim to embellish squares--don't you love that bright green peaking through the torn knee and the star cutout? Using denim also added some texture to the blocks. Another way to get texture without spending a billion dollars on minky or chenille is to use old terrycloth towels or washcloths, t-shirts, or corduroy pants.

And reusing jeans saved me some money, too!