A New Activity Gym for Our Little Laddie

My first homemade activity gym left me hankering for more -- and when the mat from the first one began to disintegrate (thanks to my less-than-ideal piecing), I had the perfect excuse to remake it! I stayed with a woodland theme, but took the opportunity to change the style a bit.

First, I decided to opt for a square mat this time. I'm not exactly sure why, but I do feel it might offer a bit more room for the baby and will be more functional if I want to use it with the gym arches.

I found some darling fox-and-owl fabric at JoAnn's, which I combined with stash mocha linen ($1 thrifted jacket), a brown quatrefoil cotton, and a sage dot cotton.

I added toy tethers between some of the squares, which means toys will be less likely to end up all over the rest of the floor! That was one thing I really regretted omitting from my original mat.

This is actually my first (too-short) attempt for the crinkle teether, but it will get some use, after all!

I had leftover fabric, so why not make a support pillow, too? It's sort of a "mini Boppy," (hopefully) perfect for tummy time or a little bit of propping. I've seen these in some retail activity gyms and thought it looked like a good idea.

Some of the toys from my last gym are still going strong...

... but I decided to update a few. Namely, a little owl in the mocha linen. Oh, and I added bronze-colored KAM snaps to the ribbons so that toys would be easier to attach.

I couldn't resist a little more fun! I was actually in need of a few drool bibs and a new pacifier tether, so it worked out beautifully! I tried out one of my new enamel pacifier clips -- I like them so much better than the metal suspender clips I usually use.

A few details from the bib -- a copper snap, and a totally pointless linen pocket!

And here's the reverse of the bib:

Now to while away the weeks (days?) until these can actually be put to good use!