Pink Fairy Fabric - Now Available

Our newest addition to the fall lineup -Pink Fairy. Available in blankets (both standard and supersize) and pillowcases.

We just added a new photo album to our Facebook page with images of our embroidery items. The embroidery/personalization service was extremely popular this summer/early fall as parents were purchasing items for the start of the preschool year. Embroidery/personalization is a great way to customize your toddler's items, especially if they are being used at preschool or daycare. Having the child's name on his/her favorite blanket or pillow is also great for kids at home learning to spell and recognize their own names. Personalized items also make a terrific gift. However, feel free to be creative and have your items personalized with a phrase instead of a name - "Sweet Dreams" for a bedtime set, "Explore" for a travel pillow. We also have customers personalize items with their child's nickname. As I've mentioned in the past, it's so much fun to see the different color combinations, fonts, and unique names that our customers choose. I have many more photos of items and will will be adding more images to our Facebook photo album and website - keep checking back!

New Clearance Items

Just added the Blue Dinos fabric to the Clearance Supersize Blanket/Toddler Pillow combo set. We have some new fabrics coming in the next 2-3 weeks including a new fairy/princess fabric (finally!). Make sure to check back for updates.

New Princess Kingdom Percale Fabric

We just received a new percale fabric called Princess Kingdom - very cute with castles, scenes, unicorns - very princess/fairy tale. In addition, we have restocked Fly By Day, Dig It and In Transit in the percale fabrics. Thanks for looking!

New Fabrics have arrived!

New fabrics to announce this week - 2 are restocks of popular prints - Monkey/Pink and Pirates, and 2 are brand new - Tiny Stars/Pink and Tiny Stars/Blue.

A few months back, I had only ordered a small quantity of Monkey/Pink to test it out - I was not sure how well it would sell but it was much more popular than I expected and we sold out quickly. We actually had a small waiting list for this fabric! This week, Monkey/Pink is back in larger quantities and we have an even larger order for this fabric that will be arriving this fall - Monkey/Pink should be around for a while. We also restocked a small amount of the Pirates fabric.

Our 2 newest additions are Tiny Stars/Pink and Tiny Stars/Blue. Both of these fabrics are adorable - very petite little white stars on a pink or blue background. They are perfect as an infant gift, but since the fabrics are not as busy/bright as some of our others, they are perfect to use as a coordinating fabric in your toddler's bedroom (they are almost like a solid). They will also look great embroidered with your baby or toddler's name - it will really stand out on these fabrics. You may want to consider these fabrics for a twin gift or a brother/sister gift.

Ecostore USA Product Review and Giveaway

I was asked by ecostore USA to review a few products and host a giveaway for a $25 gift certificate. First, a little bit about ecostore USA – the company originated as a home-based business in New Zealand more than 15 years ago. The founders, Melanie and Malcomb Rands lived in a farm-based eco village that was committed to organic/healthy living where each family was responsible for their own waste water (can you imagine if we had to do that?). The Rands quickly realized how harmful regular petroleum based synthetic cleaning products were to the water and environment and decided to research plant-based products that could be used as an alternative. “No Nasty Chemicals” is the tag line and all of their products live up to this claim. They explain on the website that their products DO contain chemicals (after all, water is a chemical) – they just don’t include the NASTY chemicals. Their product lines include adult and baby care items such as body washes, oils, shampoos, soaps as well as household cleaners such as dish powder, laundry cleaners, bathroom cleaners, etc. They also have a line of pet care products.

Ecostore USA sent me 2 products – their Naturally Antibacteiral Spray Cleaner and Plant Based Toilet Cleaner. We seem to use a lot of spray cleaners around the house – kitchen counters, bathrooms, etc. so I was sure we would put this one to the test. The first thing that I noticed was the packaging was slightly different than most sprays – the bottle has a very thin profile which makes it really easy to store in a cabinet/pantry or smaller space. Also, the spray nozzle is the type with a flap tab over the front instead of one of those rotating “dial” type nozzles. I really like the ecostore USA design - very easy to use and store. The other thing that I noticed right away was the sprayer was a nice even mist and very easy to pump – it’s probably a weird thing to notice but it was different from what I’ve been using and I really like it. The scent is great – a clean citrusy smell that you can tell is natural and not perfumy or artificial. It has done a great job around the kitchen on my counter tops and tables. I even feel safe letting my kids help out with the cleaning jobs (they love to spray), so I'm glad that there aren't any nasty chemicals. They sell a concentrate that you can use to refill the bottle when done which is another great idea. I will definitely be refilling this one since I really like the size/shape of the bottle and the sprayer action and clean smell.

As for the Toilet Cleaner – it is also packaged differently than most – the size/shape of the bottle is great and it has an angled nozzle to get up under the rim. It has a different scent (which I’m not as crazy about) – I noticed Pine Oil listed in the ingredients along with citrus oils. But it is still a fresh, clean, natural scent and not perfumey or artificial. I also noticed right away the lack of artificial coloring – at first I thought it might be hard to tell how much I had applied against the white ceramic toilet, but it does have a slight (beige?) color to it that made it very easy to see how much product was applied and if I had missed any spots. It did a great job cleaning and I liked the fact that I was not flushing any artificial colors or cleaners into the water system.

They have some great sounding bath and body soaps - lemongrass, vanilla, coconut, as well as a goats milk Baby Soap in chamomile and lavender. Also available for baby - baby massage oil, baby moisturizer, nappy balm, and more.

So, now for the giveaway information: ecostore USA has agreed to giveaway a $25 gift certificate to one of our readers/fans. Visit the ecostore USA website and take a look through their product lines (you will also find some great articles). You are invited to sign up for their No Nasty Chemicals newsletter. After visiting the ecostore USA website, come back here before midnight EST July 29th and post a comment about your favorite products. I will pick a winner at random on July 30th. To earn extra entries, you may do the following:

• Follow our blog



• Become a Mr. Bobbles’ Blankets fan on Facebook



• If you have a blog, post about this giveaway with a link to this blog post.

Make sure you come back here and post a comment to receive each extra entry. That's it - good luck!

Vacation Schedule for Shipping July 31 - Aug 8

Just an advanced notice that our shipping offices will be closing for our annual vacation from July 31 through August 8, 2009. All orders placed prior to midnight EST July 30, 2009 will be processed and shipped prior to our shipping office vacation. This applies to all non-custom orders (does not apply to embroidery), and in stock items. Our online store will be open as usual during this time period however orders placed during this week will be shipped the week of August 10, 2009. We use this time to renew our machines, offices, and employees. Thanks so much for your understanding!