My Neighbor Totoro Crib Mobile

So, did you know you can get all kinds of cool handmade mobiles for a baby's crib (or changing table) on etsy? (A "must-have" for every new hipster parent!)

You could buy a Dr. Who mobile, a Super Mario mobile (after all, it is VERY important that your child begin to recognize a Fire Flower and Goomba before they start solid foods--not to mention how vital it is to implant a sense of nostalgia for these figures) ...

... You could even get a three-toed sloth mobile (!!!) ...

So many enchanting designs! Only one crib! And a limited budget. So, I took my inspiration from this excellent My Neighbor Totoro mobile (available on etsy for $95 -- yeah, not gonna happen for me) ...

This was my model ...

And I tweaked the design a bit to make my own. For example, the catbus (nekobasu) in the above mobile does not have enough legs. Mine has more--actually, I guess I somehow miscounted and thought it was supposed to be eight on each side; really should be six. Whoops. Oh well. The more legs, the better, right? Also, I tried to show a little bit more of the different personality of each Totoro. Overall, I would say the model I used was more abstract and professional looking (and bigger), but I think mine ended up having more "character."

Here are the elements before I put them on strings ...

And here, hanging above baby's crib.

Anyway, I wanted to leave this on the internet in case anyone else out there is looking for more inspiration/ideas/examples for a felt handmade Totoro crib mobile.

I hope the baby likes it! She should be "arriving" somewhere around a month from now ...