Hey Diddle Diddle...Baby Gift

 This week I made a baby gift for a friend whose daughter is having a little boy in December. I over-thought this one a lot. I found the nice moon and stars flannel, but couldn't decide what to put on it. Finally I saw this cute design at EmbLibrary and I thought it was perfect.

The blanket is 40" square with plain hemmed edges. I thought about crocheting an edge, but I wasn't sure if the Mom would like that for a boy. I did something new on the back of the blanket. I ironed fusible baby interfacing from Farmhouse Fabrics over the embroidery. It makes it soft and looks so nice. I'll definitely be doing it this way from now on.

The back of the embroidery

The burp cloth also has a special treatment on the back. I stitched a strip of flannel to make the burp cloth into a tube, then added the border at one end. It makes it a nice size, seals in the back of the embroidery, and makes both sides pretty, too.

The little hat is crocheted with a soft yarn. It's a self-striping blue and white and this one happened to be mostly white with blue at the scalloped edge. This baby lives in a warm climate, so I'm not sure if the hat is necessary, but I always liked my newborns to have a soft, cuddly hat.

Cozy Baby Quilts

Robot Snowball Blocks (4 meet at diamonds)

 I volunteered to co-ordinate the Comfort Quilt Committee for my Quilt Guild this year. I have not done as much as I hoped to (yet). We are trying to make a large batch of baby quilts to donate to a local lady who provides Welcome Bundles to newborns in need. I made 2 kits in September for our Quilt Retreat. Both were made up of pre-cut pieces for snowball blocks: one with a robot focus fabric and one with pastel animals. I also cut the same yellow, blue, orange, and green squares for each kit. The ladies who went on Retreat said they were easy to do and I think they turned out great!

The complete Robot Quilt

The baby animals blocks

Completed baby animals quilt

This quilt is a bonus made up of the leftover corners from the snowball blocks. One of the ladies made them into pinwheels and then into a nice baby quilt. I think the recipients will love these sweet little quilts!

My 9 1/2 Hour Toddler Sweater

I think the snowstorm we had last week put me in the mood for some knitting and crocheting. After I made the Sock Monkey Hat, I found a free pattern for an easy Toddler Sweater. It's called the 7 Hour Toddler Sweater. Obviously, from my title, you can see that it took me a bit longer! This pattern is a variation of the popular 5 Hour Baby Sweater. The direcctions were great! I used one skein of Red Heart Fiesta yarn, which cost $4.50, so this is a really inexpensive sweater.

I love the denim blue with the flecks of brown, white, and red. I often have a hard time knitting to gauge, so I am very excited that this sweater is proportional and fits Andy beautifully! It just happens to look good with the puppy outfit Katie bought him last week. 

For my next projects, I am going to embellish some kitchen towels for Christmas gifts and crochet a longtail cap for Andy.