Baby Gifts

A bunch of my friends are having babies soon and I've been expanding my repertoire of homemade gifts. The Amy Butler changing pad is still a favorite and the taggy blanket is great, but I wanted variety. My latest is embellishing onesies or shirts for the newborn.

(before, after)

These Gerber kimono-style shirts are great for bringing baby home from the hospital because they don't cover the umbilical cord stub. Onesies are out for a few days and shirts are in. Plus, these have the fold-over mitten cuffs so the baby won't cut himself with his razor-sharp nails.

I added some stitching to the edges of the shirt and I really like how it turned out.

My collection of embroidery floss from middle school is really coming in handy lately!

What I'm working on

     I started this quilt about 5 years ago.  I had cleaned up my sewing room and I couldn't close my blue and green fabric drawers.  So I cut up some of the older stuff into strips for a log cabin quilt and worked on it through the years whenever I felt like it.  This is how it turned out.  Considering how ugly the fabrics were, I think it looks kind of nice.  I laid out the blocks asymmetrically hoping for a more modern look, but I'm not sure that was a good idea.

The placemat idea came from Stitch Magazine, which is one of my favorite sources of inspiration. The hexagons are done with paper piecing and appliqued to the linen.

I made the purse for Susan for her birthday.  The fabric is one I bought last year in Cincinnati.  I thought I'd better start using what I bought last year before I go this year!

     The boxes are from Zakka Style, a book by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  I used linen for the boxes and little pieces from my scrap basket for the applique and patchwork.