Baby Newton's Quilt

The shower that the onesie invitations were for was held this past weekend. I wanted to make something special to send out for my friend. After lots of humming and hawing I finally settled on making a quilt. Sewing is not my favorite past-time, but I love patchwork baby quilts so I decided to give it a go. 

To make my life easier I decided to use this tutorial and buy charm packs. I am SO glad I went that route. For me, it was probably the only way this quilt was actually completed on time. 

My mom and I did the whole quilt from start to finish the two days we were housebound because of the blizzard. She is SOO good at ironing - I had no idea what a difference good ironing could make in sewing. It was perfect - I would sew and hand it off and she would iron.

I decided to just tie the quilt to avoid my wonky sewing ruining the quilt top. I just used orange embroidery floss and then mom hand sewed the binding on for me. 

Word from the mama-to-be is that she likes it! Can't wait to see Baby Newton playing on it!

Babe's First Knit

Do you love how I throw a wrinkled piece of fabric down and call it a backdrop? But isn't this little hat the cutest EVER? I'm in love with it and want to make a hundred more. I finished it ages ago and just now finally took  pictures. I haven't knit in weeks - I've been so relaxed and chill I don't mind my hands being idle. Not good for baby crafting productivity!

Since our babe will be born right into the fall and winter I think this will be the perfect hat to keep him or her all snuggly. We aren't finding out the sex so I've got to be good about keeping things gender neutral. 

details:

pattern - Big Wool Little Hat
yarn - Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick 'n Quick in cream
...also detailed on my ravelry page

More Autumn

I am still loving this pattern and have now made several more. They are so quick and cute! 

Jess - this is yours...I promise I will send it soon! 

Onesie Invites

One of my very best friends is expecting her first baby and although I can't attend the shower I wanted to help plan a little bit. I had received an invite like this a few years ago and have since wanted to copy it. I used this tutorial to help, but they were really easy!

By far the hardest part is getting all the text lined up on the inside. I did that step first and then followed with all the cutting. I was able to cut two invites from each 12x12 cardstock. The last step was stamping the front and adding the little brads!

I LOVE baby stuff!

Winter Hat 2011

I have this goal (like SouleMama) of making a beanie for my hubby every year. He is a man that likes a good beanie. The one I made last year got only moderate use - there were complaints of it not being warm enough so I set out for a super warm hat. It was also suggested that it should cover the ears. 

The Christopher hat was perfect - very simple, but double layered for warmth and mostly covering the ears. I had never knit a hat like this. Its basically two hats connected at the lower border. You start at the top of one and knit all the way through until the top of the other - super easy, but now reversible and thicker! I LOOVE Jane Richmond's patterns - she uses affordable yarn so you can easily use what the pattern calls for and the patterns I've used are really easy, but way cute.

This knit up surprisingly fast and the best part - he likes it AND wears it!

details:

pattern - Christopher
yarn - Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix & Mercury
...also detailed on my ravelry page

Candy Canes & Treats!

I made a few of these sweet ornaments for friends and family this Christmas. This fit the bill of quick and easy with an adorable and big impact. All it took was some denim, felt, and embroidery floss and I had myself a candy cane!

I love how simple they are! But don't you love them? You could do so many cute shapes - tree, wreath, snowman.... love them! 

I also made some of this awesome (and WAY easy) snack mix for me to give as thank you gifts for my preceptors at work. I'm all done orienting at my new nursing job!

Lastly, my hubby and I only exchanged stockings so I decided to make some of his favorite treats - chocolate covered pretzels. I wasn't going for most beautiful snack of the year, but I think they'll do the trick. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!