A Baby Gift

My favorite part of quilting is making baby gifts. As soon as I find out that a friend or cousin or someone that I care for is expecting a baby, I start planning a quilt. It has occurred to me that it is probably best that I didn't pick up this hobby when I was in the prime baby years with my friends- that would have been a little crazy. Now that I am getting older, although not very old, most of my friends are wrapping up the baby years. It is even more fun to make a special quilt for 'seasoned' moms. I think first time Moms are pretty wrapped up in baby registries and matching nurseries and would really rather have something from Babies R Us.
This particular quilt is one of my more recent ones. I almost didn't make it or give it because I don't know the mom all that well. She has a son that is the same age as Mark and our paths have crossed at church a bit, but really not that much. She had 5 boys (really!) and so needless to say there was quite a bit of speculation about whether or not this baby would finally be a girl. It was followed on Facebook and around our small community with an almost comical level of interest. When it was announced that they were having Boy #6, I started thinking of the quilt that I wanted to make for him.

It is a simple design made from fabrics that I pulled together at home. (I must say that I am loving having a fabric stash building up). It is bright and cheerful and I have a particular fondness for monkeys. And what could be more appropriate for a house with 6 boys than a bunch of monkeys swinging around. I only have 2 boys and I can only imagine...

I know I caught her off guard when I dropped off the quilt. She wasn't really expecting presents for boy #6, so this really surprised her. I just figured that most people don't give presents for sixth children, especially when the family has all one gender.

Ellie told me that she had seen my quilt at church and the next Sunday when they walked in with the baby wrapped in his monkey quilt, the kids all turned to me and started pointing and whispering. It made me happy to see the quilt being used. His mom told me after church that the first five had homemade quilts made by a great grandmother who has since passed away. She was so happy to that this baby would also have a quilt that was made just for him.

My First Quilt

This is the first sewing project I ever completed on my own. I saw a sample like it at Ben Franklin and decided I wanted to make one for a baby gift. I owned a sewing machine only because my mom bought one for my sister and wanted to be fair. I made a template of an 8 inch square out of a piece of white typing paper and then roughly cut out squares of fabric with scissors. I joined the blocks together and then the rows without pinning anything. I had never heard of a walking foot and didn't even own a rotary cutter. Considering all that, I am pretty proud of this blanket. I added a satin binding but forgot to take a picture of it after I had completed it. The fabrics are light blue, cream, and white and all very soft. The back is flannel. As imperfect as the finished product is, it was so graciously received that it encouraged me to want to keep sewing.