Baby Knits

There are quite a few sweet babies joining our family and friends this autumn and winter, and we couldn't be more excited. The first of these sweet babies, our nephew, arrived last month, and he's as cute as can be!

When we first heard the news from the expectant parents, I knew I wanted to knit something special for these babes. But, being relatively new at knitting, I knew I had to keep it simple.


I first learned to knit this past winter, after my Mom made Baby M this sweet pumpkin hat. She taught herself how to do it using this book by Debbie Bliss, and when I visited my parents last Christmas, I decided to give it a try. I chose the "wrong" yarn for the project so my gauge was off and I ended up making an enormous baby hat, one that was too big even for me. I wasn't totally put off, though, and upon returning home, I promptly went to my LYS to purchase some pretty yarn and this book, which I have really enjoyed. While there, I decided to sign up for a class to learn to knit in the round, and I haven't looked back since.


I love to knit, even if I haven't made more than a few dozen (yep...) hats. All of our friends' kids now have hats knit over the summer, when we didn't have tv. And all of our sweet little friends will be finding knit goodies under the tree come Christmas morning.

But back to the baby knits...


Like I said, the knits I wanted to make for these new babies had to be fairly simple and quick knits. I have always loved the look and feel of baby booties, and so wish Baby M had gotten some when he was born (forget that he was a summer baby and we had two terrible heat waves right around the time he was born...). So since these babies are cold weather babies, I thought, why not?

I made these simple booties (minus the pompoms) from Claire Montgomerie's book using Baby Cotsoy (SO soft!!), and these adorable seamless booties using some cotton viscose blend. Both were such quick knits and turned out so cute that I am now ready to make more! Good thing a dear friend is expecting her second in April... :)

Finally... Finished!

They say better late than never, and, in this case, I couldn't agree more! I finally finished Baby M's Halloween quilt. Yes, I know... it's a week and half late, but he doesn't seem to mind, so I won't, either.One reason it took me longer to finish it than I'd expected is that I decided to hand quilt it. I actually tried to machine quilt it (twice!) but was so unhappy with the way it looked, I decided to try hand quilting it instead. It worked out well, too, because for a while there Baby M decided he wouldn't nap unless he was in his car seat. I can't tell you how nice it was to have a project that I could work on while we sat in the driveway.

I found hand quilting quite enjoyable, which surprised me. I've always loved the look of it, but it was always a bit intimidating to me. My stitches are not as even as I'd like, but for my first attempt, I'm very happy with it. Now I'd like to take a hand quilting class to learn how to do it properly (especially how to hold the quilt while you're working on it... I always ended up with some pain from holding it awkwardly).

When I started working on this quilt, I was less than thrilled with my fabric choices, and thus not too excited about it. After spending so much quality time with this little quilt, I have to say that it's really grown on me. In fact, I kind of love it now (and so does Baby M, who you can see running around all over the quilt in these two pictures!).
I tried to use my scraps for a pieced backing, inspired by AmandaJean. I like how it turned out, but I found it challenging lining everything up to get the pieced strips to be straight. Do you ever make pieced backings? How do you line them up so that they're straight? I'd love any tips!
Happy Friday!

Halloween came & went...

...and I didn't get to finish the Halloween baby quilt, as I'd hoped. That's alright, though, because it turns out Baby M didn't really get the whole idea behind Halloween this year anyway, so he won't care if it's a week or so late.



We had a really nice Halloween, and we lucked out because it didn't rain. Baby M got lots of running around time: running at the park, running around the house, running around in the backyard... so by the time we finally made it out to trick or treat, he was exhausted and thoroughly confused. I can't even imagine what must have been going through that little head of his as he saw all these people dressed up, asking for candy. Maybe next year he'll understand Halloween a little better.

In the meantime, I'm off to go work on the quilt a little more. Hope to be able to show it, finished up, in the next few days.

Fall Quilt Show

Amy of Park City Girl is hosting a Fall Quilt Show. I have had the opportunity to browse through the entries of about a quarter of the participants, and they are truly stunning. There are some seriously talented quilters out there! I love how people are so generous with their talent and knowledge and choose to post their work for others to admire and learn from. Being a novice at this, I was hesitant to post a quilt of my own... but I finally finished Baby M's soccer quilt, and decided I would join in.

The quilt is small and fraught with all sorts of errors: seams not lining up, puckers in the quilting, crooked quilting lines, etc. But I love it anyway... I purchased the soccer fabric a few weeks after finding out we were expecting a boy, knowing Mikey would love it. I chose the red and blue for the blocks because they were the only fabrics that matched that I actually had enough of... and the white was added to keep it from looking too busy. Mikey calls it Baby M's Fourth of July Soccer quilt, which makes me giggle. I was happy to see the little guy get right on the floor with his quilt the second I set it down. Imperfect as it is, I know it will be loved.


This photo was take pre-washing, right after I finished hand stitching the binding -- so don't look too closely, or you'll see where I picked out the incredibly crooked quilting I had done but hated!

Thanks for looking!

Halloween WIP

Last year, when Baby M was only a few months old, I decided that I needed to make him a Halloween quilt. I had just recently taken up quilting, and, frankly, had very little experience but a lot of enthusiasm. I had gotten a baby quilting book  out of the library, and the attic windows quilt in the book caught my eye. I had never done anything with triangles, and thought, how hard can it be?

It really wasn't too hard, but it would have been a lot easier (and a lot more accurate!) if I sewed accurate, straight 1/4 inch seam allowances. Still, the blocks turned out pretty well...

The thing is, I never managed to baste and quilt Baby M's Halloween quilt. I blame it on teething, as our little monkey stopped sleeping through the night around the time I completed piecing it, but the truth is, I just lost steam and I really don't love my fabric selection. It's got... well, just too much going on. But there's another part of me that is emotionally attached to this quilt top. After all, I managed to cut and piece it with a newborn at home. And even if I don't love the fabrics I chose, I did choose them with lots of love. Plus, there's the fact that it's the very first quilt top I made for Baby M. And so, rather than let it sit in a shelf, forgotten and collecting dust, I have decided that it will be basted, quilted, and bound in time for Halloween '09. Hold me to it, ok?

I hope to report on progress soon... and also hope that the new projects I've got simmering in the back of my mind won't get me sidetracked. Must stay focused!!

I've got Fall on my mind

I can hardly believe it's already Labor Day. I'm not 100% sure where this year has gone... It seems every day is long: early rise with Baby M, and, inevitably, late to bed every night. Yet when I look back on my week, it seems to have just sped by. So I find it a little strange to be looking forward with such anticipation when I feel like summer (and spring!) is such a blur. And yet here I am, looking forward to another Fall. I am going to blame it partly on the cool, rainy weather we had here in Seattle today. But the fact is that the weather is definitely cooling down. I've been getting back into the groove of running in the mornings (more about that another time), and I find myself wishing I had worn my long sleeved running shirt almost every morning. Of course, it only takes a few minutes to warm up and remember why I didn't.

Still, I've got Fall on my mind. The cooler weather and gray skies, the rain, the steaming coffee in the mornings, they're all getting me excited about what's to come: the foliage, the sweater weather, the hot cocoa, the pumpkins, and, most of all, Halloween.

I was looking back at old photos, and found a photo of this collage I made two years ago. My style has changed quite a bit since then, but it still makes me smile. More than anything, it makes me itch to get to crafting something fun for this Halloween; something Baby M can play with and enjoy. I've got some ideas brewing, and hope to get to them soon, so that I may share.

In the meantime, I plan to take advantage of every sunny, dry moment we have left this summer, spending hours at the park and the wading pool with Baby M. I hope to be back soon with lots to share. For now, hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and enjoy the last weeks of summer.