Crochet Projects: Baby Blanket

Here's a pretty simple crochet baby blanket that I made for our then-soon-to-be-born nephew in September.  This was the first crochet project I've done in quite a while.  Since starting to spin, I've been inspired to try knitting again.  Although I love the process of crocheting, and I'm much better at fixing my mistakes, I do prefer the look of knitted things and how home-spun yarn seems to go further in a knitted project.  Nevertheless, for a large project like a blanket, crocheting is such a better, faster choice for me.  It was nice to learn a new stitch (the harlequin stitch) too!

I knew our nephew's bedroom would be nautical themed, so I chose a striped-ish pattern in nautical blue and white, with the gray to soften it a little.  The blue stripe is off-set from the middle just a bit, which makes it a bit more interesting and modern.  The pattern can be found here (you have to be a member of Bernat to see it).

It looks like he's enjoying it!  (Photo cred goes to my brother-in-law)

Sewing Projects: Fabric Book Holder

Last month, my husband and I were blessed with another beautiful niece!  Along with all the excitement of a new baby in the family, I also had a chance to make some cute things for the new little one.  Just before her baby shower, my sister-in-law mentioned these fabric book holders that she had seen online.  I had seen them too, and offered to make them for her as a gift.

Sewing Projects: Owls

Here's a fairly easy sewing project, inspired by this photo I found on Pinterest.  My niece happens to love owls, and her mother happened to throw a woodland-themed 2nd birthday for her, so these owls were a perfect present!  Here's a tutorial on how they were made:

Crochet Projects: Baby Sweater and Shoes

Since a close friend and neighbor has recently had a baby, I've really enjoyed making cute baby stuff for her!  Baby things are super fast to make, and they use relatively little supplies.  I had some left over yarn from my niece's baby blanket, so I put it to good use as a sweater and Mary Jane style shoes for our neighbor.

Crochet Projects: Baby Elephants

Perhaps my favorite project yet! I stumbled on this pattern from Lion Brand's website a few months ago. Knowing that a close friend is expecting a baby at the end of April, and also that she is planning a jungle-themed nursery, I knew this precious little elephant would be a perfect shower gift!

Sewing Projects: Bath Puppets

This has really been a season for homemade gifts. Between Christmas and all the surrounding family birthdays, making gifts has saved both money and frantic time spent last-minute scrounging at the store for the perfect gift. Plus, it gives me a great reason to sit around crafting without being selfish!

The most recent homemade gift was some bath puppets for our niece's first birthday in January. The idea and pattern for these puppets came from Martha Stewart's website. I got the washcloths from TJ Maxx and the felt from Hobby Lobby. I wanted a more finished look for my puppets, so I made the pattern about 1/4 inch wider on all sides, then sewed 1/4 inch seams around and flipped it right-side out. The felt noses are glued on with fabric glue, and the eyes and pig's nostrils are just small french knots of embroidery floss. The kitty I came up with, and those ears were kind of a struggle! They are a smaller version of the pig's ears.

One difficult thing about the finished product is that the cut edges (which are inside the puppet) of the washcloths leave a little fuzzy snow wherever they go. Perhaps the original method of zigzagging all the edges would've prevented that. Oh well!

Overall, I think our niece loves the puppets at bath time, although my sister-in-law says they're too cute to actually use for cleaning!