Friday, March 19, 2010

Baby gifts

I can finally show off what I made while I was on my mini-vacation. Woo! It was hard b/c the person I wanted to tell was the person it was for and I had to wait. (Why am I still being vague?) My friend Wen Shu is expecting her second girl. We were planning a surprise baby shower for her and her husband (he works with me too) at work so I had to keep quiet until then.

Baby Quilt

I bought 10 fat quarters in bright "girl" colors and cut 20 squares (don't remember the size). Then I cut and pieced the nine-patch squares using the idea of the "crazy nine-patch" (google produces many many results) but with my cuts not on an angle. I spent way more time than was probably necessary trying to ensure that no row had two of the same square but now that I look at the picture above I can see that I missed a pair. d'oh.

baby quilt 7

Sashing was from a white cotton sheet (from Ikea: cheap sheet, soft cotton); backing & binding were from a stash of girlie fabrics I acquired for cheap a few years ago. They all washed up really soft and cuddly.

baby quilt 6

I'm not one for "girlie" colors but I love this little quilt. It washed up nice and crinkly and soft. It was a big hit with Wen Shu and her husband.

But... the real crowd pleasers were to come:

Cloth shoes
Pattern: Cloth Shoe Pattern from Stardust Shoes. (look around her blog while you're there. Fun tutorials!) The pattern was straight forward and I love the finished shoes. I need to work on my patience for small project sewing however. Clumsiness and small pieces: not a great combo.

When I finished these I sent a pic to my friend out in BC with the subject: "The Most Ridiculously Cute Baby Shoes Ever".

But then I made the next ones and was to revise that title:

saartje booties pair 1
(all together now: awwwwwwwww!!!!)
Pattern: Saartje's Bootees (link to pdf)
Yarn: Sock weight leftovers from various projects.
Mods: I stitched the strap ends to the shoe rather than have buttons and button loops.

I know people don't like the seaming on this one but I found the seaming to be really quick (it's a tiny shoe). I love the finished result. So much so that I made another pair:

Saartje booties pair 2

They won't fit baby for very long I'm sure but they sure are adorable.

Today is Wen Shu's last day at work before maternity leave. She and I work very closely and I will really miss her. We have gotten to be work-sisters and she is a very dear friend. I can't wait to meet her new little one though!

3 comments:

  1. Your quilt is the most loveliest quilt ever! It makes me want to dive into my fabric stash asap. And it's hard to decide which baby booties are the cutest. I want to eat them all up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi! I came across your blog when I was searching for Cowichan sweater patterns! Google came up with your old post from 2006! Did you ever knit one? How did it turn out? The booties are adorable! So cute!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i am still amazed with the quilt and the shoes that you made. and even more surprised that you kept it as a secret for so long. it was the toughest part for you i think.
    thank you so much again. they are so precious...........

    ReplyDelete

Hi! I'm so glad you stopped by. I'd love to hear from you.