Baby Shower Gift for a Knitty Friend

I love my knitting group. Although I am the most sporadic member, and probably the worst knitter there (OK, I am the worst! :), they are a fun group of girls. All different personality types, ages, and job professions grace the tables at the South pointe Barns & Noble cafe on Wednesday nights (7PM if you're local!) to catch up, drink overpriced coffee beverages, and knit.
I especially love when one or more of the ladies are pregnant because we have a baby shower for them. Handmade knits + sewed gifts only! My kind of shower. Remember all the wonderful loot I got for Anikka? I loved it.
Last night we celebrated our knitty friend L's baby, who is due in about a month. Her theme in her boy's room is jungle so that was my inspiration. This:

turned into this! It's a quilt-sized play mat for baby. Each of those six plush toys (bird, palm tree, elephant, lion, giraffe, and gorilla) have an exact replica underneath it appliqued onto the quilt, with Velcro on each item. It becomes a 'matching puzzle' of sorts! I started this way to late in the game because although I knew of the baby shower in advance I could not make up my mind...knit or sew? Knit or sew?!
From the very beginning of picking out fabric to completion took around 6 hours....much more than I anticipated. I am a slow cutter, though, and that probably took an extra 30 minutes that may take less time for another. I got the idea a long time ago to make something like this, but when I saw a barnyard version in a new craft (toy!) book of mine, Sew Magical for Baby, I thought this would work perfectly for a jungle theme.

I am an old pro at applique, and so that plus the sewing around each form doesn't take me too long. Sewing up each plushy was a bit stressful, because I've only done it less than a handful of times...and this was 6! I am happy with how it turned out, though, and I think she liked it! She got some beautiful knitted gifts and a beautiful star blanket crocheted by my friend, Julie of Kundhi Creative.

Now that I'm done with this baby shower gift, and my HUGE project (well, the hard part of that is over) I can rest easy for the last few weeks of summer. I had a lot of fun making this gift and I love sewing projects for new babies!
What are you working on? Come on, let me see!

Comments

Lisa said…

Love it! Thank you so much!!! It's super cute and I know the little one will love it. You are fabulous!!!!

August 5, 2010 at 2:19 PM

Mia said…

Wow. BIG project! Looks fabulous though! Well done, my crafty friend. :)

August 5, 2010 at 3:03 PM

Home School Activities: Board Games We Love

My children have recently become enthralled in the world of board games. I was never a board game player. Sure, I remember long summer hours (days? it seemed like it..) spent around a Monopoly board, but I was never one to suggest to get out the cards, or a game. As my children have grown and they are now able to do activities with me, I started noticing that they really took to puzzles (when done all together) and the one or two board games I happened to have kept in the storage room. They were always asking to play Candy Land and so I figured I should branch off a bit. Over the course of the last year, I have found GREAT games, even ones that I love to play alongside them. The amount of 'teaching' they have gotten through games is jaw-dropping. Counting, team-playing, math related patterning, are just some of the skills I've watched develop. I asked before Christmas on facebook what my friends and their own kids loved and I was thrilled with the response. We have found ov

July Reads

Birch Bay Sunset, rainbow hues July has been hot out here. When you live in the top story of an apartment building, and there's no air conditioning, it can feel just over the needle of uncomfortably warm when the day is above 76 degrees. We've kept blinds shut, windows open, and a fan continually blowing as it's perched in our living room window well. Just about the only thing I feel like doing after a long day is laying on the couch straight in the fan's air circulation path, and read a good book. I had some unique picks this month. * #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso This book was just plain fun to read. Amoruso developed the iconic ebay store NastyGal way back when vintage selling on ebay was a thing. Now she's a millionaire with a kicking website that she started from scratch and didn't owe a dime to anyone else for. It's a great 200 pager with stories on dumpster diving for daily food, entrepreneurship tips, and being the backwards kid that no one t

Top 10 Books of 2017

early sunset in Ft Langley I love reading all these "Top 10" lists of favorite books read throughout the year, so I'm adding my two cents. I'm involved in a Book Club that I love with women from our church, a small group that meets every week and goes through a book every few months, my own list, books I'm reading aloud to the kids and books I'm reading for educational purposes (think professional development). I took a look at all of those combined and this is what I got, in no particular order: * The Problem of God by Mark Clark - I loved going through this academic apologetic book with my friends from church. It led us to great discussion, and good food for thought. I listen to Clark's sermons every week and so knew I'd probably love his writing style, too. If you have objections to Christianity, or are feeling confused about what to believe, this is a great primer. * You're Smarter Than You Think by Dr. Thomas Armstron

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Search This Blog