Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Baby Gifts :: Part One

I finally got to meet Amanda's newest family member, Eleni, earlier this week, which means that I can finally share what I made for her. (Eleni was darling, of course! I can never get over how small newborns are, no matter how often I see them, which is fairly often these days.)

My mom traditionally makes a quilt for all of the new babies in our family and then another family member uses leftover fabric to make what we call a grab ball for the baby. I also have one from my babyhood. As soon as I heard of Amanda making a crib skirt for Eleni's nursery, I had the idea to use those fabrics to make her a ball. Turns out, Cara had similar thoughts and happened to make a baby blanket for Amanda with those same fabrics. (Great minds, I tell ya!). So...here is my contribution to this running theme. I sure hope Amanda is not getting sick of her fabric choices!



I also made this soft block with ribbon tags, since all mothers know how much babies love tags.



As it turns out, a pattern for the ball can be found in Joelle Hoverson's recently published, Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. She calls it a puzzle ball. It was kind of neat to see that she had this in her book, but I have to admit that I'm also a little bummed that this will likely become a more common item as a result. So much for my unique go to baby gift...

5 comments:

Donna Pool said...

I know what you mean about this type of ball becoming less unique. I've been making them for years, sewing them by hand out of scraps. But mine come apart in three pieces, so they really are puzzles. Here's a small one I blogged about: http://ddpool.blogspot.com/2007/06/puzzle-ball-finished.html

jen said...

Thanks for the comment, Donna. Your ornament balls are darling...I will have to try a little one. As you mentioned, a true puzzle ball will come apart like a puzzle. I wonder if Ms. Hoverson is aware of that since she doesn't make any mention of it in the book.

Cara said...

omg! i jumped out of my seat when i saw your photos :) how cool! i'm sure amanda loved them!

Julie Lewis said...

wow those are really awesome!!!!
i can't wait to play with them! ;)
eleni's aunt julie :)
(amanda's sister....)

Gloria Ives said...

These are great! so much fun and much cooler that anything mass produced. My kids would have loved them as little tykes! and they are certainly attractive to he eye, and I am sure plenty soft. I would have bought them for my kids and undoubtedly for gifts...Are you connected with that handmade website? Beautiful things there--a place where everything is handmade--called etsy?