Friday, July 28, 2006

Ready to go..

Last night, for some unknown reason, I had the house to myself for about two hours! DH was next store fixing some things in the spec house and the kiddies were outside playing. What's a girl to do? I made myself drag out the flannel and the blanket binding and work on the blankie for my coming niece/nephew. She/He is due to arrive in about two weeks!!! Yes, I have already made this baby a quilt - the yellow one, but what is an over excited auntie to do? Sew!


The blankie is a nice size - 35 inches by 44 inches. The reason I was putting off making this blankie is the HUGE amount of satin stitching around the inside edge of the binding. Takes forever to do. I did one side at a time and then took a short break.
Since I had to drag out the newer Singer to do the satin stitch, I thought I might as well do the hooded towel too. After all, it takes all of two minutes to do. Yes, two minutes...if you go really slowly. Sew the washcloth to the towel, centered of course. Then sew the top of the washcloth together (on the inside). Done! Yes - this is for the same baby. Too much? Naaah!

I get all of this done - it is about 7:30 pm and still no family! No dinner either but no one seemed to care.

All that is left to do is sew the label on the baby quilt. Yes I wimped out and did it on the machine.

Several people have asked how I make labels on a ink jet printer. I used to use the chemical stuff you soak the fabric in but my bottle got old and the ink would not set. So now I buy the pre-treated sheets at Walmart. These sheets work great but they are made of a heavy fabric and are kind of hard to hand stitch thru. I have done it by hand but end up with some very sore finger tips!

Today I am mailing off the box of goodies to my SIL. Hope she likes it!

8 comments:

  1. I'm sure she'll love everything! That flannel blankie is so sweet- love the yellow.

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  2. I love to give tons of baby presents. I've twice gone with another family member and given the gifts of the alphabet. They get 26 presents and all are individually wrapped. Most are very small or otherwise you'd go broke, but with 2 people and a very special mom it's worth it.

    Love satin blanket edges! Thanks for the link to the sheets! I'll have to try those!

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  3. the satin edging is great! oh so soft and gentle for a newborn

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  4. What's not to like!!! I'd forgotten about the little hooded towel trick..hmmm.

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  5. She's going to love it all!

    Those towels are so fun to wrap babies up in. I used them on my kiddos until they were too big for me to bathe them! Now...it's beach towels!

    My mom always did satin edged blankies for her baby grandchildren and for gifts as well. The babes loved them!

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  6. great towel hoodie and blankie...I love the homemade gift...it means so much!

    For your labels...If you want to try soemthing new...I have have great success with "Printed Treasues", a paper backed fabric, run it through your printer, pull off the paper and you have a nice "muslin-like" fabric that is easy to sew through--washable and fade resistant!
    Ps Thanks for reading QuiltersBuzz.com
    Gina

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  7. I got through life without knowing about the towel thing! Now I'm going to buy some next week and be all ready for the next baby!

    Your SIL will love everything, I have no doubt.

    I love the ABC idea, too. That would be great for a group baby shower, like a school staff.

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  8. These are such great gifts! I haven't thought about satin edges since my daughter was a baby! What a good idea. I'm going to have to steal that idea. And a matching towel helps complete the collection.

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