Deadlines

Why is it that I work best when faced with a deadline? I have known about this baby shower that I went to last night for a month, yet what was I doing in the last possible minutes? Sewing, of course!

This baby shower is kind of unique, though. In our Whispers of Hope group (a part of Women on Mission, or WMU in prior terminology) at church, there were something like a dozen or so babies due during this year, the first of which was born in July, most of the babies are second or third in the families, but a few first timers. Anyway, there was a shower for the first 3 babies of this group back in June, to which I brought each a ribbon ball. Then there were the twins who came 2 months early for a first-time Mommy who got her own shower on my son's birthday (and I will get my gifts to you soon, April, I promise!) Then last night's shower was for the 2nd set of 3 mamas. Man, that makes me dizzy just thinking about it!

I don't know why I didn't get around to making these gifts earlier with plenty of time to spare, except that I just couldn't decide on an idea and stick to it.

So, here is what I finally came up with in the eleventh hour:

-for a little baby boy who is being born into a University of Florida fanatic family (his mommy has already requested a similar one for big brother, who didn't want to let go of this one!)
-for a little baby girl who will have 2 older brothers
-for another little baby girl who will also have 2 older brothers!
Maybe I will be better prepared for the next shower, but knowing me, probably not!

I hope to have some of these in my Etsy shop soon!

Finally!

This blanket has been on my to-do list for a while. I finally finished it Monday just before we went to pick up my son from school, so I had it in his seat waiting for him. I had hoped to get it done by his 5th birthday, which was the 11th, but like most of my intentions, it just didn't happen, because there simply aren't enough hours in the day to carry out all the things I have on my mind!

Anyway, this was a specific request by my son. He wanted a John Deere blanket, and he chose the backing (which I forgot to take a picture of) - green satin, and he said that he wanted those ribbons on the edge, even though I tried to convince him that it would look better without them, but he wanted them b/c his little brother's blanket has them. You know, what one has, they both have to have....sigh...

In case you are having a hard time figuring out what all those ribbons are in the brown minky dot "field", I tried to represent peanuts, mostly due to the fact that my son is absolutely glued together with peanut butter (he has to have a PB&J at least once a day). The "sky" is blue flannel, and I cut out the tractor from some fleece fabric scraps lying around here (I know, I took a shortcut, but like I said, I was hoping to get it done sorta close to his birthday, and I missed it anyway.... ) I wanted the blanket to be big enough to last him a few years, so I added a border of John Deere fabric all the way around, and I really like how it "frames" it.

Hope he has many cozy memories with his John Deere blanket!

OK so I clearly don't know what "be back tomorrow" means....

In the last (and only) post here, I said "maybe I will be back tomorrow to post some more pics." Yeah, I need to try and do better, eh?

Well, at least I have been doing some sewing, just not any showing and telling here. So take a look at some recent projects....

here is a set of Texas A&M pajamas for both of my nephews - both my sister-in-law and her husband graduated from there, so these boys have no choice but to be huge Aggie fans! (oh yeah, my father-in-law is an alum as well)














Here are some grocery/tote bags for the same sister-in-law - lots of fun fabric choices! (oh yeah, I've got to get working on some of these bags promised to my mother-in-law!)
Here are some shirts for my boys - Oldest specifically requested a "macaroni penguin" b/c he saw it on Diego.




















Hmm....looks like I have only been sewing for family....

Here is a little John Deere baby ball I did for a church baby shower a month or so ago...














Oh and I just have to show you a blanket or two, b/c those are what started me on this Etsy journey!

A butterfly for a neighbor:














and then when another neighbor/cousin saw the butterfly, she asked me if I could create a monkey blanket, so I did (after a couple of months, sorry C). Don't know why it took me so long to come up with this design, but anyway....




















Guess I'll close for now - gotta go work on a gift for a 6-yr-old birthday girl (no relation! ha!)