A few little things for Virginia

I realize my little Virginia is six (six!) months old now, and that blogging about this nearly five months after I took these pictures is, um, a little late. But these sweet little things I made my sweet little girl were too cute not to mention. They are some of the nicest things I have ever made, so bear with me while I show them off...

First up, is this darling little matinée jacket from the book Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomery. The book is great. It taught me how to knit. And the sweater was super easy—my first finished knitting project ever, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Because I was having a June baby and I wanted a sweater that he/she could wear all summer long, I used Snuggly Baby Bamboo by Sirdar, a super-soft, wonderfully lightweight yarn that would be comfortable on a baby's sensitive skin and not too hot for the middle of summer. (And believe it or not, we need sweaters even in the middle of summer up here).

It was a dream to knit, and the sweater held up very well through many washings and almost daily wear. For more details, check out my notes on Ravelry.

Next up, is this "Crazy Eights" baby quilt, which I have made for every one of my babies. Here are the posts about Colin's and Archer's quilts. 

Nothing prepares me better for the birth of a baby than sitting at my sewing machine, hour after hour, sewing those little stitches and dreaming about the little one who will soon be wrapped up inside them. And sitting in that  edge-of-your-seat sewing position turns out to be very beneficial for getting baby in an ideal anterior position (or so my midwives told me). 

Anyway, I just love this pattern, which is very simple and very forgiving of mistakes (ideal for thrid-trimester "baby brain"). Also, it works well with almost any fabric bundle, so you don't have to be gifted at fabric selection (which I am not).  I used a bundle of Boho by Urban Chiks from Fabricworm, which was fairly gender-neutral, since, again, I didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. And, the colours coordinated nicely with the colours in my living room. This was a lesson I learned from my previous baby quilts, which, although cute, clashed horribly with my living room rug. And since my baby quilts spend most of their time on my living room rug as a baby play mat, that was of primary importance.

But my favourite detail about Virginia's quilt was that I finally tackled free-motion quilting. I used a free-hand scrolling-S pattern, which was (again) super easy and very forgiving of mistakes, and quite a bit of fun once you get into the "zone" of free-motion quilting. I also learned how to do proper mitred corners and continuous hand-stitched binding for this project, and the results ... well, I think they are pretty spectacular. Virginia's quilt looks and feels like a quilt should.

So even though both of these projects are several months old now, I thought it timely to post them anyway, since I've just embarked on Round 2 of each of them. No, I am not pregnant again! (Thank, God.) But too of my dearest friends are, and they are each expecting baby girls in a few months. So, I have started cutting a very modern-looking Crazy Eights quilt for an early-February baby, and I have cast on a Matinée Jacket for an early-May baby.

Between this and all of the other crafting projects I've got in the works for my own little baby (who is not so little any more), who wants to place a bet that I'll finish in time?