Harry Elephonte, the Southbound Pachyderm

I just finished this adorable elephant for Baby Max. I downloaded the pattern from Cicada Daydream. I had a couple problems with his tusks, but other than that he turned out pretty cute. You can just print the whole pattern on one sheet of paper and make a little baby pachyderm. But, I printed it at 100% and he's a good size.
I also made Max a train quilt. Well, I can't really say I made the quilt. I purchased the pre-quilted baby quilt panel and then I applied extra wide double fold bias tape to bind the edges.

I LOVE these. The prints are always so cute and they're really sturdy quilts. These are the kind of quilts that can hold their own with kiddos. They can be used to sit on for a picnic, they can keep you warm and cuddly in the winter, and they can be puked on in the car. They hold up to being washed and re-washed and can be used hard.

I don't like to use the satin baby blanket binding anymore. I've tried a few times and I just can't get the hang of making the mitered corners look good enough. So, I use a bowl to cut the corners of the panel round, and I bind the whole thing in extra wide bias tape. Plus, bias tape is easier to find, and comes in more colors.

Hunky Dory by Chez Moi

I just finished a quilt for Joe Soro's baby, Sophia who is due to arrive in just a few weeks. I bought a cute charm pack from Beverly's on Friday and just stitched them all together. It's "Hunky Dory" by Chez Moi for Moda Fabrics.

I used Warm & Natural cotton batting (of course) and a lilac-purple backing. I even figured out how to miter the corners using the backing as an easy fold-over binding.

My good old favorite Sunbeam iron with a retractable cord gave out Friday night. Instead of just failing to heat, it got stuck on the linen setting and melted the lining for the dress I was working on. I continued on and made the dress with the lining shrunken, but I was very sad about my iron. So, I stopped by the Ross dress for less in Santee after my cousin, Julie's baby shower on Saturday. Buried in the back behind the ShamWow and other as-seen-on-TV products I found another Sunbeam iron! It's a beautiful classic 3973 with a storage indicator strip and a push-button spray mist. It also has a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time...

Not really, but it did come with a handy little plastic water filler cup. I LOVE my new iron!

Baby Clothes

...And a quilt for Elliot.

Jess and Elliot were in town visiting a couple weeks ago and I decided I should give Elliot something made out his "Bravest Dragon" fabric. I actually bought the fabric last Spring to make his crib set. But, I'm lame and never made his crib set. I figured the least I could do was make him a beach-time jumper set and a little baby quilt. I bought New Look 6687 last year and never got a chance to use it. It's for little girls, but I added a pocket and omitted the ruffles to make it for Elliot. I use some navy blue and light green left over from a box of remnants Jessie's Grandma Mimi gave me. It turned out really cute! This is great pattern. It's one of those "spinning rack" patterns that you don't even have to look up in the book. I love to just grab a couple of those patterns on a whim. They always turn out to be some of my favorites. I'm sure I'll be getting lots of use out of this one.

 

I used mostly Elliot's dragon fabric for his quilt. I used more of the navy and the green from Mimi, and a little yellow check that I had leftover. I always use Warm and Natural for my quilt batting. It's thinner that anything else, and much, much warmer. For baby blankets I just buy the crib and craft size that comes pre-cut in a package. I happened to have some white cotton quilt binding in my stash, so I finished off all the edges of Elliot's quilt with it. The backing is more of his dragon fabric.

It was so nice to spend a little time with Jess and Elliot. Jessie is the best mom ever! And Elliot couldn't be cuter! He is such a happy baby. It's really cool to see Jerry and Gail with their adorable little grand-baby. I love you guys!

I also used New Look 6687 to make a dress for my friend Anar's baby, Ava. I made the dress in pink and white dots with the ruffles. You really can't get more girly.

Ava was just born in December, so I made size small. Hopefully it will fit her for the summer.

 

...and my camera is still missing