and we have lift-off

finally - a photo of the finished baby quilt for my nephew!  i finished it over a week ago but this and that conspired to slow me down.

i love how it turned out!  it's not perfectly perfect, but it is perfectly right for my brother and his family.  i used a lot of prints heather ross' out-of-print lightning bugs series - obtained at great difficulty on etsy, a tiny bit at a time.  the vw campers, gnomes and wiener dogs are family references and there are other favourites in there, including a few vintage pieces of 60's aqua with line-art flowers from my mom's stash.  the little raindrops from the hushabye collection are my little "hello from vancouver!" and the back is a solid piece of aqua dashes on cream from the girl friday collection.  ah, i love baby quilts and the ability to use a solid piece on the back.  i washed it a few times so it's nice and rumply-looking.  i love a worn-in looking quilt and it's so soft for a wee  one.

now, i just have to finish up the stack of pants, drooling kerchiefs and bibs that i want to send along with.  sew, sew, sew! 

sneak peak: quilt for my first wee nephew

my brother and his beautiful wife welcomed a brand new little boy to their family almost a month ago.  they went the traditional route of not finding out the gender, which i give them props for.  it's got to be the world's best surprise, that anticipated announcement "it's a ---" in the delivery room, and i had always thought i could stand the suspense myself but i couldn't do it!

i had been waiting to find out who the little person was before starting on the arm's length list of homemade baby things i have in mind, not out of a blue=boy and pink=girl mandate, but to put a personal spin on things.  the moment i found out i ordered the fabrics and as they've come in i've been busy planning, cutting and getting ready.

first up, a simple crib-size quilt.  a lot of dots, some chevrons, japanese elephants and many lovely hard-to-find fabrics from heather ross' long out of print lightning bugs series.  here's a sneak peak at the colour scheme:

the littlest helper

just a few shots of my little guy, cole, "helping" me stuff bunnies with organic cotton last week.

usually i do all my work, design, craft or otherwise, while he's napping, but it was crunch time so we did our stuff side-by-side - he played with his toys and proudly brought me pieces of fluff he found on the floor while i stuffed and hand-sewed bunnies closed. of course, he always likes to be a part of the action, and i'm not one to turn down a helping hand!