Christmas Gifts 2013

Now that Christmas is over and gifts have been received by the desired recipients, I can now safely post them on my blog.  The goal was to have this post done before I went back to work after the New Year, but obviously that did not happen.

Last year I made a baby toy for my master teacher as a baby shower gift.  My mom always made blankets for friends and family who had kids.  While my knitting is improving with each project, I am nowhere near as fast as my mother was, nor do I have as much free time as she did.  I wanted to make something for my MT, but I didn't have 6 months to make a blanket.  Searching through Raverly.com I found this adorable pattern. Made it up in about a day!  Find a board book version of the story and TADA! perfect baby shower gift!

MT's baby shower gift

Another friend saw the picture and working on another project.  She would often mutter how much she wished she had an older sister to make stuff of her and her daughter.  Since she was moving soon, I had to be quick anyways.  Plus, with some help from my dad, I managed to make it a baby safe rattle too!  ^.^

After I wrapped it up, naturally I discovered I technically did the eyes backwards.  Oh well, it makes it unique!  I'm not sure who will it enjoy it more, mom or baby.  :D

Also for Christmas I attempted some photo transfer techniques I saw all over Pintrest...was never very satisfied with the results.

The project I had the hardest time keeping quiet was the quilts for my nephews.  I was organizing the uniform room at WSU over the summer and found a ton of old band shirts.  With permission, I took home 24.  I was initially planning on 4x3 square design, but while I was laying it out, I felt it looked too big, so I cut it back to a 3x3.  I also tried two different battings.  I definitely like the low loft better, at least when it comes to the quilting.  But, the nephew with the thicker quilt lives in colder place, so it all works out.

Someone likes to play peek-a-boo with his new quilt.

The best part of all this, is my brother is a die-hard UW Husky fan.  I think the main reason my nephew seems to like it so much is he knows that it's his.  Hey, maybe if I had access to Husky band shirts I may have made a Husky one...maybe.  Not really.