The Little Ones

In the daunting task of catching you up on my Christmas makings, I thought I would start with presents for the little ones. First of all, I need to offer up the confession that I did not make a present for Jesse. I labored over many very good ideas but nothing that was quite perfect. I was also a little stretched because I wanted to make sure he got to open his present on Christmas morning (even though his parents didn't get their presents from Jason and me until well after). So I settled on an astronaut outfit because the boy just loves to play dress up. We also sent him some stick-on mustaches. Jesse LOVES mustaches. He says that when he grows up, he's going to have a watch and a mustache and gum. Man, I love that kid!! So...even though I didn't make anything for that lovable little munchkin who has just about everything, I think he made out pretty well.

The other 2 little ones of the family did get handmades from me this year. They're both infants, so it's a little easier. For Josiah, I made my first ever complete crochet project. It's a hat loosely based on a pattern in The Happy Hooker. The pattern was for an infant head, so that's where I started, but Josiah's got quite the noggin on him so I added a few extra rows to the top, increasing stitches until the hat was about the size of a cantaloupe. I added a little gray stripe for interest. It fits him really well, but it doesn't quite cover his ears. So I'm planning on making a few granny square ear flaps, which look unspeakably adorable in my head.Isn't he cute in his little Christmas pajamas?!?

And for little miss Molly Grace, I made a little bird friend based on a pattern in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. The pattern is for a bird ornament, but I wanted it to be a little bigger so she wouldn't swallow it or something. At first I tried to enlarge the pattern freehand. Bad idea. The lines wouldn't match up. So instead I took a picture and enlarged it on the computer and printed it out. Presto. Instant conversion from ornament to toy. I used fabric that was left over from the bedding I made for Molly back before she was born. Just about the time I was sewing this, I was feeling very confidant in how my sewing skills had progressed over the past year. Then I remembered that I've never sewn anything really 3-dimensional or rounded before. It was a bit of a challenge and quite humbling, but it turned out all right in the end.
I'm not sure why this picture is so blurry. :o/

(Disclaimer: yes, it is absolutely and unabashedly my goal to be the favorite aunt of all of my nieces and nephews. But I did not intentionally make this look like a robin. I'm not quite so narcissistic as to try to subliminally condition Molly to like me best via a stuffed animal. I was planning on putting green wings on it, but they looked dorky, so I left them off, which made this bird quite robin-like.)

So there we have it. 2 Christmas makes posted, many more to go...