Handmade Christmas Gifts

Christmas 2009 included some very cool handmade gifts. Uncle Jonathan sent Harrison wood blocks that he cut, sanded and finished himself. Thankfully, he even coated them with walnut oil which is used in cooking so Harrison managed to evade poisioning. In fact, that walnut oil must be pretty tasty stuff becuase Harrison actually doesn't put many things into his mouth compared to most babies. I wish I could say he built the structure below but that was my doing.

For my little niece, who is set to make her debut in less than 3 weeks, I made her a quilt. Since her parents have more ecelctic tastes that what most fabric stores provide in the baby flanel section, I picked out some trendy Amy Butler prints and followed one of her patterns. Since it uses rectengles and squares, it was a bit more challenging than the average quilt and I certainly learned a lot along the way. I even filled it with Eco friendly organic batting which her parents will appreciate.

My brother, the self made carpenter, also built the crib. The front piece is removable so they were able to sit in it to take this picture. I am very excited for my niece to arrive! I have several other projects in mind for her but there is so much going on right now they are on the back burner. I was also finishing a quilt for Harrison (to match the monkey curtains) when he arrived 2.5 weeks early - I should literally tie up those loose ends before I start anything new. Never enough hours in the day!