coming home from the hospital - boy

This is the first baby that we haven't known the gender, and this is also the first baby that I've been bold enough to trust my own two hands to make the little bundle an outfit to come home in . . . or 4.

"Why four?" you ask?

Well, because we didn't know the gender, and each of our babies has gotten bigger than its previous sibling, with our youngest weighing in at 9 lbs 2 ozs (which is why I also opted for my first epidural, people.)  So, I took with me to the hospital two outfits for a boy, and two outfits for a girl (one each in newborn size and 0-3 month size.)

I finished up the boy outfits and was completely in love with them!
 

From the get-go, I wanted to applique a tie onto a white shirt, which I was able to whip out quickly. 


The pants were a little trickier for me to settle on a design I liked.  Finally, I decided to use (Simplicity 5534 - out of print), except that I wanted a flat front.


I wasn't exactly sure how much to take out of the front pieces, so imagine my relief when Dana at Made posted a tutorial for flat front pants during her Celebrate the Boy!!  I still used (Simplicity 5534), but I altered the front pieces the same way Dana altered hers for the flat look.

So, the pants for my baby boy are brown corduroy with a flat front . . .

and an elastic back!

look what i made!

Last Monday (8 days ago,) I went to the hospital.

They gave me these:

Then, they gave me this little guy (it's a boy!!):

{7 lbs 11 ozs, 20.5 inches}

Welcome to the world, and our family, Baby Graham!

Stay tuned for a few things I made to get ready for my little guy's arrival.

reach for the sunshine quilt

I haven't died . . . and I haven't had my baby, yet.  (Just over 2 weeks left.)  I told you I have gotten into a non-crafting funk, so the posting would be sparse--turns out, I really meant that posting would be almost non-existent.

I'm very excited about this craft, though.  One of my friends is having her first baby girl after three little boys, so I was very excited to make this little quilt for her.

I've had the pattern from You Can Make This for a while, but hadn't had the time, energy, or opportunity to make it, yet.  Now that I've made it, let me tell you, JesseKate Designs made it super easy!!

I think this little guy is just adorable.

This was my first attempt at embroidery, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out, although I now understand the importance of an embroidery loop.

I planned a lot more time for this project than I needed, so I decided to hand quilt it.  I love the look of a hand quilted blanket!

I'm pleased to report that my sweet husband didn't want me to give it away at first because he thinks it's the cutest baby quilt I've made yet, and wanted to keep it for our baby (which we still don't know the gender on, by the way,) just in case it's a girl.

It really was quicker and easier than it looks, and I promised to make another one after the baby, if he really wants . . . and finally I was able to pry it from his hands.

Obviously, this quilt would look adorable in blues and greens for a boy, or yellows and oranges for a gender-neutral look.  I can't wait to make it again!