Baby Season Ahead

It's not too often that I get to celebrate babies anymore. Well, unless my friends are becoming "grand" or "grander". But in my circle now - or in the next while - there are or will be three shiny new people among us. Two of those are "grands", but the third is a new babe for a young couple we have come to know.

So I have been busy making baby welcoming things. For the first on the list is a knit blanket in the colours requested to match the nursery scheme.  Here is a pic from the Purl Bee website where I got the free pattern. If you are not familiar with this website, I highly recommend you spend some time there. Each and every project is perfection in its simplicity and exquisite materials.

Baby number two is getting a quilt. Not a pieced one, but a pre-printed panel that I am hand quilting. If anyone ever says that we don't improve at any skill with practice, they should see the stitches in the first bit of quilting versus the ones after 10 or 12 hours. Not that I am going back to change anything, but I am definitely improving.  And to support the debate of machine versus hand, I am enjoying the doing, and not in too big a rush to get to the end.

This picture shows it pinned. I think I am about half way through the quilting and will share a pic when it is done. Cute zig zag fabric on the back completely disguises my stitches - good and bad, but also makes for a cheery reverse side.

Baby number three has already arrived.  And she is the third gorgeous girl for her family. I decided that not only did the new arrival deserve something special, but so did the two big sisters, so I am knitting this little sweater for all three of them.

I was a middle girl of three and I remember when my mother thought it was cute to dress us alike. I specifically remember one dress in particular that she got for the three of us - all in the same colour. So when you outgrew one, you grew into another - and another (if you were my sister Beth).

For these three beauties, I have chosen three colours, so that nobody has to wear exactly the same thing more than a couple of years.

It's fun to celebrate something as awesome as a new baby. At a time when many friends are facing the other end of the circle of life, I find this a very happy thing. And something that I am more than thrilled to spend the time on.

Here's a very warm welcome to all three of you, congratulations to your parents and here's to your many adventures ahead.