Gifts for Little Girls

Girls outnumber the boys in my family - I have 2 nephews and 6 nieces! Three of those nieces have birthdays this weekend, and one niece-to-be is being celebrated in a baby shower tomorrow, so I have some girly gifts to show here. On the right is the baby's shower gift, a simple cotton-silk lace blankie (the Baby Chalice blanket on Ravelry). On the right are some plain cotton totes I got from my new favorite store Muji; I embroidered the birthday girls' names on them and filled them with some budget-friendly store-bought gifts (crayons, sticker books, etc.). A shortage of time and money prevented me from going all-handmade, which I feel rather guilty about, but reportedly the girls were happy with their bags, so I should be happy too.

Two more - and just one left to go!

I pulled together two last-minute baby gifts this weekend, which leaves just one more gift to finish. I'd been saving an accidentally felted cashmere sweater for a special project, and decided that a new baby's first Christmas is the perfect occasion. So I looked at some bear patterns and then just kind of winged it; it didn't take long to sew it by hand and I'm really happy with how he turned out - he is so soft! I also made this bunch of colored knitted balls for the same baby. They are so fast to make; I only wish I'd had the foresight to put a jingle bell or rattle in the center of each one...next time, I guess!

Approaching deadline

Clockwise from top left: Two blank notebooks for a brother-in-law, made mostly with scraps of materials from work; a few of my holiday cards for this year, also made with scraps & salvaged materials from work; a rainbow spiral scarf for one of my nieces; and two ribbed cotton hats for two other brothers-in-law. I'm still working on a couple of crafty gifts and hope to start with all the food-gift making this week!

Crazy baby sweater

Here's another finished holiday gift; it's for an impossibly adorable one-year-old girl. It was pretty quick to knit and was a fun way to use up some odd amounts of this wacky yarn. At this point I'm still feeling pretty good about getting everything else finished in time!

Turkey pinata!

On a bit of a whim, I made this turkey pinata for a coworker who'll have a few kids running around her house on Thanksgiving Day. I used papier-mache over a balloon for the body, then constructed the head & tail with thin cardboard. I cut the sides off a paper shopping bag and wrapped it around the body for the handle/hanger. There is a trap door on top for adding candy. I had a blast making this, and it was a big hit when I carried it on the subway to work!

Paper wallet

Here's a little wallet I made, loosely based on this tutorial, to hold a money gift for a nephew. In the future I'll play around a bit more - I think I can figure out a way, or at least find another tutorial, for making more pockets in the wallet. Anyway, I think this is a fun way to present a gift of money (or gift cards for that matter), and the wallet fit perfectly into the envelopes I made from the same paper.