What Are A Few Good Homemade Baby Gifts
In addition to the ten ideas for creating other items from your old or extra pieced blocks, you could consider donating your extras to charity. Local senior centers that offer quilting classes might welcome the gift of some prepared blocks. If you are interested in keeping the money yourself, you can sell your extras. Advertise them in a local paper or Dalabshop.com in online classifieds. You should also consider an online auction. Try selling them in a yard sale.
I decided on using 35 pictures for Peggy's memory quilt. I chose pictures that showed her children at different stages of their lives. As well as pictures showing her and her husbands age regression. Her favorite color is blue, so I chose a dark blue with a light blue design, and a light blue with a dark blue design for the blocks. One thing to keep in mind when doing one for a person with Alzheimer's' is to try and keep the material fairly plain or quiet. When using a material that is very busy or loud, it just adds to their overall confusion. Something you definitely do not want.
Keepsake Kit and a Blanket A unique baby blanket gift, that will stand the test of time is to add a keepsake with the baby blanket. You can use a baby footprint kit, or a handprint kit, or tins for their first lost tooth or clip of hair from their first haircut. This is made even more special if you have the baby blanket personalized with the baby's name.
Quilt Blanket Now you will need to begin putting it together. Follow your pattern and read the instructions carefully to know how to do this correctly. If you have small pieces, you will have to sew them together first to make larger squares and them continue to sew them together to make the larger blanket. For this you will need to use a sewing machine. Sew them together and add the border.
Now use a steam iron to turn and press the rectangle over the seam allowance, pressing away from the center piece. Trim the seam allowance close to the stitching line to remove the bulk in your design.
I scanned the photos and then printed them onto photo transfer sheets. I ironed the transfer on to a piece of white material that was just a little bit larger than the picture. The white square and photo was sewn on top of one of the 12" blue squares. I then added eyelet trim and blue ribbon around each photo. Putting dark blue ribbon on a light blue square, and light blue ribbon on a dark blue square.
After the foundation piece has been completely filled with fabric strips, trim the block to the desired size. Press the block on both the front and back. Don't leave any loose pieces.
The cold, damp nights were particularly tough to get through with any kind of true rest. The warm quilt material was a welcome protection and security from the drafty old colonial houses and they quickly became popular.