Friday, March 13, 2009

It ony *looked* like I was slacking...

...since November.

My stealth projects have been delivered, so now they can be revealed. You see, one of my best friends from college, Mike, got married a few years ago. Back in the late summer/early fall, and and his wife, Carrie, announced they were expecting. Now, there are four quilters among our group of KSU friends (aka the Lunch Bunch). Three of us are knitters and one of us scrapbooks, too. [Mike and Carrie got a group quilt and a handmade wedding album, albeit after their first wedding anniversary.]

Anyway, we were all very excited and tried to decide what quilt pattern and fabrics we'd use for the baby quilt, and how we could include Sarah, the member who doesn't live in northeast Ohio. There was also a lot of talk about knitted goodies for the baby. Then we found out they were having TWINS, so then there was twice as much fun to be had.

The stars aligned when I had to go to Boston for training in November. I made the top of this quilt, and took it with me so Sarah could quilt and bind it. The pattern is the same one we used for the wedding quilt. It used to be on the quiltmaker.com web site, but it seems to be gone now.



Mike builds/repairs watches and clocks so when I found this fabric a few years ago, I bought it specifically for his future child.



Around Thanksgiving, I started my stealth knitting project, which was this prayer shawl for Carrie.



It's about 20" x 60" and made from Berroco Comfort yarn, in ivory. I thought it would be good for throwing over her shoulders for mid-night feedings, etc.

Since there were now going to be two babies, Julie and Ann made a second quilt using the same pattern, but different fabrics.



I embroidered matching labels for the quilts.



As you can see, the babies are five weeks old today, though we still say the gifts aren't late, since the babies weren't supposed to arrive till mid-March. The original due date was April 1, but it was adjusted because they are twins. They were born at 32 weeks, but both are healthy and home (and have been for weeks now).

In addition to the quilts, Sarah made striped hats for the babies, and Ann made matching hat and bootie sets (large preemie size).



Add a few more things, including an antique clock book for Mike and a package of treats for Max the dog, so they wouldn't feel left out, and this is what I shipped to the Pacific Northwest on Monday.



According to the UPS site, it was delivered around 2 o'clock this afternoon, PDT. I didn't tell them it was coming. I hope they were surprised, and that they like all the gifts. They might not be perfect, but everything was made and/or chosen with love.

Welcome, Henry and Jack! Wish we could be there to meet you in person.

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