Baby Gift Of Choice

I've been avoiding the sewing machine since just after Christmas. I guess I traumatized myself with all the hand made gifts. Plus I finally got my desk clean and it pained me to think of cluttering it up again.  But today was a babyshower for the saint-of-a-relief-society-counselor that helps me so much with my calling.

I've decided my new go-to baby gift is to lend the mom-to-be my favorite sewing book and let her pick. That way, after my hours of work, I know she will love it, and there's still a little bit of surprise since I decide on the fabric.  So a couple of weeks ago I told her to pick something from the book and I sewed it up a couple of nights ago. She picked the best project in there, so I was excited.  And she's European and loves modern, so figuring out fabric was easy.

 The swaddler will be especially helpful if her little guy is anything like Esme. After a few weeks of life she started jolt herself awake with waving arms unless she was wrapped tight tight tight. The first time I made one of these she was 3 months old and strong enough to bust out of my tight double swaddle, so I was pretty frantic to get it done. This small contraption was in constant use and was critical for both of us to get good sleep, no matter how short the duration.

Wrapping gifts is very low, or not even on, my list of important things. I'm too practical, with money and time. So I used the spare brown paper that was inside a roll of Christmas paper and just sewed around the edges, which was easier than trying to form a shape of the soft contents and put tape who knows where.  Walking to the shower I started regretting it, imagining all the cutesy blue bags with fluffy tissue paper, but for some reason people raved about it. Who knew.