Baby stitching and UFOs

Welcome, Sue!

If they're positive of the name before the birth (or you're willing to present the gift a few weeks afterward),

don't see that she has pictures of them on the website, so I'll describe it. It's about a 5x7 (depending what count you stitch on) with a "shield" in the center, and around the edges, the name, its meaning, its origin.

Andrew, for example, has a tartan, a castle, and reference to St. Andrew's Golf Course. "Origin Greek" "Tough - Forceful - Strong - Manly

- Saint of Scotland"

You could move the bottom of the border down a scosh and add "June 1,

2006 7 lb 6 oz" to make it into a birth sampler.

If she doesn't have the name you're looking for, she'll research and design it personally (and then add it to the list of names available).

They weren't in existence when I started needing baby gifts, so now I'm doing one as a whole-family sampler, with both parents' names on the top row and both childrens' names on the bottom row. (For an odd number, you could "stack" them as a bellpull.)

Well, my favorite for baby stitching is Inspirations magazine. They have the most adorable baby blankets, layette items, bedding, and what have you. I like the Victoria Sampler birth sampler. Baptismal hankies/towels are fun to do (if there's to be a baptism). You could go nuts and make or embellish a baptismal gown. Most of those things aren't cross stitch, though. Do you like to do other sorts of needlework as well? Or would you like to take the plunge? ;-) One of my favorites for babies is to do a handprint blanket. I buy or make a polar fleece blanket. Get some perl cotton in a bunch of different colors. Go around to all the loved ones and have them trace their hands on a piece of paper. When you're ready to stitch, cut the hands out, lay them out as you please on the blanket, and (one at a time) trace the handprint onto the fabric with a water-erasable pen and write the name of the person on the "wrist" (in cursive). Stem stitch around the handprint with the perl cotton, and do the same for the name. Voila! You have a sweet, easy, and very durable baby blanket that no one should be worried about a baby making a mess of, as it's washable and wears like iron.

Best wishes, Ericka

I recently picked up at my local Wal-Mart a book from Leisure Arts with Sue Dreamer designs called "2 by 2 for Baby" - it has XS patterns for wall hangings, an afghan, bib, birth announcement, etc. (I'm actually doing one of the patterns in surface work). You can see a picture of it here:

here: like this because it can be for a boy or girl, is very whimsical andwould probably fit in most decors for children! HTH!

Occasionally you can find Inspirations at a bookstore, but a good needlework store might be more likely. You can check out the website here:

have a book of baby projects. Best wishes, Ericka

They don't appear to have DD's name. :-(

They're happy to do special orders.

Here's another idea for the name (from Another Sue!):

...Linda

Best wishes, Ericka

You'd sure get your money's worth with a name like that! Good thing they don't charge by the letter!

Sue

That's exactly what I was thinking ;-) It seems like none of the names they have pictured were that long, but one that was a bit long had at least one letter than was smallish compared to the rest. I'm hoping that means that the end result for a long name wouldn't necessarily be terribly elongated compared to the rest. I am very tempted....

Best wishes, Ericka