Crochet for Baby!

My latest crochet projects were a baby blanket and a giraffe lovey for my friend's first grandchild, a beautiful girl who was born in January 2016. As the family lived in Melbourne on the other side of Australia and I would not be seeing them until Easter I had a little more time to work on them.

The baby blanket was in three colours - pink, white and green with a white border/edging.  It was the first time I had made a blanket that was not from a granny square pattern and I managed to learn some other techniques in the process so am thrilled with the final result.  It has a total of 50 rows and then the edging.

I found the pattern at Favecrafts.

The giraffe lovey I found through a search on pinterest.  I wasn't looking specifically for a giraffe but this one caught my eye.  Even though the original was in yellow I decided to try changing the colours to make it more suited for a girl.    The pattern originally came from Lulu's Crafts Blog (I had found it through another blogger).

This one was more difficult than the Minions and duck lovey's I made previously but I'm pleased with the result.  Each piece is made individually then all sewn together at the end.  As mentioned in the pattern, the blanket part is a solid granny-square and this pattern is available on Moogly Blog.

The original pattern has circles sewn onto the blanket however I wanted to add something a bit more feminine so went searching pinterest for applique flowers or butterflies instead.  The flowers I used were from Is It A Toy? blog

Below is a picture of the original Giraffe Lovey from the creator and pictures of my completed lovey.

Sewing!

I have had a sewing machine for a long time but barely used it.  The one I have now I bought about 7 years ago and it's been sitting behind the bar ever since we moved into this current house 6 years ago!
Last month I found a Horn Sewing cabinet for sale in a local op-shop.  I've been wanting one for years but could never afford a new one.  I couldn't pass this one up as it was a great price and in excellent condition.

Now I have my sewing machine setup in the cabinet and have bought some different coloured threads and other sewing accessories.  I've been buying small amounts of fabric to make some small items found through Pinterest.

Last week I made a Nappy & wipes clutch for a staff member at work who leaves for maternity leave tomorrow.  I found the pattern and instructions on Lemon Squeezy Home Blog and it is so easy to follow.  My first attempt I wasn't 100% happy with but it was the first time in over 20 years that I've actually sewn something from scratch!  I made another one a few days later which I gave to my staff member this week and was much happier with that one.

Inside the clutch I placed two nappies and a travel pack of wipes.

Crochet Duck Lovey

My latest crochet project was a Duck Lovey blankie made for one of the reception staff on my team at work.  She is expecting a baby in December and I decided to make this as a gift for the baby.

The pattern was in a crochet magazine and gave me a little grief with the beak but overall I'm pretty happy with the result.