A couple of little projects and a big announcement

I've been working on several projects here lately, but haven't had the time to photograph them since things have been so busy. The end of the semester was hectic, then I was laid up with a cold for a week (from which I am just now recovering), and the holidays are always busier than expected. I finally managed to take a few pictures of a couple of little projects I have in the works in order to prove that I haven't been sitting around doing nothing for the last several weeks. Hopefully I'll have a few more projects up soon.

However, before I show you the projects, I've got a announcement. We're having a baby! I know of at least three other bloggers who are also pregnant (Casey, Nabby, and Quincy), and wouldn't be surprised if there are several more out there as well. I also have a cousin and several friends who are due early next spring and next summer. Mr. S and I are expecting our little peanut at the end of May (fortunately a month after the semester is over here, so I will easily be able to take time off this summer). Of course, a new baby (quite a big project in and of itself) means lots of new projects for me! I have a 1950s maternity top on the sewing table right now. I'm about half finished with it. However, what I have to share is for the baby.

I've just finished up the front and back of a baby sweater from this pattern on Ravelry.

So far so good. First of all, working on a sweater this tiny provides much more immediate gratification than all of the sweaters I've made for myself since the pieces are so small. It's the first time I've ever knit cables, and overall they turned out pretty well. There are a couple of minor mistakes in the pattern, but nothing too glaring, and I had gotten too far to care about ripping them out when I noticed them. I just finished blocking these pieces so that I can join the side seams and begin the sleeves, which are knit onto the body instead of as separate pieces. I have yarn for a couple of other baby sweaters that I will be starting once I get this one finished.

The second baby project I've been working on is a baby quilt. I'm actually recovering the quilt that my maternal grandmother made for me when I was born. I'm just going to remove the binding and use the whole quilt as batting. I'm making a bunch of tiny nine-patch squares for the quilt top, and all of the fabric for them is from scraps left from dresses I've made for myself. There are even a few little pieces from squares I used for a family quilt I made several years ago as an art project. I'm planning on alternating nine-patch squares and solid squares for the quilt top, using the white polka-dots as the contrast squares. The green dot will be with quilt back, and I'm going to being it in yellow.

I've been thinking about doing a little bit of embroidery perhaps on the white squares of the quilt top, but we'll see. I really like what Bessie did with the quilt top that she finished recently. I don't know if I have that much time and patience though. I may be lucky to get the squares finished. I found the green and white dot fabrics, along with the yellow for the binding the other day. I'm really pleased with how they look with the nine-patch squares. It was lucky that so many of my dress scraps were baby friendly, gender neutral fabrics. We're not planning on finding out the gender so I wanted to make sure it didn't look too girly, but still wanted it to be a little bit cutesy.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far!