$10 Baby Gift

I had plans to do some serious decluttering today...until I remembered that I had volunteered to make dinner for a new mom in my MOPS group. Well, I had remembered the dinner part but then I decided I wanted to sew something for the baby so my grand cleaning plans were set aside.

I snooped on the Babies R Us website to find her registry to get an idea of her tastes. Black furniture, white sheets, changing table pad and she noted that the nursery was simple with tiffany blue accents. What the heck color was tiffany blue?? She also seemed to like brown and blue baby outfits. I did a web search and found a teal color that was called tiffany blue so armed with that knowledge, I headed to my sewing room.

I thought I might make a simple quilt with white and 'tiffany blue' squares. And I would also use my embroidery machine to add the new baby's name. Only I didn't have anything close to tiffany blue. Well there was one floral print that I nixed. I did pick a few fabrics and I brought them to the washing machine because I wasn't sure if they had been prewashed.

While that was running, I sorted through a bin of ebayable stuff because I knew I had some tiny baby boy clothes in there. I found a NWT brown fleece gymbo outfit that I bought on clearance a couple years ago. I'm sure I paid less then $10 for even thought the tag said it retailed for $28. I had planned on gifting it or eBaying it but hadn't done anything until today. It was perfect for the new baby.

I then changed my sewing plans completely. I went to my fleece bin and found 2 remnants of a boyish stripe that sorta coordinated. I paid approx $1 each. Both pieces were long and skinny so I had to improvise with the simple block pattern. I didn't have blanket binding and I didn't want to add the thickness of a folded hem so I just serged the edges...which I'm not entirely comfortable with. It looks a little unfinished to me but I didn't have time to do anything different. I had thought about making it 2 sided but I really didn't want to add the thickness. I wanted a super soft blanket without heaviness that could be draped over the baby and the mom's lap to keep them both warm as she nursed him.

I had a bit of fleece left so I decided to use it to make a a little hat. I had a pattern but it only made one size which was gigantic. I chopped it up a lot and tried again. The resulting hat was teeny. Surely it would be too small.

Once the blanket and the hat were done, I threw them in the washer with my new thermal knits and I washed everything with Baby All and I started dinner. I always make mac & cheese with shredded cheddar but I wanted to try it with velveeta. I found a recipe online and it made a ton of cheese 'soup' instead of a creamy sauce. I used half of the soupy mixture and cooked more pasta for the rest of it. I had planned on making double of everything but I ended up making 4 times the mac & cheese. LOL Once it was almost done, I turned the broiler on for a few to lightly brown it and I forgot it. My first pan had a couple dark brown bubbles. Whoops! To salvage it, I scraped off the top, put everything in a bakeable gladware container. I then threw some regular sharp cheddar cheese on top and baked it a few. The main course was slices of pre-cooked ham, heated up. And I made a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I should have added a veggie or salad but I didn't have time to make another trip to the grocery.

I packed up the meal for the new family and I also packed a duplicate one for my brother and I delivered the food. As luck would have it, the new mom lives exactly 2 blocks from my brother's house. I didn't discover that until I was driving away from her block trying to figure out which way to go to get to his house and boom there his street was. That was kind of a weird thing. I also brought him the laundry that he had abandoned at our house 2-3 weeks ago. I washed it for him and dh folded everything and found an empty bin for the clean clothes. I should also mention that I had to wash everything TWICE because my brother is a smoker and his stuff still smelled awful after the first wash. I doused the clothes with odo-ban and washed again on the longest cycle with the hottest water and with the pre-wash and extra rinse added. I should have let my kids smell the clothes as a way to show them one reason why smoking is not a great idea. Who wants to walk around stinking all the time?

The mom called the house before I had even come home and she told my dh that my macaroni was the best macaroni that she had EVER had. LOL Should I tell her that I had burnt it?