Baby Crafts

Here is a fabric frame that I made for a little guy who was born just last week. This is one very loved baby. His mom and dad prayed for a child for so long. They established themselves with an adoption agency and were told that it takes on average 14 months to adopt a child. Well, they were with that agency for just about that long when the agency closed its doors. Heartbreaking. They had to start from scratch. Fortunately, the next agency they tried was able to connect them with a birth mother very quickly. From what I understand, the birth mother loves this boy, too, enough to choose his parents herself, enough to let go of him so that he can have a life that she feels she cannot provide for him right now. Brave, brave girl.
This isn't a great picture. Sorry.
I like to give something handmade to each new baby I know. I wish I could make a quilt for each of them, but there are just too many! I have celebrated the birth of eleven friends' babies in the last nine months, and there are five babies (that I know of) due to be born within the next six months. So for the most part I stick with simpler gifts, usually something from mom's baby registry and something handmade. I got the idea for this frame from Better Homes & Gardens Creative Collection Quilts and More magazine, Fall 2006. It was a lot of fun to make, and very fast, and I used only materials I already had on hand, and the picture that was emailed out the day baby was born. The pattern calls for slipping a magnetic strip into the back of the frame, but since I used flannel (pattern uses muslin), I found that the typical craft magnets are not strong enough, so I attached a ribbon for hanging instead. The pattern also called for a layer of stiff interfacing, which I did not use, but I think I will next time. As you can tell from the picture, the frame is a little too soft and floppy looking.