niceties for nieces

photo credit: Megan Rohrer of Moments Remembered

On July 12, 2010 I posted about my darling younger sister, Julie. At that point I mentioned that she turned 23 and I wished her a calm and relaxed spirit "during her 23rd year amongst whatever gifts and excitement lie ahead..." What I knew at that time, but few people did, was that Julie is also expecting her first child in 2011.

By September Julie and Chad had announced their good news to the world, discovered that they were having a little girl, and had decided to name her Cali McKenna. And I began sewing up a (small) storm of baby gifts that I aimed to be: 1) a bit girly and 2) in taste with the styling Julie and Chad chose for the baby's room. But I had to wait patiently to share with the blogging world until they had received said gifts.

First I decided to make a pennant banner with the baby's name. I just love bunting banners because they are simple, unobtrusive decorations with tons of color and variety. For each letter in the name I took 2" strips of solid colored fabrics and sewed them together alternately. Then I used fusible web to applique the letters to the pennants. I added 4 more pennants in patterns that would compliment Cali's nursery and added a binding with little loops on the end so they could hang it easily.

I hung the banner over the gift table at Julie's baby shower in early December, and now it has found it's home above Cali's crib.

And of course, as you probably guessed, I sewed one more small token of celebration for my little niece: her very own cloth baby slippers!


Today Julie is 7 months (I've been corrected- she's 8 months) along and we are in great anticipation for the arrival of the newest family member. I remember Julie being a cuddly and expressive baby who became a toddler who said many hilarious (and incorrect) things. Most famously, she called potato chips "a lots" and couldn't pronounce "refrigerator" until she was 8. I'm hoping Cali inherits at least some of these endearing attributes.