How to Sew a Receiving Blanket For A New Baby

I love putting together surprise baby gift baskets. Planning for a new little one is part of the fun. I don’t have babies anymore, but that is what makes it so much more fun. I can easily wonder through the mall and pick up fun things to put in my surprise baby gift basket. I find things on sale and who does not love a good deal... I almost have a little baby supply closet in my house.
I love to add something homemade to the basket and the yardage store has the cutest flannel. I love to make homemade receiving blankets. They are great to snuggle the new little bundle in.
The easiest method for sewing reversible baby receiving blankets is by sewing around the edges. Purchase one yard of flannel fabric for each side of the blanket. For example, purchase one yard of blue and one yard of red, or one yard each of a different flannel print so that this will be a reversible blanket. Wash the flannel to allow for shrinkage before sewing. Place the wrong sides of the flannel together and serge around the outside edges, rounding off the corners as you go. Another method for creating a reversible receiving blanket is to place right sides of the fabric together and sew on your sewing machine, seam allowances must be considered. I would suggest using a 1/2 inch seam allowance for this project. Also, remember to leave a space for turning so that the blanket can be turned right side out after the seams have been sewn. Once the blanket has been sewn, press the seams as stitched, and if possible, press them open by sliding the tip of the iron inside the seams as the blanket is lying on the ironing board. This isn't the conventional way to press open seams, but it does help to create nicer edges when the blanket is turned right side out.
After turning the receiving blanket right side out, press well, hand stitch the opening closed, or edge stitch or top stitch the opening closed on your machine.
So if you have friends who are having babies and you want to have an inexpensive gift which you have created, then consider putting together your own surprise baby gift baskets. It’s fun, creative and something every new mom will love. If you don’t sew, never fear you can order a baby gift basket online that will be just as special as long as it is from you.

TOP 5 Favorite Baby Shower Gifts

Baby showers are a great way to get together with friends and relatives and honor pregnant women and help her get ready for the birth of her baby. Usually there is a cake and punch, decorations and games. But most importantly there are baby shower gifts. If you are invited to a baby shower and you are not sure what to bring take a look at the top five baby shower gifts.

CLOTHING

Most babies start out in zero to three months clothing. They usually need several changes a day so it is helpful to have a good selection of sleepers. The  most popular ones button down the front and have feet in them; Gowns and kimonos  are still wore by some newborns and can be helpful in the middle of the night  when baby needs a new outfit.

BLANKETS

Every baby loves to be swaddled in a fresh flannel blanket. Blankets and bedding make wonderful baby shower gifts and the new mother can never have too many of them.

BOUNCY SEAT

The bouncy seat is a versatile piece of gear that a baby can be strapped in to and they can wiggle and bounce to their hearts content. Some of them have a battery and vibrate and play music to help soothe the new born. Most parents enjoy knowing the baby is in a safe place and they can take a few minutes to shower or catch up on house work.

DIAPER CAKES

Diaper cakes are becoming a very popular baby shower gifts. They are not actually a cake, but a gift of diapers made into the shape of a wedding cake.  They are sometimes filled with small gifts. They can also double as the baby shower center piece. Most babies go through a lot of diapers, so a diaper cake is a very welcome gift. A diaper cake is one of the most favorite unique and useful gifts you can give.

GIFTS FOR MOM

Slippers or socks and a new robe are fun to give the new mom to be. Most new mothers enjoy lotions or fun little items to make them feel pampered. It is always appropriate to include a gift for the pregnant mother.

Baby showers are not only for women. Usually you have a different theme if men are to be included.

Baby showers are an American tradition and serve a real purpose of helping get things ready for the new little one. So if you know someone who is expecting, have some fun and have a baby shower.

Giving A Gluten Free Gift

There are many people with food allergies.  Food allergies can affect not only the way you feel but can seriously cause damage to your body and give you poor quality of life.  Scientists continue to find new and fascinating yet critical facts on how food can affect our lives.

There many different types of food allergies. You can be allergic to any food. There is one by the name of Coeliac Disease. Coeliac Disease is a common food allergy. It means that you cannot eat gluten. Gluten is a protein that appears in foods processed from wheat.

It is not easy to find gluten free foods at first but if you look and learn you will find many foods do exist that do not have gluten.  Some grocery stores actually have sections identified as Gluten Free isles.   If you have a friend who cannot eat gluten and you are new to the gluten free world it can be tricky. I learned this when I wanted to give a friend a gluten free gift basket last year.  If you are new to all of this a health food is a great place to get gluten free food. There are lots of regular foods made without gluten. You can pick up a whole bunch of gluten free snacks to go in the gluten free gift basket. They make a lot of food that is gluten free that anyone would love. There are a lot of foods that are naturally gluten free that you can put in your gluten free gift basket.

 Gluten free gift baskets are something that your friends will love. It will be a great surprise to them. It will save them the time and work that it takes to get gluten free food. There are cookies and candy that are gluten free.  There are even potato chips.  See, it really is amazing and after you get to looking and learning you will find that putting together a gluten free gift basket is not that hard at all.  And if you find the task too daunting look online.  You can order a gluten free gift basket from many web sited. My favorite is Planet Gift Basket but there are tons of places that understand how important what we feed our bodies is to our lasting and current health.  So there you go.  Get going on your gluten free gift today………..

What Can You Do?

A few weeks ago I had to have an oral surgery. The procedure had been planned for about a month prior and I thought it was good planning due to the weight loss that would come during recovery. A liquid and soft food diet right between two major eating holidays.

I didn't realize how much time I was going to lose as well, having this done so close to Christmas. I have been put to sleep for procedures in the past but I forgot about the energy it takes out of you and how forgetful you can become. Of course my boys found humor a few days later when I kept saying, "We talked about that?"

It was just this past week that I finally began to feel like myself again. I was really getting into the spirit of the season. We need to wrap those gifts, get those recipes made and...that's when I realized I had lost about two weeks time for enjoying those things. Now Christmas is upon us. Will we get everything done?

A few nights ago we had the pleasure of going to the Christmas program where our sons attend school. Our son in 4th grade was a part of singing songs that spoke to my heart. A reminder to enjoy the season by sharing it with others, "Do Your Giving While You're Living," "Lend a Hand."

Our oldest son, being in the 8th grade, took part in the play. What a wonderful story. A "small town" community church decided to raise money during the month of December. They would talk to the folks at the Salvation Army and bless the poorest family in town with the money raised.

The focus was on the particular ways a family from the church decided to go about raising money for the cause. A few days prior to Christmas the pastor of the church came to their door with an envelope. It had been decided that they would most benefit from receiving the church's gift. The news was not well received. Especially when the saw the amount of check and knew that they had privately given the majority of the amount.

They were determined not to use the money themselves but to pray and seek out someone who could use it more. In the end a missionary from Africa (my son) visited the church and shared about how the church there only had a grass roof that did not hold up well in rain.

As they were leaving church the family, a single mom and three teens, decided this was where the money should be given. They approached the missionary and asked him to please accept their gift. "Just say it came from the richest family in town."

What a blessing and an encouragement to be reminded it brings so much more joy to give than to receive. Maybe we won't get everything done we hoped to this Christmas season. We were able to do some prior to my procedure and now we're just pickin' up where we left off.

Share A Tradition

Our family loves Christmas lights. We put them up early at our house and are so excited as gradually the lights begin going up on other homes in our neighborhood. We live in a great, friendly cul de sac which shines this time of year. We can look out our dining room windows in the front of the house and enjoy the sights of seven other homes lit up for the holiday.

Each year we take an evening drive to look at the many Christmas light displays around town. Sometime during the first half of December and again always on Christmas Eve. We take hot chocolate and coffee with us, put on a Christmas CD, roll down the windows and turn up the heat.

For the past few years we've made the Christmas Eve drive a tradition because it is an opportunity to help feed the hungry in our "small town" community. There is a neighborhood in the east side of town where each large home on the street has a spectacular display of lights and the neighbors organize a food drive during the few days leading up to Christmas.

Our boys help us pull some extras out of our pantry to share with those in need and with glad hearts we head out to enjoy the sights and bless those we don't know. I encourage you to find a similar opportunity in your "small town."

This tradition of family light seeing goes back to when I was a child. Each December when I was growing up my parents, sister and I would take my great-grandma and her sister, when she could go, all over town to experience the joy of the season after dark.

Is there an elderly couple or individual you know in your "small town" who, for whatever reason, doesn't get out much or at all anymore after dark? Imagine what a blessing for you and them if you made an invitation to spend an early evening touring the lights. Share the holiday joy!

Share A Hobby

This fall I was looking over a few ministry opportunities at church and came across a flier for the Homeless Ministry. Among the list of needs, scarves. Is there a better way to enjoy a hobby than for it to bless someones heart? Do you have a hobby that can be used to reach your "small town"?

About 5yrs ago I was at a friend's house for a ladies night out. We brought snacks to share while we watched American Idol together and I began to learn a new favorite hobby...knitting. To keep it simple, so I would continue to enjoy it, I only learned how to make scarves. Someday, when I have more time, I would like to expand my knitting horizons. But for now, I change it up a bit by using different needle sizes together.

You can guess what the gift of the season was for Christmas that year. My mom, sis, school teachers, anyone I could think of that might use a scarf, got a scarf that year. I also enjoy wearing them but by the time I had covered that Christmas, a couple of birthdays and 5 or 6 scarves for myself, the hobby slowed to a halt.

I still very much enjoy knitting scarves, but what to do with them? My kids have been wanting to learn how to knit but until this fall I was not quick to teach them how. Again, what to do with the scarves?

This year we have begun a new family project and tradition. We have chosen to recognize the homeless in our community "small town" as our neighbors. We started knitting scarves together. None of us are very quick and we started in late fall so we'll have just a handful to give this Christmas. But as we finish more during the winter season we will continue to take them to church to be shared.

We have enjoyed the time spent together on this project. I am so excited about the coming year. An opportunity to keep my hands busy knitting in the evening, rather than snacking. What fun to enjoy my hobby for the blessing of another heart.

Holiday Joy

Thanksgiving came and went beautifully. A nice long weekend with family and delicious food. Each year at our house we enjoy decorating for Christmas over this long weekend. It seems for a moment that we rush from one holiday to another. Putting away the fall decor, cleaning house and pulling out the Christmas decorations. But, in the rush is always excitement for Christmas and the start of the winter season. Oh, yes, and I am still young enough to thoroughly enjoy having my birthday during December.

To start with we are always sure to have the lights up outside before Thanksgiving arrives. Mostly because we want to be able to turn them on the night of Thanksgiving, but also because my husband's holiday work schedule is so packed full. With the backyard outlined in colored icicles and our front yard decorated in white we are ready for our indoor decor to go up.

We have the eggnog cold, the Christmas music on or a Christmas movie playing in the background and we begin transforming our home from its fall scene to the coziness of winter indoors. I enjoy decorating our Christmas trees, each with a different theme. Two trees in the living room, one with country decor ornaments and the other with snowmen I have collected and very special snowflakes that my grandma hand-crocheted for me years ago when my husband and I were first married. In the dining room is a 6ft tree with ribbon and candy canes on it. Each of our boys have a 3ft tree in their bedrooms to decorate themselves.

At some point during the hustle and bustle of decorating a feeling of tiredness comes over me and I just want to be done so we can enjoy the beauty and "simplicity" of the season. Finally, though, I come to the village that gets set out on our sofa table, between the living and dining rooms. I realized this year that for the past several years I have come to escape into that simple winter village. After the buildings are in place I arrange the people in a way that I imagine to be a caring, friendly village. People with packages coming and going, smiling and waving. Children playing in the snow and carolers singing.

What a good reminder for asking ourselves who we can be kind to and share the joy of the season with? Who is a part of your "small town"? Neighbors, co-workers, single parents, the homeless, foster children?

Over the span of my next few entries I will share some ideas with you on how we might enjoy that "small town" feeling of doing good for the sake of others and the blessing our own hearts will experience by doing so.