Future Projects Friday: Baby gifts

I may or may not have a slight addiction to Pinterest (my hubby might tell you it's a full-blown addiction requiring an intervention and a trip to a fancy rehab hospital...).  I love looking at the 'DIY & Crafts' section to see what projects catch my eye. I am always on the look-out for good tutorials or projects. I thought I might dedicate Fridays on this blog to featuring two or three of the posts/tutorials that are potential future projects I might want to try. Maybe you'd be interested in them too?

      Recently, most of the projects that catch my eye tend to be on the simple and quick side. While I have enjoyed sewing large quilts (e.g. king size bed spreads) or highly technical projects involving lots of time and patience (like this cathedral window technique), I find myself with a limited amount of time and focus to dedicate to sewing these days.

[ top image: cathedral window quilt, that I affectionately called the 'god-forsaken quilt' because it took.forever.to.finish. bottom image: the quilt I made as a wedding gift for my best friend ]

      There is something extremely gratifying about being able to finish a project in a timely manner. I think this has a lot to do with my profession as a biologist. In developmental biology, my field of specialization, my experiments often take at least a week or more to complete (I dedicate far more time caring about whether or not fish mate than should be considered appropriate). And, despite these week(s)-long experiments, there is no guarantee that the end results will be good/useable/useful. Additionally, experiments are often additive and the result from one experiment is just a small piece in a very large puzzle that is not yet close to completion. When I feel like I am in the weeds, I often remind myself of this quote from Theobald Smith: 'The joy of research must be found in the doing, as every other harvest is uncertain'. So, when it comes to sewing, I love the fact that if I dedicate time and effort to a project and follow the directions, I can anticipate what the final project will look like and roughly how long it will take me.

     Fortunately, several of my friends and family members have had or are having babies, which means that short and sweet baby gifts are the perfect projects to work on! Here are some links to tutorials for baby gifts I am considering making for those special friends still expecting:

1. An adorable swaddler from Makezine.com: The Snuggler

[ photo credit: http://makezine.com/craft/craft_pattern_podcast_snuggler/ ]

How adorable is this swaddle? While my hubby and I do not have kiddos yet, I know these are super popular among new parents these days- my facebook feed is filled with praise for swaddling!

2. The 'Anywhere Chair' from Made by Marzipan: Anywhere Chair

[photo credit: http://www.madebymarzipan.com/?x=2038 ]

I absolutely love love love the fabric choice on this project and I think it would be a useful/functional gift for new parents!

3. Little Lion Taggie Toy from mmmCrafts: Taggie Toy

[ photo credit: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2011/03/dont-look-kristyn.html ]

This is mmmCrafts's spin on a tutorial for a taggie toy posted from Chez Beeper Bebe's blog. I just love the little lion face and think it would make a cute addition to a baby gift for someone.

I am still trying to figure out how to add a 'pinterest' button to this space so that you are able to link to my pinterest boards and explore what I have pinned- suggestions on how to do this are welcome! Hope these projects bring a little inspiration to your weekend! Happy Friday!

PS- here's a sneak peak at the quilt I am featuring on next week's post, 'collaborative quilting':