Homemade gifts

Can you believe Christmas is only a little over a week away?! I usually try to do a lot of holiday baking to give to friends and neighbors, but it's not going to happen this year. I've got something better on my mind--Parker! We're not going overboard with him as far as toys and gifts, mainly because he's too little for most things and he won't remember it anyway. But it's still his first Christmas and I wanted to make him something special, so I'm making him a quiet book!

I've been looking for a pattern for one since August, hoping to get an earlier start, but turns out that patterns are hard to find! Fortunately, my Mom had a pattern for an old style of quiet book so she brought it when they came to visit. It was exactly the one I had been looking for and, to make it even better, Kyle had that same book made for him when he was a kid! So now Parker will have a similar one. For anyone not familiar with a quiet book, it's a large book made entirely of fabric and it has simple 'activities' on each page that a young child can do...matching colors and shapes to their corresponding spots on the page, learning to use a zipper, putting their hand into a mitten, etc. Lots of bright colors and shapes!

I don't have all the pages finished yet, so I'll post pics of it when it's done next week. I can't wait to finish it and give it to him--of course he'll be too small to use it for awhile, but that's okay! Maybe this year it's more for my enjoyment, that I'm able to make him something cool. :)

So those pictures are coming soon, but here is something else I made for him. It's a little crinkly toy! The outside is soft but it has a plastic layer inside that gives a wonderful crinkle sound when it's squeezed and bunched up! And some ribbon loops for his little fingers to grab.



And of course, another picture of Parker. As you can tell, he's very excited about Christmas! :)