Remember my little post-script at the end of my previous post, where I said I’d be in Rhode Island this weekend? Well, I’m here right now, at this very moment! (Thanks, pre-scheduled posts!) I’m not here to celebrate my birthday a week early, to escape from the never-ending snow in Madison, or even just to eat a yummy vegan brunch at Julian’s. No, I’m in the Ocean State to meet the most special little man in my life – my brand-new nephew, Theodore. (I posted about my sister’s baby shower a while back, if you’ll recall!)

I’ve been itching to wrap my arms around the little sprout ever since he made his debut a few minutes after midnight on February 28th. But with plane tickets already purchased for March 8th (my sister’s original due date), I had to wait a whole entire week. It was tortuous. I spent some of my time working on homemade gifts for the little man, including this nature-themed embroidered bib:

Ready for spit-up and breast milk and all sorts of yummy messes!

Embroidering is my newest hobby; I picked it up a little over a year ago and I really love it. The patterns at Sublime Stitching bring embroidery to the 21st century – after all, their motto is “This ain’t your gramma’s embroidery!” But even grandmas would approve of the sweet little hedgehog and those pudgy birds, don’t you think?

Speaking of pudgy, I also whipped up this plump piggy:

Lil pink pig.

I’ve been a knitter for years and years, but this was my first stuffed animal! It’s hard to get a sense of scale from that picture, but he’s nearly a foot long from snout to curly tail. I used a pattern that I purchased on Ravelry, and it was fun to learn short-row shaping for this project. Isn’t he just the cutest? I used a cotton-acrylic blend, and it’s perfectly soft and cuddly.

As I write this, I’m a little over 24 hours away from snuggling my tiny nephew for the first time. By the time you read this, I’ll have met him and fallen totally in love. Well… who am I kidding; I’m already in love! You can bet that I’ll have some photos to share when I return. I intend to snap lots and lots of pictures in the rare moments when I’m not cuddling Teddy. :)

Any new babies in your life recently? What craft projects are you working on?