On Baby Gifts

I love to stitch baby gifts. But I often come up against a problem. If you do know the sex of the baby you can always stitch something in those colors, as I did with the Kathy Schenkel baby canvas below.

But what do you do if you don’t know? Or if you know the parents plan on having more children?

Then you need to be more creative. You could pick colors that aren’t pink or blue. For example, a design stitched in greens or yellows is great. I did this for my friends’ first child. He’s now the eldest of four and the Kathy Schenkel sign, below, has served them all.

You could stitch something in primary colors. Studies have shown, if I remember correctly, that small children are attracted to bright colors. Think about a baby canvas or ornament in brighter shades. I used a lovely bright green for the dinosaur made as a Christmas gift for a little boy. He kept reaching for it on the tree.

The solution on the sign at the top is to use both pink & blue. The saying is stitched using navy metallic to stand out against the white background. The patchwork border is stitched using only pink, blue, and cream. To make this vintage canvas look a bit more modern I brightened both colors to make them less pastel. I also used a wide variety of stitches.

Because the patchwork blocks are geometric, they will work for any baby. Because both pink and blue are here, it can always be used. Because the colors aren’t too childish it will look nice hanging on the door.

I just love the way it turned out!