In April we welcomed the newest addition of our extended family into this exciting world. Jason’s sister Carley became a mommy last month when her son Aiden reluctantly joined humankind via an emergency C-section. This little guy had to be delivered 6 weeks early due to some complications and, unfortunately, he’s had a rough life thus far but we celebrated his arrival nonetheless.

I, along with some of the other family females, planned a baby shower for Carley the last weekend of April. Aiden wasn’t supposed to be around yet but his surprise womb exodus didn’t halt our schemes. Good thing because I had been conspiring up gifts for this event since January.

I wanted to make a blanket for Aiden, as I have done for our last few nieces and nephews, but not an ugly blanket. I’ve tinkered with some hand-quilting in the past and these experiments haven’t exactly turned out fabulously so I decided to put the curious scientist inside aside this time and stick to an established quilt fabrication method…mostly. While I didn’t want Aiden to end up with the crafting equivalent of an exploding beaker, I couldn’t resist trying one teensy material modification with his blanket. I’ve made a number of rag quilts from flannel over the years so I was intrigued by several online sites I found recently that recommended the use of a minky/flannel mix to create the optimal combination of fraying and softness. My curiosity compelled me to give this rag variation a shot. Aiden’s blanket ended up incorporating 100 squares of each type of fabric assembled into a flannel side and a minky side. It took a considerable amount of time to connect all those pieces. I questioned the wisdom of using minky at several points throughout the process, usually when I was choking on fuzz balls. Cutting or sewing this fabric creates masses of fluffy lint that get on everything. No need to fear if you are making a minky rag quilt though, constructing it may produce a fibrous mess but once it’s washed the minky sheds no more. Aiden’s blanket turned out cute and colorful; I finished it just in time for the party.

Carley’s baby shower proceeded as most do, with perpetual oohing and awing over miniature apparel. My friend Robyn decorated a fantastic cake for the group of gift givers and I complemented its adorableness with cupcakes from Cravings Alisha’s Cupcakes. Yes, sweetness and well-wishers were both abundant at this event. Many thanks to all of you that came and supported Carley and her mini-man.

As for Aiden, the wee tike had to go in for surgery earlier this week to have a portion of his intestines removed but he is recovering nicely and hopefully in a month he’ll be able to come home. Welcome to the Sabin clan Aiden! Good thing you’ve already got toughness in the bag because, where your family is concerned, you’re going to need it.