First Burp Cloth for Fifth Grandchild

There is a wonderfully illustrated book by Chris Van Allsburg titled The Polar Express.

In it a boy travels to the North Pole on a magical train and receives from Santa the official first gift of Christmas, a bell from the harness of one of the reindeer. Yes, I know that Christmas has passed but that scene conjures up a warm, fuzzy feeling for me.

That same feeling was replicated in my sewing room today. I made burp cloths for my grandson to be, due in April. The first pair I completed, hot off my ironing board, was "the first official burp cloth pair" of many I plan to make for him. I bought the flannel on my recent trip to Road2CA, thinking the gray houndstooth to be quite masculine and the gray toned zoo animals to be somewhat sophisticated without sacrificing the whimsy every baby deserves.

They are both Roger Kaufman fabrics.

Once I was on a roll, I made two other burp cloth pairs as well, one with owls and one with all sorts of critters, polka dots, and zig zags.

The sources for these flannels are given in the selvages.

My previous post I was knee deep in sewing room decluttering and re-organization. I have been refolding fabrics and emptying bins. Some bins have held delightful finds of forgotten and still loved fabrics. Other bins have elicited groans as I realize it is time to pay the piper for all those end of project remnants I deferred dealing with. I have not give up on that entirely but I needed a break. Yes, more procrastination! I convinced myself that another way to make fabric more visible and less cramped is to use some of it up. Besides, burp cloths are my stretching exercise before a real sewing workout. There are instructions on how I make them in my post for June18, 2014. There are two more grandchildren since that post and these burp cloths will be the for the fifth grandchild.

By the way, click on http://polarexpress.wikia.com/wiki/The_First_Gift_of_Christmas if you want to read a quick summary of that first official gift scene from the book. If you'd like to see a clip from the movie The Polar Express, go to this scene on YouTube. Before I go back to burp cloths and de-cluttering, I will procrastinate still more by linking up to Let's Bee Social #215.