A Unique Baby Gift

I've been making baby hooded towels for almost 30 years.  About a year after my first daughter was born a friend had a baby girl and her mom gave her a hooded towel she bought at Macinaw Island.  It was the most beautiful baby towel I had ever seen.   It was pink and was made from a bath towel and a wash cloth.
It was a luscious thick towel and had appliqued tulips across the bottom of the towel.  This was about 1982 and her mom had paid $40 for it.  I nearly fell over at the thought of that price.  Being a home economics major in college and someone who had been sewing since high school, I decided I could make one.

I made some and did some machine applique, but it was  new thing and people did not want to pay anything for them.  At that time I tried to sell them for $12.00.  I just found that people didn't want to pay much for handmade items.   I continued to make them for baby gifts and still do.  Sometimes it seems like young moms aren't so sure about the gift, but after they have the baby and are able to swaddle that little one in a super absorbent towel then they love it.

I'm still making them and I try to find the best towels I can.  I buy them retail so I shop at Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning.  The best towel I ever found was at Tuesday Morning and it was made in Brazil.  I haven't seen any like those in years but recently I found some at Tuesday morning and right now I have several on hand.  If you are looking for a special baby gift that can be used for years this is it.
When the baby is and infant you can swaddle the child in the towel after a bath and the towel quickly absorbs the water and your baby is warm.  Unlike those crummy thin so called terry hooded  towels that can never be folded again after they are washed.  As the child grows you can use the towel at the tub, or pool or backyard sprinkler.  Most children can use then until they are 3 or 4.

I make mine out of a towel and hand towel and like I said pay retail.  I drive to Lexington to buy them and  I sell them for $25.00



Here are some pictures of what I have on hand.  Feel free to contact me by email for more info
tgoepper@aol.com.

                                         This is a Vera towel.  The bath towel retails for $26.00

A beautiful walk.

This fall as I was walking to work one day I thought I would take some pictures. It's a half mile walk filled with pretty trees and houses and seminary and university buildings. I got some pictures and that weekend was planning to go to my friend's house to can applesauce all day.  As it turned out there was black ice on the steps and I fell and fractured my arm.   I fractured the small bone in my calf about five years ago and while that was painful and took a while to recover it was nothing compared to an arm.  Did you know you need your arm to get out of a chair?  It's amazing how all our limbs work together. It was my left arm and that was a huge blessing.   I have a new appreciation for my arms and how they work together and have a new empathy for people I see with a cast or sling.  It's been three months and I'm still doing the therapy to try to get my arm back to normal.  It will come but it takes time.  Anyway, this morning we had a beautiful wet snow that disappeared by afternoon.  I took some pictures on my way to work so here are the fall and winter pics.
                                              Asbury University

                                                     Estes Chapel  Asbury Seminary

 These are two giant gingko trees at the seminary.  The leaves turn a glorious yellow and then fall off the tree in one day.  I missed it this year but enjoy them even now with no leaves.

                                                        Up the hill to my house.

                                                            My house.

I hope you noticed the beautiful green grass of fall and winter.  That is very unusual here but we just finished a record year of rain in the bluegrass area thus the green grass.

                                                      Dr. Corbitt's house.

                                                   

                                                       The new Wilmore Christmas Tree

                                                 Here are the gingkos with no leaves.

                                                    Estes Chapel

 This is the kind of show I like, wet, heavy and melted by evening.  No school cancellation and no road problems.  I can handle that.

The Kitchen Before and After

 Here is the before:  We started a year before ripping out the ceiling plaster during spring and summer breaks.  We began the wall demolition in May and the kitchen was finished by the 4th of July.

         The first eight pictures are what we did on spring break.  The rest began in May.

Todd and I did all the demolition except the floor

Here are the pictures of our finished kitchen.  We are really enjoying it and never realized how dark our old kitchen was.  We had one over head fluorescent light!  Now Todd calls the kitchen little Vegas.  Many of the lights are LED and we are replacing the others a little at a time.  The paint color is Benjamin More Valentine 1330.  The photos don't do the color justice.  It's really a  flag red.

The cabinets were made by the Amish and the counter tops are from Lowes.  Sink, faucets and lighting was bought at Overstock.com.  The island was an old store fixture that belonged to Todd's mom.  We had shelves and a new top built for it. We have a new back door and floor and all the construction was done by Miles Moores.  We highly recommend him and his crew.  We also recommend Mark's Electric.

Before you take on a project like this remember this:  it will cost more than you plan and it will take longer than you think it will.   In an old house every job causes 10 jobs!  Is it worth it?  Yes!